How many mounts do you have or have you had? My Hobbit seems to be collecting ponies, and she does not get rid of them when a new one comes along. She has a Bree pony (low-level, slower), a blonde sorrel (first real mount), a chestnut (faction mount that survives more hits), a gray pony (white horse reward for finishing Volume One), and however many seasonal event ponies she has (plus tokens for more). These will soon be replaced with a Nimble Goat, which can be used in Moria.
I could sell a pony every time I get a better one, but they are ponies. My wife might never forgive me, and maybe today I want to ride a different pretty pony. What I would prefer, rather than having an inventory item for every possible mount, is to have a single mount item or power. When I get a new mount, I get a new option for that single mount. Give me a drop-down menu on my character to set my mount choice. (I am aware that I just asked for a pony menu on my paper doll. You cannot have my man card.) If the mount color is not considered PvP-relevant, I should be able to set the appearance to any mount I have unlocked — separate functionality improvements from appearance options, and leave me all my appearance options.
That is a general principle. As with most appearance issues, City of Heroes does it right. You start with a variety of options for what your sword looks like, and when you get a new option, you get a new sword appearance option on your list rather than a new sword to carry around. You unlock costume pieces through badges, task forces, microtransactions, and veteran rewards.
If you have item sets for each class, make that a deed, accomplishment, badge or whatever you call it. Once you finish the set, you permanently unlock that set appearance. You already have a cosmetic equipment tab, don’t you? Have another option on it: pick a completed item set from this drop-down menu.
Or better yet, everyone start using a system like the City of Heroes costume designer. I am looking forward to what Champions delivers. I still need to see The Chronicles of Spellborn’s version, once my addiction to The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢ Volume Two: Mines of Moriaâ„¢ fades.
: Zubon
WoW actually does something like this now with mounts and non-combat pets (and hopefully soon tabards). All mounts and non-combat pets are now spells and therefore take up no inventory space. Instead, there’s a pair of pages on your character sheet where you can summon or dismiss one of them. And of course, you can still put one (or more) of the summons on your action bar if you know you’re going to want to use the same mount(s) most of the time.
Let’s see, in LotRO I’ve got… oh, right. One. One horse. He’s a lazy bastard, though, and he’s currently waiting in my bag while I run around Moria on foot.
I only have a standard horse and a nible goat in LotRO currently. I did have a Bree-Horse, but sold it either for money or bag space. I haven’t actually bothered to spend the time getting to Kindred with any of the factions (other than the Moria Dwarves) to get one of their mounts.
I would like to see some kind of keyring for mounts, either that, or a generic mount button which summons a specific mount. The mount which is summoned could be changed at any of the stables.
Either way, I would still like a housing decoration which allows you to display your collection of mounts.
I wish Lotro let me brush my pretty white pony’s hair.
…
What? >.>