Guild Wars 2 Mounts, why all the fuss?

[Eclectic Dreck]

Well, It does seem like they're trying to match WoW, and that does concern me a bit. The current formula works, and works well. If it isnt broken, dont try to fix it.

I don't agree really. I'm not going to say GW is broken by any stretch, but I won't say that it couldn't possibly work better.

At the end of the day, mounts serve a single function in any MMO I've ever played - they decrease the amount of time it takes to go from point a to b. Often, this traveling time is what I would call "wasted time", because it is literally something you have to do in order to get to the part of the game that you probably actually enjoy. Sure, running about on foot for the first several hours in an MMO is pretty sweet and helps you better understand the scale of the world, but as the game drags on it tends to put objectives further and further away. Using WoW as an example, crossing the barrens on foot (as one almost certainly will have to do repeatedly if they play Horde) can take the better part of ten minutes. GW isn't nearly so bad as the world is significantly smaller, but it can STILL take quite a long time to get anywhere.

I'm not going to decry a game for copying something another game has done successfully, especially when I cannot think of a reasonable defense for NOT doing so. Saying it isn't broken isn't a defense, it's a cop-out. Time I spend walking about accomplishing absolutely nothing is time wasted as far as I'm concerned, and giving players an option for moving about more quickly certainly helps reduce the waste time. Just as important, nothing says mounts have to be used the same way as they are in WoW. Who's to say that they don't introduce new mechanics to take advantage of mounts - from mounted combat options to the inclusion of sillier things like races?

 

[IcarusPherae]

if you are worried about them changing a good hting you should remember they are still going to keep GW 1 running, those of us that want a persistent world get that as well! best of both worlds

 

[Kouen]

While I generally dislike NCSoft especially after my last 2 experiences with there customer support. They lock my account down for no reason, then when I get it back half my armor on all of my 6 characters go missing, when i say well can you restore it the armor was fine before you locked it, they told me Short version: "LOL Yer Screwed do it all again!" Long Version: "We Dont restore items, thanks for contacting us and we hope to be of help again soon".

All that aside, I Dont think mounts would make it any more like WoW and to be fair every MMORPG is compared to WoW due to it being the most popular online. but if they go with mounts there better be a good distance for the need for em!