Benie's Games Blog

Finally, I made it to the home stretch. It’s been over a week. All I have to do, is get parts for the saddle. And the mount, will be MINE!!
I was pumped and ready. Thought, all I need is 35 gold and finally I’ll be OVER this hellhole!! Watched the video, and… stopped short when I saw this list.

Oh. my. God. And you know what’s worse? Only two of these, can actually be farmed as ore. The rest, can only be purchased though Volatile Magic vendors (for 5 a day), doing heart quests, or completing ‘Return to (Zone name here)’ achievements.
ArenaNet had ‘saved’ the worst for last, for the final collection: ore that you can’t even farm.
The only other ‘get this done quickly’ option that’s been given to me, is to “use alts”. And I do not want to be forced to do this. I only make alts for fun or to experiment with other
classes, not for requirements like this. But I’m just supposed to ‘throw away’ the frustration and stress this Skyscale collection has put me through, and focus on alts and leveling them up to 80 (or use the two Level 80 boosters I have).
Problem with those boosters, is.. I don’t want to use them for THIS. I want to only use them for different reasons, not for “I need you fuck to do this specific heart event to help my main”. It feels like such a waste, only to make alts, and boost them up, for one specific purpose and then have no more fucking use for them.
It feels like a waste, that I cannot replace easily. The only other way to get these boosters
is 2,000 Gems each on the BLTC.

Now I do have Beniee, my Ranger, still. My first character. He’s in retirement. …But I don’t feel like getting him out of retirement JUST for this! I don’t want to have to relearn his abilities, just for this damn Skyscale. ..THIS SHOULDN’T BE REQUIRED to do it
fast!!
But all the bitching and whining isn’t going to make ArenaNet listen to me. They hardly listen to their playerbase anyway. And it just amazes me, still, how the playerbase just doesn’t seem to care! Why in the fuck do they just accept this BS?!?! It’s like Wurm all over again! Not everyone can just ‘Netflix and grind’!
I feel like uninstalling the game. I just… I have no reason to play anymore. All of this is just too much. I thought I was going to be done with this BS.. only for the BS to finally ‘kick into full gear’ with items I cannot normally farm for. Fucking unfarmable currency!!
–
But I cannot. As much as I want to say “fuck it, I’m done. Congratulations ArenaNet, you just lost another one.”… Kovo and Nova want to help me with it, against my wishes of not wanting help for something so pathetic. Honestly, the mount really isn’t worth all of this effort the game asks of people.
And I knew this, when I did that ‘test drive’ in Dragonfall. That fucking, useless ‘flight
range’ bar! And all people say is “you’ll get used to it”?! I’d love to take whatever drug you fuckers are on that makes you immune to ArenaNet’s BS.
You know, I had a funny thought. Of comparing WoW to GW2 with flying mounts. Who can properly go by the music of The Neverending Story all the way through the song.
—
WoW: *beautiful, because you can fly from zone to zone in a straight line*
GW2: *never makes it to the first vocal part without the mount being forced to descend*
It’s sad. Really is. I mean I get why they did it, but come ON! If you’re going to make it ridiculous like this, then balance the requirements to fit with it! Don’t make us jump through fiery hoops, for how little of a reward you get at the end!
WoW’s flying mount requirements were properly balanced for what you get! Yeah you went through hell, but it felt worth it! Plus, I had to do this on multiple characters, to help them out! …Not to help just one of my characters!!
But you could argue “once you get it on one character, it’s unlocked on all of your characters.”.. that means NOTHING to me, when the characters become USELESS!! If I’m going to create them just to help ME get the Skyscale, they become useless. Plus I’ll be out of Level 80 boosters.

Guess what I’m trying to say is: don’t bother with the Skyscale, or the Roller Beetle. It ain’t worth the torture I had to go through. Yeah, sure it’s cool to have a flying mount, but wake the fuck up and realize what hell you’re going to have to go through.
ArenaNet doesn’t fuck around. They’re sadists. They enjoy causing pain. And they more than likely won’t give a fuck if I leave or not, for they got more than enough mindless drones who accept the grind.
But you could say “Benie, you just said you got your friends. Just wait for them”. …It isn’t going to help, as I just remembered all of this currency is BoA (Bind on Account). Aka it cannot be shared with other players. So I either have to wait up to two months to collect all the resources, or use alts as slave labor.

But I came up with an even better ‘idea’… uninstall the fucking game!!
I don’t want the mount anymore, nor do I want to see anyone with it. I’m glad they managed to stay sane, and patient. Me? I feel I’ve more then done enough effort for this mount, but the game doesn’t think so. So I don’t think playing this game is worth it anymore.
I just… the word I’m thinking of that explains my extreme disappointment with ArenaNet over this, feels it doesn’t exist. This.. this ruined the fucking game for me!! It ‘helped revitalize’ that severe distrust I have with game companies, for they WILL SCREW YOU EVERY CHANCE THEY GET!!! ..But can I really blame ArenaNet, or myself for trusting them to be fair with their mount requirements? Or wanting an ‘endgame mount’ according to Kovo?

There’s a saying, with this. You likely won’t understand why I say it, but it’ll make sense in the end. It’s a saying most mothers say to try to get their kid(s) to eat healthy.
“You won’t know you’ll like it until you try it.”

This saying can also be used to push their kid(s) to achieve higher, to do greater things.
…Something that ArenaNet has FAILED TO DO with this collection. And that’s being honest with their playerbase, by saying “those items you need? You won’t actually need them.” No, none of that (outside of the wiki).
All I can say to that is…

Well done, ArenaNet. Well done. I got played. Once again you managed to get more fucking money out of my wallet for Gems. But this time they weren’t going to be used to buy useless things like cosmetics. …I needed Gold. LOTS, of Gold. And ArenaNet took advantage of my misfortune by giving me a get rich quick scheme.
Alright, I should explain what the hell I’m talking about. So, Troublesome Skyscales is about your Skyscale disappearing from where it was born and raised. More like just taking a joyride on your expense.
Part of this, he gives you an item: Extra-Pungent Skyscale Treat. He also… gives you a recipe, to.. make more of them. I think you can see where this is going. And there’s 21 locations your Skyscale has ran off to. That means, logically.. you need to make, or buy this many of that item.
But there’s a problem with the buying part..

…I have never have had, that much gold in this game. The maxinum I had was 54 gold. I, just couldn’t believe I required this much. I truly felt screwed.
It took a long time to calm down after the sticker shock, and thought “ok, I can just pay my way out of this problem by buying Gems, then convert them to Gold. $20 should get me more than enough for this.”
I did this, and got 500 (something) gold. Then bought what I had assumed I required, and went to the first location. After finally reaching the Skyscale (and it flying away), I noticed I still had 21 Skyscale Treats. And I’m like “wait.. what? I thought you needed them to lure the damn thing out of hiding!” …Am I wrong for thinking ArenaNet would be that evil, to make people use the BLTC(Black Lion Trading Company), or to craft the items?
I’m actually glad they aren’t… but to, you know, NOT BE TOLD THIS by the game before feeling like a complete fucking dumbass for ‘not knowing’? Shouldn’t be a requirement to use the damn wiki, and discover on the very bottom, and says this;


God.. DAMNIT.

But, hold up. Uhh.. what’s this?

..Jumping puzzles? BOSS EVENTS?! Are you fucking serious? What the hell do these even have to do with the Skyscale?? It feels like more filler content. Little did I know the hell I would have to go through for these extremely troublesome Skyscales.
The forced mount-free jumping puzzles sucked ass, especially ones that I kept on rolling off (or using my Glider when I didn’t want to). And having to wait hours for a World
Event boss also sucked.

Doing this collection, got to a point where I require the Jackal mount. Another mount, to get the Skyscale. And more Mastery Points I have to acquire and store. I mainly required the Jackal’s portals, as somehow the Skyscale managed to fly to a point that isn’t possible normally.
I was forced to hire a Mesmer in a desperate attempt they’ll be able to port me up there. But it seems ArenaNet had already thought of that, and made it impossible by having their portal abilities have a limit on range.
The only way, was a Teleport to Friend. Thankfully, I still had 25 of the things and was able to use one of them. I also got the Mastery Point up there as well. ..Then I find out going by the video, the next one again requires a Jackal. Ok, I’m done depending on others to help me. I will get a damn Jackal!!
The Mesmer, before they left, told me “by now the game assumes you’ve already gotten all the mounts, including the Roller Beetle. It didn’t expect you to jump straight to
the Skyscale”. This had worried me, as I was waiting for one World Boss event, someone said they’re “getting parts for the beetle”. Am I to assume the Roller Beetle is going to be similar hell to the Skyscale…? And what if I require it as well? Well then, that’ll be my breaking point.

But finally… and I do mean finally, I got the fucking collection done.
……The worst, was yet to come.

Okay. Off and on I’ve been playing the final Living World season: The Icebrood Saga, while also tending to the Skyscale collections. I’ve reached a point that I have to wait ’till 7pm today (the daily server reset) until I (hopefully) will feed her for the last time, and she’ll stop eating all my damn gold (as I’ll be done with the ‘Feeding Skyscales’ collection)!! Fucking bitch of a dragon!
Anyways, I have to address the elephant in the room. Or maybe I should say, the Elder Dragon in the room: Aurene. Now, I’ll do this in two ways. First is a TL;DR version, and a spoiler version if you want more detail (and you’ve played through the season).

First, the TL;DR version: I got to a point in the season where somehow I was yeeted out of it and thrown into End of Dragons, without knowing. Well.. I can’t really say that. I knew something was off with what certain story characters said, but I just didn’t know what the hell happened until I saw the splash screen for End of Dragons.
I thought that was a perfect way to end the season.. but it still felt off.

Now, the spoiler version;

EDIT: So, it seems the season simply bugged out on me. I was able to go back and continue where I left off. I still don’t know what happened, or why it bugged out. But I’ve been told that a lot of End of Dragons content got cut, and moved to the season.
That definitely feels like an ArenaNet thing to do.. knowing people will buy your content anyway. It’s a win-win (for them. Not for the consumer).

Yesterday, I was planning to dedicate getting the ‘Medicine’ and whatever else I need, to work on eventually getting a Skyscale mount of my own. But my own fear of my outflow fan dying on me, kept me from doing so.
But anyway, I felt thankful that Kovo, Nova and Vale were playing the game. They managed to get into Orr, and both Kovo and Nova are Level 80 now. They just haven’t defeated Zhaitan (yet), but they’re getting close.
And they (as in ArenaNet) seem to have added some things since I made my way
to Level 80. There’s more waypoints then I remember, and Vale believes they extended the story. But he also feels the entire story is ‘rushed’.
That and, apparently I’m the only one that was in the call, that actually likes Trahearne as a character? Hmm. I mean sure, he didn’t care when Tybalt died, but.. we can’t grieve when there’s still a war going on against a powerful Elder Dragon with an endless army.

Anyway, I was watching Vale’s stream of the game, when the GW2 Discord grabbed my attention of an announcement. I saw something about a free bag. I assumed it was that thing they were going to do of giving us more bag slots. ..Instead it was them pushing a bag that can be used by all of your chars. I originally thought, this meant a replacement of the starter backpack. It wasn’t.
But you can get this 24 slot bag for free.. if you sign up to their newsletter. I went over their notes, and checked out their link to it, and noticed these words


“please allow several weeks for delivery”
I’m sorry, ArenaNet. I have to stop you there. Did.. did you say, several WEEKS?!?! Several weeks, to get an ingame item? You’re KIDDING, RIGHT?!? Gems, I can understand they take awhile because you guys don’t trust computers to auto process these Gem requests. But an ingame item… requires, us to wait, several weeks?! Are.. you insane?

Plus I have to get ingame to do this, which means risking the fan dying. But, I did it anyway. And I did what they asked. And after I opted into their newsletters.. I got the bag a lot quicker than ‘several weeks’. So, clearly that’s gotta be a troll.. so I unsubscribed to said newsletters, and still had the bag. Happy for that.
Also happy I finally have a bag that has four extra slots. I’m actually tempted to try my hand at the Black Lion Trading Company and see if I can’t get some bigger bags. Anything to avoid having to deal with that dreaded ‘You are Encumbered!’.

As said, I’ve completed Path of Fire. But, this expansion has really made me think of what it means to be a soloer. And what it means, to have the help of many.
Though it was me that finally defeated the final boss… I would not had done it without the help of everyone I’ve met in this adventure. I see that now, for the first time in my life.
And for that, I stand by Nappie when he said this is a good DLC.
But, a new danger presents itself. An Elder Dragon, that I accidentally made even more powerful after the defeat of said final boss, may finish what it started of finally
destroying Tyria.
On top of that, the cute whelp Arene, has escaped. It seems she does not need me to be her champion anymore. But, who knows? Hopefully she doesn’t get corrupted to where we’re forced to put her down. That’s all I’ll say.

With the Black Friday sale ending tomorrow (and so will that sweet 50% more XP), I got a lot of questing to do. But first I want to obtain the other mounts in the DLC.
Oh yeah, I forgot to say that I’ve been using the Reaper sub-spec since I started, which has enabled me to enjoy the “CLAAAANG” once more that I missed doing with my Ranger.

But yeah, overall, nice DLC. And it’s cool to acquire more than just the Raptor mount. Next one I plan to get will be the dragon mount: the Skyscale. And I find it interesting it doesn’t have any Mastery linked to it, like increased flight speed and the rest.
Slowly working my way into Living World Season 4 right now. At the time of this edit I just completed Chapter 2. According to the wiki, Chapter 6 is when the Skyscale is available. While I was questing in Path of Fire, I’ve seen a few asking for help with that mount. One said “it’s not difficult of a quest, just long”.

This expansion has been a rollercoaster. Good, annoying, interesting, ugh, …oh my goodness. That fucked me up.
Like I said, I’m glad heart quests have returned. And a few of them are linked to the mounts (the only way to get your hands on them). However at one time in the story, I reached a snag where I felt I was genuinely fucked. Got to a point where I require
the next mount in the expansion; the Springer. However, I’m required to unlock another mastery for my Raptor, in order to jump over a huge gap to get to the area where I can get said mount. …Only problem is, I’m completely OUT of Mastery Points!! I require three!
This wasn’t one of those situations that I require XP grinding in order to unlock. Ohhhh no. I have the XP…, but it’s going to waste because I cannot unlock the Mastery!
I asked Nappie (who was asleep at the time and was for most of the day until I really didn’t need him anymore because I had already got moving way before he responded) thinking I required his help (or Shiro’s help as he has a Turtle flying mount that would work in my
favor) to guide me to some (unknown to me at the time) Mastery points, just enough to get the ball rolling again.
I got desperate enough that I asked the GW2 Discord, thinking they aren’t really going to be much help (especially when asking that I’m looking for “easy to acquire” Mastery points). Instead they give me a map to four Mastery Points that are obtainable with
the Raptor. …The first one being the Sous Chef. And they got an earful how much I loathe that NPC. They all agree that Mastery challenge is hard.. but they all did it. I explained why it’s.. just simply impossible, as I get stressed under pressure. It’s not something I can control. But, I do not have to do it, as there are three remaining Mastery Points I can acquire.
Following the map, 2 of the 3 Mastery points are easy to acquire. The last one, involves being challenged. However said challenge isn’t really that impossible for me. It’s a super simple memory game with six nodes that light up in a certain (random) sequence, and you only have to do it right three times to get the Mastery Point. To make it a bit more easy for me, I attempted to put the sequence on a notebook. It took quite a lot of tries, but finally I got my 3rd Mastery Point, and was able to unlock it.
Back to the spot I go, and was able to jump over the large gap. In this new area I didn’t know how to get to the spot for the Springer, but eventually found it.. only to learn I have to complete their damn Heart quest just to buy a saddle. It took a long time, but I finally got it. And I wanted to tear the quest giver a new one for the hell they put me through. But it’s whatever, I can finally bu– wait WHAT?! You want fucking TRADE CONTRACTS on top of wanting 1 Gold piece?!?! WHY?!?! …UGH!!! Was forced to ask, how do I get
them “quickly”, and was told, to do events back in the main hub. And my whiny spoiled brat voice came out. “I DON’T WANNA!!!!”
Especially how they give you so little (5 or 3 contracts, even for winning the damn race they have there), and I needed 9 more to get the damn mount. Thankfully, this would be the only time I’d ever come up on this problem, as somehow I have hundreds of trade contracts now.
But now I have the Springer, and I noticed something pretty quick with the mount system in this game. I get it, ArenaNet. I get you.. I still don’t like you, though (for doing this). You’ve taken WoW’s idea of mounts, and made them “feel more rewarding”. While
also, reminding me of the Avatars from BONELAB: each of these mounts having their own strengths and weaknesses. However, unlike that game, you can’t easy switch on the fly.
You have to dismount (if you’re on a mount), click the small bar above the mount
icon, pick the mount you want, then click on the mount icon. It won’t re-mount you on the mount you’ve chosen.
That extra step should not be required. But I do see why they did that, as there would be a lot of “I didn’t want to mount up!” or “I missclicked!” complaints from the community.
Still annoying though, when my mindset is stuck on the way BONELAB does it. But they want to make it “fair and balanced”.. BAH!! Humbug!

Moving on from that, I needed to find a good dragon. Yes, you heard me right. This game isn’t just about the Elder Dragons. But when I got there, the dragon was being chained down by the expansion’s main boss, who’s the God of War.

No.. not that God of War!
THIS God of War!!

And he is TOUGH. Tougher than Mordremoth. He overwhelmed all of us. And he was about to kill me.. as in, permadeath. As in, Game Over. But the dragon saved my life at the last second, by giving his own life. Wow.
I wanted to learn all about the dragon who saved me. And I was able to, and then some. But since I’m already in spoiler territory I cannot mention what I’ve learned.

All of that eventually lead up to.. an actual solo battle against the God of War. And this guy was literally toying with my emotions. I swear he could had shattered my ego by
saying “pathetic. This is the mighty Elder Dragon slayer, the one everyone says
solo’d Zhaitan and Mordremoth. Yet you are nothing against me. Why’s that?
Ohh, because you had friends! You are NOT a soloer!!”
I fought hard, very hard. I had him at (what I feel) was 20% health before he overwhelmed me. But I believe the fight was rigged to make you fail, to make you feel pathetic. And there was no dragon that could save me this time. He killed me, and all I could do is watch in horror as everything went black. ..Especially when it happened in first person.
…That fucked me up. I can’t stop thinking about it. Yeah I did manage to come back to life but I had to do a lot, still.. I had to quit early, because even as I write this I dunno. It.. it doesn’t give me hope. Yet at the same time, gotta remember.. there is more gameplay past this. But I still remember one NPC saying “be careful Commander. The next time you
die, might be your last”. ..What if that means for now on, I will never be able to respawn using a waypoint if I get defeated?
*shudders* Hopefully it doesn’t come to that. Then again, that would be stupid to do to your playerbase after this point. You know? Having your character suddenly
disappear (aka die) from your character list because you suck at the game, would be causing a lot of people to leave.