Aside from issues with performance, do any of you see a potential for the inclusion of mounts negatively effecting gameplay in WoE? It's mentioned that you couldn't stealth while on the mount, but are there any other concerns about players having that additional speed while in WoE?
Yes, there are certain implications... as Shinyusuke has pointed out. I'd like to rephrase it a bit, because my original idea already included to remove the 'you can't use a mount during combat" restriction (replaced by a casting time similar to Ymir Form).
The biggest issue is the speed difference between mounted and unmounted players.
If the mounted ones are too fast (balancing), it might not be possible to stop them. In order to attack, you'd have to start a fight and that means you have to unmount first, causing you to lose the speed bonus and with it the capability to chase your target. Whether this is a bad thing or not depends on the final implementation - it could even be something strategical. Fighting against characters in Ymir form / active guardians while yours are on cooldown causes the same thing... even worse.
So the actual speed bonus is the key part here!
Some characters are already faster when they don't ride a PecoPeco (thanks to wind runes, VIP & WoE buff).
And this means, not only the stealth characters are affected. Classes like beastmasters, assassins (forgot about rangers last time) might get nerfed indirectly, because they can't bring their class-specific speed bonuses to full potential. F.e. how much worth is a Tiger Form, if you can use a PecoPeco instead? (well, might still circumvent the casting time for mounting)
Also keep in mind that Ghost Palaquins have a specific speed as well. This might force players to choose between faster mounts and invisibility (well, it's the same right now, but it shouldn't stay unmentioned since mounts might be used more frequently than wind pots).
Finally, the actual mount / unmount procedure might need some attention (how to avoid too many switches).
____________________
But my request also aimed for two other things:
1. Keep the combat speed down!
I understand that players want to be as fast as possible, but a dogfight between two modern jets is still something different than a medieval sword fight. Being too fast can cause a combat bug (the monster isn't resetted correctly), might cause more 'out of range' issues, players might end up dead because they moved way too far during a short server lag/delay and it makes kiting mobs much easier.
However, the worst implication is that stacking all the speed bonuses available (wind pots, ymir, guardian, class-bonuses, wind runes, WoE buff, VIP, etc) makes fights rather impractical - and prevents the strategic use of formations / positioning. Different speed bonuses also cause a shift in class balance. Classes with melee attacks, with skills that have a casting time and attacks that must be aimed at a specific target are less valuable. Soulmaker links will also break much more easily. And it devaluates class-specific speed benefits. (100% vs. 130% is different to 200% vs. 230%)
To goal should be: Get to the battle quickly, but be reasonably slow during each fight.
2. Create an alternative to Urgent Recall / Kafra teleports:
This depends on the decision, whether you want to allow mounts with a temporary speed boost or not. The obvious balancing issues aside (see mounted vs. unmounted), it would allow to cut a 2min walk on Morroc WoE down to a 30sec sprint.
(Keep in mind that the dots on the mini-map are already displayed with a certain delay)
Edited by Greven79, 08 January 2015 - 11:23 AM.