Guild Wars 2

Kate Soulguard.7132:

Add every single roleplayer you see to your Friends list.*

This is a pretty clever solution. It could also be aided by, perhaps, the use of a site where role players can submit their namesto a list, so that other players who want to can add them. Doing so might increase the chances of the community as a whole ending up in more instances together. I know there’s potential for abuse there, but it’s a thought.

And here’s another one: I wonder if a simple solution might be an RP flag you can set, that prioritizes other people with that flag set, in the same way that the friend list prioritizes friends. Set it, and while it’s on, matching you to a map with others using that flag becomes top priority, increasing the chance that you’ll happen upon random RP.

Of course, I’d never expect them to actually do anything like this, but I can dream.

It’s pretty tough to delete them by accident, too, since every store bought thing I’ve tried to delete makes you type in the full name of the item before confirming deletion.

I have only three things to say regarding the Revenant:

1. Channel King Adelbern.
2. Cast Foefire
3. Profit (sort of)

Yeah, okay, we don’t have Magdaer. Minor detail. I’m sure his ghost copy will be enough.

Donari.5237:

I’d say my one worry is if mastery points are scarce enough that you can’t master all the mastery lines you really want.

That’s an understandable worry, considering they’re account bound, but I walked away with the impression that you’d be able to get all of them. Gliding seems like a pretty central mechanic to the expansion, to the point that they’re building an entire layer of the expansion zones that sounds like it may require it (the canopy). Languages sounded almost as important. I doubt they’d build the system in such a way that you can screw yourself out of being able to use mechanics that directly impact whether or not you can see huge chunks of the world.

So far, based on what we know, I’m thinking of masteries like finding tools in a Zelda game. Get the hookshot, you can grapple to remote areas. Get bombs, you can blow up walls to find hidden areas. Get the power bracelet, you can lift rocks to reveal secrets. That kind of thing.

tigirius.9014:

Oh I played Aion my friend I was there for many a year from beta, I know the mechanics and they were wings. You can flap them you can hover, they are wings. Please stop trying to make them something they are not.

Read my post again. The things you’re describing are visual elements. Not mechanical. Flapping is just an animation. My point, when I say they’re equivalent to mounts, is that mechanics that exist already (Golem suits, Flame Thrower, etc.) and mechanics that are on their way (gliders) would become mounts with nothing more than a visual change. Therefore, the standard objections to implementing mounts are, from a mechanical standpoint, meaningless. For some reason, a significant number of people can’t seem to wrap their heads around the idea that a mount does not have to be a toggled speed buff. It can be a mechanic that already exists, simply presented in a different way, visually.

Roda.7468:

Gliders aren’t flying mounts because they have no way to maintain or gain altitude without relying on outside forces. :]

Okay, so they’re gliding mounts, then. Your statement actually illustrates my point. Mechanics have zero to do with whether something could be a mount or not.

Being unable to gain or maintain altitude is irrelevant. Instead of showing us with gliders on our backs, show us sitting on a big, gliding animal and what do we have? Gliding mount. The difference is purely visual.

That being the case, there are plenty of things that exist now, many of which have existed since launch, that would become mounts with nothing more than a visual tweak. Golem suits. Environmental weapons. And now, hang gliders. Adding “mounts” would be nothing more than a matter of creating some new skills and environmental weapons that worked exactly the same as they do now, but showed players riding an animal or piloting a vehicle instead of driving a mech suit or holding an object.

Now, I’m not saying you couldn’t do more to make them more unique and interesting. My point is that the typical arguments against mounts (they aren’t needed because of fast travel, etc.) are completely irrelevant. Mounts do not have to be toggleable speed buffs. Several of the current mechanics could function as mounts with nothing more than a visual change. And the visual is what people really want.

So, since the only difference is visual, the only reason to object to mounts would be that you don’t want to see characters sitting on something. They can HOLD something. They can BECOME something. They can sit INSIDE something. But actually put them ON something, and for some reason, it causes people to go into fits of sputtering rage.

Gliders are flying mounts. The fact that they may be skills, etc. is irrelevant. As Devata pointed out, mounts in most games these days ARE skills. Mechanics are not what makes something a mount. Visuals are. It also doesn’t mean they won’t sell cash shop skins for them. I’m not saying they WILL, but if they choose not to do so, it will have absolutely nothing to do with it being a skill. What makes you think they couldn’t sell you an item that would change the graphic used with that skill? They already sell items that change your finisher and mail animations. They’ve shown they can reskin whatever they want.

What the rabid anti-mount people don’t seem to understand is that the bones of a mount mechanic already exists in the game, and has since launch. Asura golem skill? Mount. Don’t think so? All right, what if they changed the graphic so that instead of disappearing inside the golem, you saw the character sitting on its shoulder? Transforming into an animal via an event? Mount. Temprary, sure, but still a mount. Don’t think so? Okay, change the graphic so that the player is now riding the animal instead. Ta-da! See what I mean?

NOTHING has changed, mechanically, in these scenarios. The only change has been visual. And yet, that single, simple way of altering how the mechanic is visually presented would make those who want mounts happy and (for some completely illogical reason) make the anti-mount crowd froth and scream and howl.

The anti-mount sentiment is so extreme and illogical that it’s borderline ridiculous. Okay, so mounts in other games are toggled speed buffs that put an animal graphics between your legs. An anytime toggled speed buff wouldn’t work/isn’t necessary. Fine. So how about some toggled abilities that change your weapon skills (you know, like the ones we have ALWAYS had) and instead of putting a flame thrower in your hand, or replacing your graphic with a golem, put an animal (or even a vehicle!) between your legs.

I don’t mean to sound snarky, I just get SO tired of seeing all the ridiculous anti-mount crap, and now all of the people immediately scrambling to carefully outline all the (incorrect) reasons that gliders aren’t the same thing as flying mounts, that it’s just… ugh. The reason the subject keeps coming up is because riding on things (animals, vehicles, whatever) is cool, and people want to be able to do it. Visually. Toggled speed buff doesn’t work in this game? Okay, so change the mechanic. Use the one that already exists. Since mounts are PURELY a cosmetic thing and do not in ANY WAY require a specific mechanic, then the only objection to mounts ends up being, “Well I just don’t want to see people sitting on things!” And if your dislike of people sitting on things is really that white-hot and rage inducing, then… um… I’m not even sure how to finish that sentence. All I can say is, I don’t much care for blue particle effects, but I don’t expect my weird, irrational dislike of them to mean they shouldn’t be in the game.

What I don’t understand is why people can’t wrap their heads around the idea that mounts are NOT about traveling faster. That’s not why people want them. Everyone keeps mentioning the waypoint system as the reason they shouldn’t be put into the game, but the waypoints are completely irrelevant. The reason people want mounts is because it adds to the flavor of the experience. Being able to ride a horse/dolyak/whatever would make people feel that much more like a hero in a fantasy novel, which is quite a large point of the entire game to begin with.

Mechanically, mounts already exist. That’s another thing people can’t seem to grasp. Golem battlesuits are mounts. Heck, the flaming greatsword summoned by an elementalist is a mount. It’s something that exists in the world that, should you walk up to it and engage with it, changes the graphic representing your character, as well as how your character functions. The ONLY thing required for mounts to be implemented, is a graphic. Simply make them an environmental weapon that gives its own set of skills when using it.

This will probably be ignored, but I’ll say it anyway: Mounts do NOT need to be about making you move faster. That is not, and never was, the true appeal behind them. The true appeal is simply the visual of being a guy on a horse, or other rideable animal. Mechanically, they are the PERFECT fit for some sort of environmental weapon. Why people continue to be unable to see that, I have no idea.

I actually don’t buy the argument that they need to keep us buying transmutation stones every time we want to change our appearance. I think the success of things like Lord Of The Rings Online’s Wardrobe system is good evidence that if we could save appearances, people would buy MORE transmutation stones because getting all the armor skins would become a true collecting game, and people would want the option to save them. Plus, you could sell additional outfit slots for the “closet” itself.