Manimarco Devil.1790

It appears people are under the impression that I cannot afford it so I am jealous. Let me clarify: I have more than enough money to afford the griffon. I am simply disagreeing that it is a healthy addition to the game. Perhaps I am wrong, but there are already issues where mounted players complete events before on foot or slower mounted players can arrive. People keep comparing it to a glider but as stated before; it is much faster and falls slower aka not a glider. It skips content in the sense that there are obstacles; terrain, enemies, traps added to the game to challenge the player. It allows players to bypass all of that. If that sort of thing doesn't interest you they should simply add a instant waypoint to where you would like to be since you do not want to deal with the actual game itself. It severely diverges from GW1 game design where even small maps felt vast. GW2 is already scaled smaller, these mounts make it even more so. The game world for GW2 was not made with mounts in mind. It should have been if they were going to be added. A gate blocking your path makes sense. Now the game is only limited by invisible walls.

I meant in terms of ability to skip content they are similar. And specifically skipping content by flying over it is what WoW has. The waypoint argument is ridiculous. Way points still required you to reach them. Way points can be contested. Way points were reasonable where players could only navigate terrain in a certain manner so they served as checkpoints. The new maps have even less way points and may continue to have less with the addition of mounts so griffon becomes better than "instantaneous" travel. I already addressed that. Its already becoming more common and easier to bunny to a nearby location and fly than use another mount. See: bounties where 90% of the zerg is griffon. (unless they needed to bunny to reach new higher location) I also think raptor is still worse if you are walking uphill as the terrain prevent the raptor jump from going full distance so its only better on flat ground.

The raptor by design cannot be faster as it has to deal with ground obstacles. The griffon is far faster than gliding and can take you longer distances. Anyone can think of contrived situations where one mount may shine but in general the griffon is the best in a majority of cases a majority of the time. So unless Anet wants to keep making specific situations where another mount is optimal, the other mounts may as well not exist.

The griffon mount needs to be removed. This is exactly the type of mount of WoW uses and it kills content. People are allowed to bypass too much by using them. Ground mounts are more prone to being attacked and stopped via things like tar traps. Flying bypasses everything and will only make future content warped in order to accommodate it. Flying effectively renders the other mounts obsolete. Why raptor jump or skimmer when you can simply fly? (The bunny and jackal are still somewhat protected as the bunny can increase vertical distance more quickly and the jackal can use sand portals.) The meager counterargument is that the griffon cannot go past its initial height. But with the bunny and griffon one can bypass a majority of the map. (reach nearby high point -> fly) Mounts and gliding may add some amount of fun but they have also succeeded in removing any challenge the z-axis provided in this game. Mounts need to be more specific to dealing with environmental challenges and less about going 100mph past everything.

Healer's Retribution: Added a 20-second internal cooldown to this trait.