When did EQ mounts come along?

[Tehwoot]

Originally Posted by Treefall [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I really liked mounts, and the idea of them, at the time they were released.

However, looking back I think they were a horrible thing to implement in EverQuest.

The mounts gave a perma-med, fast-movement stance. It changed the game dramatically in my viewpoint, at least in terms of leveling and small groups.

They were immediately no longer a luxury but rather a requirement.

In my mind they were a small part of destroying the vastness of the world and class uniqueness. Equalizing travel was a first and easy step for SOE to make without facing too much resistance.

As changes go, however, they snowball. The fast travel of Luclin wasn't fast enough so even faster travel was added. The mount speeds of Luclin, outside of knights, weren't fast enough so even faster mounts were added. Then it was easy to step into (and it started in Luclin) no other class has this, let's give it to this.

I digress, but I feel like the implementation of mounts, and Luclin in general, really started a major shift in the core gameplay of EverQuest for the negative. If you look at the monster EQLive is today it all stems off of the changes started with Luclin. Kunark and Velious very much kept EQ true...Luclin, PoP, etc - not so much.

Just my 2 cents.

So looking back...I hate EQ mounts. With a passion. Would I be okay if only one class had them as a unique ability (say both knights), yes...everyone - no.

this