Mounts do not belong in this game, not now, not ever.
I personally hate mounts, in any MMO. They become the obsession. Instead of people trying to get better gear for their character, or progress toward something. They persue to get a different mount. I know, its the same as persuing a set of armor or weapon.
There are a couple reasons why I hate mounts so much. One: I like to play small characters/races, and when I group with larger races on mounts, they completely block my vision. A Norn or Charr on a mount will be HUGE, preventing me from seeing anything. The crowd around the bank or trading post NPCs is bad enough, add mounts and you won’t even be able to see anything in there.
Two: I personally like the running animations of most of the races in GW2, the experience would totally be destroyed if I had to stare at the kitten of a horse or something instead. So as much as anybody else, I do enjoy making my character look good, but to me, mounts do not look good at all, especially the rear end.
Three, and this goes with what others have said: The game already has a lot of waypoints spread out throughout the map. They aren’t that expensive to use. And honestly, the maps aren’t that huge to make running across them a huge chore. Even with no speed buff, running across a map only takes a minute or two.
Finally: Combat WOULD NOT WORK right with the current way combat is done in GW2. The player needs to readily be able to move, in all directions. Four legged creatures don’t walk backwards that well, and don’t even ask about sideways/strafing. Dodging would be out of the question. Many weapons would not even be an option for mounted combat. A dagger/dagger thief can’t do any attacks while mounted. Maybe ranged weapons could work, but it would still limit the ability to strafe around.
Mounts work in other games, like WoW or EQ2 where combat is stationary and moving interrupts you, and the combat animations don’t matter. But GW2 requires heavy movement to succeed in tough fights and mounts don’t have the agility required for this movement.
Now, I know, most of what I said was purely opinionated, but other things were not.
Finally, I’m 99% sure that there are no mounts in GW1. While I did not spend that much time in GW1 as a lot of other players, I don’t recall seeing anything, anywhere about mounts. Correct me if I’m wrong. So if the first game doesn’t have them, why does the second need them?
Paskal – 80 Asura Thief – Aeon Kleos officer
Meredy Izumi – 80 Human Elementalist [Aeon]
Alruane – 80 Sylvari Ranger [Aeon]
