MountsFollow

Mounts are definatly worth it. Not to mention the medding while casting thing, you also won't get agro while medding which comes in very handy. Keep in mind the cheapest one is extremly slow. (regular run with no aa's or sow) The main use of a mount is while grinding so moving around isn't that big of a deal. If your worried about having a big mount getting in the way buy a shrink potion or two.

IMO a mount is a requirement for a high lvl caster.

The lack of sitting aggro is a huge advantage for classes that tend to teeter on the edge of stealing it. They also have innate safefall and will protect you if feared in a hilly zone. You will not regen mana while moving. All in all one of the best investments I made in my druid. I recommenda droggy over a horse because the head does not get in your way if you use first person, although some people get seasick when moving on them in first person

I dont't teeter. If I sit, I get aggro (after 3 or 4 detrimental spells). Mounts are definately worth it. All my casters (> level 20) have one (druid, cleric, shammy, enchanter).

Is it possible to FD while on a mount?

if u get the worst droggy and cast a sow on yourself, u run at sow speed or at drog speed when u r mounted?

You cannot forage or bandage while mounted.

Also you cannot sit (duh!)...


You run at mount speed while mounted regardless of movement enhancement buffs.

Edited, Wed Jun 15 10:25:36 2005 by Dothammer

I bought the cheapie black horse, and haven't looked back since. It's all a matter of preference.

The horse head in the way is not as horrid as some people make it seem. Because of all I had read, I was actually worried about getting one for that reason.

The only thing I see of the horse in first person is the ears on a wood elf druid - might be different for other classes/races, but as this is the only horse I own, I couldn't tell you for sure.

I have a Cheapy Black Horse for my DE Cleric.....and the Horse head is not an issue. I don't know if it's a DE thing or not.....but i have no issues with it.

That may be, but how big do you have to be for the problem to occur? My human wizard uses a horse, and I can barely see the points of the ears when in first person mode. Since I'm usually rotating views around in 3rd person anyway, it's not a problem ever.

IIRC, SOE did a patch some time ago where they reduced the "size" of the ears of horses as seen in first person mode. I'm betting that most people who insist on getting drogs because horse ears are a problem haven't actually tried using a horse in a long time. Either that, or they're looking *down* while in first person mode all the time. Do that, and you'll see the ears.

I've personally never had a problem with the horse ears. My paladin uses his AA horse purely for running around, so it's not an issue at all for him. My wizard uses his horse (bought the elcheapo slow one cause that's all I need) just for medding and lack of sit agro when grouping. He's got no problems either. Unless you're one of those people who tries to walk around and loot and such while on a mount, you're not really going to have a problem. Me? I don't move at all when I've got the horse going (wizard obviously!). It's for medding without having to sit. Period. I let other people loot. I just sit there and cast spells. Never had a problem...

A few things here to add.

I have a drog, the low level one, for both my 30 chanter and my 52 druid. If I want to run fast to somewhere I either use a SOW potion or cast it on myself. Then, I click OFF the drog, as it will not run faster with spells like SOW. However, if I need to recharge mana badly, while traveling, the drog/horse lets you travel and recharge mana as if sitting. This is a huge asset as a caster, but does nothing if you are a tank type. Which brings me to the next thing...

You regain health/HP at a standing rate when you are on a horse/drog, not at the sitting rate. So, if you are in a safe area and need to regain HP, you want to switch off the animal and just sit, to regain both HP and mana quickly. The benefit of the animal is that you will not get SIT agro if you have a pop or a roamer comes by, so you may want to keep that bridle/drum screen handy if you see one. If you get sit agro, you will be attacked, possibly before the MT and loose even more health, so .. ummm... Sit wisely youngster.

Finally, horse or drog is personal preference. However, I once zoned into POK with my human druid and the drog changed into a horse on me... I hated the head in the way, so was happy to see my drog on next zone in..

Hope this helps some.

Mounts are very worth it for necros. My necro uses hers all the time. Of course necros regen mana very fast, but wouldn't it be nice to be able to regen it even faster without taking sitting aggro?

As for FD... you can FD on a mount. The mount poofs, but as soon as you stand up you can recast him and get your sitting mana regen without sitting aggro (especially good since if you got aggro from dropping a bunch of DoTs, as soon as they tick over once after you stand up, you'll have that aggro back if you sit down).

Mostly correct info, except for this bit:



You only regain mana as though sitting when standing still. If you are moving, you lose the mana regen benefit of the mount. So, unless you purchased the fastest mount, there is little reason to use it while moving around (unless you need safefall or something). You're much better off just getting a sow, or obtaining Jboots, or (later) relying on your runspeed AAs for movement.



Very good advice. I figured that one out pretty quick as well. Basically, if you can safely sit and you need to recover both HPs and mana, then sit. If you just need to recover mana, then use the mount instead. Again, this is why mounts are an incredibly useful tool for casters. Theoretically, you should need to recover mana far more often then HPs. And the fact that you can med during battle without worrying about grabbing agro by sitting is *huge*.



I still say it's mostly personal preference. I purchased a horse for my wizard because honestly I think drogs look kinda ugly and silly. I don't have a whole lot of fantasies about the mighty wizard sitting astride his purple stripped lizard whilst tossing bolts of fire down upon his enemies...

Just doesn't have the same feel to me. Again. Since I use the horse for things other then moving around and clicking on stuff, it really doesn't matter if there are ears in the frame or not. I can certainly understand this being much more of an issue for a class that might need to click to target different things on the screen, while perhaps moving at the same time (like chanters). But for a wizard at least, I have found absolutely no problems with using a horse.