Summary of Warclaw Requirements, Abilities, & Other Notes from the Livestream

[felincyriac.5981]

A buff to defense, just what WvW needed.

[hugo.4705]

After looking at the stream, I have two major issues but they are kinda linked:-The mount in just so slow that it looks like a turtle.-Bond of Faith and others masteries can't be used.

-> The mount is based on raptor, have 3 endurance quarters. Consuming one make you "jump". Which is very stupid, would be better to be sprint like the jackal but without teleport. Also having endurance boost mastery can be pretty useful taking in account its speed. But I hope I will not simply stop playing with it if the mount is that slow.Also hard to see how the mount looks, but it's like it's wearing an helmet which kinda ruin it instead of showing a feline face.

[Loosmaster.8263]

There was also the mention of skins. If they do introduce them, they need to be locked behind "Skirmish Tickets and BoH". No Gold or Gems.

Edit: Or added to GoB reward track as an "Option" at the end instead of the GoB.

[JDub.1530]

I ran some numbers. For those new to WvW, who will likely be earning the least amount of pips (3 pips per five minutes), it will take ~8 hours of WvW to get the required 50 tickets. This 8hrs doesn't start until after you reach tier 3 participation (you need tier 3 to earn pips), and has to be done between Fri WvW resets (when the pip reward track resets). Since we are at nearly the maximal amount of time before WvW reset, you might want to get started now.

Also, a factor I've not seen anyone consider when worrying about Warclaw. If it works like other mounts, if it gets killed it counts as a knockdown for the rider. So you may have to burn through 12k extra HP, but then the mounted person has to blow a stun break, or be prone for your follow up attack. Maybe that doesn't balance out for those concerned, but I've not seen it brought up before.

[castlemanic.3198]

Some points that came up in the video that people aren't really mentioning is the specific wvw ability line that were brought up/shown.1 point unlocks the collection, nothing was specified about what it does. (my personal guess is that it specifically allows us to use warclaw in wvw once it's unlocked, similar to gliding mastery)126 points unlocks the chain pull ability (around 25:16 in the youtube video, you can see the hover over text)one of the warclaw masteries improves the engage skill by allowing it to kill downed enemies (around 17:11 in the youtube video)one of the warclaw masteries unlocks faster speed in friendly territories (around 15:06 in the youtube video)one of the warclaw masteries presumably unlocks the sniff skillleaving one warclaw mastery that we don't entirely know about (since in the video we see six tiers instead of five) (while we have no evidence of what this last mastery could be, my guess is that it either enhances the health of the mount to 12k or it improves the leap somehow, either by giving it evade frames or making the endurance bar go from two sections to three or something else i'm not thinking of)

&

[Blocki.4931]

@"hugo.4705" said:After looking at the stream, I have two major issues but they are kinda linked:-The mount in just so slow that it looks like a turtle.-Bond of Faith and others masteries can't be used.

-> The mount is based on raptor, have 3 endurance quarters. Consuming one make you "jump". Which is very stupid, would be better to be sprint like the jackal but without teleport. Also having endurance boost mastery can be pretty useful taking in account its speed. But I hope I will not simply stop playing with it if the mount is that slow.Also hard to see how the mount looks, but it's like it's wearing an helmet which kinda ruin it instead of showing a feline face.

The mount is as fast as the Griffon. People are worried it will break WvW, then there are others that complain about it being too slow, lol

Keep in mind that the maps are HUGE. It looks slow, but the difference will be enormous. The only footage came from the devs running around alone, nothing to compare it to.

[Loosmaster.8263]

@Blocki.4931 said:

@"hugo.4705" said:After looking at the stream, I have two major issues but they are kinda linked:-The mount in just so slow that it looks like a turtle.-Bond of Faith and others masteries can't be used.

-> The mount is based on raptor, have 3 endurance quarters. Consuming one make you "jump". Which is very stupid, would be better to be sprint like the jackal but without teleport. Also having endurance boost mastery can be pretty useful taking in account its speed. But I hope I will not simply stop playing with it if the mount is that slow.Also hard to see how the mount looks, but it's like it's wearing an helmet which kinda ruin it instead of showing a feline face.

The mount is as fast as the Griffon.

People are worried it will break WvW, then there are others that complain about it being too slow, lol

Keep in mind that the maps are HUGE. It looks slow, but the difference will be enormous. The only footage came from the devs running around alone, nothing to compare it to.

I bolded he Griffon part as that is what I'm responding to. They specifically said it's as fast as the Griffon is "on the ground", not airborne, big difference. Either way, I'm sure more complaints will arise once it's released. Just hold on for the forum flood of 50 threads on the same subject...

[hugo.4705]

Hmm hmm gryphon isn't fast all, is it? I always thought raptor is the faster after roller beetle? (I'm speaking on land btw)

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

Speed:

• "As fast as a Griffon on land" has been measured to be 12.5 "m/s"
• A player 'running' was measured to be 7.5 m/s,
• So the Warclaw is not quite 70% faster than running.
• It's also 30% faster than a zerg with sustained swiftness from guardian staff.(I've added this to the summary in the OP.)

For comparison, Raptor land speed is 15.2 (using those same units), Beetle is 15.5 (unboosted), and Griffon (flying, without diving boost) is 15.2.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

I've added to the top post a link to Dulfy's summary.

[Blocki.4931]

@Loosmaster.8263 said:

@Blocki.4931 said:

@"hugo.4705" said:After looking at the stream, I have two major issues but they are kinda linked:-The mount in just so slow that it looks like a turtle.-Bond of Faith and others masteries can't be used.

-> The mount is based on raptor, have 3 endurance quarters. Consuming one make you "jump". Which is very stupid, would be better to be sprint like the jackal but without teleport. Also having endurance boost mastery can be pretty useful taking in account its speed. But I hope I will not simply stop playing with it if the mount is that slow.Also hard to see how the mount looks, but it's like it's wearing an helmet which kinda ruin it instead of showing a feline face.

The mount is as fast as the Griffon.

People are worried it will break WvW, then there are others that complain about it being too slow, lol

Keep in mind that the maps are HUGE. It looks slow, but the difference will be enormous. The only footage came from the devs running around alone, nothing to compare it to.

I bolded he Griffon part as that is what I'm responding to. They specifically said it's as fast as the Griffon is "on the ground", not airborne, big difference. Either way, I'm sure more complaints will arise once it's released. Just hold on for the forum flood of 50 threads on the same subject...

That's why I didn't specify it. It's been said multiple times in here alone.

It's still fast. Haters have already complained about this the second it was hinted at, they're not happy with anything so it's not worth listening to them anyway.At least I've seen many people change from "I don't want this" to "This doesn't look bad, it might be cool" and that is a little shine of hope for me.

I say wait and see. From what we have seen so far this won't break the game at all but be another quality of life thing like gliding, hated as it was.

[Linken.6345]

@"ugrakarma.9416" said:whats is this "ability points"? the ones we spend to "upgrade" our siege skills?

Yes

[Balsa.3951]

I like the finished downed players ability. If wvw would be not so laggy that could be some cool tactics using a second squad as cavelery to flank or get behind the enemy.

Very curious

[Balsa.3951]

@"castlemanic.3198" said:Some points that came up in the video that people aren't really mentioning is the specific wvw ability line that were brought up/shown.1 point unlocks the collection, nothing was specified about what it does. (my personal guess is that it specifically allows us to use warclaw in wvw once it's unlocked, similar to gliding mastery)126 points unlocks the chain pull ability (around 25:16 in the youtube video, you can see the hover over text)one of the warclaw masteries improves the engage skill by allowing it to kill downed enemies (around 17:11 in the youtube video)one of the warclaw masteries unlocks faster speed in friendly territories (around 15:06 in the youtube video)one of the warclaw masteries presumably unlocks the sniff skillleaving one warclaw mastery that we don't entirely know about (since in the video we see six tiers instead of five) (while we have no evidence of what this last mastery could be, my guess is that it either enhances the health of the mount to 12k or it improves the leap somehow, either by giving it evade frames or making the endurance bar go from two sections to three or something else i'm not thinking of)

&

Carry more supplies perhaps ?Or eat Dolyaks to get supplies direct from there ?Stealth on the third evade?

Stay mounted while in the water ...

Let’s see

[Hesacon.8735]

I'm liking everything about it except the "sniff" skill. That one worries me since I often participate in havoc groups.

[Balsa.3951]

@"Hesacon.8735" said:I'm liking everything about it except the "sniff" skill. That one worries me since I often participate in havoc groups.

Could add wvw items like camouflage to counter that or some terrain you walk thru to cover urself in mud Arnold ala predator style

[misterman.1530]

@Gehenna.3625 said:So the 126 points, is that the points you get from gaining ranks?

Yup. You get 1 pt per rank. So, you would need to be a Legend level 6 (Rank 126 - Legend starts at rank 120 and goes to 149 after which is rank 150 Bronze Invader). So, you would need approximately 610,000 WXP points to get to that rank.

The first 5 ranks are 1000 WXPs each. All other ranks require 5000 WXP. So, if my math is correct, ranks 1 to 5 require 5000 WXPs in total. Ranks 6 to 126 would require 605,000 more, for a total of 610,000 WXP.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@misterman.1530 said:

@"Gehenna.3625" said:So the 126 points, is that the points you get from gaining ranks?

Yup. You get 1 pt per rank. So, you would need to be a Legend level 6 (Rank 126 - Legend starts at rank 120 and goes to 149 after which is rank 150 Bronze Invader). So, you would need approximately 610,000 WXP points to get to that rank.

The first 5 ranks are 1000 WXPs each. All other ranks require 5000 WXP. So, if my math is correct, ranks 1 to 5 require 5000 WXPs in total. Ranks 6 to 126 would require 605,000 more, for a total of 610,000 WXP.

That would put the unlock requirement at Invader and the "max skills" requirement at just above (basic) Legend, below even Bronze Invader and well below the "gold" requirement that some were predicting.

[misterman.1530]

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@misterman.1530 said:

@"Gehenna.3625" said:So the 126 points, is that the points you get from gaining ranks?

Yup. You get 1 pt per rank. So, you would need to be a Legend level 6 (Rank 126 - Legend starts at rank 120 and goes to 149 after which is rank 150 Bronze Invader). So, you would need approximately 610,000 WXP points to get to that rank.

The first 5 ranks are 1000 WXPs each. All other ranks require 5000 WXP. So, if my math is correct, ranks 1 to 5 require 5000 WXPs in total. Ranks 6 to 126 would require 605,000 more, for a total of 610,000 WXP.

That would put the unlock requirement at Invader and the "max skills" requirement at just above (basic) Legend, below even Bronze Invader and well below the "gold" requirement that some were predicting.

True. You do need Gold, I think, to get the minimum number of skirmish tickets - but not Gold WXP rank. Maybe there's been some confusion there? Not sure.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@misterman.1530 said:

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@misterman.1530 said:

@"Gehenna.3625" said:So the 126 points, is that the points you get from gaining ranks?

Yup. You get 1 pt per rank. So, you would need to be a Legend level 6 (Rank 126 - Legend starts at rank 120 and goes to 149 after which is rank 150 Bronze Invader). So, you would need approximately 610,000 WXP points to get to that rank.

The first 5 ranks are 1000 WXPs each. All other ranks require 5000 WXP. So, if my math is correct, ranks 1 to 5 require 5000 WXPs in total. Ranks 6 to 126 would require 605,000 more, for a total of 610,000 WXP.

That would put the unlock requirement at Invader and the "max skills" requirement at just above (basic) Legend, below even Bronze Invader and well below the "gold" requirement that some were predicting.

True. You do need Gold, I think, to get the minimum number of skirmish tickets - but not Gold WXP rank. Maybe there's been some confusion there? Not sure.

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/69094/new-warclaw-requiring-rank-gold-or-higher/p1An 8-page thread was started based on a rumor that unlocking would require Gold Rank, before the live stream. They weren't confusing Gold Rank with Gold Skirmish Chests; they were confused by the difference between fact and speculation.

[trixantea.1230]

Burning oil mastery will be more important to invest points into than before.

[judgebeo.3976]

Im a bit "scared" to how can this affect wvw. Im the only one thinking what will happen, not only to FPS, if tehere are 200 Warclaw in a battle?or...if you want to have more players in wvw... the people without it (new players) will find a serious handicap while all the people is running on their warclaw while they just go on foot?will commanders ask for warclaw to be accepted in a squad?will this means that the rules of bringing down door/walls will change, now you may dont need anything else than 3 people with the warclaw to enter a fortress.

I hope the Devs have taken in account this and other things, specially the issue of 50 warclaw clashing in the field and the lag/fps reducction it could suppose to some players.I play wvw, i likei t, im not a big expert, or veteran, just another palyer that roams or follows a commander, but while having a new mount, more on WvW sounds greate, I see some posible problems with it.

About "how to get it". It dont seems pretty hard, also, think is a method used by anet for the pvers ton join/start on WvW

[Blocki.4931]

@"judgebeo.3976" said:Im a bit "scared" to how can this affect wvw. Im the only one thinking what will happen, not only to FPS, if tehere are 200 Warclaw in a battle?or...if you want to have more players in wvw... the people without it (new players) will find a serious handicap while all the people is running on their warclaw while they just go on foot?

I don't think it's unfair to assume that the consumers will at some point have bought an expansion as cheap as 10 bucks on a sale. New players can just invest 1 point into the mount and start the collection to get it. They'll have to finish a reward track, but after that they are good to go. People who are just then entering WvW shouldn't really be considered handicapped in that regard. They just shouldn't try to max the mount ability out completely first thing.

will commanders ask for warclaw to be accepted in a squad?

Maybe? It will help move faster for sure, but seeing as most zergs are now there will always be a tail to every one of them. It used to be people who have no idea to navigate the map or no perma swiftness, now it'll be people without Warclaw (and people who have no idea how to move around the map wink wink)

will this means that the rules of bringing down door/walls will change, now you may dont need anything else than 3 people with the warclaw to enter a fortress.

You can't take down gates just with the Warclaw. It deals 2k damage to gates. Since it's locked at 3 Warclaws max this means they deal 6k damage every.. 4 seconds? That's like half of what an actual ram does and it will drain your supply. Best to have a ram apply the fire debuff and attack, rams are for support. Otherwise it's not any faster than just having somebody PvD that damn thing. Warrior Axe 5 and GS in general are good for this and deal good DPS with many smaller hits for example.

I hope the Devs have taken in account this and other things, specially the issue of 50 warclaw clashing in the field and the lag/fps reducction it could suppose to some players.

If I had to guess it's not going to be any different than now. There might be draw distance issues, especially in combination with very low player model settings, but in general I would expect this to work because of how mounts work.

I play wvw, i likei t, im not a big expert, or veteran, just another palyer that roams or follows a commander, but while having a new mount, more on WvW sounds greate, I see some posible problems with it.

About "how to get it". It dont seems pretty hard, also, think is a method used by anet for the pvers ton join/start on WvW

They've said as much on their short preview stream. They want people to play the mode to get it, while not being too difficult for completely new people to partake.

[Warkind.6745]

@Gehenna.3625 said:

@"Belorn.2659" said:So now we know the details and we can finally discuss the ramifications with more than just a trailer.

For roaming the effect is about as bad as people thought it was going to be. Defence got a huge boost, and I would like to see an increase in the time between a objective being attacked and white swords. With the mount I suspect a player can go back to spawn and run to a camp way before the objective is taken, which mean you don't need to position defenders at camps.Why is it bad for roaming? I hear people say that more often but they never explain why exactly. I do not think that you can move quite as quickly as you say.The "mark" skill is worryingly similar named as the marked debuff which impact stealth. I

really

hope this won't become a counter to veil/mass invis play.Well they said it doesn't affect stealth, but to be honest the veil/mass invis play is really lame in my view so I personally wouldn't mind if they did screw that up.The chain skill is one of the highlights as it mostly a worthless skill. 2k per 1 supply is not that great, and it doesn't replace mass alpha golems or rams since you can only use 3 mounts per gate. It does however mean that defenders

must

fully repair gates as leaving a gate at single digit is now the same as having it broken.

For some numbers, a basic gate has 373,500 hp. 2,000 damage with 25 supply is 50,000. You need like 8 players, and in that case it is more supply effective to just make a ram. Alternative you could run back and forth to a camp but again the siege is faster done with a ram.It seems logical that they don't want the mounts to be too good and replace other elements of WvW. A ram should be faster but it can also be destroyed. If the mount did more damage it would devaluate siege weapons and I don't think that's what's needed. So I think this balances well. I don't think they want to make one-man capping too easy and with the added speed getting more supplies is a viable solution. I find this all rather balanced actually.

Lots of people have explained why this is bad for roaming. In fact, someone just did earlier in this thread.

From what it sounds like, you have to deal 12000 damage (for reference, as a thief in Marauder armor I only have about 5000 more health than that) to someone who is moving 30% faster than you (assuming you have swiftness the whole time) without the ability to pin them down (because the mount can't be CC'd). This means that only classes with very long range bursts have a good chance to dismount a Warclaw running away. Melee specs will probably have to be a thief, greatsword/MH sword soulbeast, or mirage. And even then, you'd burn a lot of cooldowns just to chase the person down, leaving you at a big disadvantage.

Essentially most people are worried the mount will allow people to decide they just don't want to fight small scale battles, which is pretty much the spice of life when it comes to roaming. To newer players or players that don't play outside big groups this is probably a dream come true. To others it would be like giving players at HoT launch the Mistlock Sanctuary special leap just to avoid getting jumped by pocket raptors.

[Turkeyspit.3965]

@FrizzFreston.5290 said:I honestly wouldnt care if the mount would have had some harder wvw requirements.

Its a WvW mount, thus to unlock its full potential, I expect to need to at least play some WvW.

The problem there is that, unlike gliding, there is a big difference between someone who has a mount and someone who does not.

As noted above, the mount moves 30% faster than running with perma-swiftness (ooc), so while the tail of a zerg could use the mount to catch up to those on foot, a squad comprised mainly of players with mounts will be leaving players without mounts firmly back in the dust, easy prey for roamers. As that screws up group comps, amount of supply available to the raid, etc, it would result in commanders excluding anyone from their squad who didn't have a mount.

So no, making them harder or longer to obtain would only fragment the playerbase more than it currently is, and it would not be positive for either the players or the game mode.