A mounts matter

[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).