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For

years, there’s been one aspect of video game design

that has always confused me. With each new game that comes out,

there’s a

desire by developers to give players something awesome. Whether this is

accomplished by creating brand new game mechanics that have been

tweaked from

older designs or something completely new, the goal is the same

– to wow the

player and have them convince their friends to play as well. As such,

it seems

like a no brainer to me that mounted combat should have become a staple

in MMOs

long ago, yet we still don’t have it in the vast majority of

our games today.

To

me, mounted combat covers a wide range of various

combat forms and mechanics. Some of those include the idea of fighting

while on

horseback, ship to ship, and aerial combat. For over 10 years now,

we’ve heard

the promise of mounted combat to be added to our favorite MMOs or

incorporated

in future titles. Well, it’s 2013 and I still have yet to see

it. When the

concept was brought up back in the early 2000s, we wanted it all and we

wanted

it immediately. At this point in time, I’d be happy to just

get a single piece

of it. No, seriously. Just one.

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Perhaps

part of the confusion surrounding the lack of

mounted combat comes from being an “old timer”. You

know the type. We grew up

in arcades, played Atari when it was a new system, and always ramble on

about

“the good ol’ days”. I remember playing a

game called Defender

of the Crown on a Commodore 64

in 1987. Part of the

gameplay included jousting on horseback. Now to be clear, I’m

not saying this

system was incredibly detailed or allowed you to go around killing

anyone you

came across by running them through with a lance on horseback. What it

did do

however was provide a fun tournament jousting simulation, albeit a

limited one.

My point is that this was over 25 years ago. Why the hell do I still

have yet

to take part in a jousting tournament in any MMO to date?

Things

like this make no real sense to me. I’ve been

fortunate to have worked at a number of companies that gave me access

to many

great game designers over the years. As a result, I style="">think

I understand more than the average bear that companies are

only willing to innovate so far, but there comes a point when

it’s time to take

a step off the beaten path and give something new a try. This is

especially

true when it comes to adding something like a jousting side/mini-game

to a much

bigger project.

While

I’m on the subject of why the hell has it taken so

long to get something new injected into the MMOs of today, what ever

happened

to aerial combat? Even if it’s not characters with wings

locked in mortal

combat high above the ground as was promised in the past ( style="">*cough* Aion *cough*),

we should at least be able to fight in some

form on flying mounts. They’ve been a staple of MMOs long

enough now that some

form of combat from these mighty beasts needs to be made available to

players.

I understand that allowing Wizards to sling spells willy-nilly at

Warriors may

be a bit lopsided (“Make

fun of my pointy

hat again… I dare you!”),

that doesn’t mean there can’t be some form of

crossbow action going on.

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Ignoring

the ideas of mounted combat on land, or any form

of aerial combat, where is my ship to ship combat? Hell, for that

matter, where

are my ships? Off the top of my head, style="">Darkfall

and Vanguard:

Saga of Heroes are two

of the only games I can think of that even allow you to build ships and

sail

them in any piece of water you chose. Neither of those games may be

smashing

successes in the overall scheme of things, but that doesn’t

mean they don’t

have some very good ideas. It was neither the ships nor their

implementation

that caused the plummet in popularity of either style="">Vanguard

or Darkfall.

There

is a glutton of MMO options for players available

right now. By the end of next year, there are going to be even more.

Future

titles such as Gloria

Victus

(inspired by Mount

and Blade)

promises mounted combat and even jousting tournaments as I mentioned

above.

Whether it materializes as advertised still remains to be seen. Sooner

or

later, mounted combat has to be done by someone. Players demand too

much

innovation in their gaming to be satisfied playing the same titles for

long.

With that in mind, do you want to be the company that’s

leading the charge or

the company that’s left in the dust? I don’t know

about you, but I know which

one I’d rather be.

So

what do you think? Should mounted combat be a

reality soon? Have you got a game you enjoy playing that’s

already found a way

to implement it? If so, how did it pan out? Let us know this or any

idea you

may have about the subject in our comments below. You’re also

welcome to href="https://twitter.com/Dalmarus">hit me up

directly at Twitter any time.



