I filled the heart and purchased my jackal and immediately went to SW Desert Highlands to finally get the mastery point and POI in the big jugs and was confused when I couldn't jump into the portal and ended up splashing into the water. I was also quite confused when I discovered I could not use a sand portal after acquiring my jackal. Not to mention a THIRD level mastery? I mean I know masteries are easier to get now and the xp for them isn't nearly as much as like it was in heart of thorns, but it feels really redundant to put in a feature that's in the tutorial area but also locked until you get more masteries. I actually had to go hunting on the wiki to figure this out.
![gw2 jackal gw2 jackal](https://cdn.thingiverse.com/renders/23/fa/45/70/37/ba57f50b431f87b3af669b14118ad840_preview_featured.jpg)
One really odd thing I found about it was that during the heart to get one, talking to the Djinns they specifically say: "of course you can use the sand portal!" and then you get the Jackal can't use the portal, and it doesn't say that you actually can't use the portals without the mastery for them. So what do the Jackals do exactly besides Sand Portal? A short forward-teleport in midair?
![gw2 jackal gw2 jackal](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NSp93tbMg58/maxresdefault.jpg)
So I really have to ask, what exactly is the point of them.?I feel like I'm missing something here, I do like them, and I'm sure the Sand Portal thing will come in handy when I finally unlock it but like, the wiki says they can be used for precision jumping, but they can't teleport upwards onto a high cliff, they can't teleport downwards to a lower cliff, they can't be used for 90 degree teleports and they don't snap to a target or floor. So I've gotten into mounts rather late as some other games came out at the time, and have unlocked the Jackal finally.