Mount Specific Racial Riding Bonuses Concept

Gidorick

There has been a few discussions about race specific mounts in ESO. With the new direction of ESO, having race specific mounts wouldn’t make a lot of sense. However, for RP and immersion purposes, having race specific mounts is quite the boon. There is, however, a middle ground.

Mount Specific Racial Riding Bonuses

Core Concept
ZOS should consider giving bonuses to players who ride their Race Specific Mount. These bonuses should be placed on top of whatever their current skills are.

• 10% Speed Bonus
• 20% Stamina Bonus

These bonuses do not mean that other races shouldn’t be able to ride these mounts, they just won’t receive the racial riding bonus. This system will allow all players to ride all mounts but will give players incentives to not only create alternate characters but to use their Race Specific Mount.

Now let's have some fun!
Below are some suggestions for what NEW mount could be added for each race. Each Mount could be purchased in the Crown Store in various styles, just as the horses and Senche cats will soon be.

Thoughts?

Gyudan

Gidorick wrote: »

Ewwww

Samadhi

Only if they give one of each free with a unique colour scheme as a loyalty reward to coincide with the reward Senche, so it's not just Khajiit getting bonuses for unique loyalty mount.

Gidorick

Gyudan wrote: »

Gidorick wrote: »

Ewwww

lol. I know right? It's 100% lore appropriate though!

"And don't panic at the idea that you're being digested. You could live in a rootworm's belly for months."

Scotti took one last panicked gasp of air and closed his eyes before he disappeared into the mud.

The clerk felt a warmth he hadn't expected all around him. When he opened his eyes, he found that he was entirely surrounded by a translucent goo, and was traveling rapidly forward, southward, gliding through the mud as if it were air, skipping along an intricate network of roots."

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/argonian-account-book-3

yea... you ride INSIDE the thing... ugh.

Gidorick

Samadhi wrote: »

Only if they give one of each free with a unique colour scheme as a loyalty reward to coincide with the reward Senche, so it's not just Khajiit getting bonuses for unique loyalty mount.

No you don't understand... this Senche is different from the Striped Senche. Check out the proportions:



" Its forelimbs are thick and 1.5 times longer than their hindlimbs, giving them an ape-like appearence."

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/khajiit-physiology-phases-and-forms

Anvos

I'd say something similar to a wamasu would make more sense for argonian and dunmer could just as equally be a battle guar.

Gidorick

Anvos wrote: »

I'd say something similar to a wamasu would make more sense for argonian and dunmer could just as equally be a battle guar.

Argonians ride the Rootworm in lore, that's why I used the Rootworm for them. The Guar would be good for the Dunmer but I was trying to come up with "new" mounts that we don't already have.

Remember, these aren't Race EXCLUSIVE mounts.... just that these races get bonuses when they ride them.

I REALLY hope we get "battle guars" though!

Keepercraft

Gidorick wrote: »

:P

Forestd16b14_ESO

Gidorick wrote: »

DOVABEAR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cause lets be honest what's scarier than a heavly armor nord on a heavly armor bear.

Dracane

King Thranduiil from the Hobbit is a bad influence since when do elves ride elks ? This doesn't fit somehow.
Altmer should be riding eagle-like mounts

PlagueMonk

Gidorick wrote: »

While there may be some precedent for it in lore, it is pretty repulsive and undesirable visually. (also a bit insulting imho with Guar mounts RIGHT there)

If you want unique though I would be willing to say yes to a Phorusrhacidae (aka Terror Bird)



I could get on board with a slightly more terrifying cousin of the Chocobo



What you have there is essentially a Hyena

Panda244

Dracane wrote: »

King Thranduiil from the Hobbit is a bad influence since when do elves ride elks ? This doesn't fit somehow. Altmer should be riding eagle-like mounts

Aye, Thranduiil is a horrible influence, I love Altmer and picturing one riding into battle on an Elk is laughable, and pathetic. If anything the Altmer should just get Stallions, fancy looking Stallions. BUT. If you want to get super-duper fancy..

I'm just saying!
But seriously, no damned Elk, please... This isn't LOTR and Altmer aren't Wood Elves, they're not inherently in touch with Nature so it doesn't really make any sense from a lore perspective, they use horses to get around, not Elk... I understand you want new mounts. But... Elk... Really? As far as the Argonian go, I absolutely understand that Root Worms are lore-friendly, but as someone pointed out, they'd be relatively repulsive and rejected, not to mention they travel underground so it'd be an unfair advantage in Cyrodiil. I'd be up for a Wamasu mount for Argonians.

But for Altmer, definitely just some special Horse breed, no Elk.

TheShadowScout

Another overlooked possibility here are chariots. I'd find it nifty to see imperials with their greco-roman theme riding chariot race style...

The basic idea is nice enougfh, though some of the suggested mount choices seem a bit... suboptimal

Elks make no sense for altmer. Or bosmer for that matter. Since elks are more likely to be encountered in northern climate... would work for nords, though I guess bears have more panache... but of course, for the stuck up altmer nobles, one could always fall back at the classic unicorn I would think...

Why a darn worm for our argonian friends??? Why not just something reptilian? I guess guar are already coming for all, but... Alit? Kagouti? Wammasu?

Wolves for wood elves? You really want the developers to get a letter from the creators of elfquest lawyers? I could see deer I suppose...

Big Cats for Bretons? Whyfor? They have no relation to domesticating big cats that I could see... heck, those kitties don't even live in breton lands... a special warhorse breed would seem more logical to me...

Stilt Runner for Dunmer seems apropiate, considering the "morrowind Taxi Service" some here may remember.

Extra-special horse for Imperial? Possible, though I'd submit my "chariot" notion instead...

Senche for Khajiit is the logical choice. Though from what I hear, everyone is gonna get senche mounts from the crown store in time, so... extra special senche are always a possibility though.

Bear riding nords? Can't say anything against bears, don't wanna get mauled...

Welva for orcs? Looks nasty enough in the pic, they'd go for it I would think!

And Redguards with camels... fit the clichee, what more can one ask from a racial mount?

vrine

Gidorick, you always come up with such lovely and well executed concepts. What makes me sad is that ZOS probably won't appreciate them like the community do.

MornaBaine

Gyudan wrote: »

Gidorick wrote: »

Ewwww

Just say no to bug mounts. Come up with another cool reptile for Argonians to ride!

Otherwise, I really like this idea.

Gidorick

@Dracane @Panda244 and @TheShadowScout You know, the Altmer mount was the one I had the most issues with, personally... too LOTR, but I couldn't think of another mount type that would make sense for the Altmer. It doesn't have to mean they are "one with nature", just that they have broken the elk as one would break a horse.

It's not unheard of:

That being said, I also thought a really regal looking horse would work for Altmer but I thought it would be too much to have "special horses" for two of the races... so if it's horse for Altmer... what mount for Imperials?
I did consider a Griffin but there has never been any mention of griffins in lore, I don't think.

Oh... and unicorns are WAY too rare to be used as a mount for a bunch of people. I actually seriously thought the "exclusive mount for those that had been with ZOS since the beginning" should have been a unicorn. Cheezy, sure... but it would limit the unicorn to give it to some and never release it to anyone else.

Sabre cats were chosen for Breton because of where Bretons are in Tamriel. Aren't there Sabre Cats in Craglorn? That's a Daggerfall covenant zone so I kind of felt it was an easy enough stretch to make. Unfortunately, I ran into similar issues with my War Mount concept, Daggerfall Covenant just doesn't have a lot of options as far as wildlife goes, where as the Ebonheart Pact has TONS. I think it's because Morrowind and Skyrim both took place in Ebonheart areas.
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/152462/siege-weapon-concept-war-mounts

@PlagueMonk I tried to find large, flightless birds in Tamriel and I came up empty handed. I too thought a bird would have been a good mount for Bosmer, which would have freed up the wolf for another race. I did my best to not ADD to existing lore.

The only thing I 'made up' was the Stilt Runner. Being that there are Stilt Striders, I thought it was an alright mount to suggest.

As for everyone not liking the Rootworm... That actually really surprises me! It's 100% lore appropriate (unlike most of these concepts, lol) and it's a really unique mount, and as I suggested in my Argonian concept:

Gidorick wrote: »

The Rootworm could emerge from the ground and the player would slide inside. As the player moves, the worm lurches forward, if the player “runs” while mounted, the Rootworm could dive into the ground with a disturbance on the ground showing where the player currently is.

The disturbance on the ground could be as visible as a mounted PC.

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/147221/concept-for-a-future-argonian-centric-update#latest

I am NOT saying Wamasu not be a mount... just not used for the racial-bonus mount, There should be many other types of mounts not mentioned here that holds NO racial-bonuses whatsoever. Wamasu should be one of those mounts.

And thanks @vrine. I really enjoy the lore of Tamriel and ESO is my first MMO. It being a perpetually growing and evolving program I really hope that they will look at some of our suggestions while they are developing ideas.

Personally, I would have liked for all the mounts to have remained horses and there just have been different armor sets for the different races kind of how we have armor motifs, but that went out the window pretty early on when we heard Senche Mounts were on their way.

PlagueMonk

Gidorick wrote: »

Dracane wrote: »

King Thranduiil from the Hobbit is a bad influence since when do elves ride elks ? This doesn't fit somehow.
Altmer should be riding eagle-like mounts

You know, the Altmer mount was the one I had the most issues with, personally... too LOTR, but I couldn't think of another mount type that would make sense for the Altmer... besides a horse.

While Eagles are appropriate, they are, of course, impossible (ESO was not set up to be able to fly everywhere and I don't want "slaughter birds" )

I would suggest either some sort of giant sized Antelope http://www.theanimalfiles.com/mammals/hoofed_mammals/puku.html or a horse that has more lithe proportions.

Gidorick

So far we have had Altmer and Bretons suggested to have special horses as a racial mount... if you also include my suggestion for Imperials to have horses, that would make 3 out of 10 having special horses as mounts... along with all the non-racial bonus horses.

I think just making 'special horses' for multiple races kind of defeats the purpose of this suggestion. I was already iffy about the Imperial's mount being a horse.

@PlagueMonk Are there large antelope in Tamriel? I've only seen tiny ones.

as for flying mounts... No. Never. Please never let there be flying mounts in ESO....

If ZOS were to make up or use mythical creatures not yet included in The Elder Scrolls Lore that would be great!

Panda244

Gidorick wrote: »

So far we have had Altmer and Bretons suggested to have special horses as a racial mount... if you also include my suggestion for Imperials to have horses, that would make 3 out of 10 having special horses as mounts... along with all the non-racial bonus horses.

I think just making 'special horses' for multiple races kind of defeats the purpose of this suggestion. I was already iffy about the Imperial's mount being a horse.

@PlagueMonk Are there large antelope in Tamriel? I've only seen tiny ones.

as for flying mounts... No. Never. Please never let there be flying mounts in ESO....

If ZOS were to make up or use mythical creatures not yet included in The Elder Scrolls Lore that would be great!

Buuuuuuut @Gidorick !!!

Gidorick

lol. If we ever had flying mounts they shouldn't have any racial bonuses.

I reiterate that these aren't race 'specific' mounts, just that these races get bonuses when riding their specific mount. Any other race could ride these mounts, they just don't get the bonus.

So if they WERE to add eagles or hawks or something, the flying mount should be equal for all players.

SFBryan18

Is that tiger half giraffe?

Gidorick

SFBryan18 wrote: »

Is that tiger half giraffe?

lol. nope. Just a lore-inspired Senche.

" Its forelimbs are thick and 1.5 times longer than their hindlimbs, giving them an ape-like appearence."
http://www.imperial-library.info/content/khajiit-physiology-phases-and-forms

PlagueMonk

As to the comments and suggestions:

I'm no lore expert and my suggestions were based solely on appropriateness. So the Terror Bird for Argonians and giant Puku for the Elves are probably not found in past lore. Of course who is to say all the lore has been written? (or altered to include new things )

I chose the Terror Bird because, like the Khajiit and Senche both being feline, both have some ancestral similarities (well at least in our Earth's past) and they are COOL DAMMIT! Argonians need something cool to offset our horrid racials.

Your Root Worm suggestion is visually UNappealing, that's why people do not like it (especially us Lizard lovers). Everyone wants "cool" unique mount and a gigantic grub is not it.

As for a Griffon for the Elves.......Griffons have always had wings so making them flightless seems.......odd imho. The other option would be to do what WAR did which was to give them wings but they were only able to kinda leap fly on the ground. I guess flightless would be ok but should probably have a different name. Again, screw existing lore! It's all made up anyways so it's time to add some NEW lore I say!

Gidorick

I agree @PlagueMonk, New lore is good! There are a LOT of creatures that were made up for ESO, I just didn't feel it was my 'place' to suggest new lore. That should be left to the writers at ZOS.

I guess I'm unique in wanting the Rootworm. As gross as it is, it IS unique and players should find it repulsive. Even in the lore books the rider is grossed out. It's kind of part of it's appeal I think. But again, maybe I'm just weird. lol.

There is actually precedence in earth lore for flightless Griffins.

"The lesser known male griffin in British heraldry is depicted without wings, but with a mane of spikes and a horn similar to a unicorn's on its head. The female griffin is the most commonly found in heraldy."

So maybe female griffins have wings, males do not.


http://adventurearchives.blogspot.com/2012/04/g-is-for-griffin.html

PSLAnimal

Forestd16b14_ESO wrote: »

Gidorick wrote: »

DOVABEAR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cause lets be honest what's scarier than a heavly armor nord on a heavly armor bear.

Nah, a Nord should ride an armored war-mammoth.

Gidorick

PSLAnimal wrote: »

Forestd16b14_ESO wrote: »

Gidorick wrote: »

DOVABEAR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cause lets be honest what's scarier than a heavly armor nord on a heavly armor bear.

Nah, a Nord should ride an armored war-mammoth.

Mammoths are part of my War-Mount suggestion which can be found here: http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/152462/siege-weapon-concept-war-mounts

I've actually tried to make all of my suggestions (and at this point there are a lot of them) fit together.

Gedalya

Great idea! Also, ostensibly Argonians would be great swimmers; when water can be more than treaded.

Throren

Again, good try Gidorick but still not lore-friendly enough for my liking. My comments:

• the senche mount we are getting is confirmed to be a proper khajiiti senche by the lore master.
• Saber cats are found mostly in Skyrim
• Guar fit dunmer the most and we are already getting them. Silt striders are too big and too slow.
• There has been hints that orcs have bear mounts in orsinium.
• lore wise bosmer aren't hugely fond of riding mounts as in their dense forested homelands they spend a huge amount of time up in the trees. Even while small a regular wolf woudl still not be big enough to hold a bosmer.
• Imperial's already have their special white imperial horse
• Griffin's don't exsist in TES lore as far as we know
• Lore wise as far as we know almost all the human races ride horses exclusively with exception of the redguards and camels (meant only really for desert travel)
• The Altmer are also know to ride horses. Elf's are more common in northern areas so something more southern like a deer or such. Would still be a stretch.
• Wamasu still fits the best for Argonians as there is mention of some being domesticated/trained. Riding a worm would propose to much challenge on a technical/game mechanics level.
• Argonains can swim at great speeds and can breath underwater, with most of black marsh consisting of war, I doubt seeing them use mounts much.

The lore wise list would be

Khajiit = senche (already done)
Dunmer = guar (already done)
Nord = Horse (larger and bulkier looking variety)
Imperial = White imperial horse (already done)
Bosmer = none (though someone once suggested a large boar)
Redguards = horses/camels
High elves = horses
Breton = horses
Orc = bears
Argonians = Wamasu (and possibly the worms)

I would say if you had to have a special/unqiue one for each race and the lore is willing to be stretched then

Khajiit = senche (already done)
Dunmer = guar (already done)
Nord = Saber cat (Though a large draft horse could still work)
Imperial = White imperial horse (already done)
Bosmer = Large boar or deer of sorts
Redguards = camels
High elves = some different version of a horse or antlered animal
Breton = ?????????
Orc = bears
Argonians = Wamasu

Gidorick

Thanks for the well thought out comments @Thoren .Are you suggesting that there be racial bonuses ADDED to existing mounts... (Senche & Guar) there would be QUITE the uproar about that. To have the Striped Senche have a racial bonus would mean that no new playing Khajiits could EVER have a mount with a racial bonus? whew... the uproar would be epic.

Also, you do realize that lore needs a precedence, right? Lore doesn't just mean "what you think makes sense", right?

Lets talk about Argonians first, since this is the one that everyone seems to disagree on quite a bit. Where in lore does it state that Argonians ride Wamasu? I looked, but may have missed something. If you know of lore that speaks of Argonians riding any creature other than a Rootworm, I'd like to know. The only lore I know of mentioning Wamasu being ‘domesticated and trained’ is keeping them for their eggs, using their hides for armor, and for some weird cross-breeding experiments. Otherwise the only lore appropriate race bonus mount for an Argonian... is the Rootworm. (Please understand I get that you don’t care for the rootworm, but we must try to remove our own personal tastes from these discussions and look at information we have objectively).

As for Bosmer's Racial mount being "none". That completely undermines the concept of having mounts with racial bonuses. If ALL of the races don't have these bonuses, then none should. The boar, which I considered, are mounts for the Rieklings, so I thought it would be weird to have them be a racial mount for one of the playable races. Not that we should NEVER have Bristlebacks as a mount, but not one with a racial bonus.

The wolf for the Bosmer was, admittedly, a choice made by convenience. Also, the stature of the Bosmer make them the only race that MIGHT be able to ride a large breed of wolf.

The other thought I had was a deer, But I had elk for Altmer and I’ve spoken about the importance of having the mounts be different from one another for this concept. So, if we choose Deer for Bosmer (which would a great choice for them, I admit!) we are out one mount... what do Altmer ride?

Orcs on bears sounds legit... but there's no other race that might ride the Welwa... so now we're down one mount again.

So Orcs ride bears and Bosmer ride Deer... we need 2 more mounts. Antelope sound cool, or a new completely created creature. There's cows... but that doesn't seem right to me.

No griffins… I agree. especially not flying ones

I’ll also agree that for STRICT lore appropriateness, horses are the most appropriate for most races. HOWEVER, if we were talking STRICT lore, Senche rarely allow anyone other than a Khajiit brother or sister to ride on their back, so… we are kind looking at gameplay first than lore second.

This is why I didn’t suggest race restricted mounts. For gameplay, it makes no sense. Also, to have multiple races just have a special horse doesn’t make those racial bonuses feel “special” enough. Could you imagine the whining we'd hear from people complaining that THEIR Racial Bonus is from a horse where this race gets a bear and that race gets a big cat and this other race gets a camel.

While I recognize the Imperial Horse is included in the Imperial Edition and it would make sense to have that mount be the Imperial’s racial mount, the Imperial Horse is the same Horse model as all the other Horse Models. Part of this concept is to add new mount models that can have a variety of skins/variations in the Crown Store. The different skins for the imperial horse are just… different horses. The Jutland Horse is a bit beefier than the horses we have in ESO. New model=new skins=more money for ZOS.

I must admit, though, when I was assigning these mounts I had a mounts and races and I played a matching game. When I thought of a match, I'd look for justification to allow the match or to disallow the match. There were a few that just got matched because "eh... there we go".

Even in your “special/unique lore-stretching” list you suggest that two (maybe 3) of the races have horses and you just gave up on Bretons so I guess you get the difficulty in making these associations.

Sure, I made some concessions but I stand by my choices. Even the Altmer riding Elk, or some kind of deer.

Throren

That is why I think, in the end their shouldn't be racial riding bonuses. Do what they did with Senche and Guar, make 'em available to everyone with no bonuses towards a certain race.

it just complicates things and muddies the water a bit too much.

Gidorick

I think the fact that it would encourage alt making and it provide more content for the crown store WAY outweighs any muddy water.