New/Returning player, Roller Beetle TT's: Fun, and Frustrating as Hell!

[WinterPhoenix.4392]

Wasn't sure whether to post this in discussion or players helping players, if it needs moving then my apologies.

Ok so I'm a returned player, been playing again for about 2 weeks now. Though as the last time I played was sometime around the end of LWS1 I feel like 'new player' is probably a more apt moniker. Rollers obviously weren't a thing back then, along with many other new features I am discovering as I make my way through the story content.

Recently, as in the last couple of days, I completed the Torn From the Sky mission in HoT and finally unlocked masteries as a result. Since experience gaining was no longer useless I figured I'd take a break from pure story progression and start going for some map completion/meta events/world bosses etc as a break - conveniently allowing me to accrue Hero Points for unlocking my Elite Specialisation before HoT proper as well.

And it is here, wandering the lush Brisban Wildlands that I came across my first - and so far only - Roller Beetle race/TT. Always been a sucker for TT's, even a poorly made TT mode can grab me and keep ahold for inordinate lengths of time tbh, anything that mixes that Mario Kart feeling (however slight) with my fantasy MMORPG's is an instant winner in my head.

I have a couple of questions though. Firstly, out of pure curiosity, are the gold standard times the same now as they always were?

Secondly, I fully intend to collect and max out the masteries for the Roller Beetle - will try and do the same for as many mounts as I can over time, but the Beetle is now my priority haha. However, as I have a hardwired OCD inability to do story content out of order it's going to be some time before that happens. So all my many attempts yesterday were done on a rental Beetle with no drift or big air endurance boosting (things I looked up in frustration at not reaching gold haha), after I would say 40 maybe 50 tries I managed to reduce the time to 2:40. I still think I could shave time off that, maybe lower the graphics to boost my FPS or something, but 5 seconds would be a big ask. My main question then is this, am I likely to hit that 2:35 without the aforementioned skills? And are there any other tracks that pure practice and the ability to do the same course over and over and over again without losing the will to live will suffice to grab me the gold? Or should I just wait till I have my own glorious, glorious beetle?

[Ashantara.8731]

I used to do Gold daily for a couple of months when the Roller Beetle races were released, so yes, you can reach Gold with a little practice and the Masteries unlocked. I don't think the times were changed, at least not that I'm aware of.

You can reduce times by boosting up at start before you click the start button in the pop-up window. You can also reduce time by learning which bumps to avoid, when to speed boost etc. For that you need your own beetle, though, I think (never used the rental ones myself).

If you have questions about the drifting mechanics later on, don't hesitate to ask. :)

[WinterPhoenix.4392]

Hmm definitely thought that the masteries were going to be necessary by yesterday's experience. Are there any tracks do you think were gold is doable without the drift? Since last night I've discovered the Brisban race is or at least was considered one of the harder ones.

And cheers I'll certainly do so if I struggle with it at all :)

Ya already thought of the boosting before I press start strat haha

[Ashantara.8731]

@WinterPhoenix.4392 said:Hmm definitely thought that the masteries were going to be necessary by yesterday's experience. Are there any tracks do you think were gold is doable without the drift?

I can't say, since I've never done them without it. I think I remember YT videos where a player did it without them, but I am not sure about it.

Since last night I've discovered the Brisban race is or at least was considered one of the harder ones.

It actually is one of the easier ones, since you have no sharp curves (at least no difficult ones IMO). You just need to learn how to master the bit at the end, where you use the large root as a ramp and must navigate skillfully through that narrow corridor of roots (it's easier done than it might sound).

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Here's a list of some races, if you've yet to discover them:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mount_race#Roller_beetle_races

Good luck.

[WinterPhoenix.4392]

Yeah that root corridor really screwed me a couple of times. As did the bandit mines before the big jump.

Honestly I think if I could drift and save time on the sharp turn after Toxal Bog I'd already have it done. So I should wait for the the drift for sure....

But I have endless patience with these sorts of thungs. So I imagine I'll be grinning like a madman while venting frustrations at a bullshit root collision for at least a couple more hours when I get back online :D

Thanks alot for the list :D Gonna have fun trying them all, even if gold is a hopeless endeavour until I have my own glorious beetle :)

[Randulf.7614]

Gendarren and the Charr ones are easy without drift, esp gendarren.

Brisbane is a fun track but insane time limits

Snowden was unsuitable

Mt Maelstrom has some unsuitable section but makes up for being a cool track environment.

Hoelbrak is ok apart from a couple of strange tight corners

Halloween is shockingly bad

The beetle can turn tight but it’s not well set up for it and relies a little on luck as well as skill. Big rolling courses are what it is best for.

[WinterPhoenix.4392]

OMG, got home and logged expecting to spend another fruitless hour or two trying to gold Brisban with the basic rental beetle, so no drifting or the endurance regain from tricks etc.

3rd try, 2:34:00! 6 seconds faster than I had managed last night out of nowhere!!

Btw, thank you Randulf for all the extra info on the courses, will defo search out the ones you marked as easier at least :D

[Donari.5237]

I could be wrong on this but I think you have drift? It's not one of the three masteries for beetle. However, it does require binding mount action 2, which perhaps does not become hotkeyable until you have unlocked the relevant griffon mastery or at least gotten any mount at all.

If you can bind it, then here is my advice on setup:Put Mount Action 1 on the same key you use for Dodge. Put Mount Action 2 on a key adjacent to that one. Hopefully both are near the space bar, or whatever key you have Jump on, as some mount movements require hitting them all in very rapid sequence.Go to the bottom of Options General, and check Disable Conditional Mount Input. This means that hitting the space bar will never fire off your Mount 1, so you can choose whether you are just hopping over an obstacle like the bandit roadblocks in the Brisban race or hitting your rocket boost.

Now to drift:While moving forward at high speed, press and hold your Mount 2 key. Pan your camera to the desired new direction. As you come to the spot where you wish to turn, release the Mount 2 key. This should swing your beetle to the new trajectory. (I find this all easier if I have toggled on autorun at the start of the race so I only need to steer and drift, not keep holding down my forward move).

Timing on key release takes practice, I'm certainly not terribly good at it even after a ton of racing. But once someone told me that drifting technique, I improved tremendously. Hope it helps you.

[WinterPhoenix.4392]

That is all very useful information thanks indeed :D

It definitely seems as though you can't drift using the rental beetle, I could just be being dense and I have missed it completely but I don't think so. I'm guessing it's because I do not yet have my own beetle. Nonetheless this is great to know for when I do, even though I managed in the end to get gold on the Brisban track without drifting I will absolutely be aiming to get gold on them all, and lower my times as much as possible once I have my own beetle and maxed out masteries for it. So the info is much appreciated :)

[TwiceDead.1963]

I don't think there's a mastery requirement for drifting. At least I can't find it in the wiki. The only really useful ability you don't get from rentals is "Big Air" which just unlocks tricks to regenerate your endurance while airborne.

PS. Beetle-races are the best plz moar anet.

Here's a lazy copy&paste blurb from the wiki:

Unlike most mounts, the Roller Beetle does not have a fixed running movement speed. It has a base movement speed (600 units per second), which is equivalent to that of the Raptor. If the Beetle rolls down a hill or if its primary movement skill is used, it accelerates up to triple its normal speed (1800 units per second). The Roller Beetle can then sustain this higher speed until it rolls up too steep a hill or crashes into terrain, both of which will slow the Beetle down.

Speed up/Boost

Boosting consumes Endurance, requires a full Endurance bar to activate, and consumes the full bar in a single activation. This ability gives a massive boost to the Beetle's speed and acceleration for 2.5 seconds. When the beetle is mounted, its endurance is set to 0 and takes 12.5 seconds to fully recharge. After boosting, it takes 15 seconds. (12.5 seconds to recharge, 2.5 second cool down while the boost is active where it remains at 0).

Drift

The second ability does not consume endurance, but can only be used when the Beetle is already rolling faster than its base speed (1000 units per second). When held, this ability significantly reduces the Beetle's traction with the ground, allowing the rider to rotate the Beetle at high speed without changing direction. When the ability is released, traction is restored and the Beetle abruptly changes to the new direction, losing speed proportional to how sharp the resulting turn was.

[Donari.5237]

As I said, there could be an unlock needed to be able to keybind Mount Action 2. I have a vague recollection of having to wait to unlock various things about mounts before I could assign keys to them (such as not having a jackal mount hotkey until I had said jackal). And without that keybind, yeah, no drifting will happen.

[WinterPhoenix.4392]

Yeah I think you are both right actually, it's not a mastery, but I still don't seem to have the option to use it in a race on the rentals, certainly there is no obvious indication of which key it would be if it is available. Suppose I could try them all one lap just to see. But I'm inclined to believe that the key binding will become available when I actually have my own one, as you say Donari.

I'll find out eventually for sure, untill then I'll just keep using the other races to see if I'm just being dense lol

Cheers for all the info guys :D

[Randulf.7614]

Key binding comes available hen u own the mount

[DaFishBob.6518]

I think the drift key would be "c" by default if you can't change the key bind.

[Aaralyna.3104]

C is the default drift key indeed. Brisban was one I did struggle on a while and the Snowden one I never managed to get gold at... But truth be told, practice makes perfect. Its a matter of finding out where to boost and where not. You also don't have to go through the ports, as long as you hit the field it counts. Current festival in Hoelbrak also has a beetle track and that one you can get gold on easily without any drifting (you have quite some screw up time as well) so it may potentially be a good practice track. In Kessex Hills is a practice track (not really a race race) and Gendarran one is a very easy track as well to start at. From there take it to the more difficult races :)

[crepuscular.9047]

Yes, you must have the masteries if you want gold

and even with masteries, just like racing sims, you need to find when to use the boost, when to save the boost, when to release the forward key to let the beetle slowdown naturally for easier turning, how close can you get to a corner before you need to initate the drift, angle of the drift, and at which point of the drift path should you release from drift

In terms of difficulties, this was my experience; i'm not the best racer

• Snowdrift - spent 3 entire days to get it, and never got gold ever again
• Brisbane - took < 10 runs to figure out where are the optimal places to use boostsmy experience is the part where determines you get gold or silver is the part where you fly off the cliff down to the grove then up the narrow curvy path way to bandit camp, make sure you have boost ready to the curvy path way, you want to boost and nick the tree root a bit so you lose slight bit of speed to stay in control, and boost immediately after you pick up the recharge near the end of the curvy pathway
• Mt Maelstrom - got it on 3rd attempt, the only difficult part is getting through destroyer tunnel with minimum speed lost
• Diessa - got it on 2nd or 3rd attempt, the only tricky bit is the curve beside the lake, make sure you are ready to boost right after the curve
• Gandaran - way too easy, no need to drift at all, you can use booster whenever you want; the only difficult part is the section right before the bridge, plenty of youtube video shows you how to do it, you need to hit a rock and bouces yourself onto the bridge

[WinterPhoenix.4392]

I have tried using C to drift, as it has been mentioned multiple times, but to no avail whatsoever. However, interestingly when I got to Kessex Hills as part of my map completion kick and found the really short TT there I tried pulling back with the S key as well as right with D for that series of 3 goals on the really tight first corner. I had tried the same thing to little real effect at the corner straight after Toxal Bog in Brisban Wildlands, so I wasn't expecting much. This time, however, it basically drifted round the corner, I'm not sure it was exactly the right thing but it let me turn that corner fast enough to get my time down to 14 seconds. Considering going back to Brisban to see if I can improve upon 2:34:00, thing I can easily if the same trick works.

I will obviously need to the masteries to get my best possible times, but I've two gold's without then so far, so I will keep trying as I come across them. It's gonna be a long while before I get my own beetle anyways, since I am mentally incapable of doing story missions out of order, it actually hurts me ?

Once again thanks for all the information, it has helped alot :)

[Schimmi.6872]

The masteries help, but aren't a must, all all races are doable with the rental beetle too.Something that can help you to get some extra seconds are the race events that occure regularly for the 5 races (excluding kessex). The rounds also count for the time achievments and you will get a flying start for the second and third round.

[WinterPhoenix.4392]

Ah that's awesome, didn't know about the race laps counting, that would help alot for sure.

Kessex Hills is crazy stupid, I managed to get my time down to 11.7 seconds and apparently that's only 17th today, I don't even see where any more time could be shaved off tbh ?

I'm getting that impression so far, that the masteries help alot for fastest possible times, but aren't necessary for gold. Plus I've finally managed to get the drift down, it isn't the C key for whatever reason, but at least on the Kessex race I have it down now. See if I can use it on anything more difficult though haha

[Kal Spiro.9745]

I guarantee you've gotten all the answers you need by now, but I don't feel like reading them, and I want to give me own.

So yes, the times are the same times they were released with. Some of the times are extremely tight with a fully Mastered Beetle, so it may be too much to ask to shave 5 seconds on a rental. I have two accounts, one of which has the Beetle and I know I wasn't able to manage full gold achievements on the Rental account.

While it may be my opinion, the degree of difficulty for the five tracks is:5) Gendarran Fields4) Diessa Plateau3) Brisban Wildlands2) Mount Maelstrom1) Snowden Drifts

If you want to practice racing in general, run through Gendarran Fields. When you're ready for some tight turns Diessa Plateau has a couple. When you're ready to tear your hair out and gouge out your eyes, head over to Snowden.

I'm actually amazed it hasn't come up, but Dragon Bash has a pretty good track also that you should try. It has one serious drift turn, and a second less serious one.As for binding keys, you shouldn't need the Beetle unlocked to bind it because the second key is universal. All you need to do is complete the first mission in PoF and unlock the Raptor, which will allow you to bind mount keys. OR, I think, unlock the Warclaw in WvW which doesn't require any story playing, but does require WvW play. Also, this will allow you to unbind mount skill 1 from space, so that you can jump without boosting.

[WinterPhoenix.4392]

More info never a bad thing though Kal Spiro :)

And actually that helps knowing about the Raptor unlocking key binding universally. Despite my obstinate OCD for my main Ele, I did bite the bullet and do the mission for the raptor on a boosted thief - played with music on loud and skipped all cutscenes ? - to unlock it account wide. So I should be able to do the key binding now, defo gonna have to have full check when I log back in. If nothing else removing the first skill from the space to stop jumping for no damn reason will be great. Plus it will help to investigate why the drift key isn't C as it seems it should be according to all the responses.

I actually did manage to shave 6 seconds off the Tropical Valley time in the end, getting gold with 2:34:00 in the end, and that was without drifting because i was still under the impression I couldn't do so yet, and nothing I had tried had disavowed me of that notion. Kessex Hills don't count I know, but that was easy, if frustrating in terms of how on earth anyone has gone faster than 11 seconds. Do the masteries increase passive endurance gain by any chance? I know Big Air does it through tricks, but a passive bonus would probably more easily explain some of the faster times I've seen online.

I've seen video evidence of all of them being done Gold without masteries on YouTube, so I will just keep having a go until I get them I think. I have no lack of patience for these things, a veteran of many, many, many hours spent racing my own ghost on endless racing games, from childhood till the present day ?