We're only a few weeks away from the launch of
Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure™. When the expansion launches on August 22, it'll bring all-new areas to explore, set high in the skies above Tyria: two new explorable zones and the Wizard's Tower outpost, with another map to open up in following releases as the story progresses. To help you explore those maps, you'll also get access to a new, streamlined method to unlock your skyscale mount, plus new Masteries for flying mounts.
The raptor mount will also be unlocked for owners of
Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure, although you'll still need
Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire™ to train its associated Masteries.
Reintroducing the Skyscale
The skyscale mount originally launched with the finale of Living World Season 4, "War Eternal." It was unlocked by completing a series of achievements that required a significant time and material investment to reflect the skyscale's position as something of a prestige mount.
Four years into the future, we're telling a story in primarily aerial maps that take advantage of different types of travel and movement—and we're adding a parallel path for unlocking the skyscale and its masteries in
Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure.
You'll be introduced to the new skyscale acquisition method through the expansion story by unlocking the Flight Training Mastery line. After training the first tier of the line, you'll unlock the new skyscale collection. This collection is a streamlined successor to the original; our primary goal was to simplify some of the steps while maintaining much of the collection's theming and story.
As we approached giving players reliable access to the skyscale in
Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure explorable zones, we took what we learned from maps such as Dragonfall and sought to improve the mount "rental" experience. In the new expansion maps, you do not need to go to a specific location in the map to hop on a skyscale—you'll have access to the mount button just like players who have permanently unlocked it, allowing you to mount whenever you choose. Assuming you get to Skywatch Archipelago, the first new explorable zone, by following the normal story progression, you'll have skyscale access when you first set foot there.
Flight Training Mastery
If you aren't familiar with
Guild Wars 2's account-wide progression system, check out the official wiki article on
Mastery to get a primer. The new Flight Training Mastery line includes parallel skill unlocks from the original Skyscale Mastery line, a new skyscale skill, and new interactions with other travel and exploration Masteries. As you can see in the chart below, players who have already trained certain Masteries (or who go back to unlock and train them later) will have additional benefits: their mounts' Air Rescue and Wall Launch skill will be upgraded to reflect their dedication.
Updrafts and ley lines across Tyria will be compatible with the new combination Masteries that allow flying mounts—the griffon and the skyscale—to take advantage of them. These types of complementary effects continue to expand the opportunities for exploration, and they give riders new ways to pull off incredible aerial feats.
Tier
Effect
Bonus from Both Mastery Tracks
2–Fireball
Grants an aerial flame attack while mounted on the skyscale.
3–Wall Spring
Upgrades Wall Launch to charge faster and launch farther.
5–Combat Launch
Gain the ability to mount your skyscale in combat.
7–Rising Spirits
Updrafts regenerate the flying mounts' flight meter.
*Names are subject to change.
** In our June 27 blog about the skyscale and Masteries, a formatting error caused the text associated with Tier 6 to display in incorrect cells, implying that there was an additional effect for players who had trained both Masteries. This error has been corrected.We're excited for you to get your hands on the skyscale's new Fireball skill. It flows well with their other tricks, and it opens up some neat combat options. The new Fireball skill allows you to precisely aim where the projectile will land using your cursor. Similar to the siege turtle passenger's ability to fire projectiles at enemies, this new Fireball skill will not cause a dismount, so you can soar through the skies and take down threats from above—whether they're on the ground or in the air.
The Kryptis have aerial threats of their own that require your skyscale skills to take care of, and you'll be able to practice those skills via adventures throughout
Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure to ensure you're prepared for any threat the Kryptis bring to you. One of the explorable zones includes a new Skyscale Target Practice adventure that'll have you racing around and spitting Fireballs left and right.
After you complete the Flight Training Mastery line and the
Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure skyscale collection, a new collection will open up that awards a Kryptis-themed skyscale skin.
Prepare for Takeoff
The new skyscale unlock method and Masteries will all be available on August 22 with the initial release of
Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure. We'll be back before then with more news about incoming features, and you can
prepurchase any time before launch to start playing the moment the release goes live, in addition to securing prepurchase rewards like the Demon Hunter title.
See you in the skies of Tyria!
