Mounts in XIV? Yes? No?

[Aveline]

So WoW just released a mount that players can purchase for $25 called the Celestial Steed and is making a fortune off of it, 4.4 million in the first 2 hours it was released.

 

Arguments about whether or not a subscription-based MMO should charge for in-game items aside, we are talking about a pegasus made out of stars here. That you can RIDE ON.

 

So, I had a moment of glee, basking in the thought of my lovely Bladesong soaring among the jungles and deserts on a pegasus made out of the fabric of space and I thought... what kind of mounts will we see in XIV?

 

What do you guys want to see? Simple yellow chocobos? A rainbow of chocobos that we can raise with different stats a la XI? Horses? Different mounts all together?

 

S-E has been pretty secretive about how chocobos are going to work in XIV. We've all seen the stabled chocobo in the Alpha demo video, but when pressed about what chocobos will be for, the devs say they're still thinking about it. So what do you guys think?

[Zhavi]

I never played XI, so I want chocobos. I want to breed chocobos, and ride them, and love them and hug them and squuuuuuuu--

 

wait, wrong universe.

 

>> *cough* Really I would like chocobo and other types of mounts. Why not? LET ME TAME MOBS AND RIDE THEM. I like that idea a lot.

[Varov]

I want to tame wild Taru-Taru and ride them around. Or at least utilize them to carry all of my stuff. And a flag. They should carry a flag.

[Renaise]

Id personally just want chocobos, breeding included or not it doesnt really matter but I would like their to be various colours again.

[Aveline]

I want to tame wild Taru-Taru and ride them around. Or at least utilize them to carry all of my stuff. And a flag. They should carry a flag.

 

Hahahaha.. brilliant. :mrgreen:

 

In all seriousness.. I'm kind of hoping they stick with the multi-colored chocobos for riding myself. I was sooo hooked on chocobo breeding in XI. It took me ages of yellow reject birds, but I eventually ended up with a nice pair of first class digging greens (one male one female) and a very speedy red. (I had a black one too, but it's stats were nothing particularly good).

 

It would be nice to have that level of customization with mounts again (though hopefully not with the 60 days of daily maintenance to go with it...)

[Varov]

Knowing square enix, you'll be able to have mounts but you'll have to actually raise it from birth to adulthood for the actual five years that it would take.

 

Five human years. Seriously. I stand by Taru-Taru flag carriers.

 

Although in all seriousness, the breeding thing never appealed to me, though I do hope the have chocobo's. Dude, chocobo's rule. WAAARK!

[Nanapariri]

I hope for riding and breeding chocobo mounts.

 

I have a feeling, after reading the description of the Lalafalel Dunesfolk we might see thier beasts of burden in a mount capacity.

[Seraphine Felstar]

I was thinking about buying the Celestial Steed for my paladin or my death knight until I considered a few things...

 

1. It's $25 and all you get is the mount. At least the pets you get a plush toy irl so you feel like you got more then just a graphic for your money.

 

2. It's about as expensive as two of the FFXI expansion packs but you're getting a whole lot less.

 

3. At least my other WoW mounts there is a story behind how I got it and it feels like I accomplished something by getting them. This is just a "I spent lots of money" achievement.

 

I like feeling as if I actually did something for my in game items. On the other hand, I did a lot of raising and racing chocobos in FFXI and it felt like a waste of time. If they do something mount wise in 14 I'm hoping they make it difficult enough so you can feel you accomplished something but not so stupidly drawn out you still feel like you didn't achieve anything worthwhile.

[Aveline]

I have a feeling, after reading the description of the Lalafalel Dunesfolk we might see thier beasts of burden in a mount capacity.

 

I had to go back and look at the Dunesfolk description.. that is really interesting actually! Their houses are on top of mounts.. I wonder if we will have race-specific player house styles this time, instead of nation-specific mog houses.

 

If they do something mount wise in 14 I'm hoping they make it difficult enough so you can feel you accomplished something but not so stupidly drawn out you still feel like you didn't achieve anything worthwhile.

 

Totally. I didn't buy the Celestial Steed for the same reason.. it just feels cheap. The chocobo raising, while the result was excellent, it just took way too long and too much personal time spent doing tedious tasks. (I stared at an egg 100 times, my button pressing skill went up by .2! Oh boy.. 10 minutes of cut scenes spent taking walks! Every day!)

[Rikitiki]

Yeah, I'm for chocobos. Or, I don't know, being able to fly. Lalafell + big paper wings + stiff breeze = WHEEEE!

 

Seriously, though, in addition to the point-to-point aetheric transport system, I do hope they have some sort of free-roaming transportation system at the start, as opposed to a Dark Age of Camelot-style "Horse Route"-type system, or just having to walk everywhere.

 

As for the flag-carrying thing, I'll have you know that tarutaru use beasts of burden. They are not beasts of burden themselves.

[Tyriont]

As for the flag-carrying thing' date=' I'll have you know that tarutaru use beasts of burden. They are not beasts of burden themselves. [/quote']

 

That's what Galka are for, duh.

[Blade]

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Chocobos make their return in FFXIV, although I would really like to see the XI version of chocobo raising expanded into more than it was as we head into the new game.

 

A couple things that I hope are being considered by SE:

 

* Again, being able to raise your own bird from growth and specializing it in certain abilities like before.

* Better integration of chocobo racing with worthwhile rewards... lets face it, they did a really poor job of how they handled chocobo racing in XI. Forcing you to drag yourself through free-runs, and the Chocobo Circuit sorta became a waste of a zone. High levels of betting never really became popular, it just sorta paled in comparison to what they seemed to have hoped for.

* I'd like more variety in how my bird can look. Maybe a couple more colors but I'm more concerned about physical characteristics. We got beak, legs, and tailfeathers in XI, but moving on to FFXIV they should step it up and give us a few more options.

* More job abilities, but job abilities that could really add some additional gameplay. For example, according to lore in XI, Jennet chocobos (the small, green breeds) were used my Mithras to camouflage in the jungle. Palfreys (big blue ones) were better at handling the harsh climates of the desert. These were interesting pieces of lore but in the end they didn't really affect gameplay. I'd like to see more niche uses of certain chocobo breeds that would be really advantageous.

*Tying into what I said above, I'd like chocobos to be expanded from simply just being diggers and runners. Perhaps there should be some areas in the game that are only accessible by having a certain chocobo breed.

*And last thing I swear lol, but if they were to go with this system, make it so that players can rent out their own chocobos to adventurers. So that players could earn a reputation amongst the server as being a famous chocobo breeder who can rent you one of their chocobos depending on your needs. In a way it might be similar to crafting. I also like the implications that it has for an RP character...

 

Most of this is all a lot of wishful thinking and I really don't expect to see much of these sorts of changes in FFXIV at all, sadly. It'd be nice though to see at least a couple of these things appear though.

[DAISHI]

I was thinking about buying the Celestial Steed for my paladin or my death knight until I considered a few things...

 

1. It's $25 and all you get is the mount. At least the pets you get a plush toy irl so you feel like you got more then just a graphic for your money.

 

2. It's about as expensive as two of the FFXI expansion packs but you're getting a whole lot less.

 

3. At least my other WoW mounts there is a story behind how I got it and it feels like I accomplished something by getting them. This is just a "I spent lots of money" achievement.

 

I like feeling as if I actually did something for my in game items. On the other hand, I did a lot of raising and racing chocobos in FFXI and it felt like a waste of time. If they do something mount wise in 14 I'm hoping they make it difficult enough so you can feel you accomplished something but not so stupidly drawn out you still feel like you didn't achieve anything worthwhile.

 

Pretty much sums up my feelings.

[Trizzip]

I concur with Avina. However, to add on, I'd also like to say that I'd love to see evil wild chocobos in game that would serve as a different sort of mob to fight. Or, perhaps you have to fight a chocobo to tame it. Also, I'd love to see more than the generic yellow, blue, green, etc. Give me the option to throw in highlights in the feathers, battle scars, and unique saddles.

[Trizzip]

Oops...double post >.

[Renaise]

I concur with Avina. However' date=' to add on, I'd also like to say that I'd love to see evil wild chocobos in game that would serve as a different sort of mob to fight. Or, perhaps you have to fight a chocobo to tame it. Also, I'd love to see more than the generic yellow, blue, green, etc. Give me the option to throw in highlights in the feathers, battle scars, and unique saddles.[/quote']

 

Customisable chocobo armour would be cool

[ArmachiA]

Mmm Customizable Chocobos would be really awesome. As long as they don't have mounts like FFXI before Choco Breeding came out, I don't care what they give us ("Here you can rent one, and if your in the middle of no where TOO BAD! Have fun runnin.")

[Satrina]

I would rather the system FFXI had with chocobos that were on a duration. Mounts tend to just simplify the world and that's something FFXI had going for it over WoW. I can remember a few things of WoW where I was like "Whoa look at that" Or "That's pretty cool!"...but in FFXI I was jawdropped zoning into Xarcabard for the first time and wandering around in the desolate snow. Or finding strange caves in Altepa I would have not even noticed wizzing by on a mount. Mounts at max level? Maybe, after people have explored, but then with each expansion afterwards it would make mounts ruin much of the exploration.

[DAISHI]

I'm pro-mounts. I don't really think they shrank the world; if anything FFXI's got tediously large after the hundredth time you had to go through the Meriphataud Mountains. I would rather have the choice to explore rather than be forced to explore. I think giving people the option is the best rout. In WoW I loved exploring and finding new corners and places that were like, WOW. But I know not all people do.

[Satrina]

I liked the Chocobo's of FFXI because it was your choice or not to dismount and be left to hoof it in the middle of like Eastern Altepa or jungle I cant remember the name of by the Ifrit Volcano. But sometimes you chose to dismount just to get a look at something that perked your eye.

[Siben]

I'd like to see you be able to have a Chocobo of your own and let us breed them..because OBVIOUSLY Siben needs a blue Chocobo.

 

...or a purple one....

 

hmmmmm

[DAISHI]

Yeah but I don't want to be penalized for wanting to explore. Losing my mount because I want to look at something is a penalty.

[Siben]

then hit the bricks the ol' fashioned way ;P

[Satrina]

Yeah but I don't want to be penalized for wanting to explore. Losing my mount because I want to look at something is a penalty.

 

In what context? 9 times out of 10 it will create even more chance for exploraition. Using Altepa again, I remember going to the northern most part once for a quest, finding some cool ruins to explore then while hiking back to the zone boarder I found that cactuar for the very first time, a few other caves and ruins off to the fringe of the zone border. Given a mount early, or midway through the leveling that you can summon at any time results in 90% of people just running down the beaten path that connects point A to point B the fastest without taking time to look around and explore. With the introduction of crystal teleporting it will be easier as well. Go out and explore, lose your chocobo, hoof it around to the crystal and teleport back to the town to snag another mount if you want. Having your own personal mount would be a good idea, but calling upon it at anytime...nah, put some limits to it.

[DAISHI]

That's the thing, I don't want to have to hoof it back. I don't have the time to waste running that long... that's half the reason I shut down FFXI in the first place, it takes way too long. I want to play this game, RP, get around at a decent clip and not have to burn so much time just getting around. The walk back through Yhoator Jungle, for instance, can take forever.