A mounts matter

[Shougun]

As it stands, there really isn't more than a vanity's worth of marginal difference really possible for mounts. Assuming we can even vary in terms of speed vs. treasure-hunting ability vs. mount inventory capacity, these will still be totally individual decisions based primarily on a player's grinding preferences. For a simple example, Gatherers with short log-in times will want the increased treasure-hunting ability so they can make a quick gathering sweep without having to think about node probability or routes. Those who have figured out the routes can take the little extra time with reduced treasure-hunting ability, but return to town less often with a increased inventory capacity. Those specializing in hunting truly rare, distant items, and know how and where to find them will go with the increased speed. Quest-levelers will probably go for increased capacity unless they want to be able to easily find treasure while in the course of hub-hopping. Vendor-all-but-my-best-equipment guys will go for speed. And that, for better or worse, fits the style of the game thus far.

We don't have any active sprint functions, and none at all for our mount. Our jump is non-variable. We don't have mount endurance mechanics. They don't have pain tolerance variables (to avoid bucking). Any armor they get will likely be more stat-based than anything actually useful to a cavalry rush. It does not appear that we will be doing any dual-mounted/unmounted divisional strikes on Imperial camps or armies in the near future. [Ahh, jeesh, just imagine the supply-stealing [via treasure finding], active event item-weight mount carrying capacity [based on what would normally be slot-based carrying capacity], the decoy running [using the speediest chocos], the trampling, the Chocobos tanking or making charge rushes while their riders are dismounted and supporting/leading the attacks... Seems I've gotten carried away.]

That end paragraph actually sounds quite nice and indepth.. lol

We do have a pain tolerance variable it just happens to be static at the moment XD (you can get lamed in 1.0 (slowed by a large %)). Also there is a sprinting mechanic in 2.0 :P. No variable jumps though, that I know of. Could easily have a dynamic one that related to duration of press but w.e :P. (But in 2.0 mounts can jump, so imagine a goobbue jumping... lol)

A mount that increased your treasure / resource finding range sounds interesting. Some sort of foraging creature.. Could imagine for the rotted and smelly a truffle pig would work nicely.

What about stone?

[Shurrikhan]

It's not a matter of what you suggested. It's what ppl will do with it *IF* it is implemented.
Mounts of different speeds just cause problems in parties trying to stay together when moving from one location to another.
If you add combat stats to them, variety goes out the window because everybody is getting mounts based on stats not what they look like! So everybody will strive to get the so called "best" one.

Honestly, some sort of endurance mechanic could probably fix the difference in speed pretty well. Slow mounts will run a bit faster, pressing their endurance slightly, and fast mounts will build up a bit of bonus endurance in preparation for a raid or whatnot, with a total shared endurance pool averaging out the individuals somewhat. So, the party simply enters a "Caravan Mode" or whatnot and ends up moving at the same pace, given by the total composition of the party, rather than being hampered by any given individual speed.

Best stats will still be differentiated based on class, the fight itself, and party-role, which should be diverse enough as long as the stats as a whole don't enforce class-wide used-for-all-situations formulas (again). I'm really hoping stats will be more adjustable in ARR, for both mounts and their riders.

Even then though, there should also be ways in which a player might stray from role-pure. A white mage may want his personal guard chocobo for instance, armoring him with defensive stats that will in no way benefit the player or the player's role directly. At the same time, that could be used for sticking closer to the front line (if that actually gave benefits in this game...).

[Shurrikhan]

That end paragraph actually sounds quite nice and indepth.. lol

We do have a pain tolerance variable it just happens to be static at the moment XD (you can get lamed in 1.0 (slowed by a large %)). Also there is a sprinting mechanic in 2.0 :P. No variable jumps though, that I know of. Could easily have a dynamic one that related to duration of press but w.e :P. (But in 2.0 mounts can jump, so imagine a goobbue jumping... lol)

A mount that increased your treasure / resource finding range sounds interesting. Some sort of foraging creature.. Could imagine for the rotted and smelly a truffle pig would work nicely.

What about stone?

A sprinting mechanic, yes, but it's only for players as far as I've seen, and is simply a TP-consume-for-duration, 20-second CD. It's nothing like being able to actually time your sprints in preparation for a jump.

A dynamic prepared (charged) jump could be fun. I was thinking more of enhancing the actual stat involved through increasing the jump range possible (matching to terrain similar to FFXIII but not as preset; though that may not even be a possible implementation given ARR's engine) and reducing the endurance lost by those actions.

[I imagine a Goobue as doing a ballerina leap. It just doesn't go very far. Yes, it look amazing.]

Tbh, I like Chocobo as my general treasure-finding creature, though Goobue is my botanical treasure-finder of choice. Horses... good at sensing ways out of situations... I don't think of them as being treasure finders.

Given the time I'd probably raise one horse, a Chocobo, another Chocobo, and finally a Goobue, in that order.

As for other mounts, if we don't have enough already... a truffle pig would be awesome. I do kind of want a crazy, kind of dopey-looking wolf mongrel with a case of gigantism though. I'd just want there to be some serious questing (that involve more than your typical quests) to get anything other than the Chocobo and horse, and even then probably more than there is now.

Edit: As far as pain tolerance goes, I was concerned more with being bucked, rather than being lamed. Pain tolerance might also be a factor in being slowed, but honestly if your tendon's been bitten in half, that's more a matter of having not dodged than you're just not "holding up" to the pain well enough. : P
Poor mount.

I'd imagine that Goobues would normally be surprisingly easy to make buck when fleeing (sprinting) [Just try imagining a spooked/bewildered/abruptly confused by the evil in the world Goobue face, and it should all come clear], but fairly hard to lame except from critical hits (aimed at those tiny legs), which will usually require a short time for the Goobue to catch itself as well.

Edit 2: I'd also like some ways in which the player could learn to benefit the mount, such as a Conjurer learning to summon wind behind a Chocobo, who opens its wings to catch said wind, or a (rather cruel) player tossing a firework behind his horse for even more sprinting speed (though at endurance cost, of course, and probably not needed on a higher loyalty-level horse).

[Azzi]

Give me content to increase the stats for my mount and I'll be happy rather than add a variety of mounts, each with different stats which are static (cannot be improved/no content). I thought this was the whole point for chocobo raising. If it's not then whats the point of spending time raising a chocobo if it's just going to turn out the same as everybody else's?

[Shougun]

Give me content to increase the stats for my mount and I'll be happy rather than add a variety of mounts, each with different stats which are static (cannot be improved/no content). I thought this was the whole point for chocobo raising. If it's not then whats the point of spending time raising a chocobo if it's just going to turn out the same as everybody else's?

We dont know what kind of customization we can lookforward to in Chocobo's :/. We do know color. It appears job is decided by the armor, and since all mounts have the same movement behaviors, I think its mostly colors. Perhaps they will add a digging game.

Adding these static stats (which is content) would mean a lot more to work with when raising your chocobo to be your own (and since you can have more then on chocobo its not a limitation on what kind of mounts you can have either)