Feedback:User/Silverdawn/Mounts and War Platforms

Guidelines to make mounts feasible in GW2
1) Keep it tasteful: no over-the-top mounts. Horses, ponies, elk, donkeys, dolyaks, berserking bison are fine.  Anything that might eat those if left alone in a stable are not fine.  Flying purple griffons are definitely not okay (especially if they sparkle).  Unicorns are even a bit much.  Low-key mounts will work better visually and will prevent some of the elitism that goes with having flashy mounts.

2) Make it environmental: mounts are environmental weapons. When you mount a creature, your weapon skills get replaced by mounted skills determined by your weapon and profession.  These skills have a theme of mobility.  One of these skills is dismount.  While mounted, you lose access to your utility skills and elite skill, but gain a speed boost.  This will make mounts a tactical decision as well: you become very good at hit-and-run and moving between objectives, but less able to engage in a stand-up fight or deal with many different situations.

3) Keep it immersive: no pocket mounts. Mounts appear from and disappear into stables.  When you dismount or are dismounted, your horse remains spawned.  When you dismount, you lead your horse.  When you are leading your horse, your mobility is limited (slower walk speed, no jump/dodge, no dive) and your skill bar is replaced by two skills: release mount and tie mount.  Tie mount interacts with objects, some of which can only be targetted while using the "lead mount" environmental weapon, and makes your mount stay put as you tie the reins to said object.  Release mount puts you on foot with all your normal skills.  The mount will follow behind you, but if there is combat, it will run off.  A mount will swim to dry land and will not follow a player into an area it cannot be lead into.

4) Keep it limited: mounts are not good for every bit of terrain. Challenging terrain (shallow water or a moderate grade) might slow a mount to less-than-walking speeds. Difficult terrain (steep grades, deep water, narrow passages might force the rider to dismount. Very difficult or enclosed terrain (dungeons, slopes with loose footing, underwater areas) might force the rider to abandon the mount entirely (by tying the mount or releasing it). Mounts are not capable of sharp turns while running, making them easy to avoid by a wary player but difficult to outrun.

5) Keep it out of towns and structured PvP: if characters have to lead their mounts in towns, it will provide plenty of incentives to stable them. NPCs could also be on hand to lead the mount to the stable for the player to make this an easy choice.  In structured PvP, like GvG, don't even allow mounts to begin with.

6) Keep it fragile: knockdown or launch should dismount a rider and cause a mount to flee. A mount might be killed from beneath a rider.  A lone mount might also be killed by opportunistic monsters if a player isn't there to distract it.  Mounts tied outside of dungeons are safe.

7) Keep it cooperative: an always-on speed boost might separate groups of adventurers traveling together, so the base gait of a mount should be matched to a character on foot's "weapons out" walking speed. One of the five environmental weapon skills is "change gait" which toggles to another skill when activated, much like a warrior's sever artery>gash>final thrust.  "Change gait" should have two states, trot and gallop.  Trot spurrs the mount to a speed matched by a character on foot's "weapons sheathed" running speed, and gallop provides the full speed boost.  Stopping resets the gait to walk and the skill to trot.  This will make it easier for mounted and unmounted players to play cooperatively.

Other ideas about implimentation
Gold Sink: mounts must be bought for a reasonable price. They can be sold to other players. A dead mount can be resurrected for the same price a new one can be bought for or a mount abandoned in an explorable can be transported to a stable for. A mount can be moved from stable to stable instantly for a fee. The fee for fast travel can be increased with a mount. If you really want a gold sink, there can be a stabling fee or even an upkeep. However, this last suggestion might be a bit much. Fast travel already comes with a minor fee attached. If mounts are seen as an alternative to fast travel, it could provide a not-as-convienient-but-cheaper-in-long-run-if-you-take-care-of-it alternative for cheapskates who like horses, like me.

Saddlebags: A third skill can be added to the Lead Mount skillbar: access saddle bags. This is extra carrying capacity with a mount. A dead mount can be looted by its owner.

Barding: mount armor can be bought/crafted. Some, made out of cloth and similar materials, can customize the appearance of your mount. Metal armors can also customize appearance, but also give the mount soldier armor at the expense of a reduced movement speed buff.

Not yet: get the game out first, then release an expansion with mounts and retrofit original campain with all the required programming and stuff. Players without the expansion can't use stables or buy horses because they "never learned to ride".

War Platforms
A special kind of mount appears in certain PvP or PvE events (WvWvW, for example) that is huge, like an elephant, oakheart or seige devourer. One character can "mount" it to control its course, and a couple others can climb on top of it and cast spells/shoot bullets or arrows from on top of it. Enemies can engage the beast itself with melee/ranged; they can attack those on top with ranged, or they can also climb on top of the beast and engage the riders in melee. An enemy on an undefended war platform can kill it quickly, like the spike above an elephant's spine that real-life ancient armies used to use if the elephant was panicked. These can be more over-the-top than personal mounts, but of course come with the map and can't be owned by any one player. An unmanned or uncontrolled war platform will move and fight on its own. It will be a mobile tactical point.

Epic Bosses
If I'm a sword and shield warrior fighting an epic boss, I want to hack at something more vulnerable than the beast's ankles. So, why not make epic bosses a "mountable" environmental weapon as well? If an epic boss has mountable locations that are connected to eachother, a player can move from node to node, vacating one node and moving onto the next, allowing multiple players to try to climb to a vulnerable spot at once. The player's skillbar could be replaced by a climbing skillbar, which the player uses to advance to the next node and resist the boss's attempts to throw you off. Once you reach the "top", the "advance to next node" skill is replaced by the "Whack 'em good!" skill that allows you to deal all the damage you could have done during the time it took you to climb up with a small allowance for error and a bit extra to make it worth your while. While whacking at this vulnerable spot, the boss will do its best to dislodge you and everybody else, making the minigame to hold on even more difficult. Of course, if the boss does manage to throw you off, you could be in for quite a fall...