For the MMORPG Guild Wars 2, a major update was released on February 25. It also introduced a feature that players have been waiting for since 2017. However, they are not satisfied with the implementation.
What was this update about? The new Guild Wars 2 “Call to Glory” patch brought several major changes:
- PvP tournaments in Swiss format were introduced
- The first mini-season in the 2v2 mode has begun
- The largest balance patch since release has been deployed
- There are new tutorial achievements to help newcomers
- New armor sets have been released
- A special WvW event has been activated
However, a real highlight was the new skin for the mount Warclaw. While it is not particularly beautiful or especially ugly, like the latest griffon skin, it can simply be earned in-game. This is the first skin for mounts that does not have to be purchased in the shop.
Nevertheless, players are not really satisfied with the implementation of the new “Guild Rider Warclaw”.
Expensive Skin and Own Competition
What are the players criticizing? Players have several points of criticism regarding the new skin:
- The price
- The appearance
- The latest skin in the shop
The price: To obtain the new mount skin, a reward path in WvW must be activated. However, this costs 200 Gold upfront. Many compare the skin to others from the shop.
Since players can convert in-game currency to real money in Guild Wars 2, the 200 Gold already corresponds to 500 Gems. Random mount skins can be obtained for as little as 400 Gems, selected ones for 1,200 or 2,000.
The appearance: Visually, the leopard with additional guild emblems resembles the standard skin of the Warclaw quite strongly. Therefore, many players believe that the skin is not worth the gold and time required to earn it.
The new skin in the shop: Along with the leopard skin, a new Warclaw appeared in the Gem shop. The “Wartorn Marauder” Warclaw costs 2,000 Gems, but looks like a bloodthirsty bear.
According to reddit, it also offers more color options, has better animations, and has a special summoning animation. Consequently, there are many complaints about it currently:
- Snossi: “If you offer an “earnable” version, it should not have the value of 500 Gems. It is more than ridiculous, but exactly what Anet would do to maintain their hard-earned bad reputation.
- Bahamut731lp: “200 Gold for a skin? Sounds like a hidden real money shop with additional tasks. 200 Gold is 500 Gems after all.”
- Keruli_: “Don’t fool yourselves. It’s a slightly altered version of the Warclaw that has a value of about 400 Gems, which at the current exchange rate only costs about 165 Gold.”
Anet Is Clumsy, but Players Are Exaggerating
This is what our author Alexander Leitsch says: That Guild Wars 2 is getting skins for mounts that can be earned is long overdue. That they won’t be the most visually varied is to be expected since the developers need to make money from the real money shop. Guild Wars 2 is only Buy2Play, in parts even Free2Play.
For the 200 Gold, you not only receive the mount skin in the reward path, but also a variety of useful items, including:
- Currencies of Living World Season 4
- Mount skin miniatures
- Black Lion keys
- 10 Black Lion weapon tickets
- Supply starter
- Access to the WvW premium hub for 2 weeks
These are all unique items or content from the real money shop. This makes the argument that the path is too expensive irrelevant.
The only fact that they launched a new Warclaw in the shop simultaneously with the earnable skin was very clumsy. Thus, it was almost to be expected that players would complain.
Instead of being happy now that there is an earnable mount skin, some users on reddit found yet another way to criticize the MMORPG.
I personally am looking forward to the skin and know that I am not alone in this. It is a reason to check back into the WvW – a game mode that I and the developers have grossly neglected.
Since the release of Path of Fire, a total of 8 different mounts have been introduced. We tell you in this guide how you can obtain them:
