Mounted and Foot Combat Changes in Mortal Online 2

[soulpcbr]

As a veteran player who has been part of the Mortal Online community since its first iteration, I’ve experienced the game’s battles and evolutions over the years. However, one persistent issue undermines a critical aspect of the game’s dynamics: the rigid separation between mounted and foot combat. This system forces players into a frustrating dichotomy and limits the strategic depth that should be the hallmark of a sandbox MMORPG.

The Problem: Forced Choice Between Mounted and Foot Combat​

Currently, players must choose between being 100% mounted or 100% foot combat-focused, which leads to an imbalanced and restrictive gameplay experience:

1. Mounted Players: When dismounted, they become nearly useless in foot combat due to their lack of competitive skills. This makes them easy targets and breaks the immersion of being a versatile warrior.
2. Foot Combat Players: When mounted, they inevitably lose their mount because they lack tools to protect it. This forces them to avoid any hybrid strategy, frustrating their ability to adapt.

This binary choice discourages player creativity and limits the strategic potential a game like Mortal Online should encourage. Furthermore, players attempting to build a hybrid character end up being ineffective in both situations—someone 50% mounted and 50% foot combat-focused is simply a subpar character.

Proposed Solution: Make Mounted Skills Secondary​

The solution is simple yet transformative: make mounted combat skills secondary instead of requiring full specialization. This change would allow all players to be reasonably competitive both mounted and on foot, keeping the focus on what truly matters in Mortal Online: player skill.

Benefits of This Change​

1. Increased Tactical Diversity: Players could effectively fight both mounted and on foot, creating a more dynamic and unpredictable game environment.
2. Focus on Individual Skill: Mortal Online has always stood out as a game where player skill trumps builds. Making mounted skills secondary would reinforce this unique aspect of the game.
3. Reduced Frustration: Players would no longer be penalized for trying to be versatile. This would greatly enhance the experience for the majority of the community.
4. Balanced Power Dynamics: Removing the absolute superiority of mounted combatants would prevent griefers from monopolizing this advantage, making the battlefield fairer for everyone.

Research and Supporting Data​

In other sandbox MMORPGs, such as Albion Online and Black Desert Online, systems that allow for greater flexibility in builds foster more engaged and active communities. Additionally:

• A survey conducted on the Mortal Online 2 official forums revealed that over 70% of participants feel frustrated with the mounted vs. foot combat build limitations.
• Game design studies show that rigid build choices often alienate new players, especially in competitive titles.

The Argument Against Griefers​

Let’s be honest: the only players likely to oppose this change are those who exploit mounted combat skills to "farm" easy victories. They care little about balance and more about maintaining an unfair advantage. The game should prioritize its broader player base, not the minority exploiting design flaws.

Conclusion​

Making mounted combat skills secondary is a logical and necessary step to improve Mortal Online's combat dynamics. This change would strengthen the core essence of the game—individual player skill—and attract new audiences while giving veteran players like me the rich and strategic experience we’ve always sought.

This is not just a suggestion but a call for developers to prioritize what truly matters: fun, balance, and player skill. How about bringing back the essence that makes Mortal Online truly unique?

 

[Rollz]

I agree with all mounted primaries, except mounted magery, should be secondary, and all secondaries for mounted players should be primary, with that, you can exclusively be a mounted dedicated player.

 

[Smoldor]

I would make them all secondaries, and make them cap out at 80% of their full power. TTK other mounts is insanely low because of zoology lore.
You could go a step further and remove sway reduction from mounted archery and make it entirely dependent on controlled aiming, but this would would be better facilitated if aiming technique and controlled aiming were swapped so controlled is the parent.
Mounted charge should also be a primary.

 

[Wyndorn]

Research and Supporting Data
In other sandbox MMORPGs, such as Albion Online and Black Desert Online, systems that allow for greater flexibility in builds foster more engaged and active communities.

This is specious logic at best. Do you really mean to imply that due to more flexible build, AO and BDO have larger player bases? If not, then what do you base "more engaged and active communities" on here.

As someone who plays MA quite a lot, this idea that mounted players are superior is just ridiculous. It is very difficult to kill someone on foot as an MA, regardless of their build, if they have any decent armor. Footies in reptile or above are just almost impossible to kill due to low damage, fat mages in moderate armor are impossible to kill due to healing output, skinny mages are impossible to kill because they are a tiny target and hard to hit (though, the easiest of the 3 I list here), and lastly, if anyone of them have a longbow, you are hard countered.

For me, it just always feels like people are whining mounted builds are op when they refuse to carry a 1 gold bow lol

 

[Jackdstripper]

While i understand, and often times experince the OP’s frustration with the rigid separation between mounted and foot fighters, i am a big skeptic of allowing strong hybrid playstyles.

The idea sounds like it would generate more options, but it never does. It always boil down to one or two best hybrid builds that trump everything else, and everyone is forced to use them or be gimped. This in turn does the opposite of diversify playstyles, as the only viable class becomes that fotm hybrid build. When everyone is a hybrid, nobody is. Everyone just is the same class, and every encounter plays out the same way. Over time this makes the game very repetitive, one dimensional and boring.

Because of this, i personally cannot support the dilution of defined classes for the benefit of hybrid builds. The only way to preserve distinct playstyle and diversity on the battlefield is to make role specialization a necessity. In this i think SV has done a good job so far.

The best balance is not in having the one build that rules them all, but in making sure every build has its strengths on the battlefield, but also its counters.

 

[Smoldor]

I thought a lot more about this and if I could make any changes I would move mounted combat to combat technique (with aggr/defensive stance), mounted archery to ranged combat, mounted magery to mental training, and controlled riding to domestication (and make it do something more tangible, like +5~10% or +50~100 stamina or something for your mount).

This create the illusion for characters that non-mounted centric characters can stand a chance (and they will if they have more ***SKILL***, since their damage would be competitive enough), as well as give mounted builds more wiggle room for their builds.

And even then, I am willing to bet 90% of footies will not take the skill even without the controlled riding skill wall.

 

[Sally]

If they made this change, you'd have to take skill points away to balance it out. Otherwise you'd make a game of everything builds, which, the game already has a problem with as is.