[Suggestion] Add a vanilla/free game mount for new players. (before steam release if possible)

[Ironhide Wolf.3275]

TLDR: Suggestion, add a mount to the vanilla game that you can get in a starter city ASAP, no masteries required. (maybe even before steam release if possible.)

 

Long version:

I know development is going strong in so many areas, and dev-power is likely in short supply, BUUUUTT...
First impressions to a new player need to be GW2's/Anets/Community's best foot forward, especially when taking a steam launch into account. Starting areas have received very little attention since launch. Would be great to see this content get some polish love, and a super early mount is this topics suggestion on one way to do that.

I've been seeing new players having done some research into the game use their level 80 boost strictly to get a taxi to PoF for a quick raptor mount. I've also watched quite a few "Im new to GW2" YouTube videos and Twitch streams lately and noticed those who didn't grab a mount feel like the game is a bit slow traversing Tyria on foot. some say they may have quit if they were not "Surrounded by such an awesome community"(love you guys, community and dev's). But, the vast majority of new players won't be streamers or content creators. So, I feel like this might be a hard but possible thing to do to keep a higher new player retention count upon a steam release. 

I was thinking it would be neat to add a mount to vanilla/free GW2 that a player could obtain as soon as they get into their racial starter city. No mastery points required. Maybe even have a little mission to retrieve it, IDK. It doesn't have to be as fast as a raptor or be able to jump like a springer. Maybe give it a little extra movement speed on use of its Endurance bar skill like a sprint button for a mount. Just something that is fun to ride and moves the player around Tyria quicker than a Herald blasting the Facet of Elements for 24/7 swiftness. Maybe even add the ability to mount up in early missions.

I know Anet is playing around with the speed at which players level up. IMO, I don't think the leveling speed is the game speed issue that new players experience, its traversal speed compared to the GW2 Veteran they see flying by on a raptor or even a siege turtle. "Awesome! When do I get a mount!?" ... "2 expansions in, kiddo." ... *Watches the excited glimmer in their eyes dry up on stream*

IMO this would do a few things.

- This would increase new player retention, resulting in a higher possible customer pool for the Anet and a higher player count for the rest of us to game with.

- This would allow new players to retain their level 80 boost and use it on a character they really want to use it on rather than blowing it just to get a mount asap. Or allow players to experience the game spoiler-free but also have the speed that a mount offers.

- This would also give Anet another mount to monetize skins from for a higher revenue gain.

A win-win depending on how much dev time and resources this could take.

 

__________________ End of suggestion__________________

I have a couple other suggestions like every other player out there, but I wanna see where this specific one goes. 

Hope a dev gives this a little skimming over if the 'tldr' elevator pitch was good enough xD.

 

Been playing Guild Wars since early GW1 days, but this is my first time using the forums. So im sure I did something horribly wrong.

I tried searching for a topic like this but couldn't find any after searching a few pages, so sorry if this is a double-post, or if I messed up some other forum etiquette.

 

PS. For the love of the legions, don't make it a Horse. #TeamHorsesAreNOTReal

- Felan.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

This would not discourage players from purchasing an expansion for Mounts?  You mention the possible pros, but none of the cons.  🤷‍♂️

[kharmin.7683]

No.

Also, please use the forums search feature.  This has already been discussed.

[Leo.5693]

There's already a mount for core game. They're your own feet.

[Reborn.1738]

I think I agree with this - but the starter mount must be basic.

The new player experience must be good to retain players, and when they get out into the open world and see all the veterans on their various mounts, it can be frustrating to find out they have to play through 2 expacs, or boost and do a chapter of a story they have no connection to yet.

The truth is, mounts are part of the core guild wars 2 experience now. Maybe after the player finishes their starter zone quest (level 10, 20?) they're given a basic steed. It won't hurt any existing player's experience, and will give a new player some chance of keeping up with the veteran's speed

Complete guess, but I'd say the Jackal is the least used mount - why not add a "Jackal-lite" quadrapedal mount that is just a movement speed boost, no teleport skill. It could even be a mount based on your race choice: Sylvan Hound, a Dolyak for a Norn or something. And then when you unlock the real Jackal in PoF you can start training it's masteries?

[Danikat.8537]

I think it would be a bad idea to encourage new players to rush through maps. There's so much in this game which isn't sign-posted, like events which start when someone talks to an NPC, mini dungeons and jumping puzzles hidden in the maps, NPC dialogue which adds to the lore and helps tie events together and sets the scene for the story, gathering nodes (which are sign posted but still easy to miss if you're speeding past on a mount), items for achievements and so on.

If new players immediately get into the habit of hopping on a mount and heading straight for the next marker the game is telling them to go to they're going to miss a lot and I'm worried even more of them will end up with the impression the game is extremely basic with very little to do outside of the few maps with popular meta events and the instances they expect to be funnelled into because that's how some other MMOs work.

It also feels a bit patronising to give players who are jealous of other people zooming around using their mounts special abilities a slower mount with no special abilities and hope they won't notice it's not comparable. It's like the mount equivalent of a participation trophy.

I always liked the fact that GW2 didn't need mounts and while I do think Anet did a good job when they added them having seen the way some people act like the game is now all about mounts - levelling up is getting to the point where you can unlock mounts, completing maps is using your mount to do it as fast as possible, any rewards which aren't mount skins don't count (therefore all the 'real' rewards are in the gem store) etc. I kind of wish they hadn't added them. I'd rather not give new players even more reasons to think they should be fixated on mounts and ignoring all the other things the game has to offer.

[Bladestrom.6425]

terrible suggestion OP.  Think back to that first day when you entered GW2, the huge maps that you explored on foot, finding interesting nook caves and climbs, events etc.  All is lost if you have a mount that you use to fly through zones.  same principle as XP boosts, we want to encourage new players to engage with the world, not skim or skip past it all, boosts should be for alts.

[AgentMoore.9453]

I'm not really in support of starting people off with a mount, as I think they're better as an incentive to buy PoF and EoD and because I think Core Tyria is more memorable/impactful on foot, but you may be in luck, OP.

ArenaNet is currently conducting A/B testing as a way of trying out new features and making adjustments to existing ones by applying changes to certain numbers of new accounts and seeing what people think about them. The most common test being conducted (at least that people have noticed) is faster experience gain (and leveling as a result). They're doing this because they hope to release GW2 on Steam at some point this year and agree that the new player experience is not fantastic.

The reason I bring this up is that some interesting items have appeared in their code lately, including a text line about something called a "Mount Trial Buff". I haven't yet seen anyone reporting a new account with mounts on it and the things being tested are not guaranteed to end up in the game, but it at least looks like they're considering trying some sort of temporary mount experience for new accounts during these tests. We probably won't know for sure until ArenaNet either announces these changes or formally releases their "new" new player experience.

[Super Hayes.6890]

As I suggested in another of these threads. When your f2p character mounts up a dude appears behind you banging coconuts together while you gallop around. This is a feature I'd be willing to pay for actually.

[Andy.5981]

Last time this came up I suggested Coconuts. This time I've found the clip. Also living in the Welsh Marches not far from Mercia (as mentioned in the clip), I can confirm that I've never seen a Coconut migrating through the area.

https://youtu.be/zqtS9xyl0f4

[Cuks.8241]

I fully support vanilla mount. B2p or even F2p. Mounts are now so much a part of the experience. People are advised boosting and starting Pof for mount which is the same only annoying, wastes a boost. 

Besides mounts are great, let new players see how good they are early on. 

[Xelqypla.6817]

1 hour ago, Super Hayes.6890 said:

As I suggested in another of these threads. When your f2p character mounts up a dude appears behind you banging coconuts together while you gallop around. This is a feature I'd be willing to pay for actually.

 

Oh yeah, I would definitely buy that.

[Gehenna.3625]

4 hours ago, vesica tempestas.1563 said:

terrible suggestion OP.  Think back to that first day when you entered GW2, the huge maps that you explored on foot, finding interesting nook caves and climbs, events etc.  All is lost if you have a mount that you use to fly through zones.  same principle as XP boosts, we want to encourage new players to engage with the world, not skim or skip past it all, boosts should be for alts.

I hated this game so much at launch and all the zones were so tedious that I quit the game for a long time. I came back after HoT was released and gliding was there...that was soooooo much of an improvement already.

I bet a lot of new players are not going to be as patient as you are.

[Labjax.2465]

I'm thinking one of two options:

- give them raptor almost immediately, but without the endurance abilities yet (or with those abilities, but pre-masteries ofc)

- kill two birds with one stone: make it a Warclaw that they get and change the Warclaw unlock in WvW to a unique skin. I say this is "kill two birds with one stone" because it introduces them to mounts / allows them to keep up better, importantly, in both PvE and WvW.

As it is now, not only do people new (or new to mounts) have to feel left behind in PvE, they have to chase around a zerg with a swiftness build in WvW until they can get warclaw (and if we're being real, the last thing a new player is going to be doing is understanding how to make a swiftness build to keep up with a zerg, if their class can even do such)

Whatever the solution, the game is not what it was at launch and arguments about mounts early on ruining the beginning experience are silly because the beginning experience is not the same anymore and never will be again. You got people zooming past on beetles and flying past on skyscales or griffons now. It ain't the same game.

[kharmin.7683]

Let also add vanillafree legendary gear for new players.  Why should they need to work for those, either?

[Labjax.2465]

4 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

Let also add vanillafree legendary gear for new players.  Why should they need to work for those, either?

Cause getting a basic mount is def the same as getting legendary gear. 🙄

[Super Hayes.6890]

To be honest, I'm glad getting season 1 back is a priority. Not against a basic mount but it is not as much of a hinderance as some suggest. Seeing other players on mounts is incentive to explore more of the game and earn things. Missing season 1 story... That was a real hinderance to the new player experience.

[Reborn.1738]

30 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

Let also add vanillafree legendary gear for new players.  Why should they need to work for those, either?

I guess unlocking the Raptor is "work" now. You get it like 20 minutes into PoF

Nobody is saying that the new players should get a Skyscale or a Griffon. Just a basic mount. Jeez.

[kharmin.7683]

29 minutes ago, Labjax.2465 said:

Cause getting a basic mount is def the same as getting legendary gear. 🙄

That's irrelevant.  It's something new players won't have and will see other players do have, so they should just have it.  That's the crux of the argument.

[Labjax.2465]

17 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

That's irrelevant.  It's something new players won't have and will see other players do have, so they should just have it.  That's the crux of the argument.

No it's not. Mounts have a practical purpose of keeping up with other players for events and group events are the core of this game's open world design. New players won't even know what legendary items are or how they are different from any other cosmetic item. There is no similarity at all.

[mythical.6315]

40 minutes ago, Labjax.2465 said:

No it's not. Mounts have a practical purpose of keeping up with other players for events and group events are the core of this game's open world design.

 

I don't see this being an issue in core Tyria.

[Labjax.2465]

36 minutes ago, mythical.6315 said:

 

I don't see this being an issue in core Tyria.

Ok, go play a new character in core tyria on a new account and see how you fare. You can come back and share the results with us.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

So, the suggestion is to give new players Mounts with the same speed abilities as fully-Masteried Mounts that 'Vets' have?  To enable them to 'keep up'? 

[Mickey.4207]

As a new player you are running around in core Tyria. You see an event in distance. You run as fast the game allows. You see people swooping in on their griffons and skyscales. Even before you could land one hit the boss is dead. You are confused as to what just happened. And why are you the only one without any mount. You try to join another event on the map but same things happens. That's pretty much how it is as a new player. 

 

I shared new player experience of my friend by the way who quit the game only after two weeks and went back to playing Elder Scrolls. 

[mythical.6315]

1 hour ago, Labjax.2465 said:

Ok, go play a new character in core tyria on a new account and see how you fare. You can come back and share the results with us.

 

I've played on a character without mounts while doing meta events or event dailies.  I've had no issues.