The premise of this idea is fairly simple: combine companions and mounts. Preposterous as it sounds at first, this actually solves several problems posed by incorporating companions and mounts separately.
First, let us deal with a few of the problems caused by mounts. Number one is how to deal with the needs of several races, of different sizes and with different cultures who would all need mounts which suited them. Asura are easy, they could ride golems. Humans could ride anything. Sylvari might ride animated plant constructs, but it would be a pity if those couldn’t fight on their own.
The Norn, however, are too big to ride just about anything I saw in the original GW games short of a hydra. Not to mention the fact that Norn will be capable of transformations in the next game and will either be forced to choose between using mounts or transformations or be force to deal with the sight of a giant bear-man riding a horse.
The Charr have a similar problem. They would look silly riding just about anything other than their siege beasts, and what sense does it make to be toeing around a siege devourer if you can’t lay siege to something with it. That, however would give the Charr an unfair advantage unless all the other mounts were capable of something similar, but if you have that and a companion by your side who also will need a mount to keep up with you, and how is that different from having three companions?
Then there are even worse problems caused by companions. Firstly, we can’t have 3’000 Dunkoros running around in a continuous world. That’s just ridiculous. We could be capable of customizing their appearance, but that still leaves us with the other problems. Another problem is the question, “Why can we only have one companion?” It really doesn’t make a lot of sense to have a party of just two. More than that, why should they not count as part of our party but rather as part of our character? That would mean parties of sixteen, and if mounts can fight then that would turn a party of eight players into a party of forty-eight combatants roving the plains. Lastly, why would we be compensated for not using a companion? It makes no sense. Do companions suck the life force out of our characters to sustain themselves?
Granted, many of these problems do not need to be fixed in order to have a running game (technically, you could have 3,000 Dunkoros roaming the plains) but why put up with a problem when there is a simple way to fix it: combine companions and mounts.
This is all based off if the idea that there is no real difference between a mount that can fight while you’re not riding on it and a companion. Besides that, it answers all of the aforementioned questions and problems. No one will ask questions if 3’000 mounts who look alike are roaming the field. It makes sense that you would not be able to bring more than one mount wherever you go, and of course they wouldn’t count as part of our party: they’re mounts. Their ability to combine with your character as well as their sub-par fighting capabilities could compensate for their propensity to double the size of your party. Finally, the benefits lost by bringing a mount could be seen as a representation of the extra energy needed to maintain control of a mount in battle.
It is perfectly natural to assume that Charr would both fight alongside their siege beasts and use them as mounts. As for the Norn, they would need neither mounts nor companions. They would need to be compensated for their lack of a companion, but it makes sense that the Norn would travel alone. Also, they are a bit too large for any mount and they could be made capable of running at increased speeds over set distances on account of their superior physique. Their transformations would also compensate for the combat abilities denied them by their lack of mounts.
The unique nature of mounts made for each race would add variety to the game and could be used as part of the race advantages system. As each mount would be different, each could have different abilities. All of them would need to be capable of equitable speed so that parties could stay together, however, their combat and defensive capabilities could vary widely.
Each should complement the advantages and disadvantages of each race and be suited to each races attitudes and customs. For example, the Asura, being magically adept, would probably need their golems to protect or heal them in battle while they cast spells. Some golems might also augment the strength of Asura warriors in battle, compensating for their physical weaknesses.
I will shortly post links to pages proposing more specific ideas for each race both here and on my personal suggestions page if you are interested in finding out more.
Norn: Transformations
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http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/User:Shai_Halud/Norn:_Transformations)
Asura and Sylvari: Golems and Jagganathen
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http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/User:Shai_Halud/Asura_and_Sylvari:_Golems_and_Jagganathen)
Humans and Charr: Calvary and Siege Beasts
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http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/User:Shai_Halud/Humans_and_Charr:_Calvary_and_Siege_Beasts)
As for Those Who do not Wish to Bring Companions...
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http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/User:Shai_Halud/As_for_Those_Who_do_not_Wish_to_Bring_Companions...)
Comments
Add a CommentI agree. However I'd like to be able to customize my characters a bit more, since I'm a character-creating junkie, so that would be my number one. :D
As we get more and more suggestions, we can create more focused topics, such as "How should character creation be improved?" In fact, there's nothing stopping you from adding that now, so I'd say go for it :) http://guildwars.grupthink.com/ask/
As we get more contributions, it will probably become obvious which new topics should be created. This topic may eventually be obsoleted by the more focused topics, but for now it's a good indication of which ideas are in high demand.
We're taking an organic approach to growing the community so we don't break up the discussion into too many categories, too soon.
I forgot to add: Yes, duplicate answers and topics can be merged, preserving vote counts.
Feel free to report "dupes" to myself or Brokunn.
This site feels like it is designed for finished ideas, and I don't know how that fits in with group thinking, it seems like the only benifit is a clean and professional looking backdrop. I'm still new to this, so maybe some of you could personally share some features available from this site.
Hi and welcome BahamutKaiser!
That 60-second timer is only for comments.Topics and answers can be edited at any point by the their authors and also by anyone with elevated privileges (moderators, admins, etc..) .
Hehe true. Maybe it's as simple as increasing the time limit for edits? I know forums have some limitations like this but I forget what the conventional rules are.
If GW2 wants to competitively compete with WoW they have to create a unique game to attract the right audience.
Expanding the world map and a persistent world is very important for an RPG feeling.
GW1 felt like a one person game because I would just go through levels with a few friends much like Fable and other games alike.
Just a small idea I have that I haven't seen mentioned...is maybe there could be a box in the general options that allows one to manipulate their IGN so that it indicates to other players that they are in a "roleplaying mode". Just a thought =)
Triton, you should add that idea as an answer to this topic. Good one.
so we would put all the answers for one issue on one answer, quick references of all the ideas for that issue and links to the original posts... then put links to the "Categories answers" on the Question text...
I mean, if ANet actually comes here to read some suggestions, they won't read them all and many of the answers that should really be read won't.
They would instead read something like:
"Guilds Improvements:
->answer #1 quick description and a link to original
->answer#2
->etc."
so if someone from ANet comes to this site, they will read the quick descriptions and only read the full idea and the comments on it from ideas they found interesting....
This should really be done! Else, what's the point of this site?!
all the kool stuff that i never seen happen in a mmorpg
!. Hunters get attacked by there pets if they don't feed them food when there hungry
2. climb trees to break limbs off and set traps :)
and make your arrows with bird feathers and stones you find in the ground kill and skin deer for clothes hunters only
3. clmib ladders grab on and pull your self up
4. armor for your pets to carry your loot pack mules :) and makes them stronger
5. jump over stuff like falling rocks and logs make sidestep to walk around cliffs
6. fishing
for pets
7. cammo knife to hunt for hunters only
8. make the swords take 5 days to forge so you have to wate on a stronger swords and other weapons
9. when you put poison on your weapons it drips when you stab something it becomes green in the place you stab him is where he starts to bleed blood drip down and such
10. guilds have more towers ike if i was a hunter or a assassin and you was in the tower i have to sneak passed the gards and climb the towers to kill them but it well not be easy to do so
12. flips and moves for assassins and other characters
13. We bough all the packs for Guild wars and hope this would make up for it special missions and items to the people that beaten and bought the add ons like the mission pack with gwen mission pack :)
work with me :) hear