Beetle Endurance and Movement Suggestion: Gas Pedal

[NeegJeeg.4382]

I feel like the beetle is too niche of a mount, and its movement is too restricted. It starts with 0 endurance, can't go uphill unless you have built significant momentum, can't drift (I.e cannot be controlled) during the first few seconds of boost, and can't even brake during the boost, and the 3rd mastery rank tricks will actually use up endurance if you land before the trick is completed. All of this amounts to this: it feels bad to swap to the beetle.

All other mounts feel great to swap to on the fly: Jackal starts with enough endurance for 2 ports immediately, Gryphon can immediately flap, springer can immediately jump, raptor can jump immediately or soon after swap (I forget if it starts with 0 endurance or not), and skimmer starts with full endurance. It makes you feel like a pokemon master; Use raptor to go across flat ground, swap to jackal to jump small gaps or move uphill, swap to gryphon to fly large distances, swap to springer to jump up a high wall, and swap to skimmer to cross water or quicksand. But with the beetle its like this: swap and wait 5-10 seconds to get full endurance before you can start gaining speed, and unless you're in a very specific area of the map, there will be so many obstacles in your path that you might as well have just swapped to a jackal or a raptor before the extra speed you can get out of the beetle really starts to kick in. Most maps are simply too varied in terrain for the beetle to make practical sense and fit into your mount rotation. Another point to look at is mobs: if you swap to beetle while enemies are around, good luck getting away without getting knocked off before your boost is up. Currently I only swap to the beetle when I just want to roll around for fun or I am in a very, very specific location where I know I won't get messed up by terrain. I think that it should offer more use than that. So, I have some suggestions for the beetle:

1) At least let the beetle start with 50-75 endurance, while keeping the boost mechanic the same. Let us drift immediately after starting the boost.

• this means that you will only have to wait a few seconds before being able to accelerate after swapping to the beetle, making it feel more responsive, but you will still need to wait for the full bar of endurance to regenerate before boosting again. Additionally, being able to drift right after the boost will further increase the usability and responsiveness of the beetle. This will let it fit into the rotation as a huge, straight burst of speed. As in, you're riding around on your jackal and you come across a long flat section of ground, then swap to your beetle and boost across it fast before swapping back to your jackal, all without interrupting your momentum.

2) Change the boost mechanic into a "gas pedal" similar to the skimmer. Start with 100 endurance. Lower the acceleration of the boost to make up for the increased control. Use S to brake

• Like the skimmer, the movement skill will only stay active as long as you hold space, and will start to regenerate as soon as you let go. This would mean you could start accelerating immediately after swapping to the beetle - albeit the acceleration would be far more gradual than the original boost mechanic - and would give you far more control over when you want to accelerate, letting you fit the beetles acceleration to the terrain. I don't think this would make the beetle too "OP" in a movement sense, especially because of the following: The beetle already cannot jump through the air unless you find a ramp, it will still decelerate while moving uphill, and control/drifting is still difficult to master at high speeds. If it does wind up being a little too useful with the gas pedal mechanic, just limit max speed a little bit so it doesn't become too OP. Plus, it would be awesome to have it actually operate like a badass asura-tech motorcycle.

Thoughts?

[Airdive.2613]

I believe the developers explicitly stated they didn't want to limit roller beetle's maximum speed.My thought is: it's alright for every mount to be unique, even if it means some aren't easy to switch to on the fly. Leave the beetle as it is, use it when it's useful, don't use it when it's not.

[Hulken.1385]

Just created a post with a similar suggestion than saw your post.I whould be happy if they just changed the boost to "boost as long as you hold space" just like the Raptor and the Skimmer.

[Scud.5067]

In its current incarnation, the beetle mount rewards skilled riders, when used appropriately.

For everything else, there are 5 other mounts.