Okay, so ya'll know (well maybe you don't) that I was rather excited for the Sky Golem and as those who have been paying attention also know, it became possible to craft them yesterday since the first 30 days of possible mats came to pass at 6:30am. (yes yes, I know a few people seem to have gotten them through weird things like Bling or BMAH, but really I hadn't seen a single on on my high pop server till yesterday).
Anyway, here's my personal review of the mount as compared to others because internet.
I'll start with the minuses just to get the bad news out of the way:
Minuses
- Was very disappointed that they removed the underwater breathing. From the videos it appeared that it would have it (especially given the underwater animation), but the real thing doesn't. Others also speculated that it would go faster underwater, but the video I saw posted didn't really convince me of that, so I wasn't expecting it.
- I was really hoping that it would also allow for mounted mining... I mean given the look of the mount, mining makes more sense to me than herbing (a much more delicate operation in my opinion). Oh well.
Neutral
- I have this weird thing about using ground-mounts that seem like they would be an uncomfortable ride (have you seen the bouncing that the raptors do? Holy crap, my nuts hurt just looking at that). Anyway, I'm giving this one a neutral because even though the animations for the ground-walking on the Sky Golem seem like they would be nausea-inducing to the rider, they are summarily kick ass and therefore I feel it evens it out.
- This one is hard to explain because it is purely cosmetic, but there are some mounts (and this one is definitely one, the Giant reforge Yak and travelers tundra are others) where the ground-speed feels slower due to the size of the mount than it actually is. Basically, because the mount is much larger that say a horse or raptor, top ground speeds seem slower. It is purely a matter of perspective and isn't actually going any slower, but still, I get every so slightly annoyed by this feeling.
Positives
- Herbing (though I don't really herb that much, I guess this is a plus
- Cost. This was controversial. As some of you may have seen, I made a poll to get an idea of what was going to happen on day 1 of availability as far as the market for these mounts would do and while it may not be good news to the folks who were expecting to sell these for several 100k G, I feel like it is good news that this mount is "affordable." Also part of me was happy that the market fell out on them (they go for sub-50k if you haggle on my server) as I don't feel so bad having kept mine rather than selling.
- Animations... okay, here is where this mount might be the most awesome mount out there. Everything, from the take-off, to the side-to-side flying animation, to the random DO A BARREL ROLLs are animated so beautifully and humorously that I really am super happy despite the minor disappointments. Even my minor complaints about the ground-mount issues are overshadowed by the fact that the ground-walking animations look so utterly baddassed. I also love that the "cover" comes on and off depending on the usage (flying/swimming, but not while walking)
In summary: I'm very happy with the mount and would be curious to hear what others who got it think. Of course those who don't have it are perfectly welcome to their opinions, you know, because internet. However, I feel that there is something about actually being IN the mount that makes the animations particularly awesome from the player perspective.
Have at it with the comments!