Horses Can't Swim

Frimbertrips · September 2014

Why the heck not?
They could swim in Oblivion. They could swim in Skyrim. Why can't they swim in ESO? I get dismounted in stagnant puddles. If it's not up to my horse's withers, I dont want that little booger going MIA on me.

Horses can swim. They are incredibly buoyant and while 400 pounds of armor isn't conducive to remaining above water, neither is swimming in it off your horse. Don't wanna hear about it.

Want a more viable way to let a horse swim? Use magika. When you drop into deep water on your mount you have until your magika runs out. Use your imagination on why. it could use up 10 points every 2 seconds or some such. That way we have enough time to get across a river or, say, trod through a marshland puddle, before pinkie pie gets freaked out and vanishes back into atherium or whatever they do.

Where are we supposed to go to poke a dev about this sort of stuff? I'm going insane getting dismounted in thigh-high puddles.

LarsS · September 2014

They can however jump down from high cliffs.

poodlemasterb16_ESO · September 2014

Go unlikely places at speed, and get completely stopped by a large pebble

felinith66 · September 2014

poodlemasterb16_ESO wrote: »

Go unlikely places at speed, and get completely stopped by a large pebble

The mighty pebble stops everyone, not just horses.

Frimbertrips · September 2014

Horses do seem to be.... Special. maybe We'd be better off asking for the Boots of Bloody Bounding and call it a day.
Egh, though; swimming horses. Seriously. Need. it is almost fathomless how irritating it is to try and traverse a marshland on flipping pinkie pie horseback.

I have also been stopped by the mighty pebble. Always when I need to be going at about 800mph a desirable pace away from the vicious beast doom player thing chasing me.

Strontium · September 2014

Horse travel blows, in this game. Should've been the topic. Says...me.

AreoHotah · September 2014

Agree it is pretty stupid hahaha

Frimbertrips · September 2014

I was going to say that horses don't completely suck and... then ate my own fist. They suck pretty hardcore. They're cute, they gallop, they walk. but they aren't much faster than running, especially when I walk through a puddle try to gallop over the eastern ocean. (according to my horse.)

Maybe I should rename the thread, "Minor Horse Improvements" It would be good, but I think "OMG Horses Friggen SUCK" might attract more attention.... Wish we got 2% Speed per apple.

Pseudonym · September 2014

While I agree, this would require scripting, new animations and testing. It's certainly something I'd like to see in the future, but I personally feel there are bigger problems right now.

One reason why they had to let your horse swim in Oblivion and Skyrim, was because horses were persistent in those games.

nerevarine1138 · September 2014

I agree that horses shouldn't force a dismount when the water isn't swimming depth. However, allowing horses to swim with fully armored/burdened characters on their backs in the prior games was simply done because it was more convenient than forcing a dismount in those games' coding. If you've ever actually ridden a horse, you're aware that swimming is the last thing you want your mount to do while you're on it.

zaria · September 2014

Horses can swim but dissolves in water making the swimming skill pretty pointless.
This one want a watertight horse.

rusila22 · September 2014

Wait for patch 2.0 and your horse will be able to swim and if dev would be in good mood you'll may also be able to swim underwater

Artemiisia · September 2014

LarsS wrote: »

They can however jump down from high cliffs.

lol and dont take damage

thats only the person riding on the horse that does

CPTproton · September 2014

rusila22 wrote: »

Wait for patch 2.0 and your horse will be able to swim and if dev would be in good mood you'll may also be able to swim underwater

I heard they would be able to fly and roller skate over rainbows!

AlexDougherty · September 2014

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(brought to you via Only Connect)

AlexDougherty · September 2014

CPTproton wrote: »

rusila22 wrote: »

Wait for patch 2.0 and your horse will be able to swim and if dev would be in good mood you'll may also be able to swim underwater

I heard they would be able to fly and roller skate over rainbows!

Only if you feed them Skittles.

Spottswoode · September 2014

Frimbertrips wrote: »

Horses can swim. They are incredibly buoyant and while 400 pounds of armor isn't conducive to remaining above water, neither is swimming in it off your horse. Don't wanna hear about it.

Knight armor generally weighed about 50- 60 lbs. at the heaviest. By comparison, modern soldiers carry around 90 lbs. of gear. And they swim in full gear sometimes. (Granted, most missions which require extended swimming will be equipped with lighter gear.) Knights were known to be able to swim and perform handstands in full armor. Jousting armor weighed about 100 lbs. and was not used for general combat.
While horses can swim, they are very poor swimmers. Actually, I've already covered this. We'll just leave it there.

smeeprocketnub19_ESO · September 2014

I killed quite a few horses in Skyrim leaping off cliffs :?. At least you can't completely take your horse out like that.

Tabbycat · September 2014

Ooo we had a thread about this during beta. We were divided between those who were irritated that horses would throw you when you waded through a puddle and those that said horses swimming across rivers was unrealistic. Someone even posted a youtube video of horses swimming too.

I honestly don't know why horses can't swim. Perhaps for the same reason our characters don't seem to know how to swim under water.

tordr86b16_ESO · September 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfb3Pg_qQos

Sarenia · September 2014

Since when have real horses been able to swim across deep water with a grown man on their back, wearing fullplate no less? Did I miss that? That's completely mind-blowingly unrealistic on all counts.

Sure we can pull out the old realism vs fantasy argument, but ESO horses are quite obviously intended to mimic real horses. Not unicorns, or pegasi, or flying ninja pandas with saddles. Just horses. Normal, beautiful, old-fashioned horses.

tordr86b16_ESO · September 2014

Sarenia wrote: »

Since when have real horses been able to swim across deep water with a grown man on their back, wearing fullplate no less? Did I miss that? That's completely mind-blowingly unrealistic on all counts.

Sure we can pull out the old realism vs fantasy argument, but ESO horses are quite obviously intended to mimic real horses. Not unicorns, or pegasi, or flying ninja pandas with saddles. Just horses. Normal, beautiful, old-fashioned horses.

most of the puddles that dismounts you doesn't even reach the belly of the horse. REALISM. YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Sarenia · September 2014

tordr86b16_ESO wrote: »

Sarenia wrote: »

Since when have real horses been able to swim across deep water with a grown man on their back, wearing fullplate no less? Did I miss that? That's completely mind-blowingly unrealistic on all counts.

Sure we can pull out the old realism vs fantasy argument, but ESO horses are quite obviously intended to mimic real horses. Not unicorns, or pegasi, or flying ninja pandas with saddles. Just horses. Normal, beautiful, old-fashioned horses.

most of the puddles that dismounts you doesn't even reach the belly of the horse. REALISM. YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

I honestly haven't had this happen since shortly after launch. *shrug* Maybe I'm just astronomically lucky.

I occasionally get flung off by rocks, if I'm running through rough terrain though.

Anyway, if you read my post I'm obviously talking about swimming in deep water. Not terrain glitches. Please learn to respect context.

Greatfellow · September 2014

I think horses work fine in this game, more realistically (saying that cautiously) than in skyrim;

they slow down going up
they don't swim with you sitting on them in your armor. Rather, I would never ask my horse to do that, so I'm fine with that as the default behaviour.
they slow down to negotiate unusual terrain
they do go fast enough, but not like a car, and their advantage is they don't run out of stamina (liek we do when we run) if you're just galloping along.

Honestly, they seem just right to me even though they're not super quick.

i do wish they could swim and get eaten by slaughter fish instead of me getting eaten, though. Cause that hurts.

Tabbycat · September 2014

I don't mind that horses can't swim. But I do wish they wouldn't dismount you when they are going through water that isn't even deep enough for them to swim in. It seems they go by what would be deep enough for your character to swim in instead. So if you are wading across an ankle deep creek that gets deep enough for your character to swim in, you get dismounted, even though the water wouldn't even reach the horse's knees.

tordr86b16_ESO · September 2014

Sarenia wrote: »

Since when have real horses been able to swim across deep water with a grown man on their back, wearing fullplate no less? Did I miss that? That's completely mind-blowingly unrealistic on all counts.

Sure we can pull out the old realism vs fantasy argument, but ESO horses are quite obviously intended to mimic real horses. Not unicorns, or pegasi, or flying ninja pandas with saddles. Just horses. Normal, beautiful, old-fashioned horses.

You're basically arguing for realism when you said mimic, just admit it. The only reason you probably don't want to see horses swim is because of some old grudge against a game. Why should horses NOT be able to swim or walk across a puddle without getting dismounted, when there is zero realism in the game already?

Here's a vid of the problem in the game atm if you forgot...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd5J4vIekdE&feature=youtu.be

Zorrashi · September 2014

I for one, think it is totally acceptable horses can't swim. It would make no sense if every creature was horribly adverse to water and horse is not.

Senche can't swim, snakes can't swim, mudcrabs can't swim; for whatever reason the animals in ESO are intimidated by deep water. Makes perfect sense that horses can not swim too. They should stick to the shallows like everyone else.

qiyamatawilrwb17_ESO · September 2014

and crocodiles CAN swim after you in water and they do not lash their tails at their prey, they grab you in a vice grip then perform a "death roll"

i cant stand the limited jumping height in this game. getting aggro because jumping over that single step on way to a tower can get a bit old. also dont like that you are pushed sideways unless jumping straight forward when hitting an obstacle.

what i would like to see is the ability to run down targets with your horse. since we have collision even friendly npcs could take a knock. it could despawn your mount a few secs afterwards so its not spammed and encourages you to avoid people.
would also add to the riding experience if you arent vigilant and run over a mob.

Sapphy24 · September 2014

My horse trips on cracks and as for swimming.. are you crazy? you seriously want him to get his little pinkies wet?

Sarenia · September 2014

tordr86b16_ESO wrote: »

The only reason you probably don't want to see horses swim is because of some old grudge against a game.

.... What?

And this is based on... what exactly? Would you like to guess my favorite food while you're at it? Maybe tell me where I was on the night of August 17th 2007? You're psychic, after all.

Anyway, snapping back to reality, all I was saying is that horses do not like to swim in deep water. And they certainly can't do it with a heavy load on their back.

If ZOS wants to defy that and have ESO horses swim in water, that's just fine with me. I don't lose sleep or carry on grudges against pixels and code. There is medication for people who have this condition, FYI.

jamie.goddenrwb17_ESO · September 2014

Sarenia wrote: »

tordr86b16_ESO wrote: »

The only reason you probably don't want to see horses swim is because of some old grudge against a game.

.... What?

And this is based on... what exactly? Would you like to guess my favorite food while you're at it? Maybe tell me where I was on the night of August 17th 2007? You're psychic, after all.

Anyway, snapping back to reality, all I was saying is that horses do not like to swim in deep water. And they certainly can't do it with a heavy load on their back.

....Lasagna!! No.... Roast beef....umm... Chili-Rubbed Salmon with Cilantro Avocado Salsa???

I don't actually have anything constructive to add, I just wanted to play the guessing game.