A mounts matter

[Shurrikhan]

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.]

Edit: Even if we did say... have horses, chocobos, and Goobues all together, it'd still be best to keep them reasonable, while still able to do different things, but as it stands, we don't really have anywhere where say... the differences in jump would be different enough or fun enough to be worth the loss to sprint speed. And what the heck would a Goobue be able to do in most situations? If it could somehow hurdle on those tiny legs, it'd only go all of four feet. Maybe an automatic step-over of small objects? Outside of combat (where it could be truly terrifying...) it's not going to add up to the other two except in carrying capacity.

Let's take a ravine setting, a race course of sorts meant to test the three, with giant, mount-passable vines spanning the sides in a low-sloping diagonal fashion, and various shelves of ground at odd angles protruding from bottom and sides of the chasm. Some of these features start from ground level, others do not. Some non-ground-lying ones can be reached with a horizontal jump of enough speed; others require a high vertical leap. The wind is slightly stronger above, giving a slight speed bonus. There are occasional remains of rock-slides blocking the bottom that can be difficult for horses especially to get over. There are occasional blocked paths in the sides of the ravine that Goobues can break through if large enough. They provide slight shortcuts.

In such a situation, the different mounts would be enjoyable diverse, but normally they'd probably just be picked based the region's verticality/passability and the users' combat entry/withdrawal tactics. In these cases, the horse and Goobue would have to have at least some small amount of combat ability, and they can still be plenty distinct in that regard. In short, a Chocobo would work damn well for an archer who wants to simply jump up above his prey with little forethought and start sniping (as long as the extra range the mob must take does not take it out of its domain). A horse would work better for someone who sticks to the roads anyways. And a Goobue... well... carrying capacity, and maybe a special to stun things and lumber away...

I think I've accidentally given a lot of fun reasons for having these different mount types instead of pressing their implausibility. Oh well, take it as you like.

[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]

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)