Accepting the fact that I will never obtain a skyscale.

[Glorifying.4072]

Let me first start this off by saying if you have a sky scale you are really cool, and good job! But do you think the developers overestimated how much time and effort a player would want to put in before getting completely burned out and/or frustrated with the game entirely? One look at the requirements and it makes me not only never want a sky scale but makes me want to quit the game altogether thinking to myself "This is what I have to do to unlock flying a dragon?". I know 3 people (including my guild leader) who just recently got their sky scale but are now playing other games because right after getting their dragon they needed a break from guild wars 2. I just got The Ascension wings after playing on and off since launch and I'm happy with them. The sky scale looks really cool, but I'd rather spend my time playing guild wars 2 instead of grinding for a new way to move around the world. To be honest not having one makes me not want to PvE at all in the open world. I hope I don't get flamed for my opinion because I really love GW2 more than any other MMO. I just wish getting a sky scale flowed naturally within gameplay progression. 

[Randulf.7614]

Official - I AM COOL!

Not sure what the issue is though. It’s designed to do in little stages, chipped away at. Don’t think there is any group content, the JP sections can be skipped. They even give all the currency with the back to living world achievements. It’s just long, but manageable at any pace.

If anything, I think it flows rather well. I’m not sure how they could have made it any easier without giving it away. The only way burn out could happen is by trying to do it all in one go, but that’s not how it was designed. It was designed to accomodate casual minded players to achieve something in small stages.

Edited May 26, 2023 by Randulf.7614

[Glorifying.4072]

1 minute ago, Randulf.7614 said:

Official - I AM COOL!

Not sure what the issue is though. It’s designed to do in little stages, chipped away at. Don’t think there is any group content, the JP sections can be skipped. They even give all the currency with the back to living world achievements. It’s just long, but manageable at any pace.

If anything, I think it flows rather well. I’m not sure how they could have made it any easier without giving it away.

I leveled from 1 - 80 did all the expansions and i'm working on the episodes between and I'm not even close to getting it. it doesn't flow well at all inside the natural gameplay progression. 

[vares.8457]

Getting the skyscale is really not a big deal nor does it take a lot of time. 

[Randulf.7614]

1 minute ago, OldManWhat.5083 said:

I leveled from 1 - 80 did all the expansions and i'm working on the episodes between and I'm not even close to getting it. it doesn't flow well at all inside the natural gameplay progression. 

You are going to have define what you mean by natural gameplay progression. I mean some sections are done in tandem with the map whilst exploring. The rest encourages back and forth to other maps like many other collections. The currency is also collected whilst doing maps without even having to grind for them.

Its a legendary equivalent mount. It requires some work, but you can do a bit a day and chip away at it between other things.

[Glorifying.4072]

1 minute ago, vares.8457 said:

Getting the skyscale is really not a big deal nor does it take a lot of time. 

I understand that's your opinion but I've lost friends to this darn skyscale lol

Edited May 26, 2023 by OldManWhat.5083

[Super Hayes.6890]

I'm not opposed to high requirements but I do feel mount acquisition would be better if paired with the natural story progression. Getting the raptor, springer and skimmer felt right. The others, as side quests kind of annoyed me 🤷‍♂️

[vares.8457]

It is a completely optional mount. If you don’t want to do what is required then simply don’t do it. I liked the skyscale collections and I don’t remember them being very grindy. 

Edited May 26, 2023 by vares.8457

[Glorifying.4072]

Just now, Super Hayes.6890 said:

I'm not opposed to high requirements but I do feel mount acquisition would be better if paired with the natural story progression. Getting the raptor, springer and skimmer felt right. The others, as side quests kind of annoyed me 🤷‍♂️

@Randulf.7614this is what I mean. There is nothing natural about getting the Sky Scale we have to go out of our way to get it. I understand that you may feel like it's a legendary equivalent to a mount but it's not. 

 

Just now, vares.8457 said:

It is a completely optional mount. If you don’t want to do what is required then simply don’t do it. 

you're missing the point.

[Super Hayes.6890]

1 minute ago, vares.8457 said:

It is a completely optional mount. If you don’t want to do what is required then simply don’t do it. 

I mean, sure if all mounts had similar requirements. They don't.

[Super Hayes.6890]

I have every mount. It wasn't until I started helping my kids get their mounts that I truly learned how "not fun" some of the acquisition methods are. Lecture me all you want about how it's fine but know that you would sing a different tune if you had to explain it to your 10 year old who, after a week of gaming, still can't have daddy's cool mount.

[Randulf.7614]

13 minutes ago, OldManWhat.5083 said:

@Randulf.7614this is what I mean. There is nothing natural about getting the Sky Scale we have to go out of our way to get it. I understand that you may feel like it's a legendary equivalent to a mount but it's not. 

 

you're missing the point.

Totally disagree. This is very much meant to be that type of mount and that is its specific design - to have a convenient, end game, legendary style mount that is accessible to all players and recaps a lot of the season and tells a story - like much of the game, side stories are told in this exact way. A very organic part of how GW2 works
 

This was in direct response to player feedback who wanted something substantial to work for at the end of a story arc which didn’t have the high gold and group content of the griffon.

I get you don’t like the requirements, but it is fulfilling a design goal players asked for. It encourages playing the game, which is something the design team nailed. 
 

Ultimately I think you are losing out needlessly because I can’t see it changing and I have never seen a legitimate reason for it to change either given how accessible they made the process. There’s nothing problematic in getting it and in the time this thread has taken to unfold, half a collection could have been completed. 
 

But if you have accepted it, then move on and do other things. It won’t block you from anything.

 

Edited May 26, 2023 by Randulf.7614

[Super Hayes.6890]

4 minutes ago, Randulf.7614 said:

Totally disagree. This is very much meant to be that type of mount and that is its specific design - to have a convenient, end game, legendary style mount that is accessible to all players and recaps a lot of the season and tells a story - like much of the game, side stories are told in this exact way. A very organic part of how GW2 works
 

This was in direct response to player feedback who wanted something substantial to work for at the end of a story arc which didn’t have the high gold and group content of the griffon.

I get you don’t like the requirements, but it is fulfilling a design goal players asked for. It encourages playing the game, which is something the design team nailed. 
 

Ultimately I think you are losing out because I can’t see it changing and I have never seen a legitimate reason for it to change either given how accessible they made the process. There’s nothing problematic in getting it and in the time this thread has taken to unfold, half a collection could have been completed. 

 

I would argue that legendaries are actually more of a grind. As for your assessment, you're right, players did ask for this 🤷‍♂️ That said, I was not one of them...

[Ashen.2907]

I too am unlikely to ever get a skyscale. I am not interested in doing what it takes to get one. Not fun for me at all.

 

So I pursue other things in game with the understanding that not everything will appeal to everyone.

[Glorifying.4072]

26 minutes ago, Randulf.7614 said:

Ultimately I think you are losing out needlessly because I can’t see it changing and I have never seen a legitimate reason for it to change either given how accessible they made the process.

it is a good thing you don't work for anet then. This may be fine for you, but most new players see these requirements and they won't even touch guild wars 2. Even after some players get the sky scale, they are completely done with playing gw2 from the example I gave in the first section. This is the point I'm making. I understand YOU like the requirements, and YOU don't think it's that much but for most people who have jobs, families and who are casual players the requirements for getting this mount are staggering.

[Sobx.1758]

There's no reason to try and rush it all at once. Since it's a collection, it's easy to track what you're done with and what you still need to do, so complete it in smaller portions.

55 minutes ago, OldManWhat.5083 said:

I leveled from 1 - 80 did all the expansions and i'm working on the episodes between and I'm not even close to getting it. it doesn't flow well at all inside the natural gameplay progression. 

It does, but according to this post, you don't exactly follow the "natural gameplay progression" anyway since you went for expansions first and only now go for "episodes between". 😉

Edited May 26, 2023 by Sobx.1758

[Randulf.7614]

18 minutes ago, OldManWhat.5083 said:

it is a good thing you don't work for anet then. This may be fine for you, but most new players see these requirements and they won't even touch guild wars 2. Even after some players get the sky scale, they are completely done with playing gw2 from the example I gave in the first section. This is the point I'm making. I understand YOU like the requirements, and YOU don't think it's that much but for most people who have jobs, families and who are casual players the requirements for getting this mount are staggering.

The progression is designed for players like me. Casual, with job, with families. The thing I often read is that most people find it impossible or insurmountable or something they can never achieve. Yet, most of the player base seems to have one and gw2 is very much the casual gamers mmo. So whilst there are no doubt some who struggle, most people seem to have done it. And in a casual mmo, that would suggest casual players have been able to do it en masse

People like me can chip away at it in small stages others will blitz it. For some it’ll take days. Others weeks or months. That’s the beauty of it being designed this way.

Ultimately I’m saying don’t be put off. Do a little a day if it seems daunting. 

Edited May 26, 2023 by Randulf.7614

[Arianth Moonlight.6453]

devs changed the way to acquire the turtle because that mount is absolutely worthless. Acquiring the Skyscale is 100 times worse and the only reason they haven't changed the boring grind one bit is because that mount basically replaces all other mounts once you acquire it.

[Gibson.4036]

45 minutes ago, Super Hayes.6890 said:

I have every mount. It wasn't until I started helping my kids get their mounts that I truly learned how "not fun" some of the acquisition methods are. Lecture me all you want about how it's fine but know that you would sing a different tune if you had to explain it to your 10 year old who, after a week of gaming, still can't have daddy's cool mount.

That's funny, because I was the opposite. Going along the second time while my son got his confirmed for me how attainable it is. He did have the advantage of the currencies from the Return Achievements, which I didn't when I got mine, but he was able to do it at a time when he only played a couple hours a week. He even insisted on doing all the jumping puzzles completely, whereas I cheesed a bunch of them with the griffon.

[Cronospere.8143]

1 hour ago, OldManWhat.5083 said:

I leveled from 1 - 80 did all the expansions and i'm working on the episodes between and I'm not even close to getting it. it doesn't flow well at all inside the natural gameplay progression. 

Here is something i can agree to. Which is that doing story gives you really awful loot. It's something that i never understood. (1 bag of loot, 3 unid green loot and some trash). 

So dont rush content and also play the maps and do achievements. Especially the "return to ..." achievements they make it a looooottt easier. 

[leila.7962]

1 hour ago, OldManWhat.5083 said:

I leveled from 1 - 80 did all the expansions and i'm working on the episodes between and I'm not even close to getting it. it doesn't flow well at all inside the natural gameplay progression. 

People who were playing the game since the beginning didn't have this burn out that you described.. they had like long gaps of time to do things slowly as they were being released. Now, if you are a fairly new player, it can be overwhelming... so much to do to catch up with 10 years of updates.

I recently started a new account and I must say felt a bit overwhelmed doing the skyscale stuff all over again. It was tiring for sure. But playing on this new account withtout skyscale made me realize that most of the game's content can be done with the regular mounts, until you can finally finish your skyscale (if you ever decide to finish it, that is).

And I hate to say it but, the skyscale aquisition is the way it is today because back when PoF was released, people complained that they only needed to do one heart and buy their mount off the npcs (except the griffon). People wanted something more meaningful.. just like the way they implemented the legendary precursors crafting. Long hours waiting for events, doing things you wouldn't normally do, do things you probably never did before, explore, etc.

Sadly, they can't please everyone in everything that they do. Some people liked buying mounts off the npc, some didn't. Some liked long meaningful tasks to aquire the skyscale and the griffon, some didn't. But again, you don't need the skyscale to do the majority of the things in game.. it makes things faster and easier but it comes at a cost.

Edited May 26, 2023 by leila.7962

[Stx.4857]

I played the game for a very long time without the Skyscale.  
 

Getting the dragon makes the journey worth it.  And you know what?  It’s honestly not that bad.  It doesn’t cost nearly as much gold as most other major goals in this game.  I think in total I got my Skyscale spending less than 50g.  And if you do the return to achievements, they provide you most of the grindy materials you need for the collections.  
 

The only thing I didn’t like so much about the journey to get my Skyscale was how there are so many collections in the beginning that all take place on the same map, it got a little repetitive.  But other than that, it’s definitely doable and for me it was fun.  

[SlayerXX.7138]

25 minutes ago, OldManWhat.5083 said:

I understand YOU like the requirements, and YOU don't think it's that much but for most people who have jobs, families and who are casual players the requirements for getting this mount are staggering.

These people are MMO-brained. The official forum is a particular dedicated sub section of the player base. Their concept of time is far removed from the average gamer. In the time it takes to get the skyscale you could start and finish whole games. If you have to buy the Living world you can just buy an actual game and play that instead of hours of fetch quest "content". You could buy Portal 1 + 2 when they are on sale and play 2 great games in the time and money it takes to get this 1 mount.

1 hour ago, OldManWhat.5083 said:

I know 3 people (including my guild leader) who just recently got their sky scale but are now playing other games because right after getting their dragon they needed a break from guild wars 2.

Yeah because it is a gigantic time sink devoid of content or enjoyment. It is like an addict waking up in their own puke realizing something did go very wrong. GW 2 is a good game, but some parts are just mindless time wasting trash. Keep playing the good part and be done with it. 

[Glorifying.4072]

1 hour ago, Randulf.7614 said:

The progression is designed for players like me. Casual, with job, with families. The thing I often read is that most people find it impossible or insurmountable or something they can never achieve. Yet, most of the player base seems to have one and gw2 is very much the casual gamers mmo. So whilst there are no doubt some who struggle, most people seem to have done it. And in a casual mmo, that would suggest casual players have been able to do it en masse

People like me can chip away at it in small stages others will blitz it. For some it’ll take days. Others weeks or months. That’s the beauty of it being designed this way.

Ultimately I’m saying don’t be put off. Do a little a day if it seems daunting. 

I understand where you are coming from, but my argument is this. I recently got The Ascension wings from doing something I enjoy which is pvp. I love doing the story in games but doing the story doesn't reward the sky scale. And having the legendary wings don't make me fly around and make the game easier in any way. on the other hand, getting the sky scale will actually turn people off the game. the sky scale actually killed the small guild I was a part of. I understand that it may not have been hard for you but if gw2 wants to keep new players around they need to realize that most people aren't going to settle for these kinds of requirements. especially when the requirements aren't fun to do at all. One of them went back to Eve online because they said its less of a time gated game and that's saying something...

Edited May 26, 2023 by OldManWhat.5083

[Sobx.1758]

2 minutes ago, OldManWhat.5083 said:

I understand where you are coming from, but my argument is this. I recently got The Ascension wings from doing something I enjoy which is pvp. I love doing the story in games but doing the story doesn't reward the sky scale.

Then keep playing story and pvp, at which part of these you need skyscale to keep enjoying what you're enjoying?

3 minutes ago, OldManWhat.5083 said:

One of them went back to Eve online because they said its less of a time gate and that's saying something...

That's... just wrong.