[merged] About the Skyscale Timegate...

[Rauderi.8706]

Drop in the bucket as far as complaints, but I feel I need to codify what exactly is wrong with Skyscale's acquisition:

 

Collection Abuse.

 

The plug-and-chug ease of adding this "content" is an insult to the playerbase.

"You can have this cool new mount!*"

*Terms and Conditions apply. Must complete 5 collections which each have at least 5-12 collections, which are made up of 5-**21** steps. . .

 

It's absolutely absurd. And it's this sort of thing that always blemishes an otherwise great game that I can never recommend because of how it treats its players.

[Witch of Doom.5739]

> @"CJtheBigBear.9610" said:

> Like I said before, this _did_ bring people back to the older LWS4 maps, and it was nice to see them full of activity again. But I think in the process of coercing players back, it kinda ended up backfiring, and making people not want to revisit the maps _after_ they'd finished collecting their currency. I can't even say how many times I saw people in map-chat saying stuff like "Goodbye forever, [mapname]." or "Never coming back to [mapname] again.", which is a shame, because I think those maps' metas are still fun to do from time to time. This could've been a chance to remind people what was waiting for them in those maps, but instead, pushed them away.

>

 

THIS. A thousand times, THIS. I'm grinding the maps for the currencies and hate the process and now hate the maps. I will never go back to them again unless I have to, and know others in my guild who feel the same.

 

[Neeja.4579]

I'm slowly grinding the currencies. Not a big deal. Each one can be done in a couple of hours using 3 characters and doing fast hearts, using dragonfall vendors and full map instances.

 

I'm more concerned about the fact that the mount is underwhelming at best.

[tekhiun.8653]

> @"DeWolfe.2174" said:

> > @"DeadDuke.6087" said:

> > This time gating setup it lame kitten hell, missed reset by 5 mins now I have to wait 24hrs. LAME...................................................

>

> That was me yesterday! I took a screen cap as I was standing at the last egg and it was 8:02. I missed it by 2 minutes. I'm just logging back on to continue now a whole 25 hrs and 41 minutes later. I'm still wrapping my head around the dev's thinking that forcing the players to stop playing the game for over a day is somehow a good business model????

 

that was me on launch day. WHAT WHERE THEY THINKING !

[Caitybee.3614]

So, after spending several hours on each map trying to get as many of the PoF resources as possible for the Saddle, I barely scratched a dent in how much I need since I (like many other) had a habit of consuming any currency I obtained during map events not realizing I'd need it later. So that sat me at 0 for every currency except Trade Contracts (which I spent most of on things I needed/wanted like minis, so I screwed myself over for that and I am 200 short now).

 

This is what I managed to obtain with only 1 character able to go to all locations required, and 1 other character able to get to 4 of the maps.

161 Kralkatite Ore, 57 Difluorite Crystal, 46 Inscribed Shard, 35 Lump of Mistonium (hardest by far to obtain), 38 Branded Mass. I haven't started on the material in Dragonfall yet since I'm saving it for last hoping it's easy.

 

With those numbers, it'll take me minimum 6 days to obtain majority. And I MUST play at least 1 hour per map to make sure I collect as much as possible before burning myself out on 2 characters. I'm not super rich, and I can't afford to buy character slots to max out my potential, and I also have run out of Teleport To Friend stones so I can't even get my alts where they need to go to maximize on farming - and more importantly - I don't WANT to sit at my computer for a week straight farming if I want this mount as quickly as possible. In my mind if I skip a day I miss out on a lot of progress which is why skipping days isn't an option for me. I want it done and over with so I can work on any masteries it needs, and use it to help me out in other areas of the game.

 

If they lowered each currency to 100-150 each instead of 250 it would significantly help players like myself. I actually quit a few days ago and had the game completely uninstalled from my PC. The only reason I re-installed is because it was eating me alive not being able to complete something I worked so hard to get with all the other mounts.

 

If Anet thinks I'll be spending money on Skyscale skins after this, they're mistaken. I spent 50$ on the Warclaw skins and 2 of them looked identical to each other with me only frequently using the Branded skin and Fire skin. Oh I'm in Canada too, so 10$ USD is 14$ CDN, which means I pay more for my Gems, Expansions, etc.

 

I would greatly appreciate it - as would many others - if you could lower majority of the mats needed to 100-150. The only ones that are of most concern are Branded Mass, Lump of Mistonium, and Inscribed Shard. If I can get all materials in 3-5 days instead of 7-10 it would help more than you think.

 

I really love Guild Wars 2, another reason I came back aside from wanting the mount finished. Please make the necessary adjustments so it's easier for us to obtain the Skyscale. For those who already unlocked it, you could easily compensate the accounts with an NPC that gives back the excess material consumed. Or give everyone a free Aurene skin haha that would make me happy.

 

Thanks for reading, I'm stressed as you can tell since I'll have to play minimum 5-8 hours per day for 7-10 days minimum to gather everything I need.

[Sorye Ge Ton.9768]

Would be appreacite by almost eveyrone a nerf to the currencies in the living world season 4 map, they are all but fun to farm plus they are very limited, a lot of people is having a pain with this more than with the proper timegates. Tho gj with the mount, in my opinion it looks awesome.

[Ayrilana.1396]

> @"Sorye Ge Ton.9768" said:

> Would be appreacite by almost eveyrone a nerf to the currencies in the living world season 4 map, they are all but fun to farm plus they are very limited, a lot of people is having a pain with this more than with the proper timegates. Tho gj with the mount, in my opinion it looks awesome.

 

Over half the people on the forums who voted on the [poll](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/77469/should-the-skyscale-map-currency-be-reduced/p1) do not want the amount of currency to change though. So not everyone would appreciate a nerf.

[Sorye Ge Ton.9768]

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > @"Sorye Ge Ton.9768" said:

> > Would be appreacite by almost eveyrone a nerf to the currencies in the living world season 4 map, they are all but fun to farm plus they are very limited, a lot of people is having a pain with this more than with the proper timegates. Tho gj with the mount, in my opinion it looks awesome.

>

> Over half the people on the forums who voted on the [poll](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/77469/should-the-skyscale-map-currency-be-reduced/p1) do not want the amount of currency to change though. So not everyone would appreciate a nerf.

 

in the votation there are not even 300 people, i bet a lot of the poeple in that votation are people whoa lready had the currencies and just burned them in the same moment they arrived to the collection, i didn't even knew about that votation till now, so, how much does it represent for? you jus thvae to think like a normal player that is not hardcore, you don't have the currencies, probably don't have or don't want to spend a huge amount of time farming something that you don't enjoy, and you get to this step, plus people complained about the timegates but this one is the biggest if you are low on currencies and time.

[DarkForcE.9210]

Those complain on timegate have zero experience on Aurora journeys

[Caitybee.3614]

I have to write this here because what people said to me in-game was uncalled for as they didn't realize how serious I was being. Guild Wars 2 is a coping mechanism for me when I need time to myself, to heal, and to have a bit of fun. Ever since I started playing MMOs mounts have always been my favorite thing to have, and I try as hard as I can to be good enough to get my hands on whichever mounts I can.

 

In Sandswept Isles there was a huge conversation about the currencies (as most chats are now), and I brought up how I only have 2 characters who can help collect sufficient amounts of each currency to put my time-line at about 7 days to complete 5 of the 7 required at 250. By the way that's minimum 6 hours per day with only my main character being able to go to each map required. One other has 4 of the maps unlocked and the rest have only 1-2 each. I come from a low income family and having a computer strong enough to even play GW2 is a blessing from God. I've suffered from mental illness and chronic depression since 2012 and gaming has vastly improved my health over the years, and helped me improve reading skills, hand-eye coordination, memory, etc.

 

Needless to say, this game - like all others I've played before that stuck out to me - means a lot to me, and the Skyscale is a mount I really want to have in the game so I can feel proud of such a huge accomplishment. Nothing else makes me happy anymore (yes I'm being 100% serious, each day is a struggle), and our landlord is selling our house on us, so I have only about 2-3 weeks of time to play as much as I can before things start getting serious and I have to pack everything up. This computer is aging, and has gone through some things in recent years so I always worry it'll die one day and I won't be able to afford another PC as strong as it. That would crush me to be honest, and if the devs lowered the collections to 100-150 per currency you have no idea how much it would help me out. Not trying to single myself out, but I'm sure there are others in my position, or just feel broken because they may not know how quickly they can get things done so they can have the mount and be able to do things with it.

 

In the map chat I was called childish, and one person even went as far to make fun saying "wait until you have to buy a house", it's nowhere near the same kind of situation, and that kind of comment hurt me so much I had to log off before I saw something worse. It was a tough lesson though, I now realize most people don't really care about my feelings of any kind, especially in a gaming community where I use to enjoy making friends and talking about real life stuff. Now I just keep to myself because of the harassment that I accidentally attract when I tell people how I feel about things.

 

That's the last thing I'll say about the Skyscale, whatever happens is not up to any of us. Anet could easily ignore the feedback and keep everything as it is, which is totally fine. I just wish there was an easier way so I don't have to grind 6-8 hours/day in the next couple weeks to ensure I have all the currency required.

 

Thanks, hope you all have a great day and good luck with your Skyscales.

[Tarlonniel.6534]

> @"Caitybee.3614" said:

> Now I just keep to myself because of the harassment that I accidentally attract when I tell people how I feel about things.

 

This collection has really brought out the nasty side of the GW2 community :/ Sorry you got caught up in a legendary time sink without legendary amounts of time to invest; even if ANet does lower the requirements eventually, it'll probably be too late to help you out. Have you tried turning off map chat altogether? Yes, it may cripple you in the metas, but it would cut out a lot of negativity-induced stress. Also, are you in a guild? If you can find friendly and active guildmates to do the collection with, their chatter might be able to drown out the general unpleasantness.

[Minak.8429]

Hi, I want to express my fealings about the Skyscale collections. But first, i want to say that I never write anyting on forum because I usualy agree with the path the DEV takes. But i cannot stay silent for this one. I have been playing this game since 2012. BTW sorry for my english.

 

I like the idea that the Skyscale should be a pretige Mount like the griffin but there's a MAJOR problem with the aquisition. The path to get the Griffin was fun, took some time but could get done. You used the griffin a lot and it made you want to have it even more. The Skyscale collections just feel like grinding FOREVER. The firt collections were a bit much (and really repetitive) but were ... ok. The feading part was just plain boring. But after that, it gets better with the small jumping puzzles and the time you play with the Skyscale. It feels good to be able to skip jumping part because you've unlocked mastery and the griffin. You feel rewarded for things you have done. I liked that part even more because you know you are close to the end. You feel like you'r close to your reward. That after all that grind.... you will finaly get it.

 

....

And then comes the currency part. This part is completly out of proportion and feel punishing. You get 5 map currencys for each heart (Istan exclude). Sure you can buy some at dragon fall .... but only 5 of each !!!!!!! 5 PER ACCOUNT. So the answer to that is to grind.... and grind.... and grind... Honestly, when I realise what it will take, I considered quitting, and that makes me mad because I know I am at the end. To be honnest, if I knew I would have that much to grind to get it at first, I would not have even start the collections.

 

I am not saying that grinding cannot be fun or should be remove but here, it is someting else. It is so long to even get to the saddle part and your screwed if you used them to get VM or craft stuff. So you grind and grind again.

 

I stoped having fun working on the Skyscale a long time ago (close to the feeding part), and this ... this is enought for me to still consider quitting. Not having fun should not happen in a video game.

 

The dev's have already said that some fixes are coming regarding the time gates. But to be honnest, the time gates arent that much of a problem. Some collection needs to be tune down or even remove entirely.

 

It feels completly stupid and so long to get 5 token per heart when you can get 25 for Istan. Considering that, the total amout for each tokens should be different. 250 for istan, 50 for the others. (You would still need to grind, but it would feel MUCH MUCH more fair). Or, simply put the bundle for the hearts to 25 like Istan. Some people will say, " You just have to do the meta" but the reality is that not everybody can connect when it is time. Some of use play when we can, and that realy dosent mean duing meta time.

 

Another fixe could be to add a way to buy those currency (with karma or gold or vm). They have done it for other collections for the Skyscale. You had the short way or the long way, but you had a choice. It would give us the option and feel less unfair. In my opinion, you should be able to buy tokens as much as you can at dragon fall. That way, you would not feel punished for using your currency's befor the last episode. But, an idea could be to allow us to buy token up to 25 per day at Dragon fall. This would mean that someone would have to do it for 5 days if he dosent want/cant grind, and he would have the option to grind a bit if he can/want to speed up the process

 

I know, not everybody feels the same about that, but I really believe that some changes need to happen.

 

I want to thanks again the DEV for their work.

 

[octagon.6504]

The current mounts are just regular mounts. What will they do if they decided to create legendary, exotic, or rare mounts? I think they got ahead of themselves wanting to slow people down. The only other game I've seen mounts that required so much work to get is WoW, but that's to get rare exotic mounts, regular mounts are a lot easier to get as they should be. Currently for me the amount of work involved doesn't equal the quality of the mount. I may go for it one day but it took me a really long time just to get a few legendary weapons.

 

I also play other games that have flying mounts and they are a lot less limited in functionality. I've played GW2 since beta but it looks like they're going in a direction I cannot follow.

[Pifil.5193]

I just finished the Skyscale collections and unlocked my mount tonight and I have to say that I really enjoyed the process of unlocking it. Sure some of the steps felt a bit overlong (28 rifts, for example) but I think the game could use more of these kind of epic "quests", just make sure to market them as epic collections.

 

I'm looking forward to unlocking the masteries now.

[tommytyker.4701]

> @"Minak.8429" said:

> Hi, I want to express my fealings about the Skyscale collections. But first, i want to say that I never write anyting on forum because I usualy agree with the path the DEV takes. But i cannot stay silent for this one. I have been playing this game since 2012. BTW sorry for my english.

>

> I like the idea that the Skyscale should be a pretige Mount like the griffin but there's a MAJOR problem with the aquisition. The path to get the Griffin was fun, took some time but could get done. You used the griffin a lot and it made you want to have it even more. The Skyscale collections just feel like grinding FOREVER. The firt collections were a bit much (and really repetitive) but were ... ok. The feading part was just plain boring. But after that, it gets better with the small jumping puzzles and the time you play with the Skyscale. It feels good to be able to skip jumping part because you've unlocked mastery and the griffin. You feel rewarded for things you have done. I liked that part even more because you know you are close to the end. You feel like you'r close to your reward. That after all that grind.... you will finaly get it.

>

> ....

> And then comes the currency part. This part is completly out of proportion and feel punishing. You get 5 map currencys for each heart (Istan exclude). Sure you can buy some at dragon fall .... but only 5 of each !!!!!!! 5 PER ACCOUNT. So the answer to that is to grind.... and grind.... and grind... Honestly, when I realise what it will take, I considered quitting, and that makes me mad because I know I am at the end. To be honnest, if I knew I would have that much to grind to get it at first, I would not have even start the collections.

>

> I am not saying that grinding cannot be fun or should be remove but here, it is someting else. It is so long to even get to the saddle part and your screwed if you used them to get VM or craft stuff. So you grind and grind again.

>

> I stoped having fun working on the Skyscale a long time ago (close to the feeding part), and this ... this is enought for me to still consider quitting. Not having fun should not happen in a video game.

>

> The dev's have already said that some fixes are coming regarding the time gates. But to be honnest, the time gates arent that much of a problem. Some collection needs to be tune down or even remove entirely.

>

> It feels completly stupid and so long to get 5 token per heart when you can get 25 for Istan. Considering that, the total amout for each tokens should be different. 250 for istan, 50 for the others. (You would still need to grind, but it would feel MUCH MUCH more fair). Or, simply put the bundle for the hearts to 25 like Istan. Some people will say, " You just have to do the meta" but the reality is that not everybody can connect when it is time. Some of use play when we can, and that realy dosent mean duing meta time.

>

> Another fixe could be to add a way to buy those currency (with karma or gold or vm). They have done it for other collections for the Skyscale. You had the short way or the long way, but you had a choice. It would give us the option and feel less unfair. In my opinion, you should be able to buy tokens as much as you can at dragon fall. That way, you would not feel punished for using your currency's befor the last episode. But, an idea could be to allow us to buy token up to 25 per day at Dragon fall. This would mean that someone would have to do it for 5 days if he dosent want/cant grind, and he would have the option to grind a bit if he can/want to speed up the process

>

> I know, not everybody feels the same about that, but I really believe that some changes need to happen.

>

> I want to thanks again the DEV for their work.

>

 

What this guy says. I usually play 1-3 hours a week. When I try for something I put in maybe 5-6 hours (eg, Griffon, and Skyscale the last few). But then I can also use GEMS and purchase my way to the end. This also helps when I do not want to play certain aspects of the game (for example, I do not do PvP or WvW and am not usually around for special events.. and I gave up on bifrost when I saw the recipes from finishing The Legend). Short cuts in the GEM store, or a lower entry for some purchases (like the map currency requirements for the saddle) would help me.

[Evil.1580]

> @"ZeroTheCat.2684" said:

> The problem isn't the timegate. The problem is running around pressing F on 20 + items.. Times 3!

 

You are literally posting in the timegate mega thread

[BadHealer.3608]

> @"octagon.6504" said:

> The current mounts are just regular mounts. What will they do if they decided to create legendary, exotic, or rare mounts? I think they got ahead of themselves wanting to slow people down. The only other game I've seen mounts that required so much work to get is WoW, but that's to get rare exotic mounts, regular mounts are a lot easier to get as they should be.

You are only saying this, because you are usual not playing WvW. For someone that is usual playing WvW and finish a few times a reward track in a week it was just playing the usual game, maybe shorty stopping for something they usual wouldn't do and unlock the mount without any problem.

 

The roller beetle was the one with the most work (even beating the griffon), however it was 5 time less work than the skyscale and without a time gate of a week.

[eldrin.6471]

i done the collection up to sky scale saddle.now i do not play guild wars 2.and anet will never get money from me again.

[Echostorm.9143]

The Skyscale was a massive disappointment and the collection is asking far too much for something so poorly built. I won't spend any money in GW2 until they un-nerf it.

[Curse.7368]

The collection it self isn't the biggest problem and the time gate is annoying, but then you get the map currencies... Man what the hell, from being a little bit annoyed to being done with it went really fast. I don't have alot of time on hands to farm/grind for all these 250's it will take me a year at least to get this new handycapped mount, with just 4 hours of play time through out the week it's really dissapointing to see this, by the time I have this mount there will be 1 or 2 other mounts released. Why the grind on it, the collection together with the time is brutall enough, currencies are just spitting in the faces of people that didn't save up back in 2017 also the ones that like me that only have a short time frame...

[AmadeoKristoff.5493]

I have played many other MMOs, including Final Fantasy 14, and skyscale has taken the cake for the most annoying farm and time gate ever, for a very underwhelming mount. I used to complain about collecting mounts on FFXIV but I now appreciate FFXIV. Thanks for teaching me that, ANet. I always bought mount skins, but not this time. An advice? If this is what you are going for, for normal mounts, please do NOT bother releasing rare/exotic/legendary mounts.

[Witch of Doom.5739]

I hope ANet is still reading the feedback here. I'm in Day Whatever of grinding for the map currencies and realized I dread another session of clicking on all the same things over and over again for minuscule rewards. Please consider dropping the currency requirements to 100 each. I know people have already spent their 250 each and I would be more than fine with them getting a refund, an exclusive title, a free shiny, whatever. Thank you.

[eldrin.6471]

back in 2017 when the first of these currency's was added no indication was ever given that we needed to keep them for a future mount collection.

and i would bet when they first added these currency's even anet did not know they would be needed to unlock a mount in 2019 but i was expected to know.

at least give us a way to buy back the currency we already earned in game.

[Kylden Ar.3724]

> @"bOTEB.1573" said:

> > @"ZeroTheCat.2684" said:

> > The problem isn't the timegate. The problem is running around pressing F on 20 + items.. Times 3!

>

> You are literally posting in the timegate mega thread

 

Because any other threads about SkyGate complaints get closed and pointed to this one.

[TheQuickFox.3826]

I haven't had much problems with the time gating. The amount of steps you have to complete to get the skyscale unlocked is quite enormous, but in the long run this may just be a good thing to give some feeling of accomplishment and exclusivity. The time gating may even be useful to prevent myself from rushing it and stressing out in the process.

 

So far, no big issues with it. (I'm currently in the skyscale feeding time gate). I'll have to see about what comes after this.