Let's talk horses

nerrollus · July 2014

I bought a light horse and have been feeding it nothing but apples. I'm curious if it's more efficient to do a light horse and max speed, the Gaited and max stamina for longer sprints, or some combination of both. The idea is to get from point A to point B in the fastest way possible.

jrgray93 · July 2014

Horses have three speeds; walk, gallop, and sprint. You may have noticed horses continue moving fast even when stamina runs out. That is because holding sprint is only gallop. Spamming the sprint button results in a faster movement speed and more rapidly draining stamina. Apparently this is by design, but the lack of a tooltip explaining it for horse and the fact that the true sprinting feels awkward and clunky makes it seem like an accident to me.

Future mounts will apparently not have this "feature." Personally, I find having just base speed better than stamina, but stamina can also keep you from being dismounted as easily.

That said, I use the black horse because I like the appearance better. The speed is good enough for me once upgraded a bit.

niocwy · July 2014

Horses can sprint forever when they run out of stamina (you still have to have a bit of stamina to engage sprint). This is not a bug, this is a 'special feature' horses have, and other mount types will have other special feature. This was officially acknowledged in this article :

Yes, horses can sprint indefinitely without consuming stamina. That said, stamina is still valuable for two other reasons: It protects you from being dismounted when attacked, and if you rapidly press the sprint key you will get big boosts of speed on your mount (but at a much higher stamina cost). Of note, only horse mounts have the endless sprint trait. Other upcoming mount types will have different special traits.

So...point A to point B. If no enemies on the way, max sprint. If enemies, it may be worth to invest a bit in stamina.

nerrollus · July 2014

Wait, so you have to keep tapping the shift key to get the sprint? Jesus, I had no idea ... I always just hold it down until the stamina runs out. So holding Sprint is the gallop even without stamina?

Tremulous · July 2014

Currently my friends and I have 2 horses. For pve we level our stead to increase his carrying capacity and for pvp we level a horse for speed as if you hold down the sprint key on a mount you'll have unlimited sprint... its a bug that has been around since alpha.

niocwy · July 2014

Tremulous wrote: »

its a bug that has been around since alpha.

It's not a bug.

jrgray93 · July 2014

It's not a bug. At least that's what ZOS says. You require stamina to engage the gallop but it lets you "coast" after stamina runs out. Nowhere in the game is it mentioned, so it seems like just a bug. I honestly do not like the feature. Sprinting over and over can trigger sticky keys if you don't go out of your way to avoid it. It's also very annoying when my character continuously says "yah!" It's just an awful mechanic.

nerrollus · July 2014

Tremulous wrote: »

Currently my friends and I have 2 horses. For pve we level our stead to increase his carrying capacity and for pvp we level a horse for speed as if you hold down the sprint key on a mount you'll have unlimited sprint... its a bug that has been around since alpha.

So what's the point in horse stamina if it still gallops even after the stamina runs out?

niocwy · July 2014

nerrollus wrote: »

So what's the point in horse stamina if it still gallops even after the stamina runs out?

It prevents being dismounted easily by damages..

jrgray93 · July 2014

Prevent dismount and also allow more button spam sprinting.

stabbykitteh · July 2014

nerrollus wrote: »

So what's the point in horse stamina if it still gallops even after the stamina runs out?

Stamina makes it a bit harder for things to yank you off the horse.

nerrollus · July 2014

OK, so sprint works kind of like how it did in Age Of Conan? How long does the sprint last after you've hit the shift key?

jrgray93 · July 2014

We've already explained it to death. You'll just have to go test out what we said in-game if you aren't grasping the full concept yet.

kirnmalidus · July 2014

niocwy wrote: »

nerrollus wrote: »

So what's the point in horse stamina if it still gallops even after the stamina runs out?

It prevents being dismounted easily by damages..

Yeah if you have zero stamina left on your stamina bar you will be dismounted by any damage. If you have stamina left it acts as a buffer to prevent you from being dismounted.

Also, when you first hit the sprint button you get a brief burst that is faster than the speed your horse runs when you are just holding it down. So if you have stamina to spam the burst button you can get a lead on another fast horse by doing so if it doesn't have as much stamina as yours (even if it has a bit more overall speed).

nerrollus · July 2014

jrgray93 wrote: »

We've already explained it to death. You'll just have to go test out what we said in-game if you aren't grasping the full concept yet.

Sorry man, I just wondered if the sprint increase actually last for several seconds or if you need to just keep spamming the button. I've been messing around with it and it just looks the same to me.

Chuggernaut · July 2014

Stamina effects how many hits your horse can take before it bucks you. That being said, I went 20 pack space and the rest speed and its working out nice for me.

Obscure · July 2014

I went with an even split between speed and stamina with a Gaited Horse. This is because speed boost buffs applied to your character apply while mounted and since the true speed comes from Sprint not Gallop (note: you can also use potions while mounted, noteably speed potions). I use Rapid Maneuver, mount, use a Speed potion, then I just spam the Sprint key. Fastest way to travel hands down. I blow past pure speed horses even without the potion or Rapid just because I'm actually at a higher speed for longer.

Suffice it to say there's multiple ways to buff your speed on your mount, but the only way to buff your Stamina is to feed it. Pretty nifty to be able to take punishment and keep on riding by too.

Sengra · July 2014

Obscure wrote: »

I went with an even split between speed and stamina with a Gaited Horse. This is because speed boost buffs applied to your character apply while mounted and since the true speed comes from Sprint not Gallop (note: you can also use potions while mounted, noteably speed potions). I use Rapid Maneuver, mount, use a Speed potion, then I just spam the Sprint key. Fastest way to travel hands down. I blow past pure speed horses even without the potion or Rapid just because I'm actually at a higher speed for longer.

Suffice it to say there's multiple ways to buff your speed on your mount, but the only way to buff your Stamina is to feed it. Pretty nifty to be able to take punishment and keep on riding by too.

Wow, that sounds great. Didn't know there were speed buffs that you could use while riding.
I bought the stamina horse mainly for looks but you give me hope!