Esterie.7409

The first two times it happened, I thought, "ha... that's funny, I get the joke!" After getting 3+ ambushes in a row.... it becomes a lot less fun. There were better options to implement this ambush feature. Two of my favorite alternatives I've heard of are 1) ambush happens and upon completing it, the bounty spawns as it normally would, or 2) the ambush happens when the bounty reaches a certain % health or randomly. Both instances would be mildly annoying, but you would still get to do the bounty. It keeps the flavor of the ambush but is nothing compared to having to wait for the bounty to show up on the board again. This past week I witnessed a few commanders quitting running bounty trains out of frustration. Waiting for that one bounty for a collection/achievement and getting an ambush is.... yeah, not the best.

Personally, SAB wouldn't be as special if it were available to play year-round. It would lose its charm after a while. I like the seasonal availability of it, even if we don't get any new worlds and instead only weapon re-colors (crossing my fingers for purple this year).

> @"ReaverKane.7598" said:

> Well, there's some cases where you're going through a patch with lots of ranged mobs, you can use the skill to get a heal in the mount and avoid getting dismounted.

> Of course there's a chance you die if you take too much damage. It's one of those things where you have to weigh the pros and cons. As far as masteries go it isn't the best, but it's nice to get more mount skills regardless.

> @"Westenev.5289" said:

> My mounts usually don't take enough damage to die - but when they do, I usually find I'm dismounted because of that one hit before I exit combat. This trait helps me keep my mount so I'm not swamped down in NPC's.

>

> I'd call that a win.

Precisely. There have been many times where I was on my mount, being hounded by ranged enemies, and only needed a bit more health to jump/glide to safety. If I were to get dismounted, I'd be put in combat, unable to re-mount, and in a precarious situation for easy pickings. Now I can just pop the mastery and continue on without worry. I pretty much only use it when I'm confident that my mount, and thus I, will not become downed. It's kind of like a fail-safe.

I'm not saying it's the _best_ or most widely-used mastery we've gotten, but I can see and appreciate its niche use.

Edit to add: As others above have mentioned, this mastery may likely be the first step in filling out the skill bar while mounted. It's not a full-on heal, but close enough.

Aside from the champion HP enemies & bosses, I think the majority of HoT enemies are fine for solo play. Sure, some camp/pylot/etc. events will be difficult to solo due to the sheer number of enemies, but then again it's not _meant_ to be solo content. Small groups of players are meant to spread out to further the meta event. The metas and meta rewards in HoT - particularly amalgamated gemstones - keeps the content alive. People will replay them, every day, for those rewards. So to me it makes sense that the content is geared towards larger groups of players. Even so, some bosses, particularly those in Verdant Brink, can be done with very few players. Provided everyone has good CC. I did VB/AB/TD almost every day for a few months when I was making Astralaria, and even this late in the game (around October of last year) at odd hours people were still organizing successful groups.

As for HPs only, I may be wrong but I think that there are enough commune-only HPs across all HoT maps to fully unlock an elite spec, or will at least get you very close to doing so. I did this quite often when I couldn't find others to help me with the champion HPs pre-PoF.

Yep, it's super frustrating. I was in a squad of about 15 people, all spread across 8+ IPs, and every single one was bugged. Always showed the event was active with 0/6 Zephyrites rescued, but none were actually there.

Edit to add: This is the last recording I need for the Mark Y Golem, so progress for the achievement is stalled until patch day I guess. Hoping the even doesn't bug out then, too.

Editing again to add: A few of us just spawned into a map that did not have the event active (IP was 52.54.48.61:0). Upon the event starting, our commander said something spawned in the corner of the mine/room and immediately disappeared, stalling the event. So it looks like it's not just the event eventually _becoming_ bugged, but it can be bugged from the get-go.

**Item:** Medium Bounty Hunter's Shoulderpads

**Race:** Norn, Charr, Sylvari, Human

**Gender:** male and female of the above races

**Class:** all medium armor wearers

**Description:**

The medium Bounty Hunter's Shoulderpads cause every main hand and off hand weapon (sans shield - and it is much more noticeable with main hand weapons) to angle away from and sit further from the body. It doesn't look correct, and it is only the medium Bounty Hunter's Shoulderpads that cause this issue. Here is an example:


sword without bounty hunter shoulderpads


sword with bounty hunter shoulderpads

As mentioned above, this placement issue is present with every main-hand and-off hand weapon while wearing the medium Bounty Hunter's Shoulderpads . As the light Bounty Hunter chest armor previously had this same issue that was resolved, I figured this wasn't intended and was worth reporting.

These are the mount skins I was waiting for since mounts were added to the game. Not too flashy, minor particle effects, four dye channels so they're highly customizable, and they're not so obviously tied to a holiday like the spooky and cozy packs were. A++

**Where:** Caer Shadowfain in Cursed Shore

**IP:** 34.228.109.134:0

**What:** Using the launch pad in Caer Shadowfain does not launch you as it is supposed to. It appears as if your character hits something shortly after launching, preventing you from launching all the way. I don't remember the last time I used this particular launch pad, so I don't know when this bug presented itself, but it has occurred as of today at approximately 10:40AM CST.

**Video:**

I don't mind the colored smoke around the wrists, though now that you mention it it is interesting that it's always visible compared to Elementalist attunements which are only visible when weapons are drawn.

Though I will say, after I finished Astralaria and gave it to one of my Renegades (who only has an off-hand legendary weapon), I was pretty disappointed that Citadel Bombardment only has unique projectiles for main-hand and two-hand legendaries. So I understand how you feel re: your second point.

It's just pixels, it doesn't have any bearing on the gender of the player. I have 11 female characters and seven male characters, while I myself am female. I think the armor designs for female humans/norn/sylvari looks so much better than their male counterparts, and over half of my characters are female from these races just based on aesthetics. However, sometimes I like the male faces/build more than female, particularly on charr. It doesn't get much deeper than that. I haven't been treated differently in-game while playing a frilly female Ele or a buff male Charr. I think most people don't assume who the player is based on what they're playing. It's just pixels, it doesn't matter.

No. The allure of legendaries should be purely convenience (stat swapping) and aesthetics.

Greatsword. It's visually striking and is a good DPS choice, so form and funcion all in one! I just really like the idea of hitting stuff with a big ol' blade. Also probably helps that my favorite weapon skin of all time is Sunrise, so anytime I get to use it I am happy.

They're one of my favorite weapon sets in the game, such a beautifuly simple yet stunning theme! Not too flashy, but they still stand out. I had two tickets and already got the mace and scepter skins, and am hoping to get the longbow, torch, and maybe shortbow and pistol before they're gone. Seriously, well done whoever designed these skins! <3

7 so far, working on the 8th (57% done, hoping to finish by Christmas or at the very least New Year's) and I have a new character I'd like map completion on eventually too. I've actually finished three world completions since mounts were added to the game. Granted all three characters were > 50% already, but mounts definitely made the ordeal so much easier!

I like to get 100% completion for the characters that are the most special to me. I just like the idea of a little star next to their name.

I'd love to get into raids, both for the difficult content, story, and I'm more than a little bummed my mastery level is not max (I have all other masteries in the game & have been thinking about starting an LFG for escort to get it out of the way, though I'm still nervous). However, due to real life situations, I can't play the game for more than 30-45 minutes at a time. This past week I can only count on two fingers the number of times I was able to play for a solid, uninterrupted hour or more. I never know when I'm going to have to run and help with something, and it would be super inconsiderate to tell to the other 9 people I'd be playing with "sorry, gotta go for I don't even know how long".

So yes, the time investment is the biggest barrier to get into raids for me. I've had people tell me I'm lazy, that I'm not trying hard enough to get into raids. That if I really wanted to raid, I'd find a way. How, though? Tell the people I take care of that are asking for help to hold on because I need my virtual rewards? Puhh. Those claims are beyond unfounded so I don't bother explaining my situation to make them see that the mind is willing, but my living situation and job are not. It sucks to be told you're too lazy to do certain content because of factors outside of your control. But that's the way it is, and it's a bummer, but there are lots of other things I enjoy in game that I can do easily around my schedule.

I have 17 level 80 characters, and one I am currently leveling. I have two of every profession, except for Engineer (1) and Guardian (3).

> @"Menadena.7482" said:

> Not me unfortunately. Not all the skins look usable beyond the holidays and the griffon one is pointless without that mount. I am holding out for the ability to purchase individual skins at a reasonable price (like we had with gliders).

Same here. I was anticipating a general winter-themed skin pack (subtle pattern with snow particle effect) and have been saving my gems since mount skins became a thing for such a pack. I'm personally not keen on the "decorations" on these skins. I just don't like the overt "Christmas" vibe with the Santa hat and bells. Like you said, even if the skins were free I wouldn't use them outside of Wintersday. At least the Halloween pack could be dyed in such a way to hide the skeleton pattern.

That said, I think the price point for mount skin packs is at a good place. Obviously indivdual skins at the same price of gliders would have been the ideal, but I digress. It's just the aesthetics for this particular pack are.... not my cup of tea.

Edit: After seeing the new glacial Black Lion weapon skins, imagine a mount set based on that. Vaguely icy and frosty - I would buy that in a heartbeat!

Yes! The fear in Taimi's voice was palpable, it gave me goosebumps, and I honestly wasn't sure whether we would get to her in time or if we would ever get to see her again. I don't recall ever hearing Taimi sound so... meek before. She's usually a snarky little bugger, so the change was startling - but in such a good way - and really made you feel for the severity of the circumstance she was in. Outstanding VO work!

Almost 2 months later, and Bolt still does not have sound effects when using weapon skills (can't speak for the other legendaries OP listed). It still has the draw effect sound, however.

I have an MMO mouse ([this exact one](https://www.amazon.com/M901-Perdition-Redragon-High-Precision-Programmable/dp/B00GU8W5AE "this exact one")), and my binds are:

left ctrl + 1 for raptor

left ctrl + 2 for springer

left ctrl + 4 for skimmer

left ctrl + 5 for jackal

left ctrl + the button next to lmb (which I have bound to 0 as well) for griffon

This is the easiest way for me, my thumb just knows exactly where to be placed in a compact 2x2 button configuration for the four "basic" mounts, and the "special" griffon has a button away from the others to differentiate it. I only need to move my left pinky finger down a bit to reach the ctrl key. If/when another mount is added... well, I guess I'll cross that bridge when it comes. ;)

This is only for individual skins, not multi-skin packs (which I think are priced appropriately already).

800-1200 gems for an individual skin that is a complete re-work of the base skin, like the reforged jackal or peacock raptor.

400-800 for an individual skin that is more like the base skin, but with additional patterns, dye channels, and/or particle effects/trails.

I voted for the mount I use the most, which is the Raptor. I just love the speed it provides over ground and the idle animations. Aesthetically, the Jackal is my favorite (love those glowing runes!), and the Griffon is so much fun if you find yourself up someplace high enough to really use it's movement abilities at their full potential.

I don't find myself using Springer or Skimmer as much as the other three, and especially not as much as Raptor.

This is my $.02 on the matter, so take of this what you will.

If they had released a few more 5-skin bundles like the spooky mount pack before additional 2,000 gem individual skins, perhaps the blowout wouldn't be quite this big because the gem/skin cost and value is more inline with how the majority of us expected it to be (kind of a bummer you need to commit to 5 skins if you only like 1 or 2, however). But we can only acquire skins via three methods:

1 30-skin RNG box

2 2,000 gem individual skins

1 5-skin pack

While my ideal situation for mount skins was for them to be priced similarly to gliders at 400-800 gems each, the 5-skin pack is the most desirable to me out of our current acquisition methods for the quantity of skins compared to the cost (and seeing exactly what I'm purchasing, something the RNG box does not do... being RNG and all). I wish we had more 5-skin packs to choose from, so that it wouldn't seem that the focus is primarily on the more expensive 2,000 gem individual skins (which I think this is too high a price point to begin with, individual skins should never cost close to the price of an expansion).

**TL;DR** - My major issue at the moment is the seeming focus on the more expensive (overpriced) individual skins instead of 5-skin packs.

No more will I decide to do metas and realize I never swapped my keys to that character!

This is definitely one of the best QoL features added to date. <3

Primeval Steward vendor is now back, and the mournstone trinkets now have proper upgrade slots!

But.... only the new accessories purchased from the steward actually come with upgrades. The accessories I purchased a few days after PoF launch do not contain upgrades. So those of us who lucked out will either have to purchase the mournstone recipe and craft them (over 2g apiece) to slot into the accessories, or slot in something else entirely.

I was hoping for a vendor window where you could exchange the "unused upgrade slot" versions of the accessories for the new, fixed, version. Oh well. :(