GW2 New Skyscale Mount In Next Episode

Pr0t0tip4s

looks amazing :O

Narottam Zakheim

epic… cant wait

Scorpius

ditto

Gokuhill

griffon 2.0?

Suan

“The Skyscale can actually stick to the wall and regain some of his endurance and then jump up and gain some altitude”
So wait. it can fly or not? Why would it need to regain endurance.. does it mean it can fly but only for like 30 seconds and then needs to land to catch a breath? Or is endurance used for something else? If it can fly as long as we want it too and hover mid air then that is cool.. hopefully it won’t be too fast so that griffon will still be viable in the matter of speed and getting quickly from point A to B.

Don36669

Episode 6 is supposed to be released a little later than the usual 3 months release cadence. So no, don’t expect it in 3 weeks. ANet already confirmed we would get a new Current Events update before episode 6 would be released. I’m not expecting it for at least another 2 months.
- Suan
  
  One, we’ve just got current events today mate. Two, 3 months passed as well. Three, 3 weeks from now is more than realistic, as it will be around 4 months since the last episode. Four, ANet teased episode 6 for the past couple days, in case you did not notice they showed Kralk flying in brandstorm somewhere in a short teaser-trailer with Skyscale at the end of it, today they showed the Skyscale, Five, 2 months from now will be June and in July we have Festival of the Four Winds event. I know they took a hit with the layoffs but I don’t think they’ve got hit that hard to slow LW releases drastically. April 30th or May 7th seems like a good date to drop episode 6 and it gives them few weeks to drop another current event stuff if they want to since this one seems short ish.. then again, most of them are.
- Kara Harkins
  
  They are doing vids about the whole season right now, one per week and this week is episode 4. Assuming they continue at this pace the week of April 22 will be episode 5 and odds are April 30 could be the trailer for episode 6 (at which point we will know the date).
Squatch

It looks like it has 2 endurance bars to get some elevation, and if it can latch onto a wall, it can push off and rise a bit higher. I am viewing this like a cliff climber, a medium between a griffon and a springer. But we will have to see.

Alot

Willing to overlook 90% of the game falling apart if the skyscale is a place holder for Aurene -.-

Squatch

I’d prefer riding Aurene once in a story instance, to take down Kralk (if she can even be revived). I hope she doesn’t make it to the open world, she deserves higher responsibilities and greater respect than to be ridden around the bank and BLTP.
- Ares Zax
  
  We definitely won’t see Aurene become an open world mount skin; that would be too immersion breaking. But I would be VERY surprised if we didn’t mount Aurene in a story instance at some point (most likely to take down Kralk, as you mentioned).
  - Suan
    
    My dude, you talk about immersion breaking in a game where everyone can spawn a huge fucking throne out of their ass in a blink of an eye?
    Come on now.
    - Squatch
      
      Yes, but immersion is on a gradual scale. There is still some immersion that can be salvaged depending on their design choices.
      - Suan
        
        I can understand that a little bit, but again when suddenly huge ass thrones pop up next to me, even if I’m on some mountain and stuff it wouldn’t be that weird for me to have multiple Aurenes as well, each dyed in different color. She’s already in some maps, “helping” out even though shes dead so yeah..
        I’m okay with or without Aurene skin for Skyscale, won’t bitch if they choose to do it. And lets be honest, it would probably be 2k skin that would sell like crazy.
    - Ares Zax
      
      Haha, I know what you mean, but you probably also know what I mean. It’s why we don’t see multiple copies of Rox, Braham, Trahearne or other story NPCs running around.
      - Suan
        
        Yeah, but speaking of multiple Brahams.. I would very much like to see some sort of hero system from GW1 or a copy of bodyguard system from swtor/WoW. Having one of Dragon’s Watch members traveling with us, doing some small talk every 15 minutes or so. If they talked about what happened in last episode and stuff.. that would be glorious, but probably some people would not like it as well because “multiple Brahams” and such. But yeah, back to Aurene skin, I’m cool if there will be none and cool if there will be one.
- Alot
  
  True. The main reason I’d like to ride Aurene is that that would mean she isn’t dead. While the commander’s personality is very generic (so everyone can relate to it -.-), the role of dragon champion to an actively branding dragon is a pretty unique scenario and it would be a real blow to lose it.

Karagianis

Looks good, but we really didn’t need an entire new mount for what basically could have been achived with a simple mastery ability add on to a griffon and a mount reskin.
I’m going to call this as I see it. A total cash grab to sell yet another round of premium reskins in the gem store.
I like this game, and I’ve been enough of a whale at times over the years, but come on Captain Ahab, do you have to be THIS obvious with the harpoon?

Squatch

I think they intend Griffon to be more useful in large open zones where you can dive and pick up speed, whereas the skyscale can traverse mountainous areas much better with the ‘pushing off of walls’ feature. Every mount needs some weaknesses and some strengths, otherwise people will only stick to one mount. And we already get most people using griffon nearly exclusively.

And sure, they will sell some skins for this thing. It’s not that big of a deal, as long as new content keeps coming too.
- Karagianis
  
  My point is this is another mount that’s really too close to the abilities of an existing mount. and the wall jump feature could have just been a new mastery skill. This feels like the beetle, which proved to just be very similar in use to both Jackal and Raptor without the benefits of either and a special ability that really hasn’t been utilized much outside the map where it was introduced.
  - Squatch
    
    I do understand your point, but I think these nuanced differences actually end up being quite drastic. Jackal and Raptor are both fast, but one has sharper turns, and they both have different mechanics for clearing gaps. Raptor can avoid fall damage with its phase shift skill too. These make them quite different in terms of viability for different maps. Beetle too is very wild, ultra fast but completely hard to manage. I like having these nuanced differences causing you to choose which one is right for which situation.
    
    If they simply gave griffon wall climbing, it would be ultra powerful and there’d really be few reasons to use anything else. I am at least looking forward to a new version of flying mounts with a different set of tradeoffs.
    - Karagianis
      
      I have no issue with the raptor and jackal, as you say they both have good uses. The problem was that the Beetle wasn’t really an improvement on either of them. Sure it can get up to crazy speed, if you can run for 30-60 seconds on flat ground or down hill, and don’t randomly loose your momentum if you roll over a pebble. I just feel that the Skyscale is just going to be like this compared to the griffon. It’ll do almost the same thing as a griffon, but it’ll be slower as it can’t power dive and it’s wall clinging ability will, much like the beetle’s charge smash, be an edge case that’ll rarely come up.
      I fear it’ll be a novelty for a few weeks like the beetle when it came out and then be largely ignored by most of us.
      - Kira Sternenfeuer
        
        well I own no Beetle and I own no griffon by now because I didn’t do all the collecting stuff for them. I can see how they can be handy, I also feel that every mount right now has it’s own identity and warbeast for example is not intented to be an open world mount and they let feel you that by it’s slow movement and no use in PVE itself.
        
        With the skyscale they first time cross the uniqueness of an allready existing mouint which was the flying feature however this is as unique as walking on land so maybe it isn’t the feature of the griffon at all.
        
        If you now Monsterhunter world there is a small petable creature that is almost like skscale clinging to edges walking up and gliding between them so we do not have seen if the skyscale is even flying or maybe just gliding which would be something total different again. Also we do not know yet if this mount is actual climbing a top of the edges which would make the jumper a bit less usefull. On the other hand who tells you that the skyscale is actually capable of climbing stuff freely I see how easely this could be tied up to the stamina for how long he can cling to a surface before he needs to set off.
        
        I really want to say only one thing and thats that they haven’t implemented any mount yet that shares the same uniqueness of another and I doubt that they will do it with the skyscale.
        
        Karagianis
        
        There is no way they’re going to give us a mount with full unlimited flight, it’d be too op, people would just fly over entire maps and skip EVERYTHING. It’ll be some form of gliding like the griffon.
        The main issue I have is it can’t have the power dive AND wall climbing since that would make the Griffon pointless, so what you have then is a slower, less useful gliding mount who’s only advantage is it can stick to walls.
        Also, given that it like the Beetle this is coming in through living world, it’s never likely that there will be much support for it in future maps. If they did future players picking up when the next expansion comes out are going to complain about being asked to pay for both PoF AND the living world season 4 episodes in order to get to content.
        So in normal use it’s less useful than a griffon, and while it has a unique special ability, it’s one that is unlikely to be useful in many places most of the time.

Liw

I never got the griffon mount because of its ridiculous requirements. But this dragons interests but i have a good feeling it would be the same as the griffon collect all these stupid items and pay a lot of gold…

Shaggy

nah this is for the story episode

the griffon was likely just a prototype for them to get the mechanics down and introduce an actual flying mount you need for stuff in the new maps
- Suan
  
  I wouldn’t say that it was a prototype, Skyscale and Griffon have different mechanics, both can be in the air sure. But griffon is all about speed, if you have the hight you can get anywhere on the map in a matter of seconds. Skyscale looks like will be a much slower air mount, probably easier to stay in air thanks to wall climbing etc.
  
  Also there is always a chance that this mount might be expensive like griffon. Like some people said, Aurene is a perfect skin for Skyscale, long time in air, wall climbing, fire breath, both are dragons, though no idea where does Skyscale comes from.. so it could be that in the story we will ride Aurene, that will work exactly like Skyscale since their abilities could pretty much be the same.. at least the basic ones. And after you finish the story you unlock the Skyscale collection.. but, to be honest and knowing ANet I think your version is closer to the truth and we will just ride Skyscale in story and Aurene will be next to us or perhaps still dead.. who knows.
Kara Harkins

I figure whatever the requirements are there will be zergs anyway. The requirement I absolutely HATED about the griffon was that you needed to complete the story before you could even start. Yes, I am one of those people that wants to enjoy a story at my own pace, not just so I can rush through it to get to the next big thing.

Scutilla

I know mounts are cool, but is there a point where we have too many? We currently have 7, and 95% of the time you only need to use 2 or 3 (griffon for air, beetle/jackal for speed, sometimes springer for cliffs). I’ll probably never bother unlocking the warclaw, and I can’t remember the last time I used my jackal.

Mr. Principal

I use all of them.. even warcat is fun..!
Shaggy

the jackal is the best, especially for running through dangerous terrain because it can jump more frequently than the raptor
Ares Zax

I feel similarly. I’ve always wanted a dragon mount and I’m thrilled that we’re getting one, but… It really does feel like they’re cramming in too many mounts now. The movement modes are starting to overlap and it’s diminishing the uniqueness of each mount. If the Skyscale can cling to any vertical surface, then do you even need the Springer anymore?
Kara Harkins

Doing the mastery in the desolation that is supposed to require it (kneeling in front of statues)? Although I only remember 2 that needed a jackal.
Gerald Tarrant

As opposed to the 50+ people have in WoW?
- spectravar
  
  Apples to oranges.
  
  WoW mounts are PURELY cosmetic, and all do the same thing. GW2 mounts have distinct functionality.

Enzovic

They could’ve just given the Griffon these abilities. No need for a new mount. :/

Shaggy

the griffon was a prototype. the pay wall was intentional.

this is the flying mount theyre making available to everyone, not just those of us with 250g to throw around.

its because of their experience with the griffon that they can now do this one right, is what im saying
- Asda
  
  I can’t believe you’re whining about having to pay 250g. After all this time, no less. The absolute entitlement of these bottom-tier players.
  - Gerald Tarrant
    
    I can’t give more than one +1 to your comment, or I’d give you a thousand of them; couldn’t have put it better myself.
- Kelsiys
  
  “We just add a flying mount and u can say “bye” for your griffon and 250 gold!”
  
  Well done…
  - Kara Harkins
    
    Umm, no, you had a flying mount more than a year in advance of people who did not get it, is that time worth nothing to you? Plus the abilities are not the same.
  - Liw
    
    Its like people who have griffon mounts dont want us casual full time workers with family obligations not to enjoy a flying mount? Also dont both the Griffon and dragon play differently?
    - spectravar
      
      As a casual, full-time worker with family obligations, my Griffin took the the whole of 2 days to get done (one evening after work, and the following day off interspersed with baby duty), less the gold. The gold isn’t a problem if you’re clever about it; with what I’d already saved and what I still needed, that pushed the Griffin to 4 days.
- Alot
  
  You can call the griffon a prototype if you want to, in the sense that every release is a prototype for future releases but I’d prefer this mount to cost 250g for general use but free availability in the map its released in.
  
  No reason to demean the griffon purchase by making this cheap, plus it would give the weary something to farm towards and a gold sink which could pump down the gem exchange from its current ludicrous high.
  - Shaggy
    
    Unfortunately it takes a while to actively farm 250g for casual players, and those who only play or at least MAINLY play story would be pretty put off by a pay wall.
    
    Gw2 is at it’s core a more casual game and they have to respect the casual players. They’ve never been keen to force people into certain game modes (not that they’ve never done it…) And for a mount granted through story they’re not likely to add a pay wall of any kind.
    
    I don’t think it’s fair to say this mount demeans the griffon. Just because they’re both flying mounts doesn’t mean the griffon is now useless. Just as the land mounts each have their own thing, it’s not a peoblem for multiple flying mounts to exist.
    
    Besides I think we’re missing the larger point here, which is that we get to ride a dragon
    
    Why are we even complaining about this?
    - Kara Harkins
      
      What they could do is make paying an option for something else. For example, if you pay then you have to use less mastery points. Then it becomes a question of if you want to pay or not. For me I have 10 pts at the moment so if they did something like that I would consider it depending on how many points it takes and how many easy ones I can get in the new map ….. 250 gold is like 20 to 25 USD so even if I did not have it to spend (although I do) my available game time is better spent on other things rather than bashing my head into the wall.
      - Shaggy
        
        i see where youre coming from but thats more complicated than what they usually do. i dont think itd be received well by the community, even go so far as to say its in poor taste, even if its a practical solution.
    - Nicole Yaciw
      
      Because if we were going to ride a dragon, I’d MUCH prefer to have had the HONOR of forming a dragon rider’s bond with Aurene. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read the Eragon trilogy.
      
      And the griffons and skyclaws are gliding mounts, not actually flying.
      - Shaggy
        
        i am familiar with the inheritance trilogy.
        
        and theres no reason to think we wont. aurene will return. as hard as it was to see her go, they didnt build all that up just to throw her away. i think this mount is just another step closer, to prepare both us and the devs for creating the best flying mount (or “flying” mount) they can when they inevitably do let us ride aurene, though itll probably only be in a story instance because they dont want everyone flying around LA with her. bit of an immersion breaker.
    - Liw
      
      That is why I never attempted the Griffon Because of the 250G. Also I missed out on the farm train to get the eggs/items for the collection since I have a fulltime job and cant sink hours into the game. So im hoping this sky scale wont be to demanding when it comes to unlocking it.
      - Shaggy
        
        same.
        if its part of the story episode itll probably be pretty accessible though so no worries.
- FatesVagrant
  
  Then I would rather they add extra abilities to griffon and maybe had this mount as well. I know they want to make the mounts distinct but when one cost a lot more than the others I’m fine with it essentially being a bit better. I’d rather reduce the amount of mount swapping in general play.
  - Shaggy
    
    I’m with you on adding more features to mounts instead of adding more mounts, but we have like what 5 ground mounts? I don’t mind another air mount and you know they’re gonna add underwater mounts when the time comes anyway, and then probably amphibious mounts and such. It’s sadly a losing battle.
    
    And the paywall for the griffon is prohibitive to new players and many casual players as well, which they already have problems with. For a mount in the new episode especially, they don’t want to force people to stop enjoying the game to go do the griffon shit just to get a flying mount that’ll be necessary to continue the story.

FrycoN

There is literally nothing else they can do in this game( no characters levels, no equipment etc.)
So after all those PvE maps now its time for mounts and some crafting for rest of legendary equipment.

Alot

Is this actually a dragon? Cause if it is, which elder dragon is it a spawn of?

Hadi The Edgemaster

maybe Glint. That is a good question though i never thought of that. They will probably be some back story to it.
Shaggy

i believe its technically a wyvern spawn, i heard it mentioned somewhere

could be wrong though, i dont think wyverns have 4 legs
- Alot
  
  Checked the wiki, all the wyverns have their wings attached to their front legs. That is part of what wyverns are.
Suan

A very good question. It looks like it’s size of Aurene and she got that big thanks to eating lots of magic so if this one was not so lucky it must me couple years old. I think on the trailer they show it in Maguuma maps so perhaps Mordremoth’s? It looks a little bit like that “young chiken” Mordremoth we fight in his mind, at least the head.
Or.. since Kralk is wreaking havoc in The Mists, this dragon is from another world? We already had that few mushrooms, we know that human gods went to search for another habitable world in case Tyria would collapse on itself so they can get us there. Perhaps this dragon comes from one of the rifts and we save it from Kralk or something so it decides to become our mount.

commentor

It’s all about balancing the cash-flow and keep people logging in.

Nicole Yaciw

-_- still a glider, not a flying mount. =/ If it’s a flying mount, please correct me, as that’s what I’ve been whining for for a long time now.

GW2 New Skyscale Mount In Next Episode

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