Wild Trihorn Raptor Skin - I don't understand

[Omnicron.2467]

I don't understand why this is a 2k gem skin? No unique animations, it is just like any other reskin, and we have had some really cool reskins like Lithosol. This does not feel like a 2k skin, but just a regular one you would get in a mount select package

[Teratus.2859]

1600 gems isnt it?Like that Gyrobeetle.

I got it from a Black Lion Chest, it's a funky skin but it doesn't have any special effects or anything.Dye channels are pretty basic too.Saddle + Headplate tips/pattern.Horns and spikes.Entire body.Belly.

[Omnicron.2467]

Sorry, yes, 1,6k. Not sure if it is still 2k at full price but discounted to 1.6k at release?

For people who don't know what it looks like:

[Randulf.7614]

It is at least nice to see something a bit more grounded for a change

[Udolpho.1209]

It's a nice skin, nothing wrong with it -- but how does this qualify as an exclusive mount worth 2000 gems (with an opening discount of 1600)?

They.... didn't even modify the basic saddle.

Wonder if the decision making process was along the lines of: there's a new BL chest coming, people buy more keys if there's an exclusive mount in there - wait, we don't have one? Just dust off whatever we got that's decent and slap an exclusive sticker on it. Make the dismount dyable, or whatever. Problem solved.

[choon.6308]

Yeah I don't get why a 400 gem skin is being sold for 4 times the price now

[Astyrah.4015]

the skin nice imo, though i do agree it kinda feels/looks like it's not on an entirely different level compared to those mount-select/adoption licenses

i'd probably buy it right away if it was worth something like 800~1000gems but not 1600

[kharmin.7683]

Perhaps it is considered an exclusive skin because it is not part of a bundle?

[Solanum.6983]

I ended up getting it in a Black lion chest and it's a solid skin. I have to agree tho, I don't think it's worth the same as other skins of the same price.

[Danikat.8537]

I kind of like it, but for me it's another skin that falls into that gap of "Would I actually use it enough to justify the price?" and that's harder to do the higher the price is. In this case I don't think I would. It would effectively be a replacement or alternate option for some characters who already have a raptor which suits them, and it's not enough of an improvement over what they've already got for me to think it's worth spending the money.

In other words I think it's nice, but nothing special. If it was part of a pack and I could therefore wait for select licences to be discounted and get it for under 800 gems I would, but I'm not going to pay double that for it.

@kharmin.7683 said:Perhaps it is considered an exclusive skin because it is not part of a bundle?

That is how they're presenting it, but the question is why would they choose this skin to be the exclusive and not a different one? Why couldn't it be part of a bundle instead?

My best guess is the pricing is based at least partially on how much work it requires. This raptor appears to be bigger and a considerably different shape to the normal ones so it probably required more work to design than something like the Lithsol which looks quite different but fits within the same 'template' (it's like they took a default raptor, made parts invisible and retextured what was left) or the Primeval which has new effects but the same base model underneath.

The problem is in this case that work isn't really obvious from our end. It is noticeably chunkier than the other raptors, but it's not as distinct as the previous exclusives (the Dreadnought, Gallant Lightbearer and Resplendant Avian). Maybe that's supposed to be reflected in the lower price, but since the 2k gem mounts have been sold for 1,600 gems sometimes that doesn't seem like much of a discount.

[Adenin.5973]

I believe that they saw that the BLC sold like crazy with a mount skin as possible reward. So they wanted one for this BLC too and this is all they had. So they slapped a ridiculous premium price tag on it, made the dismount dyable and for many people it seemed to work immediately.

Then again, we get sometimes such good deals. Look at the Mad King Halloween Mount Package, that was on sale last week for 1200 gems, for all Mounts. Every single Mount there could be a premium exclusive mount (just missing footprints maybe).

So yeah, this raptor is not a great deal, it's actually quite awful. But we get great deals every now and then, so it's hard to get angry at Anet for something like that.

[Turkeyspit.3965]

I don't know if there is a set criteria for what distinguishes a 1600/2000 gem mountfit from one that would appear in a license for 400 gems. Usually it has some extra flashy effect when summoned / dismounted, as well as it usually a big deviation in terms of form from the original mount.

Example: Humming bird for the Skimmer, and Gecko for the Springer, etc.

I haven't seen the mount in game to say yes or no to that, but I don't find this one interesting in any case.

[Linken.6345]

@Adenin.5973 said:I believe that they saw that the BLC sold like crazy with a mount skin as possible reward. So they wanted one for this BLC too and this is all they had. So they slapped a ridiculous premium price tag on it, made the dismount dyable and for many people it seemed to work immediately.

Then again, we get sometimes such good deals. Look at the Mad King Halloween Mount Package, that was on sale last week for 1200 gems, for all Mounts. Every single Mount there could be a premium exclusive mount (just missing footprints maybe).

So yeah, this raptor is not a great deal, it's actually quite awful. But we get great deals every now and then, so it's hard to get angry at Anet for something like that.

Hallowen mount package got skyscale, warclaw and rollerbeetle now?

[Adenin.5973]

@Linken.6345 said:

@Adenin.5973 said:I believe that they saw that the BLC sold like crazy with a mount skin as possible reward. So they wanted one for this BLC too and this is all they had. So they slapped a ridiculous premium price tag on it, made the dismount dyable and for many people it seemed to work immediately.

Then again, we get sometimes such good deals. Look at the Mad King Halloween Mount Package, that was on sale last week for 1200 gems, for all Mounts. Every single Mount there could be a premium exclusive mount (just missing footprints maybe).

So yeah, this raptor is not a great deal, it's actually quite awful. But we get great deals every now and then, so it's hard to get angry at Anet for something like that.

Hallowen mount package got skyscale, warclaw and rollerbeetle now?

No, I just meant that you get all the Halloween mounts for 1200 gems, which is super cheap compared to what you get with this raptor skin here

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

I didn’t buy it either and I buy most of the exclusive skins. My problem with it is the same as mentioned above by others, it is too vanilla for the price. It looks too closely like a regular raptor with a different head and some big spikes added. I agree that it looks like a raptor that belongs in a value pack with other mounts. For 2000-1600 gems I want a mount that’s different enough to stand out a bit.

[Funky.4861]

This is quite ugly; i'd be a bit disgusted if i got 'lucky' with a BL key and this was the reward. The horns and saddle are just ridiculous, completely out of proportion/scale, and seem to be poorly-textured to boot. Yuck.

[GuriGashi.5617]

@Solanum.6983 said:I ended up getting it in a Black lion chest and it's a solid skin. I have to agree tho, I don't think it's worth the same as other skins of the same price.

Same story here. Got it through the BLC, tried it out and immediately changed it back. It does really not look that ‚special‘

I hope they add a new & unique Griffon skin to the Gem Store in the near future though

[Felipe.1807]

He looks pretty cool, but not sure if 2K gems kind of "cool" lol usually the expensive mounts skins have complete diferent models then the original ones and cool effects, like the shrine guardian or the Lion griffon...this one, while well done, have neither of them.

[Cragga the Eighty Third.60]

It's a good enough skin, but definitely lacks the 'ooooh' factor of a truly premium mount.

[Eekasqueak.7850]

Not a fan of the booty spikes.

[Astralporing.1957]

@choon.6308 said:Yeah I don't get why a 400 gem skin is being sold for 4 times the price nowWell, they started overselling skins the moment the first licences hit the market (remember, MO straight out admitted they wouldn't have been able to sell a lot of those initial skins for the license's price if it wasn't random). This is just a natural consequence of the initial idea. No need to be surprised - we gave them okay to do stuff like that the moment when we stopped complaining about the initial licenses even when Anet did absolutely nothing to fix the problem then.

[Dragon Priestess.9760]

800-1200 Gems would be far more appropriate.

[firedragon.8953]

I got it after throwing my one and only BL key in storage at this BL chest. So, I am pretty happy about it. I don't have any other raptor mount skins. Problem is (not really a problem), the vanilla raptor mount is actually really nice. This new one is nice, so I'll enjoy it for a change of pace since I have it, but I probably wouldn't have paid gems for it. Again, mainly because I just like the normal raptor out of most skins available. Something about the skin texture on this one seems weird to me... Anyway, in my case definitely not bad, I've definitely gotten worse RNG loot.

[Josiah.2967]

At least this hybrid works better than the unicorn...

[Witch of Doom.5739]

I got it and found the dye channels weird in that it was hard to find a combination of colors that looked good. Several other players I talked to said the same thing. I finally settled on a light yellow for the main body color with dark spikes that looks pretty good, and it seems to highlight the somewhat chubby appearance, which is fine with me because it's a little different. While I'm a mount skin collector, I'd never pay 1K+ gems for this one.