Horses Discussion

[MultiHeartGold]

RPG games had to be based on historical wars in the first place to get their ideas, so yeah.

But none of Herocraft's classes are copied from historical wars. You can always use imagination to do things different.

 

[Danda]

I said Rangers don't fit on horseback unless they're Parthian Multi, Parthians were famous for their horse archers. Same goes for scythians, but usually archers would be foot units.

Mongols with short bows?

Also here is food for thought. How will Mounted players be effected by channel slows?

 

[XenZan]

From a lore perspective, what makes sense to me is: all warrior specs can use horses effectively, as well as rangers, mystics, and possibly ninjas. I see rangers and mystics as being nature based, and if rangers can use wolves, why not horses?

Horseback is often too rigorous motion-wise for spellcasting -- interferes with gestures and whatnot -- for me to say yes to casters using them. I suppose Clerics could be a fit as well.

As far as balancing goes, I am not sure what the best way to go about it is. It seems that it would break the game if only certain classes could use them, especially in combat. I kind of like the idea of not allowing them in combat somehow, but then I think most warrior specs suffer greatly in terms of lore, particularly dragoons.

 

[Fjordsen]

From a lore perspective, what makes sense to me is: all warrior specs can use horses effectively, as well as rangers, mystics, and possibly ninjas.

How do ninjas fit in with horses in the lore? Or mystics for that matter?

Mongols with short bows?

Also here is food for thought. How will Mounted players be effected by channel slows?

I said Scythians earlier and scythians was an earlier version of the mongols (Nomads, horse archers, cavalery based armies), only more barbaric.

 

[XenZan]

How do ninjas fit in with horses in the lore? Or mystics for that matter?

Well, like I said, what makes sense to me. A lot of this is based entirely on perspective and opinion. Perceptions on what a class actually is vary from person to person. The game cannot reflect every aspect of lore, just as it twists others. Ninjas were trained heavily in martial arts, yet in-game, they do no more damage with their fist weapons than anything else. They were experts at espionage and infiltration, as well as disguises, and were trained in many varied professions. And the time frame where ninjas were prominent was also a prominent time for horses used as transportation and combat. I'm not saying ninjas were mounted units by any means, but they would certainly know how to ride them effectively.

Mystics are another class who I guess the perception of differs. I see them as a sort of druid, using nature-related magic and coexisting with it. They already get forage and port (which I extend as a more natural form of teleportation than what a Wizard would cast), and even bolt, summoning nature's fury to attack their foes. Horses are very much a part of nature, and just as I see a mystic using butterflies and squirrels to deliver messages or something, I see them using horses for transportation, at the very least.

Some amount of realism and history does indeed go into the making of fantasy, but there also is a great deal of magic and mystery that goes into any fantasy rpg, and clearly there is no real-world equivalent for much of that. And it's half the fun.

 

[globjako2]

GIVE RANGERS JUMP AND HORSIES!!! D:

 

[kirinelf]

Classes I think would go well with horses:
All Warrior specs - Seems to be generally accepted in the thread already. Knights and all.
Ranger - Horseback archery. Will also give Rangers a much needed boost.
Bard - Gives off that feeling of a travelling songsman. The one who rides into a town, plays a tune for bed and board, then is off the next sunrise.

Classes that MIGHT go well with horses (YMMV):
Ninja - Historically ninja were fairly highly trained and able to use anything as an improvised weapon. Their invisibility and stealth, while partly true, involved a lot of disguise and willingness to dress and act beneath their station (Samurai would barely notice a peasant walking by). Speed is not something they were known for, despite what popular media these days have it as. While they might certainly know how to ride a horse, doing so draws eyes, and that is not what a ninja wants.

Disciple - Being trained martial artists, riding might be an addition to the skills they've learned. Riding a horse would be a means of getting to places quickly, but brings up the idea of a lack of discipline in the disciple. True training might involve actually having to walk to places rather than riding a horse, so this is debatable.

Necromancer - As a Caster who tends to rely on DoTs and help from entities from the Nether (In lore), it might be possible to explain the Necro as a riding class due to not needing to concentrate as much. Maybe. *Shrug*

Classes I don't think should have horses:
Caster/Healer classes - Casting takes time, concentration and focus. These are fairly hard to do while riding on a bouncy animal down a forest trail dodging branches (Extreme example). If there's any distraction while casting a spell, it should fail. While XenZan puts up a good argument for Mystics being able to use horses (Alignment with nature), it can be argued that a Mystic wouldn't want to force a noble animal into a beast of burden.

Runeblade - I just don't see these guys with horses.

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I also agree that out of combat, every class should be able to have horses, but I'm not sure how to handle the animals simply disappearing when you enter combat. Can't think of another option though. Maybe upon initiating combat, you're thrown off your horse and it bolts? Doesn't quite disappear, just runs off so you can find it and get back on it and hightail it outta there or something.

 

[Jasquan]

This will be an interesting mechanic. You could be racing along, trying to get somewhere, then a Ranger hits you with an arrow and BAM horse gone. Or a skele hits you or something. It'll be interesting to see if this will turn out to be annoying or tolerable.

Ever played SWTOR...? Whenever you're hit on a mount, your mount EXPLODES, and leaves you on the ground stunned for a few seconds. Fuck yes.

EDIT:

Necromancer - As a Caster who tends to rely on DoTs and help from entities from the Nether (In lore), it might be possible to explain the Necro as a riding class due to not needing to concentrate as much. Maybe. *Shrug*

I also agree that out of combat, every class should be able to have horses, but I'm not sure how to handle the animals simply disappearing when you enter combat. Can't think of another option though. Maybe upon initiating combat, you're thrown off your horse and it bolts? Doesn't quite disappear, just runs off so you can find it and get back on it and hightail it outta there or something.

Necromancers on their skeleton steeds, awwww yeaaaaahhhh........
Or make it a skill that has no mana|stam cost, and requires a few seconds to cast? To symbolise your calling your horse over or something.

 

[whatdays]

This is crazy news! It's going to change the whole feeling of MC/HC! I love it.
Also, when are wheat blocks coming?

 

[Dazureus]

Step one would be to make horses scarce as possible, imo. I'd like everybody to have the potential to own horses, but only see a certain segment actually have them.

From there, maybe disallowing skill usage while riding (with exceptions). This way heavy-hitter melees still benefit from taking their steeds into battle but will have to dismount to fill certain roles. In this vein perhaps casters should be allowed to cast a limited number of spells while mounted as well, just bread-and-butter stuff. Drainsoul on Necros, Fireball on Wizards, maybe Pray on Clerics, etc.

 

[Templar_James]

I say we just make horses for the rich people if you buy a horse you can have or that goes a certain speed the faster it goes the more money it costs so there would be horses for "poor people". This would be a good coin drain Kainzo as some have 20k coins worth of gold in their chests

 

[Fjordsen]

Totally getting a texture pack turning horses into ponies (Thanks MultiHeartGold for reminding me of this)

 

[MultiHeartGold]

Totally getting a texture pack turning horses into ponies (Thanks MultiHeartGold for reminding me of this)

Oh god what have I done...

 

[Xargun]

Could we have different types of horses with different speed boosts ? Perhaps farmers can summon the basic horse and then when you breed them there is a chance for a 'better' type as the result. Will need some way to turn the horse into an item for sale though - perhaps involve some other class - engineer or mason to make a cage to hold the shrunken horse for sale ?

 

[Kainzo]

Could we have different types of horses with different speed boosts ? Perhaps farmers can summon the basic horse and then when you breed them there is a chance for a 'better' type as the result. Will need some way to turn the horse into an item for sale though - perhaps involve some other class - engineer or mason to make a cage to hold the shrunken horse for sale ?

I'm not sure if different horse speeds are available...

 

[Templar_James]

I'm not sure if different horse speeds are available...

Make them something to strive for so people try to earn money to get these horses like maybe 10k?

 

[malikdanab]

Make them something to strive for so people try to earn money to get these horses like maybe 10k?

"My kingdom for a horse!"

 

[Xargun]

Totally getting a texture pack turning horses into ponies (Thanks MultiHeartGold for reminding me of this)

Will they be "my little ponies" ?

 

[Templar_James]

"My kingdom for a horse!"

If you don't got the money then you don't got the money it's easy to get 10k unless your lazy 10 stacks of gold ore is like 6k

 

[Xargun]

If horses are fairly common then I think since we are hardcore, horses should be able to be killed. And since these are not real horses we don't have to worry about PETA getting involved