Earlier this week, we ran a Daily Grind on walking in MMOs, and I happened to mention New World as a game where walking is basically slow-running, and there is no fast-running. I’ve heard that the game originally had an even slower movement speed back during testing, which makes my eyeballs start to twitch because holy crap, it’s already so slow. I’m already missing mounts. And I’m not alone. RPS recently ran a piece with the headline I’m sorry to say it New World, but you need mounts, mate, and the author is right.
I do not think all MMORPGs need mounts. City of Heroes, for example, never had mounts, and I don’t miss them at all. You know why I don’t miss them? Because traveling in that game on foot is already a dream. I can super-speed, super-jump, fly, and teleport my way around the world, and that’s better than mounts. It also has portals and trains and ferries and all kinds of other tools for allowing players to get where they are going.
But New World does not have most of these things, outside of a basic cooldown inn teleport and more expensive teleports, the currency for which you just know is going to end up in the cash shop. And so, when my duo partner and I want to meet up, we spend half of our gametime slow-running, usually though beautiful scenery that we’ve already seen dozens of times. Sometimes I want to stop and pick herbs. But sometimes I don’t, and I don’t really have that option here.
Maybe it’s planned for a future update, the way Guild Wars 2 did it, but Guild Wars 2 didn’t need them, so they felt like an amazing bonus when they turned out to the the best in the genre. Here, well, I’d settle for a basic horse like the ones I could buy as the stable as a newbie in Ultima Online 24 years ago.
What do you think – does New World need mounts?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
