Most MMOs have modes of transportation, if not through personal mounts then at least through some other means. EQ2 has had both forms of transportation (plus a few extra) for quite some time now, and every so often a new graphic pops up. For TSO it was the dire bear, RoK was the worg, and so on. They even took it one step further, and you can right click many of the mounts in your inventory and turn them into house items, adding a collection to your home or guild hall. Want to build a stable and show off your collection? Now you can. Especially since you’re probably only actually using one (or two) of the mounts that you’ll gain over the years.
So which is your favorite? Are you one of those players who simply goes by speed (faster = better) or do you have to actually enjoy the graphic of your mount (since you can’t hide them)? Is it more important to you to look fashionable as you meander from zone to zone, or could you care less? Do your bards (who are famous for having their speed buffs) have mounts too or do you just rely on their own skills?
Pictured above is Petites, my halfling templar, proudly riding her unicorn. It’s not the fastest mount out there, but doesn’t she just look fantastic riding it?! The little halo over her head is from a LoN loot card that I managed to win when LoN first came out and she wears it well if I do say so myself!
A lot of my characters own mounts, and I don’t go for what’s fastest (even if I could afford them!) but I do care about what they look like. Maybe that’s odd, but it matters. I don’t need to get to a portion of a zone at the speed of light, it’s all about looking good while I do it!
So, what about everyone else out there, what sort of mounts entice you?
I really loved my Worg in EQ2. Something about my Ogre Berserker riding a huge, slobbering beast that (I imagined) would strike fear into the hearts of my enemies in PVP :)
I actually prefer bard song, too, and now that my Troub is 80 with max run speed, I’m loving it. My second choice is a carpet, though, because they’re quiet and there is no weird up and down (or side to side, in the case of the rhinos) motion.
The Rime mares *are* pretty … but I hate faction grinding. Meh.
I’m a big fan of the old school run buffs. I don’t really like being on a mount that much. Give me some new jboots or a bard song any day!
My Ogre has a warg simply becuz I love how huge it is when he’s on it. It feels really slow as a result, though, so I more often use the Level 47 quested carpet.
My Arasai is a warden and goes 60% between SoW, racial buff, and jboots. Most mounts are slower than that and interfere with her glide ability anyway, so she doesn’t use one.
My Sarnak is a mystic and goes 55% between Sow, racial buff, and jboots. I like his look as he runs, so even when his top speed was 25% I still ran him everywhere.
My Dark Elf is a warlock. From AA’s she actually runs 12% normally, but I tend to use the level 47 flying carpet for her anyway — she’s got the racial safe fall and it doesn’t interfere with that, and tbh the 40% boost is just fine for me. I also like the idea of a mage on a flying carpet.
My other 8 toons are all high elves. Racial safe fall. 6 use the L47 carpets as a result. The other 2 are my Fury — he runs 35% with his Peerless Predator, which is still fast enough for me. 99% with Pact of the Cheetah on, but that’s short term, of course. My bard runs 52%, so she doesn’t bother with a mount either.
My SK has a warg for looks also. It just seems appropriate to have an SK on a warg to me, but I’ll admit that if I’m running around outside and want to be jumping over cliffs and such that the warg goes away and the carpet comes back out.
I’ve thought about trying to get other mounts — the ice mount from RoK would be easy enough to get with several of my toons, I suppose. I also craft a bit, so I’ve thought of going after the unicorn with my crafting toons, but….. still haven’t done it. I’ve even considered paying 50 shards for a warbear, but. . meh. The mounted fighting animations are rather ridiculous, IMO, so I prefer to fight unmounted anyway, and thus I find that I don’t pull my mounts out all that often even on toons with no runspeed bonuses.
I love the Ice Mare but right now all I have is the Flame carpet. I love the way it floats over the ground and has the effects of lava on it. My favorite way though has to be bard speed! When you shrink you run so fast it makes you giggle!
Absolutely I choose my mounts for looks. Form over function all the way, baby!
My main, Skrat the ratonga defiler, is a dedicated warg-rider. Before the wargs were introduced he used to run everywhere because I hated how ratongas look on horseback (especially before they resized the horses).
Sszara the iksar necromancer prefers horses, especially white horses. She currently swaps between the Isle of Mara unicorn, and a Freeport nightmare.
As a raider I look for a mount that adds significant buffs as well as speed. Yes Im a bard, but I still currently max out at 45% runspeed when unmounted. Buff mounts are even more important now they are persistant through death in instances where you cannot re-mount