Guild Wars 2

a kangaroo’s body with what looks like a Rabbits head with a Hare’s ears with a Jerboa hair style. That is one bland creature design compared to the others. they all look like they belong to the environment apart from the springer.

Why do you feel they don’t belong? Springers are the one mount that basically is a real-world desert creature. (Well, okay, there are jackals too, but ours aren’t made out of sand.)

As for creature design, I like it, and so do several of my guild mates. Not everyone’s aesthetic, sure, but on the other hand, I don’t care much for the raptors. It seems to me like ANet was trying to make as diverse a set as possible for just that reason.

You thought the desert hare inspired animal didn’t belong in the desert, but the stingray was fine? I don’t quite follow. I think what you really meant was “I personally don’t like the goofy timid aesthetic of the hare compared to the fierce or elegant other mounts”. Either way, to each his own, I guess. Some people like it just fine.

How is this Lore?

I agree. Instead of some horrid rabbit abomination, we should be able to ride those cool gazelle-centaurs that were supposedly in GW1.

Corax.7381:

I agree. Instead of some horrid rabbit abomination, we should be able to ride those cool gazelle-centaurs that were supposedly in GW1.

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Yeah, considering that centaurs are a sentient/sapient creature, there’d be zero chance of them being a mount.

The Greyhawk.9107:

Corax.7381:

I agree. Instead of some horrid rabbit abomination, we should be able to ride those cool gazelle-centaurs that were supposedly in GW1.

:\
Yeah, considering that centaurs are a sentient/sapient creature, there’d be zero chance of them being a mount.

slavery!

My intuition says that we will ride Aurene.

Personally, I would have liked it more if the Springer were MORE similar to a jerboa, and less rabbit-like: pointier snout, longer tail, bigger ears, smaller cheeks.

I don’t think that the existence of the springer is nearly as strange as the fact that the local cultures would have chosen to domesticate them thousands of years ago in favour of sturdier looking beasts.

If you were to look at the origin of dromedary camel domestication for example, this is a process that would have began a very long time ago, probably since the first humans settled in the desert. At what point did our ancestors look at these strange kangaroo mouse mutants and think “Now that, brothers and sisters, would make for a glorious beast of burden!”

Personally, I suspect that this person would have been kicked out of the tribe to live with the wild kangaroo mice until one of them ate him.

In fact, I would think that the cultures of the region would look better riding something quadrupedal with a sturdier frame that can bear lots of weight for transporting goods. There’s a reason why real world cultures chose creatures that all look similar to each other: donkeys, oxen, horses, mules, camels, elephants. They have four legs and strong frames, and that is the perfect physical trait for a creature that would be bearing a lot of weight.

But alright, we’re in a fantasy world you might say so not all beasts of burden need to necessarily be mammals with four legs. That’s a perfectly valid argument and so I would suggest creating designs that mimic the same general traits that real world domesticated beasts of burden and mounts possess.

A giant quadrupedal lizard, for example.

Or devourers!

Or perhaps even… a horse?

It’s possible that game developers are worried about having their worlds appear too mundane by having their mounts look like ones from the real world, but I think that a setting with a plausible range of domesticated creatures looks a whole lot more consistent, and dare I add, straight up sexy just by making their world feel more alive where humans make intelligent decisions that real people would make.

Athrenn.9468:

Or perhaps even… a horse?

I honestly think horses are extinct in the GW universe and have been for sometime now, its the only way i can fathom that we havent seen a single one in game…anywhere.

Dante.1763:

Athrenn.9468:

Or perhaps even… a horse?

I honestly think horses are extinct in the GW universe and have been for sometime now, its the only way i can fathom that we havent seen a single one in game…anywhere.

Perhaps not in game, but in the novels there are definitely indications that they exist.

“Hail, house of Stegalkin!” came a shout at the door. A norn warrior thrust his head in—long hair like a horse’s tail and a face like what might be beneath.

King, J. Robert. Guild Wars: Edge of Destiny (p. 8.). Pocket Books. Kindle Edition.

Logan and Caithe shielded their faces. Only as their eyes adjusted could they see what strobed within the archway. Visions. Beautiful visions . . . a grassy plain where wild horses ran . . .

King, J. Robert. Guild Wars: Edge of Destiny (p. 97). Pocket Books. Kindle Edition.

The arena welled with cheers as a centaur strode from one of the arena gates. The massive figure had shaggy hooves and a body like a plow horse. His upper torso was muscular and topped with a horned head like a ram’s.

King, J. Robert. Guild Wars: Edge of Destiny (p. 161). Pocket Books. Kindle Edition.

The centaur drew forth a quarterstaff fitted with a scythe, the grawl lifted a mace encrusted with obsidian shards, and the ettin raised a club the size of a horse’s leg.

King, J. Robert. Guild Wars: Edge of Destiny (p. 162). Pocket Books. Kindle Edition.

The ship tossed beneath him like a horse testing its reins, and the thick smell of smoke clogged his nostrils.

Soesbee, Ree. Guild Wars: Sea of Sorrows (p. 60). Pocket Books. Kindle Edition.

So horses obviously do exist in lore and characters don’t treat them as long dead, mythological creatures. There are even wild ones roaming the fields probably somewhere in Kryta according to what Logan and Caithe saw through the asura gate. Then we have references to plow horses and horses wearing reins which we couldn’t have unless people had domesticated horses.

One might argue that horses were domesticated in the past but we have none today, but that seems rather unlikely. The way people speak about horses in the books suggests a living familiarity that can only be earned by living in a society where domesticating horses is as mundane as real world societies.

Athrenn.9468:

One might argue that horses were domesticated in the past but we have none today, but that seems rather unlikely. The way people speak about horses in the books suggests a living familiarity that can only be earned by living in a society where domesticating horses is as mundane as real world societies.

I dont know about the asura gate one however, because from what i know of asura gates they are set to a specific location(can they be randomized?) and their needs to be another gate on the other side to exit, so…unless theres an asura gate in Kryta somewhere. Also any sort of familiarity between the people of GW and horses can also easily be explained with centaurs, they are half horse, and its far easier for a writer in the real world to explain what the lower half of a centaur looks like by comparing it to a real horse, than to say a dolyak, which not all of the audience is going to know what that is, same with the norns hair, im fairly sure most people know that a horses tail is decently long IRL, so to are quite a few of the centuars in game.

Alot of those phrases ive seen used before in other universes in a similar manner. one of them was in a bloody scifi universe some 5000 odd years from now and horses didnt exist anymore, but yet a person who had only seen pictures of them somehow knew what a bucking bronco felt like(no they didnt have technology like the holo deck).

At one point i truly believe that horses for sure used to exist in the Tyrian world, weve seen them actually. in GW1, though they where undead(unless im mistaken and thats not a horse.) Anymore though…ill hold my breath till i see one in game, because literally everything that horses could be used for are done by Dolyak in game. Though i doubt it will ever happen, the day it does though i will gladly admit i was wrong!

Dante.1763:

Athrenn.9468:

One might argue that horses were domesticated in the past but we have none today, but that seems rather unlikely. The way people speak about horses in the books suggests a living familiarity that can only be earned by living in a society where domesticating horses is as mundane as real world societies.

—Some Fairy Good Points—

I considered that as well, and maybe the narrator really is breaking the fourth wall for the reader’s sake, but that’s typically not how fantasy authors write in third person limited. They might come up with a phrase like “as shaggy as a Wintersday dolyak” to refer to someone who is extremely hairy and unkempt. However, what they don’t do is refer to things that don’t exist within that universe because third person limited is defined by the range of thoughts that the viewpoint character would be thinking.

If the viewpoint character compares someone’s appearance to that of a horse, I would personally take that as a sign that they’re familiar with them because their thoughts immediately go back to horses. Of course, you might be right and maybe these characters are familiar with museum images and stories of horses. I suppose it doesn’t really matter in the end, but I just like the idea that there are a lot more horses off screen than what we see in the game.

The asura gate thing is actually explained in the books where this particular gate was broken so its end point was fluctuating between random destinations that had no gate. It just deposited them through an unstable portal that collapsed almost immediately after, offering no return.

Athrenn.9468:

I don’t think that the existence of the springer is nearly as strange as the fact that the local cultures would have chosen to domesticate them thousands of years ago in favour of sturdier looking beasts.

Based on lore, the animals domesticated for mounts is relatively recent – past two centuries, not even “shortly after GW1” – as an alternative means to traverse the desert aside from ancient Forgotten teleporters. This basically happened after Joko conquered Elona and closed ties with Central Tyria nations like Kryta and the asura (thus they would never have obtained waypoints during the past few hundred years unless they stole such from Priory or Whispers or random adventurers which are unlikely to have had many waypoints).

So no mounts were domesticated “thousands of years ago” but rather in the past 200 years (or more accurately, 195 years).

Further, the Springers are used by highlanders on the northern edge of the desert based on Amnoon dialogue, specifically to climb cliffs. Your other animal examples fail on this point, as they are not climbers (well maybe your giant lizard can climb vertically – but what would be easier on the rider, to hold on as you’re tempting gravity to fall off the entire time – which might result in moving the reins in a way that signals the mount to do something other than the rider wanted, like turn around in circles – or to have your mount leap up high and use its natural legs to function as cushion against the small whiplash of landing?).

As to horses: we know they exist, and have even been domesticated by humans in the past (see Orrian “Necrid Horsemen” in gw1, and Kaineng Tah’s lore), but they’re not desert animals by any means so it makes sense that PoF mounts do not include a horse – Season 4 may carry on “new mounts” and may include horses, depending on where they go with that season. However, I will forever hold the notion that a charr riding a horse will be weird and hope they stick to non-standard mounts so that all five races would be realistic in riding them. They can introduce horses as NPC-only mounts for human groups, like they had beetle mounts for hyleks.

Also, in b4 ‘wtb snow beast mounts.’

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Also, in b4 ‘wtb snow beast mounts.’

Ok, that is at least one mount I can get behind having in game.

I suppose it really depends on how the process of domestication works for Tyrians, but if they’re anything close to real world techniques then there are a few questions left unanswered.

In our world, there are certain factors behind why some animals can never be domesticated. The animal needs to be able to eat a lot of different things and be willing to live off the scraps of humans, which means that having numerous large, carnivorous predators (I.e. Raptors) is probably not in a tribe’s best interests unless they have access to a lot of unwanted meat.

Woulkitten oon’s city council be able to convince the population that their tax dollars are being put to good use feeding the city guard’s raptors, or would each cavalier be responsible for keeping their raptors fed by constantly hunting? Either way, it’s a lot more work than keeping mounts that are willing to eat whatever scraps are already being thrown away by Amnoon’s farms.

We haven’t seen the highlands map yet where the springers come from so it’s possible that the highlander way of life is somehow reliant on this ability to leap up cliffs quickly. In which case, I suppose it would make sense for them to keep the creatures around. It would have to be a very strong reason though since they’re sacrificing the ability to carry lots of heavy objects, which would be an important trait for merchants or farmers to have.

Athrenn.9468:

Woulkitten oon’s city council be able to convince the population that their tax dollars are being put to good use feeding the city guard’s raptors, or would each cavalier be responsible for keeping their raptors fed by constantly hunting? Either way, it’s a lot more work than keeping mounts that are willing to eat whatever scraps are already being thrown away by Amnoon’s farms.

If I’m not mistaken, Seeker’s Village, the one we save in the first story instance, is entirely set aside for cultivating raptor food (and probably housing miners).

And considering we’re paying around a hundred million dollars for our military’s mounts, without an expansionist dictator parked on our borders with a much larger army? Sinking tax dollars into military equipment is a very rational thing to do.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

If I’m not mistaken, Seeker’s Village, the one we save in the first story instance, is entirely set aside for cultivating raptor food (and probably housing miners).

And considering we’re paying around a hundred million dollars for our military’s mounts, without an expansionist dictator parked on our borders with a much larger army? Sinking tax dollars into military equipment is a very rational thing to do.

Alright, I definitely agree with you on that point. Spending money to defend against a legitimate threat is a wise investment, but how much money exactly are we talking about? For that, I did a little research and prepared a thought experiment to help visualize how much meat an army of raptor cavaliers might need in order to maintain their military advantage.

Let’s suppose for a moment that the fictional city of Amnoon is supported by a network of raptor farms much like the one at Seeker’s Village. If each farm is run like the one up north then we can assume that the average raptor is fed a diet of hunted crab and cave beast meat along with the occasional large fish, perhaps even a chicken. In order for the cavalry division of Amnoon’s army to have any noticeable military impact against the armies that Palawa Joko can field, we can assume that they’ll need a few hundred of the beasts at least, say three hundred mounted cavaliers. This really isn’t that large, all things considered. Ancient armies were able to field thousands of cavalry units such as at the Battle of Qarqar where one side had a thousand riders on camels alone.

But alright, let’s say that Amnoon has a cavalry unit of 300 raptors. Raptors are obviously some kind of dinosaur, and our most updated understanding about dinosaurs is that they may have been warm-blooded (which is obviously up for debate, but this does affect how much they eat). Since we don’t have any living dinosaurs to study, I’m going to use the diet of an adult lion to estimate how much meat our raptors would have to consume which is around 10-25lbs/day—let’s say 20lbs/day since some of our raptors are active and out on patrol, carrying people around.

300 raptors x 20lbs/day = 6000lbs/day of pure meat, or 2721.55kg/day

In order to visualize this, let’s convert this arbitrary number into cows. A 1200lb steer can yield 490 lbs of boneless, trimmed beef. That’s 12 and a quarter cows per day just to feed the raptors alone. In a year’s time, you would have to find a way to get your hands on 4470 cows worth of meat per year… and that’s just to feed a small cavalry unit of 300 raptors, not even the infantry supporting them or the cavaliers riding them.

If a raptor could provide the military firepower of a Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II then that would be an absolutely amazing investment, but unfortunately, Amnoon engineers haven’t found a way to make their raptors fire anti-ballistic lasers or drop bombs from the sky (yet…).

In summary, I would suggest to the Amnoon city council that the tactical advantage of riding a large reptile with a spiky club tail is actually not worth it. Being able to field larger numbers of cavalry units is, and they would be able to equip more of their army with mounts if they were using well-tempered herbivores that are willing to eat food scraps, hay, and other unwanted fodder instead of meat, which is the most expensive food type.

I don’t think the cavaliers – let alone the actual cavalry of the cavaliers – are meant to have a “noticeable military impact against Joko’s forces” – Joko is not actively attacking them, he seems to be largely treating them as non-existent and playing the long game with them. Only recently have Awakened traveled to Amnoon according to dialogue (and under peaceful recruitment conditions) – it seems the Council there has some sort of deal established with Joko to leave them be.

The cavalier’s primary purpose as seen in the demo is to defend against wildlife, bandits, and recently branded and Forged, as well as escorting caravans, refugees, and defectors. Though “defense against Joko” is on their list of things to worry about, this has thus far been a potential threat rather than a real threat.

As for how much meat a raptor eats – keep in mind that these are desert animals, not savannah animals like lions. So wild raptors are likely used to eating a bit less food than wild lions and the like, due to scarcity if nothing else. Not only that, unlike lions the raptors would not be the top of the local wildlife food chain – that position undoubtably falls to hydras or wurms.

Their primary diet in the wild is likely sand eels, sand lions, sand sharks (oi, lots of “sand somethings” here…), and probably hydras if they hunt in packs (if they follow general raptor understandings, they likely do) but that’d be least common. There’d of course also be wind riders, ogres/giants, minotaurs, wurms, and scarabs/devourers but I’d imagine those would be either less tasty for a carnivore, or much harder to hunt.

Athrenn.9468:

In summary, I would suggest to the Amnoon city council that the tactical advantage of riding a large reptile with a spiky club tail is actually not worth it. Being able to field larger numbers of cavalry units is, and they would be able to equip more of their army with mounts if they were using well-tempered herbivores that are willing to eat food scraps, hay, and other unwanted fodder instead of meat, which is the most expensive food type.

I would certainly agree… but is any such beast available?

As far as I can recall, in the area surrounding Amnoon (bloody kitten filter) we only see two other creatures large enough to bear a human rider (discounting sand sharks and hydras, for what I hope are obvious reasons). Desert dolyaks appear to be fine beasts of burden, but any WvW players can tell you they don’t move very quickly, which makes them poor battle steeds. That just leaves the shadovar. Now, granted, I didn’t get a very good luck at them, but the fact that were only three or so in the area we were able to explore does not speak to a large enough population to carry a military force, let alone also being available for casual civilian transport.

If faced with a choice between a problematic mount and no mount at all… provided it is possible to feed the raptors- which, clearly, it is, or else they wouldn’t be around- I think they’re worth the trouble.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

-More Fairly Good Points-

I could see wild raptors hunting in packs, being the intelligent creatures they are, but what about raptors raised in captivity since birth?

From what we saw on Aksim’s farm, the raptors there are kept in stables like horses and fed meals of hunted crab and cave beast meat by farmhands. Yes, one could argue that they are taught to hunt by catching fireflies, but just think about what kind of chores Aksim has us doing.

“I could always use help gathering more food: crab meat, or meat from those filthy beasts in the tunnels.”

If the raptors are learning from a very young age that humans will provide for them then they will be much less adept at hunting than their wild counterparts. I agree entirely that teaching the raptors to hunt in packs would be a more efficient means of feeding them but that’s not how we’ve seen them treated in-game so far.

But if we were to theorize about how this process could work in reality, perhaps we could come up with a different solution? We know that Amnoon has devoted a great deal of land to agriculture. What kind of problems could the farmers have that raptors could solve? What if these farms attract colonies of pest species that produce rapidly, eat the same food that humans eat, and contain lots of nice, juicy meat? Every day, the cavaliers and raptor farmers could herd their raptors up and lead them over to the farms, making a tour of the region until they’ve hunted as many of these pest creatures as they can, culling their numbers and helping the agriculturalists in the process. This would help the humans because humans don’t want these pests to eat all of their hard work, but also the raptors who get their daily meal. A relationship like this could be beneficial to both parties in theory, and while it’s not nearly as good as a nice braized choya steak it might be enough to satisfy the raptors.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

If faced with a choice between a problematic mount and no mount at all… provided it is possible to feed the raptors- which, clearly, it is, or else they wouldn’t be around- I think they’re worth the trouble.

Perhaps you are right, but in which case, it would be imperative to find a better solution to feeding these creatures than the one we’ve seen in-game so far. I have faith that Amnoon will prevail in the end and find an efficient means of feeding their raptor mounted army.

i dislike very much the circus effect that mounts brings to any game. but I noticed that each species of mounts has specific abilities tied to the masteries system, that is, this indicates that its variety will be very limited. We will probably have a maximum of 4 to 6 mounts, and the ‘variety’ will go through the skins system.

As for horses, if they are implemented, it will probably be in the form of some “exotic species” to justify giant size version.

Athrenn.9468:

I don’t think that the existence of the springer is nearly as strange as the fact that the local cultures would have chosen to domesticate them thousands of years ago in favour of sturdier looking beasts.

If you were to look at the origin of dromedary camel domestication for example, this is a process that would have began a very long time ago, probably since the first humans settled in the desert. At what point did our ancestors look at these strange kangaroo mouse mutants and think “Now that, brothers and sisters, would make for a glorious beast of burden!”

Personally, I suspect that this person would have been kicked out of the tribe to live with the wild kangaroo mice until one of them ate him.

Eh, well Earth is far different from Tyria. For one, you have people around that literally have pet Great White Sharks, somehow. Granted, I’m sure there are some circumstances in the real world where a great white won’t rip you apart if it swims up to you in the ocean, but likely not follow you around and do what you tell it.

In that circumstance, perhaps Springers aren’t domesticated? I haven’t seen how we get them in the game yet, but even if there are groups of Springers kept by humans, that doesn’t necessarily mean they have to go through the domestication process like our horses and cattle have. So your example of someone suggesting domesticating them hundreds of years ago might have play out more like.

“Where was that guy? He’s been missing from the village for weeks and now he comes back bouncing on that creature? Such a fool!”

“Yeah, but it jumps over trees. Looks like fun.”

It might not have been so popular to use the Springers until the recent century. It might even have something to do with the powers of a Soulbeast.

Athrenn.9468:

In fact, I would think that the cultures of the region would look better riding something quadrupedal with a sturdier frame that can bear lots of weight for transporting goods. There’s a reason why real world cultures chose creatures that all look similar to each other: donkeys, oxen, horses, mules, camels, elephants. They have four legs and strong frames, and that is the perfect physical trait for a creature that would be bearing a lot of weight.

But none of those can jump over houses, glide over water and one of those might be able to leap across a chasm…

The real question is, why haven’t the people built infrastructure so you wouldn’t need to leap over chasms, up cliffs or over large bodies of quicksand/water?

Leo G.4501:

The real question is, why haven’t the people built infrastructure so you wouldn’t need to leap over chasms, up cliffs or over large bodies of quicksand/water?

I imagine the desert just isn’t densely populated enough to maintain it. Even if those trees around the oases are enough to build bridges and stairs after you account for Amnoon’s building needs, and any firewood to keep out the night chill… you’ve got a vast span of nothing to haul the materials through, in some places who knows how much sand to clear away to find a solid foundation for the supports, and at any time after you leave a hydra might happen along and smash the thing into kindling with a meteor.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

Leo G.4501:

The real question is, why haven’t the people built infrastructure so you wouldn’t need to leap over chasms, up cliffs or over large bodies of quicksand/water?

I imagine the desert just isn’t densely populated enough to maintain it. Even if those trees around the oases are enough to build bridges and stairs after you account for Amnoon’s building needs, and any firewood to keep out the night chill… you’ve got a vast span of nothing to haul the materials through, in some places who knows how much sand to clear away to find a solid foundation for the supports, and at any time after you leave a hydra might happen along and smash the thing into kindling with a meteor.

……Why do these people live in a place like this?
(Don’t answer that, it was rhetorical, I know they’d nowhere else to go)

Leo G.4501:

In that circumstance, perhaps Springers aren’t domesticated? I haven’t seen how we get them in the game yet, but even if there are groups of Springers kept by humans, that doesn’t necessarily mean they have to go through the domestication process like our horses and cattle have. So your example of someone suggesting domesticating them hundreds of years ago might have play out more like.

“Where was that guy? He’s been missing from the village for weeks and now he comes back bouncing on that creature? Such a fool!”

“Yeah, but it jumps over trees. Looks like fun.”

Typically, this is what you get when humans try to ride wild animals that haven’t been properly domesticated to recognize humans as their masters.

It makes a great YouTube video for sure, but there’s a reason why you’ll never see Canadians riding moose around. Wild creatures don’t see humans as their masters so when a person jumps on their back they’ll react very much like how you would if some stranger jumped on your back out of nowhere.

Of course, there is also the point you brought up about whether rangers could tame wild animals en masse somehow to turn them into mounts without centuries of domestication. To that, I have no answer because we have no concrete limitations to prove that rangers can’t do what you’re suggesting.

Well, we are aware that a large number of rangers can tame a horde of animals on short notice. So taming them into mounts wouldn’t be too large a stretch.

I really don’t think it’s a strange creature to have in the desert. It’s basically an amalgamation of a desert hare and a kangaroo, 2 creatures not uncommon to the desert landscape. Also, someone earlier in this thread argued that they are very illogical beasts of burden, but these are mounts, not beasts of burden. There is a difference between the two. Mounts are meant to be ridden, beasts of burden are meant to carry heavy loads. Considering the PoF mounts are all about mobility and getting to places you normally can’t go, this kangaroo/hare creature fits the landscape and the reason for the mounts’ existence perfectly. Much more than the skimmer does, that’s for sure.

TheNecrosanct.4028:

I really don’t think it’s a strange creature to have in the desert. It’s basically an amalgamation of a desert hare and a kangaroo, 2 creatures not uncommon to the desert landscape. Also, someone earlier in this thread argued that they are very illogical beasts of burden, but these are mounts, not beasts of burden. There is a difference between the two. Mounts are meant to be ridden, beasts of burden are meant to carry heavy loads. Considering the PoF mounts are all about mobility and getting to places you normally can’t go, this kangaroo/hare creature fits the landscape and the reason for the mounts’ existence perfectly. Much more than the skimmer does, that’s for sure.

I’d say that a rider can be considered a heavy load – especially if it’s a Charr or Norn.

Leo G.4501:

But none of those can jump over houses, glide over water and one of those might be able to leap across a chasm…

The real question is, why haven’t the people built infrastructure so you wouldn’t need to leap over chasms, up cliffs or over large bodies of quicksand/water?

In addition to what other people have said, defence could also be a part of it. Build a bridge or a set of stairs, and anybody can get in. With an obstacle that you need a mount to cross, only those with the appropriate mount can get access.

Even if you do have the odd bridge over such obstacles, it’s likely advantageous if your own people don’t HAVE to use them.

Sartharina.3542:

TheNecrosanct.4028:

I really don’t think it’s a strange creature to have in the desert. It’s basically an amalgamation of a desert hare and a kangaroo, 2 creatures not uncommon to the desert landscape. Also, someone earlier in this thread argued that they are very illogical beasts of burden, but these are mounts, not beasts of burden. There is a difference between the two. Mounts are meant to be ridden, beasts of burden are meant to carry heavy loads. Considering the PoF mounts are all about mobility and getting to places you normally can’t go, this kangaroo/hare creature fits the landscape and the reason for the mounts’ existence perfectly. Much more than the skimmer does, that’s for sure.

I’d say that a rider can be considered a heavy load – especially if it’s a Charr or Norn.

Absolutely, but that’s not what the term beast of burden means. It specifically refers to an animal carrying heavy loads of cargo, not a passenger. That is called a mount (or riding animal), because you mount the creature to ride it. Cargo cannot mount an animal, it can only be loaded onto it. Personal interpretation aside, words do actually have official meanings and these 2 terms do not apply to the same thing.

TheNecrosanct.4028:

I really don’t think it’s a strange creature to have in the desert. It’s basically an amalgamation of a desert hare and a kangaroo, 2 creatures not uncommon to the desert landscape. Also, someone earlier in this thread argued that they are very illogical beasts of burden, but these are mounts, not beasts of burden. There is a difference between the two. Mounts are meant to be ridden, beasts of burden are meant to carry heavy loads. Considering the PoF mounts are all about mobility and getting to places you normally can’t go, this kangaroo/hare creature fits the landscape and the reason for the mounts’ existence perfectly. Much more than the skimmer does, that’s for sure.

Not all the maps are desert maps. The springer could be from the map of the steppes.