Mounts, you've got to get this right

I love the way ashes has taken on the mount choices (powerful mounts with limited lifetime as rewards for achieving)
One way I would like to improve the system and increase player immersion is by making mounts as real in the game as the player.

It doesn't make any sense in any fantasy world that I can cast a 1.5s summon and my mount instantly appears below me.

Mounts should be living breathing creatures that should be kept at a node stable until needed, and parked when not being used.

All mounts should be able to be killed and have defensive capabilities (running from danger or combat abilities). If my mount is a fucking Velociraptor it better be able to bite somebody.

Mounts need to be slightly different from one another.

Giving varying speed levels, riding requirements, combat abilities, life, mechanics(running away from danger and returning) would breath so much life into the game.

This would create an entire economy over mounts and make the tamers, eggs and mount stealing in high demand.
More risk and reward

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Xrael

Sometimes player convenience is more important than player immersion. Having to go to your stable, back and forth, to get back on your mount is ridiculous.

As for the rest of your question, here is some info from the wiki,

Mounts will have different core attributes and stats.

Mounts will provide resistances, defensive abilities, skills, charge abilities, and attacks.
Mounts will have varied speeds.
Mounted combat
Certain mounts will have combat abilities.

Players can't use their class skills while mounted.
Mounts can be killed by players, but can be resurrected after a certain cooldown period.
Potions can be used to reduce the cooldown.

Dragon abilities:

Dragons are epic flying mounts with strong battle abilities, such as AoE breath attacks, swooping flyby attacks, and others.

Dragons have PvP capabilities relating to Castle sieges and Node sieges.

The dragon will have a lot of capability in PvP. It's primarily its purpose, because as it relates to Castles and the sieges they're in, or Nodes and the sieges they're in. We want dragons to have large scale ramifications against player raids. – Steven Sharif

Wandering Mist

Ah yes, the good old realism card. There's a reason why most games have your mount instantly appear beside you at the press of a button. To see why, look no further than Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Horses in that game are pretty realistic. They have varying stats, can die, etc etc. They also cannot travel over a lot of very common obstacles or up steep hills. This is a problem in BotW because that game heavily encourages you to explore off the beaten path, meaning you often have to leave your horse behind to explore.

If you travel even a short distance from your horse it will despawn and if you want to get it back you'll need to travel all the way to the nearest stable to pick it up, which takes a long time and is rather pointless. Unless you are travelling straight from A to B and don't plan on stopping at all, you are far better off just running and using your glider to move around the world.

This is a classic case of realism becoming impractical and ruining the experience for the player.

Borus

Breath of the wild is a fan favorite? people love that kind of thing

Borus

adding things that take extra time add value to resources, travel time and give people greater feelings of accomplishment if there are more things that could go wrong on an adventure

Wandering Mist

Borus wrote: »

adding things that take extra time add value to resources, travel time and give people greater feelings of accomplishment if there are more things that could go wrong on an adventure

Not when said thing contradicts the very nature of the game while offering nothing in return. You could take out the horse riding completely from BotW and literally nothing would change in the core gameplay.

Borus

it adds realism and makes something other than your player important to think about. It adds risk and reward to resource crafting. It doesnt have to be like BOTW and maybe you could summon the horse if its run off (or minigame and go find it if it gets spooked)

tugowar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvEe3Y3B2cg

Where do you keep your horse? - Horse Pocket

Nagash

tugowar wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvEe3Y3B2cg

Where do you keep your horse? - Horse Pocket

love Viva la dirt league

Atama

I’m all on board with this.

Let’s also have poop mechanics. You have to find a spot to go, and make sure you bury it so you can’t be tracked by monsters or PKers (or bounty hunters if you have corruption).

If you hold it in you get a debuff and if you go too long then it’ll come out on its own. Then you have to get your armor cleaned or you can’t talk to quest givers or vendors.

This of course fits in with my detailed food mechanics. You have to eat regularly, and eat a balanced diet to avoid contracting various diseases, and if you become obese or emaciated your armor no longer fits. You either need to get your armor adjusted or buy new gear.

Dental hygiene is extremely important too but the flossing mechanics alone are deserving of their own thread so I’ll hold off for now.

There are sure some great ideas to improve the game in this thread! I hope Steven is taking notes.

Borus

Just get rid of the mount pocket, this is the best way I've come up with to do it. I'm coming up with solutions to problems, not just pointing them out

Aardvark

I want small flying mounts for everyone!

Wandering Mist

Borus wrote: »

Just get rid of the mount pocket, this is the best way I've come up with to do it. I'm coming up with solutions to problems, not just pointing them out

What problem are you solving with more realistic mounts?

Atama

Borus wrote: »

Just get rid of the mount pocket, this is the best way I've come up with to do it. I'm coming up with solutions to problems, not just pointing them out

Is it a problem though? I’ve never played a game and griped that I’d be having fun if only my horse didn’t appear out of nowhere.

LotRO handles it by showing your character whistling and the horse appears, sort of like how the Assassin’s Creed and Witcher games handle it. The assumption being that your mount stays nearby but out of sight when not in use. Would that sort of thing satisfy you?

Also, remember we are going to have some really fantastical creatures as mounts, who’s to say they can’t burrow or turn invisible or whatever when not in use. I don’t know how you’d care for a lion-gorilla with butterfly wings anyway.

Borus

I have that thought all the time lmao. If I felt like my mount was a living thing that I needed to take care of, I would value it more and enjoy my time adventuring. Think of roach from the witcher, only roach can die and you'll form a bond with a new mount.

Atama

Borus wrote: »

I have that thought all the time lmao

I doubt it bothers too many people. Certainly not to the extent that you have to create a system that’s a huge pain in the rear for players and developers alike.

Lincoln Hawk

Borus the new number 1 thread spammer.

We dont need to realistic features to annoy people, just systems that are engaging keep people playing and having fun.

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