New Xpac Skyscale

[idpersona.3810]

12 minutes ago, Ashen.2907 said:

Excellent. Thank you!

 

Not a problem. Had to find it. I remember thinking it was pretty funny at the time.
But...as was pointed out in the thread, it's a weird stance to for Anet to take since the Skyscale isn't actually easily attainable for new players.

Edited July 19, 2023 by idpersona.3810

[StuckHat.8061]

"I suffered so you have to suffer too" is a poor argument that won't make you lots of friends.

I think an easy-to-acquire Skyscale is fine, if not an outright improvement. I see plenty of fine tags and event runners struggling to get things together because they don't have the mount and I don't find anything especially prestigious in your ability to wait for the clock to go forward. Mind: I'm not against pursuing excellence. I like hard achievements. I prefer going for fashion and gear that is locked behind them if only for the actual prestige that comes with doing some dumb, inefficient hat trick that only lets me live 2/3rds of the time.

Skyscale, as much as those who would have it still exclusive complain, is becoming the standard as maps grow and events demand a quicker pace. I think easier access to said baseline while offering mastery bonuses (though we'll have to see if they're worth it) to those who actually put in the work is a good compromise.

Honestly, half the reason I haven't bothered with Skyscale is because I absolutely loathe time-gating. Does the grind scare me? I'm a Monster Hunter vet with a passion for Diablo and Path of Exile. "Grind" is essentially kind of my thing. Treasure hunts, 15k of Elderwood Logs, even a boss rush or four. These things don't scare me. But I can't "grind" time. I can't devise a good strategy to effectively wait. That's not challenging, impressive, fun, or really anything other than some unmovable obstacle you can remove by going to a burger joint and stuffing your face. I'm not gonna get any catharsis from that.

"Oh, but the grind for Skyscale is hard too!" Not really. I don't know if it was part of the nerf on the quest, but the demands are very easy to attain, especially with access to Return to X which all but gives you a ton of the required mats to begin with.

Seriously. What's so holy about the Skyscale? You guys are good at waiting. I have acknowledged that. Can we make some progress now?

Edited July 20, 2023 by StuckHat.8061

[Dante.1508]

On 7/20/2023 at 7:08 AM, idpersona.3810 said:

 

I like how they look down on Griffon players with it... @0.04..

Edited July 21, 2023 by Dante.1508

[enigmatic.3576]

12 hours ago, StuckHat.8061 said:

Skyscale, as much as those who would have it still exclusive complain, is becoming the standard as maps grow and events demand a quicker pace. I think easier access to said baseline while offering mastery bonuses (though we'll have to see if they're worth it) to those who actually put in the work is a good compromise.

Standard as in frequently used by players then yes.  Standard as in a requirement then no.  A player swapping between the other mounts using their respective strengths will be more than enough in the majority of situations.

12 hours ago, StuckHat.8061 said:

Honestly, half the reason I haven't bothered with Skyscale is because I absolutely loathe time-gating.

It's like 3 instances of a 2-hour timegate and then the feeding part that will take three days.  Honestly, you can use those three days and farm the LS4 currencies.  Unless you no-life it, I doubt the average player would have the currencies within that time.

12 hours ago, StuckHat.8061 said:

"I suffered so you have to suffer too" is a poor argument

This is a misrepresentation.  The argument is about investing the same effort as those before them did.  Not everyone found the process insufferable or at least not after the reduction in the timegates and the LS4 currencies having been made easier to obtain through the "Return To" achievements.

[Ashen.2907]

On 7/19/2023 at 2:13 PM, idpersona.3810 said:

Not a problem. Had to find it. I remember thinking it was pretty funny at the time.
But...as was pointed out in the thread, it's a weird stance to for Anet to take since the Skyscale isn't actually easily attainable for new players.

Exactly. It should be less, "why wait," and more, "wait for your dragon mount here instead of there."

[Ashen.2907]

6 minutes ago, enigmatic.3576 said:

A player swapping between the other mounts using their respective strengths will be more than enough in the majority of situations.

Will that continue to be the case?

I am honestly curious if flying mounts will be necessary for SotO. 

[enigmatic.3576]

14 hours ago, Ashen.2907 said:

Will that continue to be the case?

I am honestly curious if flying mounts will be necessary for SotO. 

We'll just have to see.  

I personally don't believe that they're going to make a single mount a requirement other than for the initial exploration of select areas with a character.  Think of the PoF mounts to see what I'm referring to.  Where it'll likely matter the most is when it comes to map metas and probably only if their repeatability is worthwhile.  If they were optimal for the Gyala Delve map meta, I doubt there would be many complaints if any at all.  If they were optimal for those like EoD or even a new farm map, then I can see it.

[Dante.1508]

I waited years for my Skyscale and finally slaved through it last year.. If only i'd known i had to wait one more year.

[Dante.1508]

On 7/21/2023 at 11:55 AM, Ashen.2907 said:

Will that continue to be the case?

I am honestly curious if flying mounts will be necessary for SotO. 

Its a flying castle.. Do you really think Skyscale wont be needed haha

[Ashen.2907]

4 hours ago, Dante.1508 said:

Its a flying castle.. Do you really think Skyscale wont be needed haha

Kinda hoping that asura gates, gliding, some form of elevator mechanism, etc might be sufficient. Dont care for the Skyscale. If worse comes to worst, perhaps my Griffon.

[Sugar Min.5834]

On 7/1/2023 at 1:58 PM, Dante.1508 said:

As somebody who to this day hated doing that Skyscale obnoxious grind i'm all for the new players getting to avoid toxic game mechanics. 🥳

+1

I hate and didn't want to do that ridiculous grind to this day. Already 5 1/2 years without that 'helicopter' mount and I am doing good. If getting a Skyscale is a must to play SotO, so be it. EoD will be my last xpac.

Edited July 22, 2023 by Min Min.9368

[Dante.1508]

11 hours ago, Ashen.2907 said:

Kinda hoping that asura gates, gliding, some form of elevator mechanism, etc might be sufficient. Dont care for the Skyscale. If worse comes to worst, perhaps my Griffon.

I kinda swap and change, as i said for years it was bunny and griffon for myself and i didn't find much content hard to compete with Skyscales until those memory things that required a skyscale.. In the end i decided i've got to do this stupid grind as i could see over time the direction Anet was heading was the skyscale direction..

[enigmatic.3576]

16 hours ago, Dante.1508 said:

Its a flying castle.. Do you really think Skyscale wont be needed haha

Like how flying was require in VB to get up to the floating islands?

[Dante.1508]

1 hour ago, enigmatic.3576 said:

Like how flying was require in VB to get up to the floating islands?

Not exactly couldn't you use the doggo to teleport through sand portals. I think thats what i did, its been a while.

[Tachenon.5270]

I got the skyscale on both my accounts. Fun, fun. There are people in my guild that still don't have it. If they can get it with less "I went around the map looking for stuff! I went around the map looking for stuff again! Hey! I went around the map again!" in the SoTO thing, then woo hoo, good for them.

'Time and resources' are not dev exclusives.

[enigmatic.3576]

10 hours ago, Dante.1508 said:

Not exactly couldn't you use the doggo to teleport through sand portals. I think thats what i did, its been a while.

Sand portals do not exist in VB as that map was created before mounts existed.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Verdant_Brink

Edited July 23, 2023 by enigmatic.3576

[Linken.6345]

15 hours ago, enigmatic.3576 said:

Sand portals do not exist in VB as that map was created before mounts existed.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Verdant_Brink

No flying mount existed then either and SotO is releasing with the reimagined skyscale so pretty it will be needed.

[Dante.1508]

16 hours ago, enigmatic.3576 said:

Sand portals do not exist in VB as that map was created before mounts existed.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Verdant_Brink

For some reason i read VB as Vabbi.. You can actually get up to those islands with a bunny and griffon. I did it for years even the highest one.

[enigmatic.3576]

13 hours ago, Linken.6345 said:

No flying mount existed then either and SotO is releasing with the reimagined skyscale so pretty it will be needed.

It may be needed for some exploration of areas such as how the Itzel poison resistance and Ley-Line masteries were needed for some areas in HoT.  What it'll come down to is how needed they will be for the map metas and that's entirely dependent on the quality of their design and the desire to repeat them.  The only thing I see being unique to skyscale is the final mastery but nothing was said about updrafts resetting their initial height position when it comes to the stamina meter.  I can also see WP locations being a factor into this as well.

[ProtoGunner.4953]

On 7/22/2023 at 6:03 PM, Ashen.2907 said:

Kinda hoping that asura gates, gliding, some form of elevator mechanism, etc might be sufficient. Dont care for the Skyscale. If worse comes to worst, perhaps my Griffon.

what the hell, dude. That's the whole point of this expansion and it's cool. What's your problem with flying around? Afraid of z-axis like a big part of this casual game community? Man hey, you would all die if you play Super Mario Galaxy or Elden Ring 😂

[GeraldBC.4927]

On 7/1/2023 at 1:08 AM, Richard.7518 said:

I don't think I'll be buying the new xpac. As glad as I am for gw2 to be releasing a new xpac, it's just made my past effort to get a skyscale worthless. The skyscale was the legendary of mounts and now its just "here you go", past efforts void. No point playing for the grind if its just given away to please those who can't be bothered to put in the effort to begin with.

I never got why people react to the news that way. I got the skyscale the old way too, but seeing that new players who play the expansion will get it more easily made me go "Thank god they'll have an easier way, imagine having to do everything you currently need to do."

[Richard.7518]

On 7/28/2023 at 12:17 PM, GeraldBC.4927 said:

I never got why people react to the news that way. I got the skyscale the old way too, but seeing that new players who play the expansion will get it more easily made me go "Thank god they'll have an easier way, imagine having to do everything you currently need to do."

On 7/15/2023 at 11:07 AM, Richard.7518 said:

Changed my mind....... after more reading, I've decided I will be getting the Xpac after all.

Apologies for being a groucho!

Looking forward to the next chapter of GW2 🙂 

Hi Gerald, I was being a grouchy grouch, after my intial temper tantrum and reading through the comments on this post I'd changed my mind and happy with everyone getting the Skyscale 🙂 

 

[Kashra.3761]

So now that the expansion is out:

 

Yes you get given the mount outright but you can only use it in the new zones.

 

To use outside the new zones:

 

Unlock the new masteries (which old players want anyway).

Then do the new collection

 

OR

Do the old masteries (which you want anyway)

Then do the collection.

 

If you do both you get bonuses. From chat the old way is actually faster if you want the skyscale outside of the new zones (unless you get very lucky with RNG, then it is easy). Otherwise, it is yours no strings attached (aka I just want to use it the SoTo zones). If you want the most powerful version, you need to do both.

Edited September 2, 2023 by Kashra.3761