Another Mount Peek at ZAM!

[Calthine]

<p>Okay, we stole it directly off Brenlo's Twitter feed.  But here you go, an armourless feline mount:</p><p><a href="http://eq2.zam.com/story.html?story=20904" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://eq2.zam.com/story.html?story=20904</a></p><p>(are you following your game in the Twitterverse?  Why not?  <a href="http://eq2players.station.sony.com/news_archive_content.vm?id=3381&section=News&locale=en_US" target="_blank">Could get you free goodies!</a>)</p>

[denmom]

<p>Good gods she's <strong><em>huge</em></strong><em><strong>!</strong></em></p><p>O_o</p><p>But cute. <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Kiara]

<p>Gee... Lookit that.</p><p>Isn't that a pretty kitty <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Calthine]

<p>I want a spotted one! </p><p><img src="http://www.quantum-conservation.org/ESB/lynx-lynx.gif" width="350" height="334" /></p>

[Lady Shai]

<p>Maybe its the angle of the pics but.... something doesnt look right about the design of it. I can't figure out why tho...it just looks kind of off.</p><p>Other than that... its not that bad looking.</p><p>Not exciting enough to pay 30 bucks more for the collectors edition tho for me.</p>

[Mirander_1]

<p><cite>Lady Shai wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Maybe its the angle of the pics but.... something doesnt look right about the design of it. I can't figure out why tho...it just looks kind of off.</p></blockquote><p>It's the head, I think.  The ruff of fur makes the head look disproportionately big, compared to the body</p>

[Terrius]

<p><cite>Mirander@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Lady Shai wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Maybe its the angle of the pics but.... something doesnt look right about the design of it. I can't figure out why tho...it just looks kind of off.</p></blockquote><p>It's the head, I think.  The ruff of fur makes the head look disproportionately big, compared to the body</p></blockquote><p>Yup head looks too big for it's body.</p>

[Gungo]

<p><cite>Mirander@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Lady Shai wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Maybe its the angle of the pics but.... something doesnt look right about the design of it. I can't figure out why tho...it just looks kind of off.</p></blockquote><p>It's the head, I think.  The ruff of fur makes the head look disproportionately big, compared to the body</p></blockquote><p>I preorder the collectors edition. i am glad i did the unarmoured version appears to be a cat with an extra chromosome.</p>

[Siodenne]

<p>woot spiffy kitty!!! Can't wait, so there is an armorless version????!!!</p>

[MrWolfie]

<p>Let's not pull any punches: It looks ridiculous. The head's too big, body too long, and that saddle - is it that large so that the entire group can get onboard? A smaller character is going to look stupid riding it -- heck, a normal character is dwarfed by it. Why is it five times bigger than the character riding it? Do we really need another over-large mount, and what's that they say about Big Cars?</p><p>It's about time we got some smaller mounts. I thought something along the lines of the docile air/fire elementals would be cool for the smaller races to fly/ride on... kinda like flying chinese giant salamanders.</p><p>A docile air elemental:</p><p><img src="http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/eq2/images/c/ca/A_docile_air_elemental.jpg" width="609" height="467" /></p><p>A Chinese Giant Salamander:</p><p><img src="http://webecoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/chinese-giant-salamander.jpg" /></p><p>Big isn't always best. Let's have some more original thoughts and not something that looks like it's been cribbed from the latest movie.</p>

[Sphiriah]

<p>That mount really looks.... Just terrible.</p>

[Lady Shai]

<p><cite>Sphiriah@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>That mount really looks.... Just terrible.</p></blockquote><p>I showed it to my friends and family here and they all looked at it and went... ewwww. It is so out of proportion it isnt even funny. It really REALLY looks not good.</p><p>So looks like we all will be saving moneys not getting the collectors edition lol</p>

[Katanalla]

<p><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v691/aquarake/mugz.jpg?t=1260841004" width="600" height="466" /></p><p>I found tis the other day omg!</p>

[HruntingCervantes]

<p>That mount just doesn't look good lol, not worth an extra 30 dollars imo</p>

[Child]

<p>personaly, my speed without a mount is 75%, so all mounts are rather pointless to me. I'm still getting the collector's edition tho, just because, well, i want it <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>stil, i have to agree with what most others are saying, looks pretty dang bad.</p>

[Lortet]

<p>got to start stockpiling all the kitty litter I can get, going to make a killing come February........</p>

[crazey]

<p>The mount looks stupid.  I agree with the other posters...head's too big, body to long, saddle is stupid...sorry for the negative feedback.  The first pic looked different.</p><p>Back to the drawing board IMO.</p>

[Dragowulf]

<p>Calm down everyone!  I think we all remember how dire bears used to be....</p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; color: #666666; white-space: pre;"><a href="http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a143/innocent974/?action=view&current=Picture103.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a143/innocent974/Picture103.jpg" border="0" /></a></span></p>

[Galithdor]

<p>Hehehe...even wierder looking without the armor, but i dont use mounts much anyways...</p><p>The head is HUGE...but I'm sure it will get a fix like the bears sorta did</p>

[xeyda]

<p>I am actually cancelling my pre-orders of the collector's editions and switching back to regular editions.</p><p>That thing is hideous.</p>

[acctlc]

<p>I think its an improvement. Of course its big..A high elf or ogre would look [Removed for Content] dumb riding a more realistically sized lynx. It could maybe be a tad smaller but hard to judge on a 2d photo.</p><p>*Edit* After looking at the pictures a bit longer, yes the saddle looks like it was build for 2 toons not one.  The overall length could be lessened while  keeping a well proportioned and visually pleasing animal.  I don't agree that the head looks too big tho..looks fine to me.</p>

[Whilhelmina]

I look at it and, well, I think the same as previous posters... the head is waaaaay too big. Poor kitty

[Bacci]

<p>Hm, didn't the devs say that this mount is a she?</p><p>The picture shows a he. Female cats have no beard <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />))</p><p>It is a little bit to big compared to the rider. Or we make it a group mount <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />)</p>

[xeyda]

<p>A group (or even partner) mount would definitely make the sheer ugly worth it.  I'd keep my collector's editions then.</p>

[ttobey]

<p><cite>Rubiade wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Hm, didn't the devs say that this mount is a she?</p><p>The picture shows a he. Female cats have no beard <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" />))</p><p>It is a little bit to big compared to the rider. Or we make it a group mount <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" />)</p></blockquote><p>The unarmored are males. The females are armored. </p>

[Grumble69]

<p>The fur pattern on the head is wrong, particularly its beard.</p>

[ttobey]

<p>It's Norrathian. It's not of this earth. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Calthine]

<p><cite>ttobey wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>It's Norrathian. It's not of this earth. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>Heh <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>It definately has the biggest summer ruff I've ever seen on a lynx!</p>

[Jacra]

<p><img src="/eq2/images/smilies/385970365b8ed7503b4294502a458efa.gif" border="0" /></p><p>Muahaha. Sorry but that looks hilariously ... eggheaded and mutated and not aesthetic or cool. I was a bit considering buying this time the collectors edition as the idea to have a feline mount as a Kerra ... seemed interesting. But while the armored one teaser some time ago already looked strange in a way and hard to judge due to the angle this one is really setting me off. I have that sootfoot hippo at the moment and it is already way too big and this doesn't help with camera angles and such in cities or whatever. But getting something that looks as weird and is even more huge ... no way. I think there is a lot of improvement there for something more natural looking (even though it is a fantasy realm we are human beings and our sense for beauty comes from nature) and smaller. Doesn't help if the teaser drives people away from the Collectors box.</p><p>Ps: See? Head way too big and the proportions are weird too.</p><p>Edit: Hm, no way to resize linked pics? Sorry -.-</p><p><img src="http://www.nationalforestlawblog.com/lynx.jpg" width="1280" height="1024" /></p>

[Valdaglerion]

<p>But most importantly, are we getting appearance slots for mounts?</p><p>As something that has a box full of mounts that have mostly been mounted for house placement now until we get appearance slots and a better way of storing them (perhaps a whistle ring to keep up to 30 or 40 of them) there is no real point in acquiring more of them unless they are a stat upgrade.</p>

[Ciara52]

<p><cite>ttobey wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>It's Norrathian. It's not of this earth. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>LOL that's what I was thinking   <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  isn't this fantasy?   </p><p>I have the collectors on order.  I just hope that cat doesn't make my lunch do funny things like the warg did  <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/385970365b8ed7503b4294502a458efa.gif" border="0" /></p><p>Is it one per character or just one?   </p>

[feldon30]

The head could be a bit smaller.

[Brook]

<p>After seeing the one without armor, I think I want mine with.</p>

[Obadiah]

<p>Looks great, although I think the angles used in that picture were less than flattering. It's just too bad it's still slower than my current mount and it hasn't been stated whether it has stats. Makes it a tough sell, but I suppose it's great if you're going to level alts.</p>

[Kander]

<p>There is some re-scaling going on, no worries. It will scale per race and gender to a point, large races it will not get the size of say the wargs. lol</p><p>This isn't the finished mount.</p>

[Brook]

<p>Will the armor be an option on claim or will it be something we can toggle as we see fit?</p>

[Wurm]

<p><cite>Kander wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>There is some re-scaling going on, no worries. It will scale per race and gender to a point, large races it will not get the size of say the wargs. lol</p><p>This isn't the finished mount.</p></blockquote><p>Please post a screen shot of the finished mount when you have one Kander, I need to know if I need to cancel my collectors edition pre-order or not.</p><p>If it looks anywhere close to that fugly monstrosity, I'd rather save my money for beer. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Malacha]

<p>Sorry but I hate this mount. Once again, a GIGANTIC mount with an out of proportion head. Its a CAT FFS, it should be trim, sleek and MUCH smaller. Again, the feet of the character used (who looks like a half-elf maybe? so average sized) are above where the characters head would be if it were standing next to the mount. That makes for an incredibly interesting mounting, if we were ever to actually see it happen.</p><p>In my opinion, this mount needs to be cut in size by almost half (and of course scale to the model). Characters feet should reach roughly the mounts rear haunches above the "knee", not somewhere in its shoulder. The mounts back should be roughly shoulder height to the character standing. The head needs to be shrunk to be more in proportion to the body, and the body length needs to be pulled in a touch as well. The head should not extend beyond the shoulder span, even with a "summer ruff". And please, I beg you, please get rid of the ridiculous Cheshire cat grin on its face... its kinda creepy.</p><p>Again, this is all my opinion, but I hope its taken into consideration. I will be sorely disappointed if this is THE mount of the expansion, with a bunch of different skins.</p>

[Neiloch]

<p>It's face reminds me of a 'who', especially the left of the two pictures.</p><p><img src="http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/1986/mv5bmtqwmdawmzc5of5bml5k.jpg" /></p>

[salty21db]

<p>I really dont see how MMO companies do it lol.  It seems no matter what is done or what is put out there there is always complaints, i woulda nerdraged by now and lost my customers.</p>

[Avirodar]

<p>A lot of people have enquired about appearance mounts.I would -love- to see this be put into the game, because <strong>my personal opinion</strong> is that the wargs, rhinos and dire bears all look stupid, are oversized, and negatively impact on the visual appeal of the game. The only reason that I have ever changed from the horse is statistical benefit. Horses are a much better size/ratio, are more visually aesthetic, and less "bumpy" when riding.I would also like to see an option for if mount graphics get displayed. Eg: I should have a tick box that if checked, I never see anyone on a mount. They would be running on foot as per normal, just faster if applicable. It would be pure win. All the ugly/oversized mounts gone, less lag, etc.</p>

[Malacha]

<p><cite>Neiloch wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>It's face reminds me of a 'who', especially the left of the two pictures.</p><p><img src="http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/1986/mv5bmtqwmdawmzc5of5bml5k.jpg" /></p></blockquote><p>It reminds me of the Cheshire Cat</p><p><img src="http://andreaskluth.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/disneycheshirecat.jpg" /></p>

[Wurm]

<p><cite>salty21db wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I really dont see how MMO companies do it lol.  It seems no matter what is done or what is put out there there is always complaints, i woulda nerdraged by now and lost my customers.</p></blockquote><p>Its really easy, don't let your customer base see half-arsed prototypes and only the mean lean finished product. I'd rather have He-Man's Battlecat then that weird looking cheshire cat mount.</p><p>Or for example the TOS bears... don't release concept art that makes the bears look awesome and eat your face mean and then give the players Yogi the Friendly Stoner Bear in its place.</p>

[Dreyco]

<p>Looks cool!  I could see my character riding one!</p><p>Awesome, new artwork!</p>

[demonwr]

<p>wtb huge armored battlecat for my guard and zerk  a mount needs to have options people wont be satisfied with 1 version of this cat too many diferant tastes in what people want</p>

[Obadiah]

<p><cite>demonwrym wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>wtb huge armored battlecat for my guard and zerk  a mount needs to have options people wont be satisfied with 1 version of this cat too many diferant tastes in what people want</p></blockquote><p>You have a choice between armored and non-armored. There's <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=462851" target="_blank">another thread about it here</a> that's actually about the mounts and not a Zam advert. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" /></p><p><cite>Wurm wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>salty21db wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I really dont see how MMO companies do it lol.  It seems no matter what is done or what is put out there there is always complaints, i woulda nerdraged by now and lost my customers.</p></blockquote><p>Its really easy, don't let your customer base see half-arsed prototypes and only the mean lean finished product. I'd rather have He-Man's Battlecat then that weird looking cheshire cat mount.</p></blockquote><p><span><p><cite>Paill@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I cant even get a preview of, or know much of anything about. Im not stupid we are getting close to release you guys are just holding back, it would be rather sad if this wasnt hammered down yet.</p></blockquote></span></p><p>No, it's not really easy. Everyone has to complain about SOMEthing.</p>

[Wurm]

<p><cite>Kurgan@Everfrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>No, it's not really easy. Everyone has to complain about SOMEthing.</p></blockquote><p>No, it is very easy to keep your customers happy. Work hard, talk to your customer base and stop mixing Free Realms with EQ2.</p>

[Obadiah]

<p><cite>Wurm wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Kurgan@Everfrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>No, it's not really easy. Everyone has to complain about SOMEthing.</p></blockquote><p>No, it is very easy to keep your customers happy. Work hard, talk to your customer base and stop mixing Free Realms with EQ2.</p></blockquote><p>See, it isn't. Because I think they're 3/3 on those things and clearly everyone isn't happy.</p><p>It *would* be nice - speaking of talking to customers - to hear whether there will be appearance slots for mounts and whether this mount will have stats.</p><p>I really don't care how it looks - certainly isn't worse than the wargs IMO - but why pay extra for a slower mount with no stats?</p>

[Wurm]

<p><cite>Kurgan@Everfrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Wurm wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Kurgan@Everfrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>No, it's not really easy. Everyone has to complain about SOMEthing.</p></blockquote><p>No, it is very easy to keep your customers happy. Work hard, talk to your customer base and stop mixing Free Realms with EQ2.</p></blockquote><p>See, it isn't. Because I think they're 3/3 on those things and clearly everyone isn't happy.</p><p>It *would* be nice - speaking of talking to customers - to hear whether there will be appearance slots for mounts and whether this mount will have stats.</p><p>I really don't care how it looks - certainly isn't worse than the wargs IMO - but why pay extra for a slower mount with no stats?</p></blockquote><p>And I respectfully disagree with you.</p><p>We have been on a roll lately with <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em>tons</em></strong></span> of fluff being added to the game in place of traditional content. Hence my "Free Realms" comparison. I like fluff, but too much is over-kill and becomes boring.</p><p>While they do listen to the customer base a fair amount of the time, its almost always the waves of complaints after the contents release and not a pro-active dialog before.</p><p>And while running in circles maybe hard work, its not very productive now is it...</p>

[Chulanowa]

<p>That is... just... amazingly bad-looking. I mean I'm sure the art department is talented and everything, but even the greats strike out once in a while. And... Wow. I showed it to some friends of mine, and these were their responses:</p><p>"Why is he riding it backwards?""Wow! What happened to it?""Do people pay real money for this thing?""Best Spore creature I've seen yet.""Why is he riding Snarf from Thundercats?""Oh cool, so they're adding Luck Dragons to EQ2?"</p><p>I think this one might be a do-over. Give the art department some pictures and videos of lynxes - or anything remotely feline - and tell the mto get cracking.</p>

[Kitsune]

<p>Must... Have... Kitty!!!!......  She is so purdy....</p>

[acctlc]

<p><cite>Kander wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>There is some re-scaling going on, no worries. It will scale per race and gender to a point, large races it will not get the size of say the wargs. lol</p><p>This isn't the finished mount.</p></blockquote><p>Good to hear, Cuz I was gonna say hmm, with the length of the body and how much is behind the rider, I think this needs to be J.Lo's kitty cuz that boy sure has a lot out back.  Could take out building faces in South Qeynos trying to back that boy up and get him turned around. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[DragonMaster2385]

<p>Everyday during lunch at work, I visit flames and watch the dev tracker since this site gets caught by websense.  I saw a lot of negative reactions to the image being posted there and none of the pictures were visible due to them all being hosted by websense blocked servers so I couldn't see what they were actually commenting about.  I thought that it was just the normal complaining that goes on which is a lot of over reactions most of the time.</p><p>Well, I just logged on and was able to take a look. . . . not the normal complaining.  This thing is hideous.   I don't plan on shelling out the extra cash just for a mount that has a lower run speed than what I have now, but that picture would not entice me to at all.  I urge you to make changes and release new pics as soon as possible before more people decide to switch to the standard box (as people have already posted).  I like the idea of giving an incentive, but that head needs reduced a lot.</p><p>Oh, and +1 for the idea for mount appearance 'slots'.</p>

[covic]

<p>I spent today adjusting the size of the mount per character.  The fitting of characters and animations to work with each character race were still being done at time of screen shots.  As far as the shape of the highland stalker, it really has to be seen in action to be appreciated.  Ttobey did an amazing job animating it.  I know there has been alot of comparison to a lynx, well it only influenced some of the features.  Such as the ears, head fur and tail. We wanted to make a mount that a 300 lbs barbarian would not crush when he sat on it, a real lynx would flatten.  So the legs and body were beafed up to represent something that could hold a character.  We wanted something that worked in the fantasy realm of Odus.</p><p>I think our artist did a great job in creating a mount with our players in mind.  At fan faire I had many players asking for a mount that wasnt so snarly and mean like a warg.  Something on the cuter side.  With the unarmored we did give it bigger facial features and head size.  Babies, puppies, and kittens are always cuter then their adult counter parts.  Due to there proportions.  Well the unarmored is a full adult cat but we wanted to keep some of the features that make it cute and desireable.  </p><p>The armored version is thought to be the mount that can steam roll a building and eat other mounts.  So with that in mind hes fully armored with a lot of forward slope to his shapes. </p><p>I plan on riding the armored mount for my character and cant wait to get him.  I think its great that we had time to give our players 2 options with the collectors edition.  </p><p>And yes the 2 mounts are exclusive to the collectors edition.</p>

[demonwr]

<p>thanks for the update and clarification that both will be avalible i realy love the look of tha armored one only real hang up for me is i currently have a faster mount with nice stats. so paying an extra $30 for a mount that if mount aperance slots dont make it in would rarly get used is where im havingthe issue commiting to the collecters edidtion</p>

[Malacha]

<p><cite>covic wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>We wanted to make a mount that a 300 lbs barbarian would not crush when he sat on it, a real lynx would flatten.  So the legs and body were beafed up to represent something that could hold a character.  We wanted something that worked in the fantasy realm of Odus.</p></blockquote><p>I keep seeing this as an excuse for the enormous size of the mounts, but in the end that just makes the smaller races look downright silly on many of the mounts. My halfling on her raid-aquired bear mount is completely dwarfed by the gigantic proportions of it. I understand you don't want larger races to "crush" the mount, but you have to remember the smaller people too. That is why I stated what I felt was more realistic (and entirely scalable) proportions in relation to how tall the rider was in my earlier post. A barbarian would not "crush" a lynx who's back was shoulder height to him, who was roughly the same length as he was tall, and allowed his legs to actually wrap around it rather than rest on its shoulders. Then you do the same for a halfling, so her mount would be MUCH smaller than a barbarians, but not ridiculously oversized for her.</p><p>All of my characters are small, its just what I prefer, but it gets annoying in a world full of big things for big players. Please don't forget the little people =(</p>

[Solarax]

<p>is it me or are the legs too short and sticklike in the sam pics?  the shoulders are bulbous sugesting strength with tiny little legs coming out.</p><p>i remember years ago when there was a problem with the horses one of the players put drawings up and they altered the then horrible version into what we have today based on that players feedback ( the person posted excelent drawings if i rememeber correctly)</p>

[MrWolfie]

<p><cite>covic wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I think our artist did a great job in creating a mount with our players in mind.  At fan faire I had many players asking for a mount that wasnt so snarly and mean like a warg.  Something on the cuter side.  With the unarmored we did give it bigger facial features and head size.  Babies, puppies, and kittens are always cuter then their adult counter parts.  Due to there proportions.  Well the unarmored is a full adult cat but we wanted to keep some of the features that make it cute and desireable.</p></blockquote><p>Then show us the mount with a Fae onboard. All the players asking for cute stuff play Fae (and maybe Halflings/Gnomes).</p><p>I bought the last expansion specifically to get the bear, and not one of my characters uses it. What a waste! In fact, apart from the horses, there's not a single mount I completely enjoy having my characters ride.</p><p>Carpets and clouds: that character crouch looks awkward and uncomfortable; they don't disable properly so you plummet inside instances; there's a delay when zoning or summoning one which prevents you from moving off immediately, like the carpet is stuck on something!</p><p>Wargs: motion sickness. Nuff said.</p><p>Rhinos: Ugly, ugly, ugly.</p><p>Bear: all my small characters look like their legs are being splayed horizontally just so they can sit astride this beast!</p><p>You've even tried to spoil my enjoyment of the horses too, now I come to think of it, as I dislike how all animal mounts had their "jump" usurped by the rearing animation - that should have been tied to a different keystroke - or at least give me the option to bind it to another keystroke [ctrl-space, for example] and leave the space bar exclusively for jumping (from a standing start or while moving).</p><p>BTW, you do have a cat mount which looks pretty cool - it's a GM mount in the Mount Guide thread. Give us a silky black pantherish one of those please:</p><p><img src="http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w82/Brorim/Weirdness/tigermini.jpg" width="459" height="357" /></p><p>For future reference, things I like to see in a mount:</p><ul><li>Either all races look comfortable riding it, or different mounts are specifically designed for specific races. You could even restrict mount usage by race as far as I'm concerned.</li><li>When moving, it looks fast. I make all my characters as small as possible, even the troll, because it simply FEELS like they're moving faster thru the environment. It doesn't matter that they're not really getting anywhere quicker, but it is incredibly important that it gives that impression.</li><li>Movement should be silky smooth and graceful, with no jarring movement of the camera up and down or side to side.</li></ul><p>I really shouldn't be buying/questing for a mount that I think looks cool only to not summon it because it's fundamentally flawed in some way and running, even at 5, 10, 15% slower, ends up being preferable. Indeed, in the advent of mounts for appearance only - mounts literally do have to LOOK and FEEL better than running and be AS CONVENIENT as being on foot.</p>

[Wurm]

<p><cite>covic wrote;</cite></p><blockquote><p>At fan faire I had many players asking for a mount that wasnt so snarly and mean like a warg.  Something on the cuter side.</p></blockquote><p>We already have that. The TSO stoner bear.</p>

[Malacha]

<p><cite>Aemm@Splitpaw wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>BTW, you do have a cat mount which looks pretty cool - it's a GM mount in the Mount Guide thread. Give us a silky black pantherish one of those please:</p><p><img src="http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w82/Brorim/Weirdness/tigermini.jpg" width="459" height="357" /></p></blockquote><p>Now this is a well proportioned mount. See where the feet rest in relation to the body/legs of the animal? The legs aren't splayed awkwardly wide with the feet resting on the beasts shoulders. The mount isn't overly large and towering over other characters of the same model/size. The shoulder height is roughly the height of the characters shoulder if she were standing next to it. Its like... perfectly proportioned for a cat mount. Give that thing a new skin and redesign the head to look like a lynx (not a cheshire cat!) and I would probably change my preorder to a collectors edition to get it.</p>

[Obadiah]

<p>Watching this thread I see a lot more evidence in support of appearance mounts. I think the user-posted cat above looks ridiculously small for the character sitting on it. With her armor she probably weighs the same as the poor cat. I also vehemently disagree with the poster above that wants mounts that are the same size for everyone. When I was a gnome I hated horses mounts because it looked like I was riding a pony. Other than carpets (hand towels for the gnome) the rhinos (slammed above) are my favorite of the mount styles we've had thus far.</p><p>My point is not to say that my opinions above are in any way superior to the others presented, but there seem to be such strong feelings in every direction it would be great to be able to satisfy more people. Whatever you make the cat ultimately look like it will be complemented and ridiculed.</p><p>Not to mention appearance mounts would open up another stream of items to sell in the Marketplace. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/908627bbe5e9f6a080977db8c365caff.gif" border="0" /></p>

[Lizzoraus]

<p>Am I the only person that actually likes that mount graphic lol? I'm looking forward to the CE mount also.</p>

[Obadiah]

<p><cite>Lizzoraus@Blackburrow wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Am I the only person that actually likes that mount graphic lol? I'm looking forward to the CE mount also.</p></blockquote><p>I like the graphics too, although not enough to compensate for the fact that it's slower than my current mounts and AFAIK has no stats. And the picture that was posted of the armored one looks a lot better than the nekkid one IMO.</p>

[Calthine]

<p><cite>Kurgan@Everfrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Lizzoraus@Blackburrow wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Am I the only person that actually likes that mount graphic lol? I'm looking forward to the CE mount also.</p></blockquote><p>I like the graphics too, although not enough to compensate for the fact that it's slower than my current mounts and AFAIK has no stats. And the picture that was posted of the armored one looks a lot better than the nekkid one IMO.</p></blockquote><p>I like it too <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Grumpy_Warrior_01]

<p><cite>Kurgan@Everfrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Lizzoraus@Blackburrow wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Am I the only person that actually likes that mount graphic lol? I'm looking forward to the CE mount also.</p></blockquote><p>I like the graphics too, although not enough to compensate for the fact that it's slower than my current mounts and AFAIK has no stats. And the picture that was posted of the armored one looks a lot better than the nekkid one IMO.</p></blockquote><p>Same here, I like the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">idea</span> of the naked cat for my barbarian, but the armored one looks better at this point.  I'm hopeful that this mount will be better proportioned for the larger races after reading what the developer said about sizing them based upon race. </p>

[katalmach]

<p><cite>Kurgan@Everfrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Watching this thread I see a lot more evidence in support of appearance mounts. I think the user-posted cat above looks ridiculously small for the character sitting on it. With her armor she probably weighs the same as the poor cat. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/908627bbe5e9f6a080977db8c365caff.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>An adult tiger can weigh up to 1000 pounds. I doubt even a 300 pound barbarian would wear more than 700 pounds of armor - so a slightly-larger-than-real-life feline mount wouldn't be that weird. Lack of strength isn't why we don't ride big cats in real life (it's because they would rip our heads off if we tried).</p><p>Personally, I would much prefer a nice sleek cat mount to the great big goofy lynx we're apparently getting. Something like the GM mount, but maybe slightly bigger. I'm a total cat lady, and would love a feline mount, but I will not be getting the Collector's Edition, because the lynx looks too big and too cartoonish for my tastes. I like real cats, not Cheshire cats.</p>

[Obadiah]

<p><cite>Zannah@Splitpaw wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Kurgan@Everfrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Watching this thread I see a lot more evidence in support of appearance mounts. I think the user-posted cat above looks ridiculously small for the character sitting on it. With her armor she probably weighs the same as the poor cat. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/908627bbe5e9f6a080977db8c365caff.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>An adult tiger can weigh up to 1000 pounds. I doubt even a 300 pound barbarian would wear more than 700 pounds of armor - so a slightly-larger-than-real-life feline mount wouldn't be that weird. Lack of strength isn't why we don't ride big cats in real life (it's because they would rip our heads off if we tried).</p><p>Personally, I would much prefer a nice sleek cat mount to the great big goofy lynx we're apparently getting. Something like the GM mount, but maybe slightly bigger. I'm a total cat lady, and would love a feline mount, but I will not be getting the Collector's Edition, because the lynx looks too big and too cartoonish for my tastes. I like real cats, not Cheshire cats.</p></blockquote><p>We'll have to disagree about reality on that one. A 1000 lb tiger would have issues carrying it's own body for long periods of time, much less that of a rider.</p>

[MrWolfie]

<p><cite>Kurgan@Everfrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>We'll have to disagree about reality on that one. A 1000 lb tiger would have issues carrying it's own body for long periods of time, much less that of a rider.</p></blockquote><p><p>Luckily, it doesn't have to, 'cos IT'S NOT REAL!!! If a real cat weighs 1000lbs, then a magical, fantasy cat can carry it's own weight indefinitely, because (and I can't stress this enough) IT'S NOT REAL. You pretty much don't even have to suspend disbelief, because reality is half the way there already. Cats are that big and they have no problems hitting massive speed over a short period of time. In a FANTASY world, big cats are bred to carry a rider, beefed up and can go on forever. I don't see you complaining that you never had to buy food for your mount - every animal mount and pet in Norrath should be DEAD by now - and that's far more reasonable than deciding a big cat can't carry a rider (whose weight, btw, you can only guess at - y'know, not to mention that that there skinny dark elf, if such a thing existed, couldn't possibly stand up in a full suit of armour - oh wait, I remember now, it's FANTASY armour and therefore weighs next to nothing in comparison to the lifetime of weight training she undertook before the game started :P :P :P )</p><p>In any case, to address your initial problem of size, the GM cat is the equivalent of a motorcycle in comparison to the body size of its rider.</p><p>The size of the "lynx" is a freaking Cadillac, big enough for an obese family of four.</p><p>I know which is cooler. Motorcycles > Cadillacs.</p></p><p>But I digress; it's just not important that they already have a cooler mount in the game than the one being hailed as a bonus for the collector's edition. It's not important that you would rather have a Cadillac than a motorcycle. What is most important is:</p><p><p><cite>Aemm@Splitpaw wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #ff9900;">mounts have to LOOK and FEEL better than running and be AS CONVENIENT as being on foot.</span></p></blockquote><span style="color: #000000;"></span></p>

[katalmach]

<p>OMG, is that a man in armour riding a freaking lion?!?</p><p><img src="http://i48.tinypic.com/2i7vkfk.jpg" width="634" height="414" /></p>

[Obadiah]

<p><cite>Aemm@Splitpaw wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Kurgan@Everfrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>We'll have to disagree about reality on that one. A 1000 lb tiger would have issues carrying it's own body for long periods of time, much less that of a rider.</p></blockquote><p>Luckily, it doesn't have to, 'cos IT'S NOT REAL!!! If a real cat weighs 1000lbs, then a magical, fantasy cat can carry it's own weight indefinitely, because (and I can't stress this enough) IT'S NOT REAL. You pretty much don't even have to suspend disbelief, because reality is half the way there already. Cats are that big and they have no problems hitting massive speed over a short period of time. In a FANTASY world, big cats are bred to carry a rider, beefed up and can go on forever. I don't see you complaining that you never had to buy food for your mount - every animal mount and pet in Norrath should be DEAD by now - and that's far more reasonable than deciding a big cat can't carry a rider (whose weight, btw, you can only guess at - y'know, not to mention that that there skinny dark elf, if such a thing existed, couldn't possibly stand up in a full suit of armour - oh wait, I remember now, it's FANTASY armour and therefore weighs next to nothing in comparison to the lifetime of weight training she undertook before the game started <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" /> <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" /> <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" /> )</p><p>In any case, to address your initial problem of size, the GM cat is the equivalent of a motorcycle in comparison to the body size of its rider.</p><p>The size of the "lynx" is a freaking Cadillac, big enough for an obese family of four.</p><p>I know which is cooler. Motorcycles > Cadillacs.</p></blockquote><p>I was merely addressing the statement of [false] fact that actual tigers weigh 1000 lbs. I have no problems whatsoever with the size of the pictured CE mount, only the fact that it's slower than current mounts and doesn't provide any other bonuses.</p><p>I prefer the mount size they've pictured over the teeny kitty that I think looks silly. Dark elf better lift her feet up or they're going to get a lot of bumps and bruises. I would rather have a Sienna than a Cadillac OR a motorcycle though. /shrug</p><p>And no, Zannah, that's a man in tights riding a lion.</p><p>There's no right answer. It's entirely opinion. I mean, I think the cat Aemm depicted above looks silly ... but I have no problem riding a rhino? <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/97ada74b88049a6d50a6ed40898a03d7.gif" border="0" /> This entire sidebar seems to offer further support for what has been stated previously. In a nutshell: Appearance Mounts FTW.</p>

[Kitsune]

<p>Just my 2 cents.</p><p>Smaller characters, like my pretty large for a Fae Swashie, do have to spread their legs to a ridiculous width to ride some mounts, like my Boxed Ykeshan bear. I love my Teddy, and ignore it, but I have had some unpleasant comments from male players while riding it wearing the Assasin's Outfit. I have stopped wearing it because of that for the time being, and I should not have to do that. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" /></p><p>So it would be nice if any mounts like that scaled a bit more in width, OR smaller toons adopted something like a side-saddle position when on them to appear more realistic.</p><p>My Kerran Assassin looks almost too large for my Bear by comparison.</p><p>BUT  I love em. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> Only other fav mount is the Ice Mare. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> So I REALLY want the pretty kitty mount. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p>

[Zabjade]

<p><span style="color: #00cc00;">Hopefully there is a range of fur styles as well as the fur color.</span></p>

[Taurus_WD]

<p>I just have a few comments for this thread, and I think they may be somewhat contradictory.</p><p>Looking at the ZAM pics, I actually laughed.  My only thought was "Is that in Cute mode?"  It looks like the answer may be yes, but I think I'd like to see a vid of the cats in action before I pass final judgment.  I already plan on buying the CE anyway (pewter figurines FTW!), but I'm still curious what they'll look like in action.</p><p>Next, I'm all for an appearance slot for the mount, but I think I might want to take it a step further and add in a "armor" slot for the mount that will allow you to change what is on the mount.  Bareback, Saddle Only, Fully Armored, etc.  That way you don't have a barely clothed caster sitting on top of a tank or a Guardian in super spike tank armor sitting on top of a naked mount (unless they prefer for it to be that way).</p><p>Last, and I think I'd be willing to pass up other mounts, is the ability to "customize" my mount.  When I say customize, I mean when you claim the mount, the first time you go to summon it, you can change it's appearance.  It'll show you on the mount, and then like at character creation you can modify it's appearance to suit you.  Maybe a Kerran with a lion look wants his cat mount to also have a lion look.  Or a Barbarian wants more of a snow leopard look to their mount.  This way you can have a mount that is much closer to what you want.  Have an option to hatch a new mount, or spawn a new mount that you pay money for at a breeder, and then you can re-customize what your mount looks like.</p>

[Viethiel]

<p><cite>Aemm@Splitpaw wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Let's not pull any punches: It looks ridiculous. The head's too big, body too long, and that saddle - is it that large so that the entire group can get onboard? A smaller character is going to look stupid riding it -- heck, a normal character is dwarfed by it.</p></blockquote><p>I absolutely agree with Aemm.  It does look goofy.  I might cancel my two pre-order copies of the Collector's Edition - and get the standard edition.  I seriously hope that isn't the final model.</p>

[Viethiel]

<p><cite>Wurm wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Kurgan@Everfrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>No, it's not really easy. Everyone has to complain about SOMEthing.</p></blockquote><p>No, it is very easy to keep your customers happy. Work hard, talk to your customer base and stop mixing Free Realms with EQ2.</p></blockquote><p>LOL.  "Work hard, talk to your customer base and stop mixing Free Realms with EQ2."  Exactly!</p>

[BleemTeam]

<p>I have 6 paying subs and have been playing since launch. Does that qualify me for a paying customer? If so, my feedback is heard, because I like the way that mount looks. Lynx looks b. a.</p>

[Hess]

<p>idk...  the head is too big the movement is all off and you cant see the face on the armored one... thinking i need to change my pre-order to the basic package.  i was hoping for somthing sleak and fast.  oh well.<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e78feac27fa924c4d0ad6cf5819f3554.gif" border="0" /></p>

[Cusashorn]

<p>That thing's head is way too big and comical looking. It's just... bad. Seriously, just bad design.</p>

[Maroger]

<p>I wish there was some way we could keep the bear small as a pet that follows us. I hate the bear when it gets big enough to ride and it takes way too long to come up to speed. But I think it is cute prior to riding it - I wish they would give us an option to keep it as a little pet.</p>

[Calthine]

<p><cite>Maroger wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I wish there was some way we could keep the bear small as a pet that follows us. I hate the bear when it gets big enough to ride and it takes way too long to come up to speed. But I think it is cute prior to riding it - I wish they would give us an option to keep it as a little pet.</p></blockquote><p>that's a great idea.  Maybe it could convert like mountable quest rewards.</p>

[Maroger]

<p><cite>Calthine wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Maroger wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I wish there was some way we could keep the bear small as a pet that follows us. I hate the bear when it gets big enough to ride and it takes way too long to come up to speed. But I think it is cute prior to riding it - I wish they would give us an option to keep it as a little pet.</p></blockquote><p>that's a great idea.  Maybe it could convert like mountable quest rewards.</p></blockquote><p>That would be great if we could covert it like that -- as the baby bear is so cute.</p>