Swimming mounts should NOT be this much fun!

DewiMorgan · August 18

Whooo! When I heard "swimming mounts", I expected them to be adding a couple of aquatic-capable mounts, not that ALL mounts could now swim!

They even gave the stick-horse a special behavior! (sure, it's the existing running-shouldered animation, but I like the fact that it was taken into consideration).

And you can jump, like a dolphin! The heffalump jumping in the water looks GLORIOUSLY silly, I kinda regret not getting it.

On my little two-man speedboat, the Vivec canals are no longer a slow curse, but a fun and beautiful cruise! Southeastern Summerset with its "Treasure map VI" is no longer a grind!

It has opened up the waterways. As an explorer type, this has completely changed traversal for me. I need to re-explore all the old haunts, from a new perspective. Rivers are no longer an obstacle, but a route to explore! I just entered Riften... through the canals! It is a really scenic way to re-explore places.

I absolutely did not expect to be enjoying this as much as I do.

DewiMorgan · August 18

Sure, there are a few tiny grumbles or things that could be even better.

I love when I do the "submerged swimming" thing, which seems to depend on the depth of the water. So I'd kinda love if jumping submerged you a bit afterwards.

More seriously, accidentally dismounting while out in a vast expanse of water is... frustrating, since you can't resummon the mount. Same with falling into the Vivec canals: you're still stuck slowly hunting for a ladder if you weren't mounted to begin with.

At least if you log out on a mount, you relog back on it.

And even with those mild grumbles, woooow, this was such a delight to log into today.

I might have to write up a traveler's guide, "Waterways of Tamriel"...

Wolfkeks · August 18

The swimming mounts are amazing - though it looks like my character is trying to drown their senche while fast swimming xD

JemadarofCaerSalis · August 18

What I also love is that if your companion is with you on a multi-rider mount, they stay with you in the water, they don't just disappear!

I haven't looked at it extensively, but it seems like moving around maps are going to be much nicer now that I don't have to worry about remounting everytime I fall in water or step in a deep puddle.

DewiMorgan · August 18

Yeah - and when you have two friends on a dual mount, you no longer have to to the "water is lava" thing where any time you jump in a puddle, you have to do the whole "resummon it, wait for your friend to remount" thing.

It's weird. I often enjoy the stuff they add, but I think this is the first time in a long while the game has made me actually GLEEFUL.

SilverBride · August 19

This has been game changing! No more taking the long way around to keep from being dismounted! I was surprised by how big a difference this has made!

Syldras · August 19

Has anyone tried swimming to Eastern Solstice?

Neugeniko · August 19

My jetski looks like a lion.

Syldras · August 19

tincanman · August 19

Holy Cheesemonger, that turns out to be quite splendid and surprising fun, even if for a short while, until novelty wanes.

The improved speed through water while mounted is definitely helpful encouragement to hit the waters of Tamriel rather than just port & go.

Horace-Wimp · August 19

Good job, ZOS. The MMO Rift has many other great ideas that you can appropriate, too, not just their "Underwater Mount Training." I would love to see an open world boss encounter like Volan added to ESO. Volan was a blast that everyone loved when Storm Legion was the FOM.

tincanman · August 19

Anyone with the mammoth mount tried swimming, yet? If so, is it trunk up, snorkelling? Or does it just move the same as on land?

Rohamad_Ali · August 19

This is so much better now.

JemadarofCaerSalis · August 19

tincanman wrote: »

Anyone with the mammoth mount tried swimming, yet? If so, is it trunk up, snorkelling? Or does it just move the same as on land?

I don't have the mammoth and I can't recall the thread, but I thought someone said they tried it, or they saw it done by someone else and the trunk is up out of the water? Will try to find that thread.

Not sure if this is the thread I saw or not: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/680380/thank-you-for-letting-mammoths-swim-like-this

driosketch · August 19

This is so ridiculous and I just spent 10 minutes zooming around in the water.

tincanman wrote: »

Anyone with the mammoth mount tried swimming, yet? If so, is it trunk up, snorkelling? Or does it just move the same as on land?

Can confirm it does poke up out of the water.

ESO_player123 · August 19

Agree. It's a game changer and fun. Tomorrow I will go mount swimming in Shadowfen puddles to see how it works.

tsaescishoeshiner · August 19

Major win, honestly. Especially considering how many different animations and mounts they had to work on to get this released.

MGRza · August 19

SilverBride wrote: »

This has been game changing! No more taking the long way around to keep from being dismounted! I was surprised by how big a difference this has made!

Yeah, something simple that made a massive impact is always appreciated.

tincanman · August 19

@JemadarofCaerSalis & @driosketch - thanks very much for checking and confirming; greatly appreciated!

mocap · August 19

Syldras wrote: »

Has anyone tried swimming to Eastern Solstice?

I think that little island behind ships in Auridon used to be inaccessible. Now you can get there by swimming on your horse. There's nothing there but a weird placed boat on the other side. Maybe some other areas are reachable now too.

Mathius_Mordred · August 19

Awesome addition to the game; finally, after all these years, we're no longer dismounted by touching an ankle-deep puddle.

We did the Guild Mount Race last night around the central island in High Isle, and it was awesome; everyone loved it. Thanks for this ZOS.

robpr · August 19

Great QoL even if nothing spectacular.
There are no custom swimming animations either - mounts use 'walk' animation when stationary and 'sprint' when moving around (you can see that on heavy-weights), while their neck joint is pointed upwards and slightly tilted. The only exception is Mammoth having trunk up.
Dwarven Spiders look like a motorboat.

minnowfaun · August 19

tincanman wrote: »

Anyone with the mammoth mount tried swimming, yet? If so, is it trunk up, snorkelling? Or does it just move the same as on land?

Snoot up snorkeling! Glorious. I love the swimming mounts!

SeaGtGruff · August 19

tincanman wrote: »

Holy Cheesemonger, that turns out to be quite splendid and surprising fun, even if for a short while, until novelty wanes.

The improved speed through water while mounted is definitely helpful encouragement to hit the waters of Tamriel rather than just port & go.

I finally tried it out late last night almost as an after-thought after having played normally for several hours on both servers. I mounted up and rode around the waterways and lakes of lower Vvardenfell for a little bit-- and while I had great fun doing it, I was thinking that the mount-swimming speed was a bit too fast to be very realistic, especially on a horse. I guess I'll just RP that the speed is achieved through magical means.

Elric_665 · August 19

mocap wrote: »

Syldras wrote: »

Has anyone tried swimming to Eastern Solstice?

I think that little island behind ships in Auridon used to be inaccessible. Now you can get there by swimming on your horse. There's nothing there but a weird placed boat on the other side. Maybe some other areas are reachable now too.

It's part of one of the Prologue Quest (can't remember which one).

Al_Ex_Andre · August 19

pretty feature , ty as well, zos!

I remember that you said you wanted to improve the game, this is it

it gives fresh air to the game, hopefully this game can last 10 more years or more, thanks to these novelties.

cheers

DewiMorgan · August 19

Waterways are surprisingly beautiful in a way I've never appreciated before. Ravines I previously avoided like the plague have become pathways, reminiscent of the boating between the giant statues (The Argonath/pillars of the king on the river Anduin) in the LotR movie.

whitecrow · August 19

I love this improvement. Thank you!

Lysorris · August 19

It made exploration better, it is a small change but with big gains. Sometimes there is a island near cost of the map or something behind lake and going there was just too much hassle and now you can jump in to water and go brrrr... Also you're not being dismounted because puddle is one centimeter too high.

Syldras · August 19

Works as intended

MeowMeow808 · August 20

Makes getting crafting nodes and crafting reports sooooo much easier, especially when the nodes are on an island or just over the range of being allowed to "skip" water while mounted.