Ok so i have been thinking about this quite a lot since launch, and i have to say that most of my friends who i have introduced to the game are very surprised by the lack of mounts. Most people I know won’t really consider the context, GW’s history or how mounts should/should not be used. Just that riding a fictional beast/horse/dragon in to battle comes pretty much hand in hand with any major RP fantasy experience.
When i look at the areas in game, i have to consider the feeling i have when i travel through them. I am (after all) on an adventure. I am exploring the world, and uncovering it’s secrets. ANet have crafted this world for us to uncover and travel through, the artwork and detail is incredible! i think we all agree on this. But i have to wonder at the moment how much i am really going to remember about the areas, how much of that “experience” is going to stick with me in the months to come – as i feel i will never “travel” through any of these zones again.
Once i have unlocked all the waypoints, i will simply “teleport” from point to point as and when i need to. If i am farming, i will likely port myself around the map from one batch of nodes to the next. Why run when i can teleport?. But already, i feel like i will never run up the path from say Queensdale to Davinity Reach again, taking in the stunning view of DR’s gate. I will simply port right in to the city, straight to crafter or bankers NPC (or wherever i need to be). The sweeping hills and winding paths of say Kessex Hills, or Gandarran Fields.. I feel like i am never going to follow that road again because now i will simply jump around to within feet of wherever i need to be.
And after a while, Teleporting from one point to the next will all start to feel very similar.. you either arrive next to grass, trees, lake – you don’t consider where you are in the world or what the journey though that area was like when you first explored it. Now, you just click to teleport right to some random space that happens to exist next to the node or NPC you need to be at.
The shatter dragon for example. How many people now will simply portal right in to the camp every 3 hours when it spawns, instead of travelling up the ruined scar on the land, watching the dragon fly above glimpsing it through the shadowy clouds. It all adds to the atmosphere of the area, and reminds us of what a cool area that is. I believe we simply won’t remember these things. I’ll likely remember how cool that big purple dragon was, and that to get to him i had to click somewhere around the top right area of the map.
I am probably rambling now, but i think the travelling element – running/riding through a zone helps to build a picture in our mind of the area, and the adventure we had exploring it.
I would rather teleports exist at the start and end of the zone, and maybe one in the middle for some of the bigger ones. Then we could ride mounts through the area, around the winding paths taking in the landscape the way Anet intended forever more. And we can all collect awesome mounts as we go
.
TLDR: Mounts help us remember the areas in game, instead of symbols on a map to be clicked on.