Accepting the fact that I will never obtain a skyscale.

[Ashen.2907]

22 hours ago, Cyninja.2954 said:

The entire addition of the legendary armory was nothing more than adding a huge longterm grind for a lot of players in the gear department (without making it necessary but upping the convenience tremendously).

This.

I dont like the legendary skins and so had not pursued them until the armory tipped the QoL in favor of going after them. I had few goals left before this and had been playing significantly less.

Edited May 27, 2023 by Ashen.2907

[asket.5674]

Grinding out legendary gear is way more exhausting than that funny flappy lizard thingy. I mean come on, it took me, a fulltime working dad, 1.5 weaks of playing 2h in the evening to unlock it and man, i gotta tell you it was worth it. Best QOL Feature for map completion.   But yeah the procedure was dull though.

Do people even know what a real grind is these days? 

[Kaliwenda.3428]

I just saw this and jumped in to reply without reading any of the other replies; forgive me if what I say is already here somewhere else 🙂

I just took the skyscale grind in small chunks, actually made a little chart that showed my progress each day.  I focused on one area at a time for a little bit in terms of the map currency I needed, then went back to other parts of the game.

I don't know if this is helpful to you but for me thinking of it as a long-term project kept me from feeling burnout over it.

[Artemis.8034]

You know op in the time you wrote this post you could have advanced your skyscale. In the time you have played you would have had it by now just doing a little here and there. There is nothing impossible about it, the fact is people who want it right now are the ones that burn out. I took 2 months to get it the first time, then the second time was like a week and a half. this coming from someone that dont farm metas so i had a lot of catchup currency to get . Also I would go do the skyscale quests when i had time or felt like it. I never spammed it all the time. Look at it this way, all you have is time, in the time you have played you could get the skyscale multiple times 

[Tiviana.2650]

On 5/26/2023 at 1:02 PM, OldManWhat.5083 said:

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. 

Its really not that much it looks intimidating on paper but it goes by pretty fast. Just do it a little at a time.

[Hycinthus.6483]

I have to agree with OP on this.
I'm a returning player, so I have a lot of expansions to catch up on, including Heart of Thorns, Path of Fire, and now even End of Dragons.
 

Struggling through Hearts of Thorns (a difficulty spike) was already frustrating enough, and trying to navigate through the map was a difficult experience for me as a returning player, therefore, I was suggested to get a Skyscale to make it easier to navigate.

So it's not really fun having to grind something for weeks, just so I can play the expansion contents. I know it's not mandatory, but seeing others flying through Tangled Depths with Skyscale motivated me to get it too.

 

I think we are viewing this from different angles (from me, an angle of new joiner or returner; and from others of course an angle when they grinded Skyscale during content droughts).

ArenaNet truly introduced Skyscale at a different time - a time past, when GW2 were not getting regular updates or expansions. 

Looking from a new lens, and from a new business model of trying to push out more regular expansions, and actively trying to grow their user base with new players, I do think OP has a point here.  The methodology seems to not fit with the new business model of attracting new players fast and keeping them for the long-term.

And the main reason why is because Skyscale greatly increases the enjoyment factor to enjoy the new expansions, especially for new-joiners and returners, providing them great, easy, and fast access to the new wonderful maps and areas. Fast is key here as we are also dealing with a new generation of players.

Edited May 27, 2023 by Hycinthus.6483

[Forgotten Legend.9281]

For exploring HoT: imo, the most beneficial (HoT) masteries for exploration fore: Ley line Gliding (for Mordremoth Fight), Nuhoc Wallows (for travel shortcuts), Bouncing Mushrooms, Exalted Markers (more travel shortcuts). Mounts allow bypassing of some of those (like Raptor long jump, Jackel high jump)

Sure, Skyscale allows more freedom to explore, but it's it's faster than you think to get all the others while you're playing HoT, which allow for a pretty decent exploration / travel edge. Especially if you also have the 4 basic PoF mounts. Other alternatives to the skyscale in group content (like the mid- meta champ train in drizzlewood coast) are using teleport to friend consumables if you've earned them through birthday presents/ achievement chests or bought them from the Gem store. Or to ride in the back seat of someone's turtle (if they're using one)

[Hycinthus.6483]

22 hours ago, Omega.6801 said:

It's a mid to long term goal, which is perfedctly fine for the convenience it brings. Gotta do the thing if you want the thing.

 

21 hours ago, Einsof.1457 said:

I got my skyscale just doing a little bit every day. Don't burn yourself out. It comes in time. 

 

14 hours ago, babak.3654 said:

My approach to GW2 has been very casual for years but I didn’t have any difficulty unlocking the Skyscale. The Return to … events in particular made getting the LW4 currencies straightforward, the rest is a bit time gated and repetitive that’s all. 
 

Treat it as a longer term goal and try and clear just one bit at a time. You’ll have it eventually. 

 

13 hours ago, Jukhy.2431 said:

This would be my advice too. Think it as a long term goal and don't rush it.
I did it as a side project - something I was casually going for but it wasn't my main activity. In the end took me over a month to get, maybe closer to month and a half.

 

6 hours ago, Fueki.4753 said:

The Skyscale is supposed to be a long term goal that you do bit by bit.

It's not something that you are supposed to burn through in a week.

 

I think this is where the disagreements lie.  If we view this as a long-term goal, I think it makes sense and it's totally fine.

However, I really think the time to change is now. ArenaNet is actively trying to grow the user base now, and based on the last announcement, are rolling out a new model of pushing out more updates quicker.

This means that it will attract a lot of returners and fresh new joiners.

They buy the expansions and come in hoping to play End of Dragons.  Skyscale would really increase enjoyment of exploration immediately.  This is also why many MMOs provide direct pathways for new joiners to play the latest iteration of the expansion, to prevent them getting bogged down for weeks trying to reach the pinnacle enjoyment status of the expansion.

Skyscale was really made for a different time - a time when GW2 was suffering from content droughts. Moving into this new era, I think it's worth reconsidering awarding Skyscale at the end of the base-game main quests, right before HoT.  This will also resolve another long-standing problem of new joiners quitting at HoT due to difficulty spike of mobs and navigating the map.

Edited May 27, 2023 by Hycinthus.6483

[Vayne.8563]

On 5/27/2023 at 4:13 AM, 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. 

The natural progression is the skyscale is a reward for Season 4 which was years into the game, and you're not supposed to have it in a day.  That's the progression. It's an end game reward for end game content. It's not a normal mount, but more akin to a legendary mount.

Getting a skyscale isn't hard. People who grind it really hard are just hurting themselves. I was never intended to be done that way.  I have multiple accounts and skyscales on 10 of them.  It's only hard if you have to do it all at once. I can prove it, in game, if you're on a US server.

Btw, I'm an old man too.

[Chichimec.9364]

Sorry, I didn't bother to read the last half of this thread. So this probably has already been said. If so, let me say that I agree with those who may have said something like this before. Personally, I don't understand what the big deal is. If you want the skyscale, do the work to get it. If you don't, then don't bother with it. I played the game happily for years without one. The only reason I finally got it was because a guildie offered to lead another guildie and I through the whole process. Now that I have the skyscale I do use it but I also still use my jackal, skimmer, and springer on a regular basis. The skyscale does offer some convenience but you can readily play the game without it. So again, get it if you want it, skip it if you don't. And no, OP, sorry but I don't understand your concept of "natural progression" or why it so strongly affects your reaction to this particular mount.

[Randulf.7614]

1 hour ago, Hycinthus.6483 said:

Skyscale was really made for a different time - a time when GW2 was suffering from content droughts. Moving into this new era, I think it's worth reconsidering awarding Skyscale at the end of the base-game main quests, right before HoT.  This will also resolve another long-standing problem of new joiners quitting at HoT due to difficulty spike of mobs and navigating the map.

I’m going to have to pick up on this. It is not correct the skyscale was introduced during a content drought. War Eternal ended in May. We then had two festivals then in Sept Icebrood Saga started. That is close to standard for release times which averaged 3 months gap, give or take a few weeks. At most we had an extra month gap, made up for by lots of releases that year.
 

It was made for a different time, one with a more hectic and demanding release schedule than we have now. It was made during a time we were inundated with content - we saw four sizeable living world episodes released that year which made for a busy schedule. Including four brand new maps in Thunderhead (Jan), Dragonfall (May), Grothmar (Sept) and Bjora part one with three Strikes (Nov)

The skyscale was simply rounding off the season alongside other collections, giving casual players a long term alternative to the griffon which was proving difficult to get. The skyscale instead became a much more accessible option.

Far from a drought, it was a heavy content year.

Moving it pre hot means a great deal of work since all the achievements, masteries and collections are tied both to the PoF expansion and season 4 maps, but also directly to the story of Aurene and Kralkatorrik. Any changes to collections or achievements will impact existing players which can result in severe bugs and also make no sense. The HoT difficulty spike has already been partly resolved by numerous nerfs, but is easier solved by just nerfing it further if they feel it is needed, not by introducing the skyscale.

Edited May 28, 2023 by Randulf.7614

[vicky.9751]

On 5/26/2023 at 2:02 PM, OldManWhat.5083 said:

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. 

I never understand these posts. Like, in a way I sympathize because I know new players have to go through all the story and buy the maps to get it. But the actual process, it's not bad. I am somebody that puts off tasks FOREVER. If you use wikipedia, it MARKS exactly where the scales are, the eggs are, all the tasks, and jumping puzzles, and food needed. I think it took me like..a week and a half? It wont flow through the gameplay progression BECAUSE they added mounts 5 years after the game was released. 

The ONLY annoying part about skyscale was the puzzle under the desert highlands map. Rarely, you can find a mesmer to port you through the walls to collect the essence of water. If not, there are youtube videos.

If you're looking to no life the skyscale achievement, that's not the way to go about it. 

Edited May 28, 2023 by vicky.9751

[asket.5674]

7 hours ago, Hycinthus.6483 said:

I have to agree with OP on this.
I'm a returning player, so I have a lot of expansions to catch up on, including Heart of Thorns, Path of Fire, and now even End of Dragons.
 

Struggling through Hearts of Thorns (a difficulty spike) was already frustrating enough, and trying to navigate through the map was a difficult experience for me as a returning player, therefore, I was suggested to get a Skyscale to make it easier to navigate.

So it's not really fun having to grind something for weeks, just so I can play the expansion contents. I know it's not mandatory, but seeing others flying through Tangled Depths with Skyscale motivated me to get it too.

 

I think we are viewing this from different angles (from me, an angle of new joiner or returner; and from others of course an angle when they grinded Skyscale during content droughts).

ArenaNet truly introduced Skyscale at a different time - a time past, when GW2 were not getting regular updates or expansions. 

Looking from a new lens, and from a new business model of trying to push out more regular expansions, and actively trying to grow their user base with new players, I do think OP has a point here.  The methodology seems to not fit with the new business model of attracting new players fast and keeping them for the long-term.

And the main reason why is because Skyscale greatly increases the enjoyment factor to enjoy the new expansions, especially for new-joiners and returners, providing them great, easy, and fast access to the new wonderful maps and areas. Fast is key here as we are also dealing with a new generation of players.

Nah man, i am a fairly new player too. Started the game at the beginning of the year, and at first i just played the story until it took me to the skyscale achievements and then i started working on it. At this time i did not grind any metas and did not have to farm anything to get that thing unlocked, stuff provided by playing the story was enough. What i did though was unlocking the aurora and vision collection before i started skyscale. And no collection of the skyscale comes close to the chore of collecting mursaat tokens 🫠

[Fueki.4753]

7 hours ago, Hycinthus.6483 said:

ArenaNet is actively trying to grow the user base now, and based on the last announcement, are rolling out a new model of pushing out more updates quicker.

This means that it will attract a lot of returners and fresh new joiners.

They buy the expansions and come in hoping to play End of Dragons.  Skyscale would really increase enjoyment of exploration immediately.  This is also why many MMOs provide direct pathways for new joiners to play the latest iteration of the expansion, to prevent them getting bogged down for weeks trying to reach the pinnacle enjoyment status of the expansion.

Skyscale was really made for a different time - a time when GW2 was suffering from content droughts. Moving into this new era, I think it's worth reconsidering awarding Skyscale at the end of the base-game main quests, right before HoT.  This will also resolve another long-standing problem of new joiners quitting at HoT due to difficulty spike of mobs and navigating the map.

I heavily doubt that they'll actually release content quicker. It'll at best be:

A "mini expansion" with maybe two maps and half a serving of story content, followed with half a new map and story droplets three months later, with the rest of the newer map and another droplet of story three more months later. Half a year after that comes the next "mini expansion". And the cycle will just repeat.

The new release cadence will likely be the same as now, at best. And the content for each release will likely be one third of an expansion for each "mini expansion", with content comparable to Gyala Delve for both follow up patches.

There will most likely still be content droughts.

Also, the Skyscale is not inherently necessary for EoD. I did it just fine without the Skyscale on my first character playing through EoD. Just like the legendary system, the Skyscale is merely a mount if convenience. Neither Skyscale or legendaries are a necessity.

Additionally, the "pinnacle enjoyment status" of EoD is highly subjective. For me that is Shing Jea, because it simply is the least ugly map of EoD (which doesn't say a lot, as they all are polluted with jade junk).

Edited May 28, 2023 by Fueki.4753

[Kal Durak.2830]

On 5/27/2023 at 2:02 AM, OldManWhat.5083 said:

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. 

I have the Exact same opinion.  IMHO worthless time sink. No thanks!  

[Kal Durak.2830]

On 5/27/2023 at 2:16 AM, vares.8457 said:

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

Calling BS on this one. 

[Kal Durak.2830]

On 5/27/2023 at 3:20 AM, Arianth Moonlight.6453 said:

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.

In guild chat today, 40 people disagreed with your statement and said it is worthless, get a Griffon instead. 

[Dayra.7405]

Some month ago, I got the skyscale also for my 2nd account.

The most time consuming part by far was: convincing me to do it again 🙂

Everything else was smooth and fast. Now I think it looks much worser, than it is.

Edited May 28, 2023 by Dayra.7405

[Gibson.4036]

13 hours ago, Hycinthus.6483 said:

 

 

I think we are viewing this from different angles (from me, an angle of new joiner or returner; and from others of course an angle when they grinded Skyscale during content droughts).

ArenaNet truly introduced Skyscale at a different time - a time past, when GW2 were not getting regular updates or expansions. 

I was a returning player. Left after LW2 and came back after LW4. So I had no content droughts to space out Skyscale.
 

I play a handful of hours a week, and had no trouble with it. That was before they made it easier with the Return achievements.

[Sobx.1758]

13 hours ago, Hycinthus.6483 said:

ArenaNet truly introduced Skyscale at a different time - a time past, when GW2 were not getting regular updates or expansions. 

...what are you even talking about?

13 hours ago, Hycinthus.6483 said:

Looking from a new lens, and from a new business model of trying to push out more regular expansions, and actively trying to grow their user base with new players

Looking from a new lens, the skyscale acquisition process was already made easier -and faster- in multiple ways.

13 hours ago, Hycinthus.6483 said:

And the main reason why is because Skyscale greatly increases the enjoyment factor to enjoy the new expansions, especially for new-joiners and returners, providing them great, easy, and fast access to the new wonderful maps and areas.

Skyscale doesn't really open up more access to maps and areas than using other mounts.

 

13 hours ago, Hycinthus.6483 said:

They buy the expansions and come in hoping to play End of Dragons.  Skyscale would really increase enjoyment of exploration immediately.  This is also why many MMOs provide direct pathways for new joiners to play the latest iteration of the expansion, to prevent them getting bogged down for weeks trying to reach the pinnacle enjoyment status of the expansion.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Raptor_Taxi

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gliding#End_of_Dragons
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Springer#End_of_Dragons
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Raptor#End_of_Dragons

Exploring EoD is already made to be easier without playing through previous content.

13 hours ago, Hycinthus.6483 said:

I think it's worth reconsidering awarding Skyscale at the end of the base-game main quests, right before HoT.

I think that's ridiculous and shows a pretty extreme case of "just gimme" with a complete lack of understanding of the game or its story.

Edited May 28, 2023 by Sobx.1758

[Dayra.7405]

17 hours ago, Hycinthus.6483 said:

Skyscale at the end of the base-game main quests, right before HoT.

Of course you can try and get the skyscale early, but the earlier you get it the more suspense and fun in the game you will leave out.

The whole fascination of HoT is that you are stranded in a very hostile environment, where you barely survive. If you go there with skyscale you dominate the map already and you betray yourself from the satisfaction of surviving, learning, adapting and finally dominating.

My main critique on the skyscale is: it makes the game to easy and this is especially true for all areas released before it.

Edited May 28, 2023 by Dayra.7405

[AliamRationem.5172]

14 hours ago, Hycinthus.6483 said:

I have to agree with OP on this.
I'm a returning player, so I have a lot of expansions to catch up on, including Heart of Thorns, Path of Fire, and now even End of Dragons.
 

Struggling through Hearts of Thorns (a difficulty spike) was already frustrating enough, and trying to navigate through the map was a difficult experience for me as a returning player, therefore, I was suggested to get a Skyscale to make it easier to navigate.

So it's not really fun having to grind something for weeks, just so I can play the expansion contents. I know it's not mandatory, but seeing others flying through Tangled Depths with Skyscale motivated me to get it too.

 

I think we are viewing this from different angles (from me, an angle of new joiner or returner; and from others of course an angle when they grinded Skyscale during content droughts).

ArenaNet truly introduced Skyscale at a different time - a time past, when GW2 were not getting regular updates or expansions. 

Looking from a new lens, and from a new business model of trying to push out more regular expansions, and actively trying to grow their user base with new players, I do think OP has a point here.  The methodology seems to not fit with the new business model of attracting new players fast and keeping them for the long-term.

And the main reason why is because Skyscale greatly increases the enjoyment factor to enjoy the new expansions, especially for new-joiners and returners, providing them great, easy, and fast access to the new wonderful maps and areas. Fast is key here as we are also dealing with a new generation of players.

Giving players the means to bypass content as it was originally designed and intended under the premise that they have the attention span of a gnat is exactly the opposite of what they should be doing if the goal is keeping players long-term.

[tom.7468]

you can get that dragon in about 10 days and its worth it in my opinion.

[vandrefalk.6823]

On 5/26/2023 at 8:02 PM, OldManWhat.5083 said:

...but I'd rather spend my time playing guild wars 2 instead of grinding for a new way to move around the world.

Change your perspective. Getting the skyscape IS playing Guild Wars 2, among many other things...

[Doctor Hide.6345]

3 hours ago, Dayra.7405 said:

My main critique on the skyscale is: it makes the game to easy and this is especially true for all areas released before it.

     Which is why I love it and prefer it over the others. I don't care for challenge that much. I prefer the easy path every time which is why I love flying in other MMOs too over ground mounts.