15 replies to this topic

[Alaroxr]

I'm not advocating the idea of personal mounts like many ideas relating to mounts are. I'm also not advocating large numbers of mounts for WvW.

What I am advocating is the idea of a limited number of mounts as an upgrade to keeps/towers that creates a stable with a few horses (or whatever they would use).

The purpose of the mounts is to put an in-game emphasis on scouting, which otherwise is completely player driven. The mount would replace the player's first five abilities and prevent the use of the second five. The 10th skill would obviously be the dismount button. There would of course be a passive speed increase, balanced at ArenaNet's choice.

Combat wise, the player's weapon shown would be replaced visually with a Lance/Javelin/Spear.

Skills names are arbitrary, but you get the general idea:
1- Throw a Javelin
2- Charge at your enemy with your Lance and knock them down
3- Slash to your right and front
4- Slash to your left and front
5- A skill based on your mount's attack (note, same effect but different animation for balance).

The first skill could also be dependent on your equipped long-range weapon or profession, but have the same range/damage/effect regardless. For example, a Warrior could get a Rifle/Bow depending on if they have one equipped, but if they did not then they would get a Javelin for skill 1. Same goes for the Engineer, Ranger, and Thief. Not sure how to manage the magical profession though.

Also, while in combat on the mount you would not be able to strafe. Simply forward/back/turn.

If your health is reduced to 0, or your dismount, you will be knocked off of your mount and it will ride back to the tower/keep it came from, all the while invulnerable.

Your thoughts?

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Edit: I'll add whatever ideas we come up with here, even if there's only a hand full of changes.

-Instead of having the dodge meter disappear, turn the jump while mounted into a dodge, and attach it to the endurance bar. That way you have a reasonable dodge while mounted, and it prevents the ridiculousness of jump spamming while mounted. The dodge would also have to be used while moving, and moving forward of course.

-The mounts would be race specific:
Human: A Horse
Asura: A small, mobile golem
Charr: Some mechanical machine, possibly similar to those seen in the Black Citadel, or a Marmox (link)
Sylvari: A small oakheart
Norn: A Minotaur

Edited by Alaroxr, 13 May 2012 - 03:13 AM.

[Sephyxia]

That sounds interesting too.

Limited amount per keep/castle/towers.

What kind of mount would be hard to choose though. It might favor another race more than others.

[Alaroxr]

Sephyxia, on 13 May 2012 - 02:49 AM, said:

That sounds interesting too.

Limited amount per keep/castle/towers.

What kind of mount would be hard to choose though. It might favor another race more than others.

Could be based on race. Humans get horses, Asura get mechanical golems, Charr get something like those machines you see in the Black Citadel, Sylvari get beautifal/magic looking horses (or something else), Norn get [insert].

[Sephyxia]

Alaroxr, on 13 May 2012 - 02:52 AM, said:

Could be based on race. Humans get horses, Asura get mechanical golems, Charr get something like those machines you see in the Black Citadel, Sylvari get beautifal/magic looking horses (or something else), Norn get [insert].

Beautiful magical horses? Unicorns? Rofl! XD

*Edit: Stags might work, or something to that effect.

Edited by Sephyxia, 13 May 2012 - 02:55 AM.

[Alaroxr]

Sephyxia, on 13 May 2012 - 02:54 AM, said:

Beautiful magical horses? Unicorns? Rofl! XD

No... not unicorns. I was thinking small Oakhearts/plant-horses.

[M1k3l]

I think this is a great idea.
Post on official forums when you can, this seems like the ideas Anet would appreciate.

I want a pig mount (like the piggies from the truffle hunt in pve)
I would yell "That'll do pig" at the screen, every time I got dismounted.

[Sephyxia]

I want to ride a Destroyer :| Too bad it can't be a common mount for WvW setting

Edited by Sephyxia, 13 May 2012 - 03:05 AM.

[Eragon Zarroc]

having the ability to move quicker across the map in WvWvW would definitely be handy, but i think that that need is sufficiently addressed by the capability to build waypoints in captured buildings.

[Fatalis]

I hardly see people using these for scouting.

People are just going to take them whenever they're available and ride them to their destination.

[nurt]

I don't see how the mechanics promote scouting.  If that's the purpose the mount skills should be like...

1 - Gallop - short burst of speed
2 - Assess defenses - reveals the upgrade level of a nearby keep or tower as well as the amount of supply stockpiled inside
3 - Track Position - reveals nearby enemy players on the minimap for a short time
4 - Mark Artillery - reveals nearby enemy siege equipment on the map for a short time.
5 - Call for Reinforcements - bolsters nearby NPCs for a short time and marks your location on the map as under attack

Or something like that.

Edited by nurt, 13 May 2012 - 05:01 AM.

[Alaroxr]

nurt, on 13 May 2012 - 04:59 AM, said:

I don't see how the mechanics promote scouting.  If that's the purpose the mount skills should be like...

1 - Gallop - short burst of speed
2 - Assess defenses - reveals the upgrade level of a nearby keep or tower as well as the amount of supply stockpiled inside
3 - Track Position - reveals nearby enemy players on the minimap for a short time
4 - Mark Artillery - reveals nearby enemy siege equipment on the map for a short time.
5 - Call for Reinforcements - bolsters nearby NPCs for a short time and marks your location on the map as under attack

Or something like that.

That works very well, it's just that most people wouldn't use the mounts if they felt they were defenseless, and I figured something like that might be considered OP. Mixing those two things as 'weapon sets' using the swap sets button would work, but rebalancing would be needed of course.

Edited by Alaroxr, 13 May 2012 - 07:51 AM.

[AzylynneN]

Nurt has a point... with the original suggestion of what the mount can do... it's more like a mount for a general or calvary used to lead a charge or more so to flank opposing ranks.  I would use it for combat, NOT for scouting... in fact, besides being faster, there are NO scouting features at all on this particular mount.

At least with Nurt's suggestions the mount would be more.... scout friendly.  a Scout doesn't need attack abilities... maybe one?  A scout is there to SCOUT... not to fight, and you know, players WILL scout for their team... and it can be especially devastating when used in conjunction with structured organized groups of players.

From Nurt's list... 3 and 4 are already pretty powerful.  Just being able to reveal enemy player locations especially to your teammate is just... really advantageous.  I don't know if that's a bit overpowered.

2 can already be done when you ride close to any tower/keep/camp.  Maybe increasing the range on it would be helpful.

Perhaps a "spyglass" option would be nice, to be able to zoom in and check out an enemy force up close and personal.

When I first read this thread, I personally thought that if someone was mounted and got struct, they would suffer serious damage, maybe like 25% health, and after two or three hits they were instantly dismounted (and the mount goes poof!), or just take 50% health and is dismounted.  Having a much faster speed buff for the mount REALLY grants an unfair advantage for the mounted rider... so having some kind of deficit to balance it out (becoming more vulnerable) reduces that advantage.   Now if there were OTHER mounts in game... that may not be as necessary, but if this is the ONLY mount in game, there needs some kind of balance.

If I wanted a Warhorse, the original post would be a good start for it, but as this thread is about a scout mount..., I believe it needs some tweaking.

Just my two cents.

[The Mountain]

I am against this. When I think of scouts, I don't think of horsemen, I think about Rangers with their bird pet.

They should just be cavalry units which you can buy for a couple of gold.

These mounts should just do extra damage when attacking from the side or front. The downside to using mounts is that there is no strafing.

Then there should be two different types of mount, light and heavy. Light has 5th skill as a swiftness boon. Heavy has invulnerability as the 5th skill.

[Arghore]

Due to my experiences in battlefield:xyz i can say this is a bad idea, as soon as a stable is up people will be 'camping' the spawnpoint and crawl over eachother to get a mount. This experience is realy realy bad and will give mounts an even worse reputation than they already have amongst a certain part of the community... realy realy BAD idea!!

While i favor a personal mount system for PvE and WvW there is one way that mounts could be integrated into WvW as the OP suggests. This is in the same way that the current seige equipment is build. You BUY a 'plan', which likely includes a 'leash', you go out into the WvW world to capture a mount with that 'leash', and once captured you add supply to it to build a saddle/etc. Then you get to ride it untill it gets destroyed or left alone for to long.

So please change your 'idea' from a 'spawnpoint' system to a 'buy a plan + supply' system. If it is to difficult to implement a capture in the wild system, than i guess stables could work, but these should give out as many mounts as there are people that pay for them, and they should be paid for with money/karma/supply. Money to buy the mount, karma to build the relation, supply for the mountequipment.

Also if you suggest a mount for scouting, then please add scouting skills to it, and not fighting skills. Something like:
1. Trot: gives 1 stack of swiftness for 5 sec, recharge 4sec
2. Gallop: gives 2 stacks of swiftness for 3 sec, recharge 6sec
3. Fleeting gallop/run gallop: gives 3 stacks of swiftness for 2sec, recharge 15sec
4. Camouflage: while you and the mount stand still, you become 'invisible' for 7sec, recharge 25sec
5. Trample: your mount knocks down foes near you for 1sec, recharge 10sec.

Edited by Arghore, 14 May 2012 - 05:21 PM.

[Corsair]

Limited ammount of them, AND make them cost supply, perhaps. This makes them a strategic resource to protect and kill. Make it moderately expensive? Dismounting outside of it's home keep would also count as destroying it, to help keep people from abusing it for increased movement speed to a destination.

[Red J]

I want this one to be implemented. Just so I can see Norn riding a minotaur.