Suggestion for further defining the role of the Jackal as a "blockade runner"

[Falcord.3608]

I love all PoF mounts, but I get the feeling that leaving sand portals aside, the Jackal is lacking identity, as it doesn't excel at anything in particular. For map traversal, you will almost certainly prefer Raptor unless you are going uphill, and for aerial/tricky terrain, the precise and deliberate jumps of the Springer and the [REDACTED] are more useful. After playing the expansion for 60ish hours, I found the mounts to be very well designed and useful in different situations, with the sole exception of the Jackal, which I only bring out for roleplaying purposes and to traverse sand portals.

 

The feeling I got from running around with the Jackal is that it seemed to be designed as a "blockade runner", a mount to run through hostile terrain weaving around packs of mobs, being able to turn on a dime and evade incoming damage, teleporting over ground traps... I suspect this is the direction that Arenanet wanted to take the Jackal in. Unfortunately, at full masteries this role is definitely done better by the Skimmer, who can get extended periods of evade on its mount ability.

 

So, in order to further define the role of the Jackal, I would make this change: After using the mount ability, the Jackal gets 2-3 seconds of (non-stacking) full evasion. Visually, it could use the mesmer's blur effect. This way, by spacing the teleports properly, you should be able to use the Jackal as a true blockade runner, moving through enemy camps untouched. It still requires thought because there will be evasion downtime, and because your teleport has to line up properly not to fall off a cliff, but I would be looking forward to bringing out the Jackal when there is dangerous territory ahead.

 

Thoughts?

[Orpheal.8263]

I for once just seriously hope only, that all moutns get in LS4 some kind of protection against the environmental effect of the desolation... the skimmer sucks there and way too often you need the other mounts in the desolation to reach places (fast enough) where the other mounts have no protection agaisnt the sulfur and die like basically nearly instantly from it...

 

And if not the mounts, then the players should receive some kind of GAS MASK MASTERY or so, which just allows them to explore this map normally, without dieing from the sulfur ... serioiusly.. 250 years have passed, we have combined pact technology and none of the races has come in that tiem onto the idea to invent soem gas masks or so, with that you can survive in the desolation's sulfurious air??? Ridiculous

 

The Jackal woudl i love, if its blinks could get some increased range, like 50% longer range from 600 units to 900 range and its run speed could also be slightly faster.

Skimmers should float 50% higher and should move also faster, they are so incredible SLOW compared to the other mounts, the last mastery of the skimmer should make all mounts immune agaisnt sulfur!!

 

[Falcord.3608]

Eh, I don't know, I like areas that seem like an environmental challenge even if you have all five mounts. They trivialize map traversal so much that it's somewhat refreshing having to be careful on the desolation.

[Nury.3062]

Jackal is amazing,his identity is to be my main mount and does his job well ,and why do you even say "sand portals aside" ... that's his thing and has more "things" than any mounts,if there is a mount with identity is the Jackal.

[Abakk.9176]

On average i use the Jackal more than the other 3 mounts, especially in other expansions. I don't think it needs more abilities.

[Falcord.3608]

> @Nury.3062 said:

> Jackal is amazing,his identity is to be my main mount and does his job well ,and why do you even say "sand portals aside" ... that's his thing and has more "things" than any mounts,if there is a mount with identity is the Jackal.

 

Don't get me wrong, I also mainly use the Jackal, I just recognize it's an aesthetic choice, because it is strictly worse than the others outside of PoF areas. There's nothing wrong with picking up something suboptimal for fun (hey, I play rifle deadeye at the moment) but it's always good to push the game in the direction of balance :)

[LucianDK.8615]

Im struggling to see the use of the jackal as well, -extremely- situational and only used for the sand portal gimmick and nothing else. the other mounts simply outclass it in movement ability. It will never be used outside pof.

[Drarnor Kunoram.5180]

Well, last night I won the Amnoon race on a jackal purely because it turns faster than the raptors everyone else was using, so I won't say it's worse than everything else.

[Malleth.5621]

I primarily use the Jackal, it seems smoother over rough terrain and when you need to stop and go for whatever reason and it avoids mobs a lot better. It's not really much slower over a flat plane either.

[BlaqueFyre.5678]

All I want to say on this subject is that it can take a slight amount of imagination to see the Jackal really shine, and it's not all that much slower than Raptor but can provide more pinpoint accuracy for some more delicate maneuvers.

 

It's like clearing most Masteries/ Vlast Crystal I only used the Raptor yet each time it popped up with X mount is needed, it's all about how to maximize the abilities.

 

Plus Jackal is the best looking mount hands down.

[LucianDK.8615]

I think my problem with jackal is that its blink ability doesnt feel terribly responsive compared to raptor jumping or skimmer gliding. Always takes much more effort to trigger the blink.

[MachineManXX.9746]

The Jackal has it's advantages. I like that I can jump off any cliff, no matter how high, without worry of splatting. It's very responsive. Getting from point A to point B (without any special terrain to consider) seems about the same as the Raptor. For me, I just ride whichever one I feel like at the time. I think they are all exceptionally well done and I don't find any of them needing more of anything.

[Sojourner.4621]

> @Falcord.3608 said:

> > @Nury.3062 said:

> > Jackal is amazing,his identity is to be my main mount and does his job well ,and why do you even say "sand portals aside" ... that's his thing and has more "things" than any mounts,if there is a mount with identity is the Jackal.

>

> Don't get me wrong, I also mainly use the Jackal, I just recognize it's an aesthetic choice, because it is strictly worse than the others outside of PoF areas. There's nothing wrong with picking up something suboptimal for fun (hey, I play rifle deadeye at the moment) but it's always good to push the game in the direction of balance :)

 

I've never lost the Amnoon race when using my jackal over a Raptor. While it may be inconvenient that you can't change the length of his "jumps" like you can with the Raptor, I have found very few leaps that the Raptor can make that the Jackal cannot. Not only that but if you DO overshoot, using the teleport can save you from dismounting to fall distance in a way that only the skimmer can otherwise. I use him for most of my general traversal and find that I get around much faster, even with the sand portals aside.