[merged] About the Skyscale Timegate...

[Witch of Doom.5739]

Having slept on the idea of the next part of the collection (which I am not up to yet), I've calmed down a bit and here are some updated thoughts. Probably no one cares but I hope ANet is reading:

What has upset me about this long, drawn-out process is that I expected the Skyscale acquisition to be similar in length, cost, and difficulty to that of the Roller Beetle or Warclaw, which in turn I felt was a good adjustment on ANet's part to the lengthy, expensive process for the Griffon. Obviously my assumption was wrong, and that's on me. If the devs had been up front and told us it would take a lot longer, woulda been nice. Saying, "Get your Skyscale TODAY!" implied that you could get it on the day of release of the next episode.

I liked the first few scavenger hunts, and enjoy those in general. Going to the same spots three times was overkill though. Requiring a time-gated material with no advance warning was cruel for those of us who just happened to have used up all our charged quartz crystals for other things.

At this point I am rushing through everything about the Skyscale as fast as I can -- using guides, getting in a map and out again asap, and so on. We're almost a week in and I literally cannot see the end in sight. I don't feel ANet owes me anything but admit I'm impatient, because I do think I'm going to like the Skyscale if I ever get it; I like the hovering and find it almost calming (yeah, I'm weird).

[eldrin.6471]

all the other mounts added together did not entail a collection of this scale.and both the mount and mastery system were locked behind this collection.is this going to be the new norm for acquiring mounts and progressing mastery?

[Cragga the Eighty Third.60]

It seems like everything Anet does is greeted with a huge pile of rage posts from the people who don't like it. (Sometimes including me.) It's not surprising that they don't react and change things based on forum outrage, because it's impossible for them to make everybody happy, and the people who don't like the new situation are much more likely to post about it than the people who like it or those who don't care one way or the other. People complaining about the lack of communication would be no happier if Anet honestly came out and said, "Yeah, well, we're waiting till the novelty rage dies down and we'll see how many people actually get the Skyscale collection done before we can judge if this is really a problem."

[Teefy.5016]

the (living world) story was greeted with warm, enthousiastic responses. i dont think the community is that petty.

[Cragga the Eighty Third.60]

@Teefy.5016 said:the (living world) story was greeted with warm, enthousiastic responses. i dont think the community is that petty.

And also with a lot of critical posts. It's always mixed reviews.

[eldrin.6471]

@"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:It seems like everything Anet does is greeted with a huge pile of rage posts from the people who don't like it. (Sometimes including me.) It's not surprising that they don't react and change things based on forum outrage, because it's impossible for them to make everybody happy, and the people who don't like the new situation are much more likely to post about it than the people who like it or those who don't care one way or the other. People complaining about the lack of communication would be no happier if Anet honestly came out and said, "Yeah, well, we're waiting till the novelty rage dies down and we'll see how many people actually get the Skyscale collection done before we can judge if this is really a problem."

i have done the collection up to the second day of feeding and will get the skyscale.but i will never ever do another collection in this game like that one again.i do not play guild wars 2 to be stressed out frustrated and generally made feel ill.there is no connection between getting the mount and enjoying the content.

[Ragnarox.9601]

problem with this mount is that you actually need mountain to climb higher cause if you dont have it you will glide really fast to ground zero height. Griffin is much better cause he can go higher without climbing and sticking to a wall. Pretty much I screwed up, i should go for the griffin cause dragon sucks. Griffin is faster, he can fly forever compared to dragon which does not fly forever nor glide forever without sticking to a wall (dragon cant fly in gw 2 - such an irony). They need to change hes flying bar to have more stamina or 3 bars, and climbing to use less power but climb faster (its a helicopter for gods sake).

[FrizzFreston.5290]

@Kidel.2057 said:

@"FrizzFreston.5290" said:I dunno, i cant twirl through the sky on a springer, nor on a glider.

And if there's floating magic about, collecting it with the skyscale is "objectively" better than any other mount.

But hey, I'm just on a borrowed mount, I guess with masteries it can do even less...

You can't with Skyscale either (if by "twirl" you don't mean hover in position without moving). That's the issue.Its only unique trait is that you can hover without moving above spots. It's an "afk hovermount", as multiple people said in this thread (with multiple expressions). It's basically useless in exploration if you don't want to chill or waste time, and doesn't have the best engage skill (that would be Springer/Jackal or sometimes Raptor). It's just to show off at the moment.

The Rift Repair paths are situational at best. Similar to the Jackal portals.

It seriously needs the wall clinging mechanic fixed, dome more horizontal movement (at least better than gliding) and maybe a third stamina bar.

Hint: Press the first mount skill button while hovering. (default: c i think?)

Funny, you seem to talk like you know everything, but clearly you don't.

[ZDragon.3046]

@PixelJaeger.2403 said:I have the bad feeling that the next episodes will require that (in my opinion) terrible useless mount in order to advance the story.In my point of view the Skyscale isn't worth putting that much effort into it.Pros:: It can hover... it can launch off of cliffs...Cons: it's awfully slow... it can't dive... you have to get it in order to advance your mastery rank...

Yeah sorry, no. I'll pass.I'm not against working towards a goal. I'm not against timegated stuff.But Collections within collections within timegates seems to me like a tryhard way to keep me artificially long in the game.I could do with the way they did the Griffin or the Roller-Beetle. Hell, i even wouldn't mind having to do 8-10 Collections.Don't get me wrong, i like the content and will play it. But until they fix that mess i'll wont even go near the Skyscale collections.

Many of the folks i play with (guilds, allied guilds, friends) are really annoyed by the way the Skyscale collection works.Some of them already quit playing the content/GW2 and went to other games. All in all it seems that many people are ticked off in a big way.This collection-design is a desaster and will ensure many players quitting, which can't be what ANet wanted.

Again: What i wrote here is MY opinion. you can agree with it, which is fine. and you can disagree with it, which is also fine.

I doubt this will be the case i suspect that in season 5 anet will move away from mounts entirely. While new masteries are sure to pop up i doubt they will be mounts or mount related. Otherwise it makes no sense to do this much for any single mount this has to be the last mount which might also explain why its not particularly good at anything .

Personally they need to buff this things speed in the air, have the stamina bar flash or glow when you are flying in a perfectly balanced way (not using stamina but not gaining it either.Use less stamina for climbing. Wall cling needs to the restoration of stamina and or an option to hop up and not back off the wall.Also needs another button for quick descending. Thats one thing I've found super annoying about this mount if Im flying high up to an event or something it can take quite a long time to drop from the air even if you are moving down and forward while holding the engage skill which helps a bit it still takes a long time to get to the ground.

For all the time delay and work this is taking this mount will need buffs

I dont mind the theme and idea behind the collection or the work required with all the steps I do think its a bit over kill and forced and the reward for it might not be properly fitted.

I think it still would have been better for anet to give the base mount after collection 1 then continue with the time gated collection which unlocks a total of like 12 different skins (they dont need to be over kill skins just something a bit different from the base skyscale) for example based on the 12 different elements of the eggs in collection 2. Things that people could work towards and it would be repeatable to till you had them all thus has content that people can optionally play through to unlock a nice extra something for their mount. If this was the case a 24 hour time gate would be fine as a extra optional content.

I think in a month or two Dragonfall's chest loots will be nerfed, and the skyscale collection will also be nerfed in some way or another after a good chunk of people finish it when they are close to having skins ready to sell for it.

[Danikat.8537]

This isn't about the timegate but it is about unlocking the skyscale and didn't seem worth it's own topic.

Having done the Skyscale Scales collection just using the hints in game I was very disappointed to unlock the Skyscale Fever collection and find that the hints just tell you the name of the map section they're in. The scale hints weren't exactly specific; "On a branch where fire meets water" could be anywhere around the boundary of Balthazar's domain, but at least it told me I just needed to check around the edge and that I was looking for one on a branch. That's specific enough that I can get started, without giving away the exact spot.

Whereas "Find the ailing skyscale in Grenth's Teeth" gives me absolutely nothing to go on except searching that entire section of the map...and knowing I'm going to be doing it again for 12 more map sections (I'm not counting the one in Sky's Reach because that was obvious). And if I want any more information I have to resort to a guide which will show the exact spot and kill any sense of challenge in working it out.

If it was two unrelated collections I might not have even thought about it, but going immediately from one to the other as part of a wider collection (meta-collection?) made it especially jarring. It would be really nice if they could be consistent, and my preference would be for them all to have hints like the scale collection did.

[Judah Rahab.5716]

@Lauren.3061 said:

@Judah Rahab.5716 said:If you read what I wrote it addressed the whining in the community not calling anyone who disagrees with me a whiner. Very different things; one is a shallow thought and the other addressing a real issue. You can disagree with me but from what I and a large number of friends in game see constantly is complaining in chats, forums and Reddit that don't reflex the majority of the community and are destructive. By no means did I ever state anyone who doesn't like the new mount collection is wrong to feel that way. If you look through a lot of the posts you will find so many negative comments that offer nothing other than negativity. That is what I'm referring to. Your comment is a valid one with a mix of emotions and facts not just a statement like: this game sucks burrr. So comments like yours I welcome whole heartedly even though I don't agree with some of it.Sure, I can understand that. I can also get people venting off steam, but it's certainly better to be constructive in giving feedback. One more issue about the collections that popped up while I was thinking about it last night - and I'd be curious what you think of it since you're more cool with the skyscale collections as they are than I am - is I'm worried at the kind of precedent this sets for future mount introductions. The next mount I was personally hoping we'd get was an underwater mount - but regardless of the type - what if ANet decides to keep ramping up the difficulty requirements of each mount they release? Perhaps requiring more and more days/timegates to complete it? What would be too much? I guess for me, I think the skyscale's already overkill, but I hope with any future mounts, they take into consideration that many players weren't happy with this level of complexity in the requirements, let alone more. What do you think of that issue?

I agree with you is all I will say. Good luck in forums guys. Enjoy.

[VDAC.2137]

@Jojo.6140 said:The timegate, especially with the feeding, is there so that you bond a bit with your skyscale. You can play with her, wash her nest and watch it grow over the days and it looks adorable. It is done in a very lovely way and it makes me sad how everyone just hates on it just because they cant have their new mount on day 1 ...

That part does sound really neat and I am looking forward to it, although I still feel it would make more sense to tie it to in-game time rather than real time, especially an arbitrary cut-off like daily reset.

I don’t think it’s fair to say that people simply wanted their mounts on day one. Some set aside time to work for and enjoy the mount on release based on the precedence set by previous mounts and how the Skyscale was advertised. And then the timegate at reset has made the collections especially worse for people because of where that time falls.

[Witch of Doom.5739]

@Jojo.6140 said:The timegate, especially with the feeding, is there so that you bond a bit with your skyscale. You can play with her, wash her nest and watch it grow over the days and it looks adorable. It is done in a very lovely way and it makes me sad how everyone just hates on it just because they cant have their new mount on day 1 ...

A few clicks is not making feel bonded to my skyscale, but I'm glad it does for you. Please do not presume to speak for everyone.

[ZDragon.3046]

@Witch of Doom.5739 said:

@"Jojo.6140" said:The timegate, especially with the feeding, is there so that you bond a bit with your skyscale. You can play with her, wash her nest and watch it grow over the days and it looks adorable. It is done in a very lovely way and it makes me sad how everyone just hates on it just because they cant have their new mount on day 1 ...

A few clicks is not making feel bonded to my skyscale, but I'm glad it does for you. Please do not presume to speak for everyone.

I think the the idea behind this collection specifically the feeding part was done over 4 days, 12 hours, 2 weeks the result feeling would be the same for me. Even if i felt a small bond spreading out the time between feedings wont make most people feel any closer toward it.

Currently fed baby dragon for the 4th time and couldn't advance to 4th collection till next reset... literally 24 hours of wait here for no reason there just a "ill let you know if anything happens commander" OOF

[Thundabolt.8541]

Players will, sans timegate if fortune allows, be able to finish their final collections at tonight's reset. That is, the players who actually managed to finish the first collection on the first day before the reset locked them out of advancing.

Therein lies the biggest problem I personally have had with this entire situation... we're weren't looking forward to the last day like we should have been - we were hoping there wouldn't be another day. Because information was deliberately withheld in fear of backlash, the backlash ultimately swung back thrice as hard.

In things like crafting, we expect timegates. It's information that we can research on, so we're able to make a yes or no decision when it's presented to us. In legendary crafting, there are alternate options available, should players choose not to pursue the timegated option. With the skyscale, despite it being bonus content, we had to make the disappointing discovery on our own, and have had no choice but to pursue it.

As I've stated many times before, I didn't want the timegate eradicated. I merely wanted it to be linked to in-game day/night cycles. That way, the people here defending the timegate would be happy, and the people here against the timegate would be less upset.

Having had no major responses from Aenet, all we can really do now is wait for the dedicated stream on the 24th. I imagine the moderators will be quite busy that day.

Not really sure what else to say at this point... we hoped for a little bit of leeway on the timegate, and now we're waiting for a timegated explanation behind the timegates.

Is "complete a task before midnight to complete another task before midnight" really what everyone wants in games these days? If so, then I only have myself to blame for being so out of touch.

[Vision.7265]

The overall reset timegate affects many parts of the process, not just one. To add to that one overall gate, we have several other gates: farm gate, craft gate, gold gate, collection gate, jump gate, episode gate, boss gate, res gate, kill gate, charged quartz gate, etc. There are people who can defer to gold at some points of the process, but not everyone is a whale.

I may not be done with the thing myself, but at least there's no RNG gate that I know of. That would have been an epic fail. Nightmare scenario: RNG black lion chest mount. Picture that and the current situation doesn't seem as bad despite the ridiculous high cost in time for low benefit skyscale.

Again, I do not think you get what you pay for in the skyscale: the mount isn't worth what you put into it. Legendary collection should have legendary reward. Many of us don't mind the work if it is worth it. It just isn't. Only getting it as a vanity mount for afk by next month maybe early August since this journey really isn't that engaging, either.

If we could raise it like pokemon or monster rancher instead of the current system, maybe it would warrant the time investment but it isn't a new system at all. It's a series of collections that does not introduce a new element to the game.

[Sledgehamster.8106]

I'll ultimately obtain it, but the experience so far (Egg just hatched today) hasn't been anything like fun, more like pointless busywork to mask the woeful lack of content in the new living story episode.So I'll get it eventually but not actively going to grind it out like I did the first collections, I've also decided that I won't be spending a single penny on the game until after I eventually get the mount.In fact, the terrible design of it all encouraged me to purchase the Elseweyr chapter for ESO and a month of ESO+, Zenimax thanks you Anet!.

[Rukario.1695]

It would have been a lot more interesting if we could have taken the hatchling out with us to train it while participating in events, etc, as it gains experience it grows; and you could be required to feed it on occasion or it will fail to gain more exp.

Think of the Ranger and their pets, except with the Skyscale and an experience bar where the pet's health usually is. At the very least this would make participating in the new Map a lot more rewarding and no matter how much time we have to spend on it, we have a visual reminder that we have a job to do as a parent to this lil' baby.

That's just a piggyback off of what @XYLO.7031 said, however. I would have enjoyed that so much more while doing collections, and a time-gating process wouldn't have even been necessary as you can just make the Skyscale require a stupid amount of experience to level up. Meanwhile you're playing the game as much as you want and you are both enjoying your time as usual in addition to raising it.

[voltaicbore.8012]

@Thundabolt.8541 said:

Therein lies the biggest problem I personally have had with this entire situation... we're weren't looking forward to the last day like we should have been - we were hoping there wouldn't be another day. Because information was deliberately withheld in fear of backlash, the backlash ultimately swung back thrice as hard.

This. This statement should be upheld as the very essence of this entire thread.

As many of the skyscale collection detractors have already said, we don't want the mount instantly, or for absolutely no effort. However, that doesn't excuse the current acquisition process, which is repetitive, uninteresting, not commensurate with the (un)usefulness of the mount itself, and a completely unannounced departure from all seven previous mount acquisition quests.

I'm glad some of you seem to get something out of the meaningless delay, but I find it very hard to believe that any of this process really prioritized the quality of the player experience. I'd be fine with it not being player-centric if it at least remained consistent with the rest of the game, or important aspects of the episode. I find that it fails to be either of those things. I'm trying to keep an open mind about what we'll hear on the 24th about all this, but somehow I don't think the discussion will be very frank.

[Kaliwenda.3428]

I've gotten stuck at the last step in the Water egg collection because I don't have the rune-locked doors achievement done yet. And I'm getting utterly destroyed in the ice room, so it's very discouraging.

I'll keep at it, and work around it for now to do the other steps for the other eggs, but I worry about this one.

[coso.9173]

people who threaten to leave the game because of having to wait for like 1 week for a new mount... isn't it a bit much?

[Aerlen.5326]

@voltaicbore.8012 said:

@"Thundabolt.8541" said:

Therein lies the biggest problem I personally have had with this entire situation... we're weren't

looking forward to the last day

like we should have been - we were

hoping there wouldn't be another day.

Because information was deliberately withheld in fear of backlash, the backlash ultimately swung back thrice as hard.

This. This statement should be upheld as the very essence of this entire thread.

As many of the skyscale collection detractors have already said, we

don't

want the mount instantly, or for absolutely no effort. However, that doesn't excuse the current acquisition process, which is repetitive, uninteresting, not commensurate with the (un)usefulness of the mount itself, and a completely unannounced departure from all seven previous mount acquisition quests.

I'm glad some of you seem to get something out of the meaningless delay, but I find it very hard to believe that

any

of this process really prioritized the quality of the player experience. I'd be fine with it

not

being player-centric if it at least remained consistent with the rest of the game, or important aspects of the episode. I find that it fails to be either of those things. I'm trying to keep an open mind about what we'll hear on the 24th about all this, but somehow I don't think the discussion will be very frank.

Exactly this.Like I said, if I want to make a Legendary - I can look up exactly what's involved and I can decide before taking a single step or spending any time or gold if #1 it's worth it to me and #2 if I can actually do all that's needed to complete it.None of us got this option with Skyscale. It's like sorting an impossibly tall stack of papers and then someone pops up the next day saying "Oh that was just the first one" and points to a second stack of papers taller than the first. Then you finish that one and oh look, a third.It would have been nice to know this going in. People could have planned and decided if it was worth it. What's the point of hiding what this mount entails?

[Rukario.1695]

@"coso.9173" said:people who threaten to leave the game because of having to wait for like 1 week for a new mount... isn't it a bit much?

Is usually "this was the last straw that broke the camels back."

They were tempted to in the past but this threw them over the edge.

They might come back but generally they will leave again because history repeats itself, and they will eventually find another game that gives them more enjoyment.

With that said I don't think it's over-exaggerating.

[ZDragon.3046]

@coso.9173 said:people who threaten to leave the game because of having to wait for like 1 week for a new mount... isn't it a bit much?

its kind of a bit deal to be teased about something for several weeks and then you really want it and are expecting to get it within roughly same amount of time as other previous mounts only to find out its 5 days ohh 9 days ohhh..... 2 weeks etc. The more you love something the more hate you can have against it when something goes the wrong way. A persons frustration and hate can be arguably equal to the amount of love and comfort they get from the same thing.

Anyone who says they are quitting also likely said at some point in the past that they would never quit because they loved the game that much. Human reactions. So while it is a bit much its understandable. This was not a good marketing move in general on anets part but i think we all understand that by now.

[ZDragon.3046]

@voltaicbore.8012 said:

@Thundabolt.8541 said:

Therein lies the biggest problem I personally have had with this entire situation... we're weren't

looking forward to the last day

like we should have been - we were

hoping there wouldn't be another day.

Because information was deliberately withheld in fear of backlash, the backlash ultimately swung back thrice as hard.

This. This statement should be upheld as the very essence of this entire thread.

As many of the skyscale collection detractors have already said, we

don't

want the mount instantly, or for absolutely no effort. However, that doesn't excuse the current acquisition process, which is repetitive, uninteresting, not commensurate with the (un)usefulness of the mount itself, and a completely unannounced departure from all seven previous mount acquisition quests.

I'm glad some of you seem to get something out of the meaningless delay, but I find it very hard to believe that

any

of this process really prioritized the quality of the player experience. I'd be fine with it

not

being player-centric if it at least remained consistent with the rest of the game, or important aspects of the episode. I find that it fails to be either of those things. I'm trying to keep an open mind about what we'll hear on the 24th about all this, but somehow I don't think the discussion will be very frank.

Lets hope that the majority of us who started on day one and are / will be on the 4th or 5th collection as of reset today will have it done before the 24 cause if not thats gonna be one very very angry day for a stream. Can see chat being moderated heavily if not turned off.