Skyscale: another great mount that (like the Griffon) just can't fly!

[Doomfrost.5728]

Anet did a good job on mixing flight time vs land roaming in regards to flying mounts. These creatures can't fly forever, their wings would tire eventually, especially with the added weight of carrying someone. If one thing I would want is that "Bond of Vigor" replenish the Skyscale's endurance to 100% rather than 50% and that endurance depletion is lessened when flying in a straight line or when making slow climbs.

[Frie.2073]

I just have to chime in and say that the skyscale was a tremendous lot of work to obtain; more so than the griffon. I was really quite content with the griffon but since I worked so hard to get the skyscale and it does have an ability to rise from ground, I use it more than the other mounts. I find it annoying that it must land or cling to something to regain altitude. It feels very un-natural. I know that if you dive you do regain power or whatever it's called but it would be more acceptable to be able to glide for a period and be able to regain altitude.

[coso.9173]

If you ask me they should have never added semi flying mounts IMO. Already makes so much content orerry skippable.but I guess that shipnalreasy sailed.

[Hannelore.8153]

All I'll add to this topic is that the Skyscale was an amasing mount for people with disabilities, being able to hover and move precisely.

[miraude.2107]

Said this once and will say it again. Full flight only makes sense if ALL THE MAPS ARE SEAMLESSLY CONNECTED. Full flight makes sense in WoW because there are no portals, you go through a tunnel/bridge/ravine/cave and you are in the new zone. So it made sense to have full flight so you could go from Winterspring to Uldum in one continuous flight. Which is why it works there, they had already designed that function in game from the very beginning with their taxi systems.

It makes no sense to waste the time on something like full flight if you have to go through a portal into the next zone. It would just be a waste of resources. Why fly all the way from Desert Highlands to Desolation and sit through 3 loading screens when I could just waypoint and deal with one? At this point in time, the only way I'd see full flight being added would be as a zone specific mastery (Siren of Orr, Oakheart's Reach, Koda's Flame, Thermal Propulsion) that would warrant it like a zone entirely in the air or one that is the size of 3 zones combined and only have 2 waypoints on each end of the map.

[Hannelore.8153]

> @"miraude.2107" said:

> Said this once and will say it again. Full flight only makes sense if ALL THE MAPS ARE SEAMLESSLY CONNECTED. Full flight makes sense in WoW because there are no portals, you go through a tunnel/bridge/ravine/cave and you are in the new zone. So it made sense to have full flight so you could go from Winterspring to Uldum in one continuous flight. Which is why it works there, they had already designed that function in game from the very beginning with their taxi systems.

> It makes no sense to waste the time on something like full flight if you have to go through a portal into the next zone. It would just be a waste of resources. Why fly all the way from Desert Highlands to Desolation and sit through 3 loading screens when I could just waypoint and deal with one? At this point in time, the only way I'd see full flight being added would be as a zone specific mastery (Siren of Orr, Oakheart's Reach, Koda's Flame, Thermal Propulsion) that would warrant it like a zone entirely in the air or one that is the size of 3 zones combined and only have 2 waypoints on each end of the map.

I agree with this somewhat, but I think the larger problem in GW2 is that movement speed is completely out of hand, which is why flying across a whole zone on the Griffon or riding across on Roller Beetle feels so rediculous. Alot of people try to frame this as a compact game world and non-seamless maps, but, most of it just seems to be that movement speed in this game, even on foot, is 2-3x what other games have.

 

Mounts just kind of blow that out of the water to crossing entire lands in an extremely short amount of time, that's why non-seamless maps are a problem, because the time between map borders in which you have to land is on the order of seconds.

[Tyncale.1629]

For me the **Skyscale** is fine. I actually enjoy plotting my way with it, maximizing efficiency of the green bar, with some careful wall-clinging thrown in.

 

I also think the **Griffon**is fine: I think they should keep the Dive for Speed but it should kick in faster. I am starting to use this mount more again, due to its speed and cool diving abilities (Skyscale descent is bland compared to Griffon, even with the roll).

 

**Roller Beetle**: this mount badly needs ONE single QoL upgrade: when you pop it, it should start with a full endurance bar right away so you can immediately kick up to speed. The mount has so many other drawbacks that this should not be OP. Like the sheer difficulty in steering, the huge slowdown when going up hill and the constant bumping into stuff that gives a full stop(I did master skidding but still).

 

I do not like the **Jackal**at all. It seems completely incapable of negotiating even the slightest height-bumps and I do not feel its aggro-avoiding abilities are that much better then just jumping or flying over stuff with the other mounts. The ability to go at 90 degree angles during its evasion jump is a gimmick that I never had use for. I also wonder how Adroit Evasion actually works with the other Mounts: when I jump with my Raptor over a bunch of Branded I still get severely damaged while in full jump, same with my Springer or other mounts. I have a feeling Adroit Evasion does not work at all tbh. Who cares about the Sand-portals, they are one of those gimmicks that we will only see in PoF and then never again.

 

**Skimmer**is fine, agree there. I use this quit a lot, I hope we will see more areas in the future like lava, water, and such where we need it. It feels good, and I am glad they fixed the " slow down with each tiny piece of land you hit" thing.

 

**Raptor** is still da bomb, love it. Raptor and Skyscale I use the most, Jackal pretty much never.

[LucianDK.8615]

Never could get into the raptor, it just doesnt have enough juice unlike the jackal. And the raptor struggles on uphill terrain.

[kharmin.7683]

> @"LucianDK.8615" said:

> Never could get into the raptor, it just doesnt have enough juice unlike the jackal. And the raptor struggles on uphill terrain.

 

Agreed. Jackal is my go-to mount for land based movement.

[Zoltar MacRoth.7146]

You know what makes Superman relatable? Kryptonite. Without it, he'd be perfect and unlikable. The creators of Superman soon realised that he need a flaw or weakness in order to be a good character. And here we are. Superman is over 50 and still going strong!

 

In the same vein, the mounts must have their weaknesses. A quintessential part of flying the skyscale is that tension of where to touch down briefly next to regain endurance? I was crossing a body of water recently on the skyscale and hopping from rock to rock, some distance apart, to stay above water. If the skyscale had simply flow across all that, it would have been boring, like a perfect Superman with no kryptonite. (Yes, I have a skimmer - but it wouldn't have been a challenge then, would it?)

 

In response to your mount suggestions:

 

Griffin: The diving is what makes griffon awesome. Have you never seen a dog-fight movie where the protagonist hurtles towards the ground only to pull up at the last moment?

 

Springer: The springer has one thing the skyscale doesn't - FAST vertical ascension. In "The Charge" chapter of the "Bug in the System" episode, there's a cheevo where you have to rescue a test subject from a poisonous corridor. Having tried this many times on skyscale and bunny, I can tell you that the skyscale cannot climb fast enough to get out of the pit. The bunny can. It's situational, yes, but when you need to go up fast, there's only one choice.

[Rauderi.8706]

> @"echolynfan.2049" said:

> > @"zealex.9410" said:

> > How do you see them adding unlimited flight without making every non flying mount useless?

>

> How often do you use the other mounts now? Tell me you don't use the Skyscale all the time.

 

I don't. The land-bound mounts are still faster. Skyscale is more maneuverable, but that just makes is superior to the springer. The other mounts still have purpose.

[VooDoo.4891]

The Gryphon and Skyscale are not birds. That's the first mistake. Both are creatures that put the bulk of their energy into momentum, either forward or lift: not both. It's been said that the Gryphon is a jet, while the Skyscale is a helo. I think it's great that neither can do both well, and requires actual user input to fly efficiently. With all the inbalance of other aspects of this game, I think the Dev's balanced out the mounts quite well.

[TheGrimm.5624]

> @"echolynfan.2049" said:

> > @"zealex.9410" said:

> > How do you see them adding unlimited flight without making every non flying mount useless?

>

> How often do you use the other mounts now? Tell me you don't use the Skyscale all the time.

 

I rarely use Skyscale, as in I can't remember last time I did. Which in some ways means its balanced since we do have varying opinions. Warclaw mostly, due to daily visits to WvW and if in PvE, Springer since its the workhorse of the group when you need to get around. Again since we are looking at this differently that leans toward they got it right.