[2020] Griffon Mount Guild Chat Livestream Coverage

Original Post — Direct link

Watch live at: https://go.twitch.tv/guildwars2

Didn't know we want to keep it hidden until late into development when we wanted to have a cool reward/suprise for players.
One of the first mounts they came up with after Raptor
Jackal was gonna be the 5h mount originally when Griffon didn't have any dive abilities added in and could only flap in the air.
At one point in the development the Griffon speed was so fast it went through the terrain so we had to dialed it back.
Originally if you dived and pulled up immediately you could go up vertically infinitely. Then they added a soft ceiling (altitude buffer) that decays while you are level so that you need to fly a bit before gaining height.
- https://imgur.com/a/avFzT
Eventually if they have the tech, they want to make it so that the there would be water waves/splashes behind you as you fly the griffon really close to the water surface (they already got it for the skimmer, so can just scale it up for the griffon).
They spent a lot of time fine tuning the griffon adventures.

over 6 years ago - /u/anet_joelh - Direct link

Originally posted by Hammerguard

If you dive + flap with griffon you don't slowly go down like a glider?

~~Is that image also suggesting that you don't need to pull up instantly to maintain height you started with?~~

edit: second image says "altitude buffer slowly decays while level" which mean first image is a lie.

And last question, is there a cap on altitude buffering?

My artwork is completely accurate (and also fabulous). Even without any altitude buffering system, your speed plus the climbing wing flap will let you get back to around your starting height after flying for a while, so long as you pulled level out of the dive right at the moment you reached maximum speed. The altitude buffer is just there to give you some slack so that you're not penalized for continuing to dive after reaching max speed. And yes, there is a limit on the buffer, though it is fairly generous.

over 6 years ago - /u/anet_joelh - Direct link

Originally posted by BeowulfBjornson

Nice work on the mechanics, it feels reaaaally good to fly around on it!

Since we do not have a way to measure how fast we are going, could you very briefly answer these questions? Myself and a couple friends were really trying to go as fast as we can on the adventures and understanding the mechanics better would certainly help.

Is flying close to the ground faster?

Does flapping your wings after diving, boosting and leveling help you maintain horizontal speed or even increase it?

How does moving up and down impact your "horizontal" speed? Is this related to the altitude buffer?

It is not, but you lose altitude more slowly (this is the ground effect I mentioned in the stream).
It does not.
I'm not sure what you're asking but I'll take a stab at it. When you're climbing you will always lose some speed due to gravity, but so long as the altitude buffer is non-zero the gravity while climbing will be greatly reduced, so you won't lose speed very quickly. Once the buffer is consumed, gravity will be set back to normal and you will lose speed rapidly.

over 6 years ago - /u/anet_joelh - Direct link

Originally posted by BeowulfBjornson

In regards to my third point, I believe a better term would be ground speed. Maybe this clarifies it:

https://imgur.com/a/8ZI8m

Since on scenario B I had to move up to get to the second checkpoint, I assume it took me longer to reach it, right? Or does moving up and down not affect my ground speed?

Ground speed will be substantially lower while climbing and diving.

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