Mount rents on F2P base maps on steam release

Wouldn't this be a good idea?I think a lot of people would be much easier sold on the game.I saw them in labyrinth cliffs. Haven't tried them obviously since I have mounts, so not quite suire what restrictions they have or don't have, but all that could obviously be tweaked.Would be a nice teaser, and a great way to sell expansions.

I agree, rental mounts could be great.I'd also like to have a few places here and there where everyone could glide. It made me sad when they disabled gliding-for-all in guild halls. (Yeah, I know gliding is old. But I still glide quite a lot and I still love it.)

i think it would defeat the purpose of PoF, or at least it would incentivize players not to upgrade since they wouldn't need to play that content to get mounts.The majority of the current festival maps have mount rental for the race events, Labyrinthine cliffs is an exception to this because having access to mounts like the Springer and Griffon make the make easier to navigate than using the Zephyr crystals and thus make events like the Treasure hunt a more even playing field for F2P and Paid players, but this level playing field shouldn't extend to all content.

Yep. Horrible idea, IMO. It would dis-incentivize players from purchasing the expansion, which is what Anet wants.

It's definitely something I think should be in the game. Maybe (probably) not all mounts, but the basic raptor and a few mount rental NPCs on maps would go a long way in offering a QoL feature (for a price) to new players and show them through hands on experience that mounts do make a difference and GW2 mounts feel way different than mounts in other MMOs. Some people won't be tempted to buy PoF, sure, but if mounts, gliding, unlocked chat, the full Trading post, and elite skills aren't enough for someone to upgrade from a free account, nothing will and features should not be added or designed around them.

Can't new players get the warclaw mount w/o having to buy the expansion? I thought that was the case?

@Parasite.5389 said:i think it would defeat the purpose of PoF, or at least it would incentivize players not to upgrade since they wouldn't need to play that content to get mounts.The majority of the current festival maps have mount rental for the race events, Labyrinthine cliffs is an exception to this because having access to mounts like the Springer and Griffon make the make easier to navigate than using the Zephyr crystals and thus make events like the Treasure hunt a more even playing field for F2P and Paid players, but this level playing field shouldn't extend to all content.

I don't think that's the case at all.Like I said, it can be tweaked how they worked.And maybe just have 1 raptor on a map a skimmer on another.And even if they were all just able to be used all the time, that I weren't even suggesting, that's why I mentioned limitations .. They would still need to go back to the npc everytime they needed to use the mount. That's hardly the same as being able to mount up everytime you need to, and you need to do that ALOT. Imagine having to run back/wp back to an NPC everytime you had to use your mount again.

All I know .. and can only speak for myself .. is that the exploring/moving around the map, became 100 times more fun after the mounts were introduced.Having new players experiencing the same thing would only make them love the game more, and after having experienced the fun and convienece, they likely don't want to be tied to that limitation, and if they are most likely not people who would buy the expansions anyway.I would argue that giving a person a tool, and make them learn to love that tool , but give that tool a lot of limitations, is a very good way to make them actually want to use it without any limitations. That's also sort of how F2P games work.

If the player has to go back to the npc after a dismount to get (and pay for) another mount then how much will they be used? The players can’t stop to harvest or do an event without having to pay to waypoint back and pay the npc again to get the rental mount back. Probably their main/only use will be a run thru a map to unlock waypoints and get poi’s because I can’t see players repeatedly going back to the npc during normal play thru. If they do have rental mounts then unless they are on a timer or get a gadget that allows unlimited use on that map until they leave the map then I don’t think rental mounts will be used much.

@kharmin.7683 said:Can't new players get the warclaw mount w/o having to buy the expansion? I thought that was the case?

Nope. Mounts require the expansion.

It's also entirely possible to have the mount rental on only a few maps, like all the starter zones.So many possibilites ..My point was simply to have new players experience the mounts.

Mounts have always given players a huge unfair advantage when it comes to certain events. One thing I noticed while playing on my NA f2p account was that it didn't feel great to be left behind by the zerg, and that I just felt frustrated because events would be completed before I could make it on foot.

From a new players perspective, I think WoW did mounts better (probably due to how the game is less time sensitive). You see people riding cool mounts and get curious, but you don't feel left out by not having one.

I think mount rentals could even the playing field a little.

If people want mounts they can get PoF

This whole "we arent getting enough free" is ludicrous and sad.

On the one hand, mounts are extremely fun and change the way you explore the game, but they really only get the best use out of expansion zones (with possible exception being the skimmer, especially because core tyria has so much underwater content). And we already have mount rentals in core tyria in the form of roller beetle racing iirc, so expanding that to include other mount rentals in specific zones and then encouraging players to buy path of fire to get access to the mounts would be cool.

on the other hand, players already see mounts in core tyria anyway because of all the players running around on them and a quick google search or even asking players will point newbies to the path of fire expansion and getting them their mounts that way. there's incentive in the feeling of missing out (which i hate the use of but it is a legitimate business tactic).

If i were to make a suggestion, it would be to have only the raptor in starter zones and skimmer in straits of devastation, with a pop up every time they talk to the mount renter about where to permanently access these mounts (buy pof yada yada), so that they don't get the whole array of mounts and still have new exciting things to look forward to with a path of fire. It could work, or it could disincentivize playing without the convenience of mounts because players only want to get to the mount stuff already instead of leveling up through a whole game without it and having only the barest taste of convenience being ripped away from them.

I dont know, I honestly don't know what the right call here is. certainly the safest option in terms of player satisfaction is the status quo, because once you add a feature, you're gonna face a lot of pain and angry responses taking it away. maybe the roller beetle racing is enough to get people into mounts, i dont know.

@kharmin.7683 said:Yep. Horrible idea, IMO. It would dis-incentivize players from purchasing the expansion, which is what Anet wants.

The new player needs to get to level 80 before entering the expansion, in order to get the mounts. If they are bored and leave the game before they even reach level 80 that's a great way for Anet to lose a potential customer. And when that new player plays on low level maps and see players with mounts going and finishing events before they can even get there, then you can see the problem. That player has two options: suck it up until they get to 80 to go get a mount, or stop playing the game.

Cherry on top: Steam players getting to 80, then get advice from friends or the forums to go directly to POF, ignoring the rest of the content, in order to get at least the raptor. Then, because they are a fresh level 80 in green gear with a terrible build, they will get destroyed in POF and start complaining.

Adding an item with some low cost that would allow players to summon a mount while on certain maps would be an excellent addition to provide incentive for new players to actually play this game, not remove incentive from purchasing an expansion.

Making the game easier and easier will only make people get bored faster. Along with what has been said already, just because the game goes to steam does not mean that it needs to be made easier. Also, at what point would the steam version be dumbed down enough to be its different game? How fair would it be to the already existing players if steam-players get everything handed to them for ease of access? Do we really want to go down this rabbit hole?

Why make it so they progress and skip things faster then they already can?

Horrible idea to have all mounts easily accessible without expansion. Then not as many people would get expansion. Plus it encourages people to skip a bunch of areas and not explore as much.

The only thing I could get on board with is to have one of the mounts available for rent (I would suggest the Warclaw because it's pretty basic and is slower than Raptor + you almost never see it outside WvW) similarly to how it was in the Cliffs. Let's say 30 Silver for 1 hour. With a price like that it's not something you can use very often as a new player. If they did this the best location to add it is Lion's Arch (but you can take it outside the city during that hour). Finally, if something like this was added it should be something all players can access not just stream release exclusive lol

If they want the mounts, then support Anet by buying the game! Seeing others go by them on the mounts only encourage them to buy. They can walk and run if they choose not too.

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@kharmin.7683 said:Yep. Horrible idea, IMO. It would dis-incentivize players from purchasing the expansion, which is what Anet wants.

Just the opposite, seeing others with things that you can only access if you buy increases the incentive to purchase.

Not sure new players would be happy to pay an additional 10 silver every time they got in combat having to switch from rental mount to weapons and not being able to switch back tho but sure let them have it.

I think a few free rentals in some of the hubs would be a good promotion and not break anything. I would even think about expanding the f2p part after the new expansion.

@"Linken.6345" said:Not sure new players would be happy to pay an additional 10 silver every time they got in combat having to switch from rental mount to weapons and not being able to switch back tho but sure let them have it.

That hasn't been an issue for about a year or so now. At some point Anet changed it so when you rent a mount you get a buff that lasts an hour and if you talk to a mount rental NPC at any time in that hour, you can rent a mount again without paying. It doesn't work between different mount type vendors (not sure if that's intentional or not) but if you rent a raptor and end up dropping the bundle, you can talk to a raptor vendor and say "I still have time left on my rental" and you get a raptor again at no cost.

It would still be a hassle to go back to a vendor, but it's 10s per hour (just don't leave the map) instead of 10s per time.

@jokke.6239 said:All I know .. and can only speak for myself .. is that the exploring/moving around the map, became 100 times more fun after the mounts were introduced.[snip]Having mounts on all the core Tyria and HoT maps makes map exploration a speed clear. Granted, HoT maps can be frustrating without a number of masteries (looking at you, bouncing mushrooms, poison lore, and gliding) but mount availability trivialises the need for those masteries, except maybe the poison one. All of Tyria, including SW and Dry Top, was designed in the absence of HoT masteries too.

Anet might as well automatically give out two Tomes of Exploration for every level 80 character you get on your account. :(

@Zephire.8049 said:

@"Linken.6345" said:Not sure new players would be happy to pay an additional 10 silver every time they got in combat having to switch from rental mount to weapons and not being able to switch back tho but sure let them have it.

Oh I did not know that always finished both race and time trial before doing anything else on my alt account.