....Wish I could say I have it now.
I mean, I tried. I got the note in the mail, I did the map-jumping and guard-the-point missions. I got right up to the race at the end....and...
It’s impossible.
I’m pretty sure that, for the race, Sibaha is supposed to temporarily unlock the Dive skill for you (as you’re supposed to be test-riding one of her ‘advanced’ skimmers). And if you get silver in her race, she’ll teach you how to permanently make YOUR skimmer a diving skimmer.
Just a few problems:
1 - When you start the race, the Dive skill is there...for a tenth of a second before disappearring for the entirety of the race.
2 - Immediately after starting the race, after getting the ‘start race’ window and hitting play, the END RACE window pops up. You haven’t done the race and it already finishes. Even if the ring orbs appear, you have to take a second or two out to SHUT THIS DAMNED WINDOW so you can see where you’re going. And you do NOT have the time to spare to do so.
3 - At a point in the race, it’ll command you to make your skimmer dive...using the skill that is currently still hidden and locked. The one that disappearred the moment you started the race.
4 - The duration between ‘gold’ win and ‘silver’ win is VERY tight, and it’s easy to lose both instantly.
5 - There is a hairpin turn with three ring orbs down near the Quaggan village near Claw Island Portage. The first of those ring orbs is finicky; if you skim through the outer edge of it (like you can on all the others), it sometimes doesn’t register, so you have to double back to get it...which you might as well give up at that point because you just wasted like, 3-5 seconds you didn’t have at all. You literally can’t drift it.
Talking to people in LA about it who were doing the race got mixed ideas. Some people insisted that the moment you start the race, you should ALREADY be holding the skill button for Dive down. So when you get to the spot where you are supposed to make the first dive, you automatically do it and you have it unlocked for the rest of the race...unless you dismount or surface.
I tried this, and it didn’t work.
Some people suggested cheesing the race by swapping to the Raptor near the end since it’s on land at the end. That only works if you are magnificent in your swapping speed and do NOT misswap. This implies that you either need to special hotkey specific mounts or have a third-party mount swap program running. Pretty sure ANet didn’t intend for that to be either result; everyone is supposed to be able to get this.
Another suggestion was to equip yourself with Swim-Speed infusions. Which...makes sense... If and ONLY If you have an ascended piece of gear that will accept a damned infusion. Which I do not have. I don’t even know which piece can TAKE that infusion other than a rebreather, because none of the trinkets I have accept the infusion in their infusion slot.
The simplest solution is this: ANet needs to separate that End Race screen from the Start Race screen. Make it so it only triggers if you go seriously over time or you hit the final ring ON THE WAY BACK. (not at the beginning. When you start.) And the Dive button needs to actually stick around so we CAN dive, and earn that silver rank, so we can learn the skill.
Those two changes, one major, one minor, makes the race doable without hardcore cheating.
