Future Campaign Ideas

(This isn't limited to the fourth campaign...these ideas just came to me while talking with a friend).

I was thinking of a mount system...similar to a hero system. Yes, yes, I know, people will cry "We have a problem with people 'running' from players in PVP, and it'll be used to help low levels run to cities way later in the game." (Shiverpeak mountains, anyone?) I'm thinking of making this mount system unique to this campaign only. So, the mounts are unable to travel with you to foreign lands. I don't know if it could be something like the Junundu, to wear you click on something and you get on your mount (if you have the mount skill available...or if you enter an area your mount appears by you if you select it (like you would a hero), or something like that). Plus, you could make enemies in PVE have horses, whatever. You will still be able to do normal attacks while riding, so you don't have to mount/dismount. I also like the idea of your mount being able to attack, and possibly having skills which I will list below.

I think the mounts can level up with you (similar to heroes). Perhaps every level they earn you can talk to a trainer that will teach your pet/mount a new ability or something. I am sticking with the 8 skill system though...and that goes for BOTH you and your pet. So if you want your pet to have abilities, you will sacrifice some of your own to make room. Of course, mounts will move faster than normal people, which makes them valuable by themselves. However, your mount is attackable while you are on it. If your mount is killed, you need a ranger skill that revives the animal (which would be better than a universal skill which allows you to revive your pet at a pretty big cost...like, half of your HP) Of course, your pet will accumlate DP. I'm not sure how you could program your mount dying if you're on it...I don't want to just appear next to it, maybe make it more realistic? You could lose half of your health, energy, and your skills need to recharge for 5 or 10 seconds if your mount dies while you are on it. Or, you could just make the mount's HP your HP. If it dies, you die. That makes things easer

Examples of mount skills: (these skills are like the Junundu ones...meaning they are fixed and cannot be increased by having points of a certain attribute)

A skill that increases speed for a certain amount of time.

A skill that heals/revives the pet.

Skills unique to the pet's race (probably the elites would go here). (Horse kick, Moa bird peck, I don't know, I'm just throwing ideas.) I know the bear has brutal mauling, something like that.

A skill to speed up the attack rate for a certain amount of time.


I don't want too many because you need skills of your own, too.

Hold on!!! Another idea came to me. You can set up skills when you are riding the mount (8 total, so fighting separately would be stronger than being on it...but some mount skills could deal massive damage to unmounted people. (In a fight, a cavalier has a huge avantage over a footsoldier). That could discourage some people from running from place to place, as well as from always fighting separately. I want people to THINK going into battles, not just charging. I want to discourage Leroy Jenkining...if you know what I mean. So, you can set up the skills (8 combined of you and your pet...it could be 8 pet 0 human, or 8 human 0 pet, I don't care.) while you are riding your mount. Then, when you are off it, you both get your own set of 8 skills.

There's a problem though...heroes. Having heroes with a mount would be insane. You'd have to allow the henchmen to have their own creature or something (with a predetermined set of skills for the mount). That's a lot of things going on at once though. It wouldn't be hard to code the henchmen to mount theirs (if it's alive) when you mount yours, but I'm thinking of cutting down the maximum party size to six.

OR, you could stick to something similar to the junundu, and click something to make your mount(s) appear. (That is, if you have gained the ability...by doing a quest or something). So whenever you dismount, the mount will flee. That would make pets still better over mounts, because pets would actually fight. Your mounts would still have skills you can select (some being determined by your primary profession, maybe) though.

Also, I don't want to be stuck to the ground. In a special mission or part of the final battle, I want to be able to fly (Pegasi, Wyvern, even a dragon, anyone?). Ascending and descending would be difficult to work in, possibly, but I think it would be a really cool/visually pleasing idea. You could pick the skills for both you and your mount (8 total, because you can't really dismount in midair, bad things usually happen). To get rid of the my 8 skills vs. 8 pet skill issue, you could start in the air, and the entire mission could take place there. Your mount's HP becomes your HP, of course. However, I'm not too sure how resurrection would take place. You could have special mid-air things that auto-resurrect all fallen comrades when used (but they only have one use). Another question...how would dying work? Would you and your mount just collapse towards the ground and disappear from view? Or what? Yeah, the more I think about it, the less likely I see this being implemented. It does sound awesome to me though. It adds in a nice little twist. I could just see an elite ability being "Dragon's Breath"-- Insane fire damage to all enemies in the area, causes burning, and visually pleasing to the eye. Recharge time would be at least 60 seconds though.

Sorry about all this, I got new ideas and changed some halfway through.

Synopsis, in my opinion: Cool idea, difficult to implement. But if it could be...@_@

I won't whole heartly support it, but I do think it is a good idea and on a good track. sound like a great fun too... if could get it work right...

But I will /sign on the flying "mount" mission idea. Good call.

Hmm...new idea.

Outside of an outpost/town The pet tamers could offer to give you a mount of your choosing (the better the mount the more it would cost...multipiled by the # of people in your group ). The mount will have its own set of skills, but you can tell the mount to be aggressive, guard, or be passive. Instead of the "sharing" thing which I mentioned earlier, you get to use your 8 skills which you brought with you. You can't resurrect the mount though, so comfort/resurrect animal won't work. The cost won't be extreme, but it'll add a nice little touch and feel to the game. It'll be available in some missions too, and may be essential to getting Masters. (Not to the quest in general). I still like my flying mount mission idea, but maybe making mounts a bit more of a side thing would be better.

Each mount you buy will have the level of your character. Example, a level 19 will have a level 19 mount, while a level 17 of the same group will have a level 17 mount. The abilities will stay the same no matter the level, they just get stronger (obviously). On a mount, I would agree your health should increase to possibly around 1,000 or so (depending on the level of the mount) , but you "share" HP with your mount. If your mount takes damage, you take the same. (AOE like Sandstorm would really hurt...)

The mounts won't be that expensive. The mount will only travel with you on that particular map, so anywhere from 50-200 gold per mount sounds reasonable. On a mission map though, you need to do an objective within the mission and you get them for free (money complications do tend to tick people off), but if they die that's it. You can't run back and get more.

You could make battle animations slightly different while on a mount too. Perhaps spell casters will cast differently (keep one hand on the reins and the wand/staff in the other hand casting the spell), or something like that. Just a neat little addition to the game rather than the main focus. "Guild Wars: Beasts" just doesn't sound that promising.

Moa Bird: 50 gold (+400 HP, speed boost)
Lightning/Fire/whatever Drake: 75 Gold (+500 HP, elemental damage boost)
Horse: 100 gold (+400 HP, speed boost, deals 1.5x damage to unmouned units)
Siege Turtle Child: 150 gold (+800 HP, slower than normal speed, siege attack (only on far away units), high AL)
Wyvern: 200 gold (+650 HP, weak against arrows, speed boost
Hydra: 500 gold (+1000 HP, increases fire magic attribute by 5 while on it)
Golem: 500 gold (+2000 HP, slow, increases knockdown duration by 2 seconds, high resistance to physical attacks)
Saltspray Hatchling: 1 plat (+1250 HP, speed boost, increases Air magic attribute by 5 while on it)

Just some examples...the later ones are only to be used with caution because they are so expensive.

Of course, some creatures from that campaign could be up here as well. Also, a pet unique to each profession. Warriors can exclusively purchase this mount, etc.

There could be a separate class like the Cavalier that could gain benefits while mounted, even. It wouldn't work great for PVP though, because mounts wouldn't be able to travel abroad. The Cavalier would be at a disadvantage...unless he had some kick-butt support spells.



For the flying mission though...I still would like to see that.

There isnt any much need for mounts (re: map travel).

Also guildwars doesnt have much of a z-axis so uh, flying would be sorta "quick he's flying above us! stand under this bridge and hack away with our swords!"

I understand that vojnik, but I'm saying that the whole mission is in the air. I said ascending and descending is going to be hard to do. Like you said, the Z-axis. I've noticed it before too, how you can hack at something above you by standing under it. Everyone's going to be on the same level (but in the air). Kinda unrealistic, but it still works. It could be: "After you gain the attention of kingdom A, they present you with pegasi/wyverns/whatever to reach a city in the sky that can help you on your quest." Vague, cliched, I know. But it's supposed to be fiction.

About the map travel, you can only go to places you have been. Sometimes, you will be encouraged to use a mount to even SURVIVE in these areas. (Enemies can be on mounts too). So if you have to go to point B from point A, you can buy some mounts to help you reach point B.

Well met!

In answer to numerous and varied flames...

I was not permitted to access the search function for some reason, so, after due diligence in looking for a thread covering this topic, I started another thread. That being said...

The assumptions that I addressed this topic because I wanted to look cool or for some other selfish agenda, that the only reason for mounts is map travel (therefore subject is moot) and/or they are in WoW so they may not be considered are, IMHO (which I include because many, including those who flame me for using IMHO, considering it as not needing to be said, clearly do not post IMHO, but IMGOAO (In My Godly Omnicient All-knowing Opinion), lol), not true.

I believe that mounts would be good for Guild Wars. They would bring diversity to the game without destroying it or fundamentally changing it, in the form of mountable heros or mountable pets, depending on which mechanic you choose to expand. Pulling with a fast mount, tanking with an armored one, or giving your archer or commander a height advantage on the flat would add to the tactical diversity of the game. That they would look cool wouldn't hurt, lol. But I am not posting this to beat an obviously dead horse.

What does disturb me is the ignorant, closeminded, downright hostile reaction to my original posts here in Sardelac and in response to a post in the Community Forum. It appears to me that there is a great fear of any change that remotely resembles WoW or other popular MMORGs. I know that this fear has also been addressed elsewhere in other threads. But the personal attacks suprised me (probably my bad, lol), and I felt the need to reply. I do not know what my reputation might be in these forums, but I have striven to imply the best motives to all who post, and to demonstrate respect for all. I do not consider it to be inappropriate for me to object if I am not treated similarly.

I have a great respect for Guild Wars, as a game of skill vs. grind, and, I suspect, in general, more respect for the people who play it than most who post here (see my pro-PUG posts). I love the game as is, and have no complaints about balance, nerfs, PUGs, A-net, etc. I love the concept of the game that those who have trashed me are misguidedly (IMHO, lol) trying to protect. Why I should be so disturbed by strangers....but I am. If my words fall upon deaf ears, so be it; I have posted.

Wo Tan ki, Ranger, Knights of Shadowpeak (KoS)

right there is a start.

we are *ignorant, closeminded, downright hostile* and of course you are enlightened and correct.

as for being hostile to your mounts idea we get someone like you spouting the same *original* ideas until we gag when we see another of them.

just the first page of many

get the idea now?

Loviatar FTW!
As cool as mounts may be, there are a few reasons what it isnt necessary in GW. The only "mounts" in GW right now is the Junduu worms in Nightfall, an I like them because they server a particular purpose for that area. They are not everywhere and used as another e-peen item for ppl to show off.

I think that mounts as such aren't necessary and the idea isn't very good. If there would be something like that, then maybe a shapeshifter class which can change to a mount and be able to take one player with him/her, but not mounts as your "heroes" or your skills. Maybe it can be some sort of his/her running skill.

Just because some people think alike doesn't mean we're incorrect or "dumb and unimaginative." I'm just voicing my opinion.

Again, I'd like to restate that mounts are not the primary focus of the next chapter. (My opinion kept flip-flopping between ideas, I know.) The mounts can be purchased (for a price), and they can give the player special abilities or extra strengths to help them through an area. It would bring something new to Guild Wars, and keep it interesting. Sure, you can plow through an area with 8 of the strongest creatures...if you're willing to pay a bunch of platinum to have them for ONE area. Plus, when the mounts die, you have to run back to the start and buy them again if you want them that badly. Mounts are by no means essential to the storyline. They can help even the odds if you fight enemies on horseback, or whatever, but are not essential. Mounts aren't invincible either. They lack self-healing and can die quickly if just used to charge a group. There could be a couple of elite areas where having a mount would almost be advised (but are not essential to the plot). It could be for a few rare greens though...*shrug*

Please, read through comments people make, as they take some time to make them. Don't just say "OMG mounts yur dum go die haha loser." I really think this could be a nice addition. Different animations on mounts would be really pleasing to the eye, in my opinion. Just these little things can really help bring a game above others.

About my flying mount mission idea. It would only make sense to put this in a "fantasy" chapter, like the first one was. (not really modeled after any place in particular). Plus, taking to the skies for a single mission or a couple (making it a part of the final battle?) would be a nice shake-up to the routine Guild Wars missions.

A possible Guild battle could even have a set of a mount for everybody at the start of the battle. You can either charge each other, or wait until most of the mounts are dead and charge through the lines with your own. (of course, everyone would have the same mount and it resurrects every two minutes like players.) See? The possibilities are astounding. Even if it isn't vital to the story, mounts can make great additions to keep the game play entertaining.

The idea of a "mount" is already touched on with the Sandworms, it is a feature which could and probably should be introduced again in different ways.

But if everyone gets a mount and the abilities available to it, than it doesn't actually change anything except reducing the effect of locational effects if you add more speed which isn't a good thing. If everyone moves around faster, has the game changed at all? It is the same thing with less time spent moving, which really just f***s up casters who use range to help cover the weakness of casting time. If you give everyone a universal advantage than you really don't change much, it is just another sand worm which probably woln't make a real difference outside of a playing experience.

Personally, I would rather see a typical mounts as a creative feature for an actual class, simular to having a pet or having a defensive feature. I've touched on this dozens of times, and I'm not going to make this thread about mount class ideas, But I see alot more potential and enjoyment in having a mounted class rather than making universal mounts for everyone to play in minigame fashion with little lasting impact to gameplay and identity.