Dynamic Mounts

[Lachrymose]

Originally Posted by Mats Persson

a mount in MO is far from being just a way of increasing your speed after reaching a certain level or earning enough resources.

this makes me wonder what exactly the devs have in store for mounts, so a couple thoughts came to mind.

Mount Armor
since mounts can be killed, even while we're riding them, it would make sense if you could put armor on your mount to prevent it from taking damage. this would just add a little something extra, and i would imagine mount armor would be slightly more expensive than player armor, mostly because the mounts are bigger than players.

Special Attacks
i'd also like to see mounts that can attack. maybe not attack for you, like if you jump off it will act as an npc pet and auto-attack the target. rather, when you're riding the mount, you could command it to do a special attack. for instance, the mount in the teaser could do some sort of charging ram with it's tusks, a drake type mount could spit a fireball, a horse could kick backwards to attack enemies from behind.

this way, you could select a different type of mount not just for aesthetics, but perhaps because a specific mount has a special attack that would be moreconducive to your playstyle than the others.

[Sanctus]

Mount Armor
since mounts can be killed, even while we're riding them, it would make sense if you could put armor on your mount to prevent it from taking damage. this would just add a little something extra, and i would imagine mount armor would be slightly more expensive than player armor, mostly because the mounts are bigger than players.

Exactly, why shouldn't I be able to protect my vicious Rhino, Cuddles? And I agree, mount armor should be more expensive than player armor, the only question is how far? Should players be allowed to make magical armor for their mounts? In my opinion, yeah, if you can do it for yourself, why not for your mount? I also believe, however, that the more armor you add past a certain point where your mount must exert more force to move, the slower your mount should be.

Special Attacks
i'd also like to see mounts that can attack. maybe not attack for you, like if you jump off it will act as an npc pet and auto-attack the target. rather, when you're riding the mount, you could command it to do a special attack. for instance, the mount in the teaser could do some sort of charging ram with it's tusks, a drake type mount could spit a fireball, a horse could kick backwards to attack enemies from behind.

I agree with having special attacks, the only problem I see is balancing out the differences in the mounts.

[lazyasian224]

have blacksmiths who specialize in mount armor. balancing doesnt only need to be damage wise. horses are fast and can trample, elephants are slow, can sweep, rhino thing can charge but often travels wildly, eagles are fast moving can manuver better and peck and scratch, dragons move slower, fire and tail sweeps.. the list can go on forever.

[Rathius]

You bring up some excelent ideas Lachrymose. I would enjoy mounts to have more purposes than just traveling as well. One idea for possibilities is as a pack muel. Or possibly to plow fields... Plenty of things that mounts could be used for that I would certainly like to see.

[Lachrymose]

Originally Posted by lazyasian224

have blacksmiths who specialize in mount armor. balancing doesnt only need to be damage wise. horses are fast and can trample, elephants are slow, can sweep, rhino thing can charge but often travels wildly, eagles are fast moving can manuver better and peck and scratch, dragons move slower, fire and tail sweeps.. the list can go on forever.

yes you're right. there are plenty of things that could be balanced: a mount's natural armor, it's speed, it's damage, and even something like it's turn radius. a rhino would be much slower than a horse and not as agile, so it would be much harder to get the damn thing to turn, but it would probably be able to take much more of a beating and it would dish out a little more damage.

so, you might even want to invest in several different mounts depending on the occasion. if you're just traveling choose the fastest mount, if you're heading off to a siege, choose the most powerful.

[catmorbid]

Originally Posted by Lachrymose

yes you're right. there are plenty of things that could be balanced: a mount's natural armor, it's speed, it's damage, and even something like it's turn radius. a rhino would be much slower than a horse and not as agile, so it would be much harder to get the damn thing to turn, but it would probably be able to take much more of a beating and it would dish out a little more damage.

so, you might even want to invest in several different mounts depending on the occasion. if you're just traveling choose the fastest mount, if you're heading off to a siege, choose the most powerful.

I have a hunch that those are already in. But real mount armor would be pretty cool, and that might not be in by default. It would be pretty cool if you could design your custom mount armor so that you could e.g. maintain maximum movement of the mount by using weaker armor for limbs or add things like spikes to give that extra punch to your mount's raming attack. They might go to the m&b way of just having different textured/modeled horses with different abilities, and no actual extra armor layer. Mounts would then have just one hitbox as well.

[lazyasian224]

Originally Posted by Lachrymose

so, you might even want to invest in several different mounts depending on the occasion. if you're just traveling choose the fastest mount, if you're heading off to a siege, choose the most powerful.

yes i want very many animals at my disposal...

haha honestly maybe ur only able to stable a certain amount? or maybe it makes sense to only have one with you at a time to be your companion and the others remain at the stable...

or if this game was caravan based instead of city based, you could have them travel with ur group.

this brings up another question, Where are your mounts going to be when ur not using them? when you summon it, should it come to you at a delayed amount of time the farther away from a stable you are? or instantly? or when you dismount should your mount stay around and go grazing somewhere until you call it back?

AHH SO MANY QUESTIONS!?!?!

[Henrik Nystrom]

Originally Posted by lazyasian224

yes i want very many animals at my disposal...
this brings up another question, Where are your mounts going to be when ur not using them? when you summon it, should it come to you at a delayed amount of time the farther away from a stable you are? or instantly? or when you dismount should your mount stay around and go grazing somewhere until you call it back?

AHH SO MANY QUESTIONS!?!?!

You have to take care of your mount when you have bought/tamed it.
This means, if you jump off it, it won’t disappear into a bag or a”stable” YOU have to stable the mount if you want to keep it safe. If you log off the game when you are on the mount it will also log off with you. You won’t be able to "summon" your mount from nowhere. You have to visit the stable where it was stabled by you to retrieve it. It also needs food to stay with you, or the mount may start to dislike you and perhaps leave you. And we do have plans for mount armor more details on that later.

[dawnofdeath]

Originally Posted by Henrik Nystrom

You have to take care of your mount when you have bought/tamed it.
This means, if you jump off it, it won’t disappear into a bag or a”stable” YOU have to stable the mount if you want to keep it safe. If you log off the game when you are on the mount it will also log off with you. You won’t be able to "summon" your mount from nowhere. You have to visit the stable where it was stabled by you to retrieve it. It also needs food to stay with you, or the mount may start to dislike you and perhaps leave you. And we do have plans for mount armor more details on that later.

Ah I like this idea, a bit more realistic and differs from the other mmos.
But one concern I have, since if the mount will not be summonable nor disappear after dismount it could be a little bothersome when for example you're about to enter a dungeon and have to park your horse outside. I reckon that anyone can steal (or at least kill to mess around) the mount while it's unguarded or will it be character bound? Tho I could really live with that since it will be the same for everyone.

Also how long does it stay unmounted before it disappear or run away?

[Rhygar]

Originally Posted by Henrik Nystrom

You have to take care of your mount when you have bought/tamed it.
This means, if you jump off it, it won’t disappear into a bag or a”stable” YOU have to stable the mount if you want to keep it safe. If you log off the game when you are on the mount it will also log off with you. You won’t be able to "summon" your mount from nowhere. You have to visit the stable where it was stabled by you to retrieve it. It also needs food to stay with you, or the mount may start to dislike you and perhaps leave you. And we do have plans for mount armor more details on that later.

I am very glad about this.

As always this raises more questions...

1) if you bought the mount (as opposed to taming it) would the horse still leave if you didn't feed it?
2) can't you tie the horse down?
3) if can tie the horse down and you don't feed it, does it die (I assume it would)
4) if can tie the horse down, but don't do so, will it wander away?

I have this vague recollection something about question (4) is mentioned on the Dev Questions thread... that your mount will wander around a bit in the area you left it and fade away after a while. Can't find it so maybe it is in another game.

Ah, question (3) has been answered in the Dev Questions thread. Yes, it dies if not taken care of.

[Tenclaw]

I really like the way this is handled...
I will go with parties to a dungeoncrawl and stand guard over the horses (animals) outside... for coinage of course... ^^

Or maybe I will train large Dogs to guard over the horses (remember the "guard" command from UO?).

[Rhygar]

Originally Posted by Tenclaw

I really like the way this is handled...
I will go with parties to a dungeoncrawl and stand guard over the horses (animals) outside... for coinage of course... ^^

Or maybe I will train large Dogs to guard over the horses (remember the "guard" command from UO?).

Exactly. I love the fact that it will create a logistical concern for group combat. Ok, you will most probably ride into battle on the mount, but there will be times when a group has to dismount.

[lazyasian224]

oh wow henrik actually replied to my post... wasnt expecting that but ty for the info.
wow so this basically shuts down all those people who said flying will be ruined by people summoning ther mount and flying away since theres no summoning

but having your mount off grazing somewere can.lead to some nice strategy like kiling peoples mounts before attacking them so they wont be able to escape

[Death Saved]

These would be nice:

1-Combat armor can be either offensive (spiked armor that damages melee fighters and bladed hooves) or defensive.

2-Support armor (has hooks and stuff to pull things) can be used to pull in shrines that can resurrect x number of guild/alliance members, carts for extra luggage or equipment for aforementioned players (well they are going to be half naked) and can be used to pull in siege engines.

3-Scout armor is mostly made out of cloth and leather and has a quiver for arrows or javelins(Small throwing spears).

[Rodoe]

Originally Posted by Henrik Nystrom

You have to take care of your mount when you have bought/tamed it.
This means, if you jump off it, it won’t disappear into a bag or a”stable” YOU have to stable the mount if you want to keep it safe. If you log off the game when you are on the mount it will also log off with you. You won’t be able to "summon" your mount from nowhere. You have to visit the stable where it was stabled by you to retrieve it. It also needs food to stay with you, or the mount may start to dislike you and perhaps leave you. And we do have plans for mount armor more details on that later.

Oooh, realism I like that. It will just be like when I had my precious Ferbie, I took care of it, loved it, fed it by shoving down a finger in it's throat (may not be the case here but still). But eventually my friend killed it by throwing it into the wall. However, this will be great. It will require great responsibility to take care of a mount by doing all that caretaking. And maybe people will think it's boring and consumes a lot of their time. And for those willing to step in and take on that challange will certainly be given an advantage on the battlefield.

Armor for mounts? Yeah baby, now we're talking. That would really bring another coolfactor to this game.

Woop!

[BlackOrc]

Yes. I knew I could count on Mortal Online for this mounting business.

I absolutely hate, how in other MMOs the mounts are magically summoned. If the player does not have the option to magically dispel the mount, it opens up a wide variety of combat options and choices. You cannot simply charge into battle and hide your mount in thin air. You want to do combat with your mount, it can die.

[Defiant One]

Originally Posted by BlackOrc

Yes. I knew I could count on Mortal Online for this mounting business.

I absolutely hate, how in other MMOs the mounts are magically summoned. If the player does not have the option to magically dispel the mount, it opens up a wide variety of combat options and choices. You cannot simply charge into battle and hide your mount in thin air. You want to do combat with your mount, it can die.

Agree on that. Looks like DF will fail on that aspect.. lets get our hopes for MO then

[Rodoe]

I think you have to work for having a mount, making it hard to retain it. Most games out there, mmo's for this matter, it's pretty easy to achieve one by a purchase or by some other functions to get it. For example a quest. And in the longrun it gets pretty common and boring to have one, I mean it's of course a great tool for travelling far distances but the easy access to it makes people take it for granted. I don't necessarily mean that it should take you months/endless farming and grinding to get one, more likely to stretch the meaning of having one. I don't want the appreciation for it to get lost. But since many will be killed in battle, this idea may not fit the game as good as i thought.

PS. Just something I had to get off of my mind

[Lachrymose]

yea, rodo. mounts don't need to be hard to get, they just need to be hard to keep. and they will be if you decide to ride into battle on one.. now, there's perhaps some specialty mounts that would be harder to get, but i would hope they are nothing more than aesthetically special, since i don't think anyone should be forced to grind/farm for a mount in order to be competitive in pvp.

[dartuks]

Originally Posted by dawnofdeath

Ah I like this idea, a bit more realistic and differs from the other mmos.
But one concern I have, since if the mount will not be summonable nor disappear after dismount it could be a little bothersome when for example you're about to enter a dungeon and have to park your horse outside. I reckon that anyone can steal (or at least kill to mess around) the mount while it's unguarded or will it be character bound? Tho I could really live with that since it will be the same for everyone.

Also how long does it stay unmounted before it disappear or run away?

I like the thought of consequences... like dawnofdeath says anyone can steal it and, this makes the need for thinking... you need then to plan, maybe make sacrifices, f.ex. "i saw a creeping guy over in the bushes over there, is he waiting for me to get of my horse, and go into this cave to kill this monster?, oh owww there comes another guy looking to kill the monster, what should i do, leave my horse and kill the monster or get the guy that is druwling over my horse?" this gives another dimention of strategies...

anyhow this is what i would think cool...

[dawnofdeath]

I would like to be able to pick someone up with my horse so he can ride along with me, for faster travel with friends that don't have mounts. However to balance it out don't make him be able to attack while mounted with me and let him be able to dismount at will so you don't force players to stay mounted against their will.

Also what about charriots? Would be pretty cool in war to have horses with charriots with spiked wheels. Other players could stand on it as well.
Consider it as an armor (or weapon) for the horse, expensive but deadly and maybe more clumpsy (since it will be harder to controll compared to normal horse)

[Somarl]

Originally Posted by Henrik Nystrom

You have to take care of your mount when you have bought/tamed it.
This means, if you jump off it, it won’t disappear into a bag or a”stable” YOU have to stable the mount if you want to keep it safe. If you log off the game when you are on the mount it will also log off with you. You won’t be able to "summon" your mount from nowhere. You have to visit the stable where it was stabled by you to retrieve it. It also needs food to stay with you, or the mount may start to dislike you and perhaps leave you. And we do have plans for mount armor more details on that later.

YES! Excellent, i am so glad this is in, i cant stand popping trinkets and such to get a mount. A mount is a part of you, it travels in your company. You can dismount and leave it or ride it to where-ever but you cant just make it disappear. Thats dynamic enough for me. Thanks very much for not only putting this in but telling us about it too, i look forward to this.

Edit: Ohh just one thing, as mentioned above regarding stealing mounts, will this happen or will the mount sort of "refuse" to be ridden by anyone else, this could be realistic especially if the mount is well kept by you. Might stop people getting paranoid over leaving their mount anywhere but then there is just as much realism in the risk of it getting stolen.

[OMGPIE]

I hope mounts are like a way of travel/pet/fighting companion all that stuff. Mount armor and attacking better be in i hate when my horse or whatever can't do anything but walk/run it can't bite or kick or anything that is just stupid.

[Esto]

Yes, i do like the idea that the mount is more then just a ride.
And if it is going in the direction of the companion thing then naming the mount wouldnt be a far away? But this feature would only be after you catch and tame it, or buy it, etc.

[lazyasian224]

If they added on a covered wagon or something that could be pulled around by the mount you could sacrifice speed for storage of food (if they make u carry food around to eat and stuff) or a place to dump all of your looted gear. It would be great if you could hire an npc or two to guard it while your away, and maybe be able to carry and couple friends with you.

Also, if they decide that there is no Global Auction houses or w.e you could use ur caravan to carry goods to other cities to sell and stuff...

the possibilities are endless >.<

[wrath]

I like that idea, for anyone here who has played Age of Conan, i thought that that was a great mount system, but of course i bet this game will make it better =).