As ESO develops, it becomes more and more apparent that having tangible mounts would be good for the game, the players, and for ZOS. By tangible, I mean that the mount doesn’t disappear when you dismount. It continues to be part of the world.
I have touched on some of these concepts in a couple of previous threads.
While this would create some concerns in regards to system resources, there are some mechanics below that could easily circumvent most issues and would help create a move viscous gaming experience for everyone and a more profitable gaming environment for ZOS.
TL/DR
I am suggesting that Mounts should stick around a player when the player dismounts and that mounts should have their own character menu which would allow for mount outfitting and additional functions.
This post will cover the following topics:
- Mount-Stay Radius
- Mount Menu
- Mount Equipment Screen
- Crafting Mount Equipment
- Mount Costumes
- Additional Enhancements
Mount-Stay Radius
When a player dismounts, their mount should hang around and not run off. The mount could have idle animations, like shaking its head, or eating grass. The player should be able to walk around the mount doing their own thing, but if they wander too far away (10 feet or so) the mount will run off.
To call the mount, the player will press H. The mount will then run to the player from a distance. A toggle-able “Automount” option would determine if the player climbs aboard the mount as soon as it is close enough or if the mount just stands nearby.
A mount should run away in fear if a player is ever dismounted or if the player engages in battle. While in battle, a player should not be able to call their mount. Mounts should never be autonomous enough fight alongside their owner.
If a player is dismounted, yet their mount has not yet ran away, and they press H, their character will make a clicking sound and the mount will trot up next to them. When next to the mount, players can climb aboard the mount by pressing E or they can hold down E to access the Mount Menu.
The Mount Menu
This Mount Menu is accessible by long-pressing E on the mount and would give the player the following options:
- Command (Follow, Stay, Get): The Command list would primarily be used to toggle the mount to follow the player while the player is not actively riding the mount. This would allow players to have their mount follow them in much the same way a pet follows and would have the mount stay within the Mount-Stay radius. If the player somehow leaves the Mount-Stay radius while follow is toggled on, the mount would run away, per the usual mechanic, disregarding the follow toggle. This would be to prevent weird situations with the mount being stuck behind something while it tries to follow the player.
Stay and Get could also be commands. Stay could be used by players who wish to not have their mount run off right away. Perhaps the Stay command increases the Mount-Stay radius 3X for a limited duration. Get would dismiss the mount immediately by the player smacking the mount on the rear. The mount would then run off before dematerializing. The Stay command would have no impact on the skittishness of mounts. If a player attacks or is attacked, the mount Gets!
There could also be the option of a few additional commands, such as Bow, Rear, Stomp, Kick, pet, brush, and shoe commands which would pretty much be Mount Emotes.
- Feed: If the player has the option to feed the mount a treat (as outlined in my thread Advanced Mounts Overhaul Concept), they could do so in the Mont Menu. Feed could be sold exclusively in the Crown Store, or could also be sold by in-game vendors or be craftable through the provisioning skills with recipes that are found around the world and/or sold in the Crown Store.
- Equipment: Selecting Equipment from the Mount Menu would be an alternate way to access the Mount Equipment Screen.
Mount Equipment Screen
The Mount Equipment Screen would be an alternate Inventory Screen where the player sees their mount and the mount’s equipment instead of their own. There should be 4 Equipment slots for Mounts:
- Saddle
- Armor
- Cargo
- Blanket
And 3 slots for Accessories
- Costume
- Shoes
- Bit & Bridle
The mount equipment screen should change, depending on the type of mount the player currently has selected. This screen shouldn’t reset when a different mount is chosen so players could equip their mount with one character and use that same equipment on that mount while playing a different character.
If a player has not reached the specific riding skill to be able to see the specific equipment on their mount, that equipment would not be viewable to that character and would not impact the mount’s stats while they are riding them. This would even be true if the mount is outfitted on another character with that equipment.
The Saddle, Armor, and Blanket are all different variations of that specific equipment type. Different styles could be offered so the player could outfit their mount with their specific style.
The Cargo equipment would primarily be for different saddle bags but could also be for banners, camping gear with bedrolls, weird mounted alchemy labs, stacks of books, pots, etc., all of which would be for the aesthetics of the mount and serve no actual function, or maybe they could…
The Costume Accessory should work much like equitable costumes work in ESO now, except they would be for mounts. Mount costumes could be found in future content releases.
The Shoes and Bit & Bridle would both add stat effects to the mount. Shoes could always add a speed effect and the Bit & Bridle could increase the mount stamina.
Crafting Mount Equipment
Adding a Saddle, Armor, Cargo, and Blanket crafting options would flesh out crafting in the game and ZOS could add additional Mount Motif books to both the game and the Crown Store. Each Crafting line would have to have multiple styles per motif for the different types of mounts available. Of course, ZOS could simply have multiple motifs so the Senche Breton Motif is different from the Guar Breton Motif which would different from the Horse Breton Motif.
The different equipment could be purchasable or craftable by using different crafting lines.
- Saddle = Purchasable from the Stable.
- Armor = Blacksmithing Crafting
- Equipment = Woodworker Crafting
- Blanket = Clothier Crafting
Blankets and Banners could be used in a similar manner to Guild Tabards with guild symbols, ZOS could also sell faction or in-game guild Blankets and Banners. Shoes and Bit &Bridle accessories cold also be sold by in game Stable Merchants.
Mount Costumes
Mount Costumes would serve much the same purpose as player costumes. To facilitate this there would have to be a Mount Costumes section added to the Collections menu. While each costume would be for a specific mount type, all mount costumes could be grouped together under this Mount Costume tab.
These would be full costumes for the mount that players can buy from the Crown Store. They could include flair or embellishments that are otherwise unavailable such as a molten lava armor costume with subsurface animation.
Additional Enhancements
If the principals laid out in my Advanced Mounts Overhaul Concept are implemented the Saddle, Armor, Cargo, and Blanket equipment could have a positive or negative impact all available Riding Skills. This would give the player a lot of customizability with their mounts, making each mount entirely unique to that specific player. The stat effect from the Equipment could benefit the player’s riding skill taking a riding skill of 60 beyond that cap.
The only skill which couldn’t have a stat bonus based on mount equipment would be Capacity, not unless the Over-Encumbrance concept I outlined here (
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/162693/more-bags-and-encumbrance-crown-store-concepts ) were put into place.
Some of the Equipment could also impact the player abilities. For example, a miner’s Cargo pack could increase the distance a player will see a material node and could result in a higher yield.
Equipment enchanting could be used to enchant the different equipment that are used on the mount for different mount stat effects, much in the same way armor is enchanted now.
Since players would have additional riding skills using the Advanced Mounts Overhaul Concept, the points required to be able to see and equip the different equipment could depend on the points placed in one or multiple skills.
- 20 total points in Speed/Defense/Fortitude/Provocation allows player to see/equip Armor
- 20 total points in Stamina/Attack/Provocation/Compulsion allows player to see/equip a Blanket
- 20 total points in Capacity/Inspiration/Aquestrian/Determination allows player to see/equip Cargo
- All players with any mount should be able to change or unequip saddles. This shouldn’t require any points to be added to any riding skill. Players should also be able to ride their mount without a saddle.
This Mount Tangibility system would provide players with additional crafting, additional gameplay mechanics, and additional options with which to reflect their own personal style. More importantly, these mechanics would provide ZOS with a handful of items that could be sold in the Crown Store.
All of this would create a very robust mount system but it would require a good deal of effort and retooling to make it work. Currently, the way mounts are implemented, they seem to be little more than character costumes that impact the speed of the character. This system would have to separate the character and the mount and would have to make the mount its own artifact within the game world. This would take some effort, but the benefits would be far reaching and continually profitable.