Howdy folks. Addressing the latter in my title first - I was directed here from the Feedback button in EQ but there's no feedback or suggestions area of the forum I can see. Come on guys Can we get a forum area strictly for suggestions? And now for a suggestion itself: given we can already just apply a strong mount's stats and speed to a lower mount to maintain the mount we actually like using - could we go as far as to be able to apply mount benefits to us without actually mounting up? The reason I ask is because there's a substantial amount of effort put into all these store illusion clickies, and a good number of historical illusion pieces, and the majority of them cannot really be used on a caster because it prevents the use of a mount. Unless you go to fight in an indoor zone they're basically melee only fun. Short of doing some hefty graphics and/or code work per piece to make the illusions all sit on a mount, the ability to use the speed/stat buffs and enhanced regens on the move would seem like the quick and clean fix. And while it seems anti-role-play to be able to mount up without mounting up, I'm here because it's even harder to roleplay when you can either a) only use your RP illusion of choice in the few cases you are indoor fighting or b) use the illusion constantly and never get grped because you have half the mana generation of a caster that doesn't RP. Large grps/raids may also appreciate the decreased screen clutter. Cheers and out.
As far as I know, you get an unlimited buff now for a mounts stats. You get this when you first mount. It will not drop off, unless you click it off, as long as you cast a mount where you can use a mount. From then on, the buff is on you even if you enter a place where you lose the mount, the buff for stats is still there, i.e., Mines of Glooming Deep (or any other indoor/dungeon zone). This buff does not include the mounts speed. So what you want is the mounts permanent speed, added to the buff, so you never need a run speed buff again? I don't know if they'll do that, but you would think part of the speed would need the mount actually to be there, or another speed buff if you can't have the mount. I play on live, so maybe if you're referring to TLP's, you don't get the permanent buff. I played on Fippy a bit before the merger, and I did there, so maybe the permanent buff is era based. I'm not certain. As far as I know though, you can click off, or lose your mount, and keep the stats from the mount, just not the speed bonus. Edit: Oh, and you do lose "Mounted Regen," when you lose or click off the mounts, but you get to keep the stats. I think losing the mount in a dungeon, and the regen, is part of the reason you get a zone modifier for those zones. They are usually a bit harder.
Any mount you use will automatically be the speed of the fastest mount you have ever used. If it has been a very long time since you played (i.e. before they added this feature about 10 years ago), you may need to cast the fast mount again first before that works for the otherwise slower mount.
I know, don't worry I actually mention this at the top, stating "given we can already just apply a strong mount's stats and speed to a lower mount to maintain the mount we actually like using" This is not a question of stats or mechanics changes per se, but the ability to have our mounted status - which would still be disallowed in indoor zones (dungeons as called above) to maintain balance - without graphically being mounted at all. So, almost like being mounted graphically is an illusion spell. It's purely a graphics/aesthetics query. The motive here being...say I want to use an illusion clicky from the store. At the moment, if I use that illusion clicky, I can not get on the mount after, with the error "you cannot use a mount while in this form" or whatever it is, because the game graphically does not know how to sit that image on the mount. Now stats aside, this means I cannot gain the mana regeneration boost for sitting/meditating unless I physically sit down with ctrl+s, which is impossible to do while casting. Using a mount allows me to be sat at all times for additional mana regen, while allowing me to cast during combat (see below) Therefore I am unable to use one of the clicky illusions from the store, or my own cast illusion such as the specter form, without losing a massive amount of mana regen that I would normally get from being sat down at all times (as well as mounted run speed when dung hits the fan). As such, caster classes must sacrifice sat down mana regeneration boosts if they would like to use almost any illusion and would normally be able to use a mount. It has a very simple resolution, whereby for example I mount up, then cast the illusion spell/clicky, and that illusion spell takes over as if I weren't mounted - but I still act as though mounted, with the speed boosts and sat down mana regen boost. It has no realistic repercussions on gameplay; simply allows me, as a caster, to use illusions such as specter form wherever I go for RP purposes without sacrificing actual combat ability. Melee classes do not have this problem, as they generally don't want to be mounted in combat anyway, with many skills actually being unusable while mounted. They are free to use an illusion and fight. Casters cannot use most illusions in combat in outdoor zones because of the massive dropoff in mana regen from being stood up most of the time. At present I can't really purchase an illusion from the store for my caster classes, which seems an odd omission given the amount of effort being put into the store.
