Horses should be easier to obtain

[davidwww]

I have been running (literally) around Middle Earth for what seems forever, I really wanted a horse to cut down those travelling times, so I adventured slowly gathering tp's and finally I managed to garner enough points to buy the Horse Riding skill for 95tp thinking finally I can buy a horse to ride, but that hope was short lived as I had to jump through a few more hoops to get one, all this trouble to get a horse so I can just get to places a bit quicker, there must be a better way and there is I think horses should be available from the start once the tutorial is finished (or possibly once you have travelled to Combe or Staddle) they can be of various qualities, travel speed and prices and be simply bought from stables.

Nag 200sp 33% speed increase 100 health
Standard 400sp 66% speed increase 200 health
Trained 600sp 100% speed increase 400 health
Thoroughbred 1000sp 120% speed increase 600 health

To better your horses you can then go to the LOTR store and buy things like horseshoes that can increase a horses speed, various types of armour for better protection, that can be dyed, better quality feed such as grains etc to give them better health which can be permanent or temporary boosts and anything else Turbine can think of, this way we get to travel a bit faster around the world earlier and Turbine can still sell things for horses in the store.
What do we all think of this idea.

Regards
Davidww

[Van'cali]

I was going to just laugh and leave, but that would be rude. Do you realize that just before this F2P, you had to wait until lv 35?! It could have been 30, but pretty sure it was 35. I haven't been a lower class for a while. You could buy a Bree Pony that was pretty slow at lv 20. That helped for a while. Then there was the quest just to get the skill. You had to spend over an hour delivering horses all over the place.

But now? Come on! 95TP isn't that hard to obtain and these hoops you talk about? I recently leveled a guy up to 14, so the 95 TP was instant. All I had to do from there was go to the farm and buy a horse for 500s. Done. I have a horse.

The changes in mounts recently are a far cry from what they were not too long ago. For us older players, seeing a lv 5 on a mount just seems unnatural and wrong to us.

This idea would have made sense about a couple months ago when it was actually difficult to obtain a horse. Now, I would say you have it made.

[Sardonyx]

Level 35 and 4g220s was the old level and cost.

Compared to that, it's a walk in the park these days.

[Jhenox]

The horses right now are, I think, are extremely easy to get. It used to be much harder, longer, and more expensive to get them. Walk a little and enjoy Middle-Earth.

[Cauldronborn]

As recently new player i had no difficulty getting the cash, the skill, the turbine points, nor to the farm itself.

[djheydt]

Level 35 and 4g220s was the old level and cost.

Compared to that, it's a walk in the park these days.

I knew the price and level requirement had gone down. Do they not have to do the quests any more, including that last aggravating obstacle course? Jehoshaphat.

[Widmore]

To better your horses you can then go to the LOTR store and buy things like horseshoes that can increase a horses speed, various types of armour for better protection, that can be dyed, better quality feed such as grains etc to give them better health which can be permanent or temporary boosts and anything else Turbine can think of, this way we get to travel a bit faster around the world earlier and Turbine can still sell things for horses in the store.

This part I would object to completely as it reeks a bit too much of those "Asian grinder" f2p game stores. The ones where people who do and don't spend any money have a much wider gap in terms of game play quality than games like LOTRO or EQ2, where things are more balanced.

[Roberto_the_First]

I knew the price and level requirement had gone down. Do they not have to do the quests any more, including that last aggravating obstacle course? Jehoshaphat.

If you choose not to buy the skill at level 5, and instead do the quest at level 20, the only part remaining of the original quests is the obstacle course.

[Elfheart]

Level 35 and 4g220s was the old level and cost.

Compared to that, it's a walk in the park these days.

Heck, for VIP the 3 horse delivery quests were cut too. Now the riding quest simply has you race around the track to get the riding skill. It's super easy to get a horse but I guess now that the game is free some people think they should just get everything handed to them.

[djheydt]

Heck, for VIP the 3 horse delivery quests were cut too. Now the riding quest simply has you race around the track to get the riding skill. It's super easy to get a horse but I guess now that the game is free some people think they should just get everything handed to them.

It isn't "free". You just pay in different ways. TANSTAAFL.




(There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.)

[Livejazz]

Horses are sooooo easy to get in this game that I'm finding it difficult to believe anyone would advocate making them easier to obtain.

[davidwww]

My apologies to everyone if this seems like a totally ridiculous idea, the time it took to get a horse from my point of view seemed long probably due to the fact as a full time carer for my wife, I don't get to play that many hours and I try to fit in as much as I can when I do get to play, it also could be the fact that I'm easily distracted , ooh! look birdies....................... .... oh! sorry where was I. um? anyhoo forget everything I have written and carry on adventuring, there is nothing to see here move along, move along

Regards
Davidwww

[Ayrolen]

My apologies to everyone if this seems like a totally ridiculous idea, the time it took to get a horse from my point of view seemed long probably due to the fact as a full time carer for my wife, I don't get to play that many hours and I try to fit in as much as I can when I do get to play, it also could be the fact that I'm easily distracted , ooh! look birdies....................... .... oh! sorry where was I. um? anyhoo forget everything I have written and carry on adventuring, there is nothing to see here move along, move along

Regards
Davidwww

No need to be sorry.

A couple of things to keep in mind regarding TP/money acquisition.

1) a quick way to get TP is to create multiple characters and just run through some of the easy starter-area deeds. exploration deeds where you just have to find POIs are really easy.
2) to save money, don't repair your gear every time you go to a vendor to sell stuff. you replace your gear so often through loot drops, quest rewards, and craftables that it's a waste of money to repair something you're going to sell in a couple of levels. as long as you aren't dying excessively, your armour should hold up pretty well.
3) vendor all of your mob trash and trying to avoid staying out questing for too long after your bags fill up. I also tend to pitch anything that doesn't stack because I'd rather have a stack of 50 of something worth 1s than some random yellow Greatsword worth 7s taking up a bag space.

Hopefully that helps a little and you can get a horsey faster on your future characters.

[Angry_Deuce]

As a new player, and someone that has grinded the 195 TP riding skill cost for 3 different toons now, I think the mount acquisition is perfectly fine the way it was, let alone the reduced 95 that it costs now.

By the time you really start to feel the need for a mount (for me the later Bree-Land quests), unless you spent up your TP on other things you should have that much just through normal playing of the game. Not only that, but if you're short a few TP, you can always pop your temporary horse whistle and complete all the exploration deeds in Ered Luin, the Shire, and Bree...right there is 55 TP that requires hardly any fighting whatsoever.

To be honest, I'm quite happily surprised with how easy it is to unlock content in this game without spending a penny of RL money. Most games that have this type of system have a decent amount of content that can only be unlocked through a real money purchase...the fact that a person can grind TP instead is awesome. I really hope that never changes...

[Phaedrah]

LOL @ this post... Oh lawdy lawd.

This is why Turbine needs to stop dumbing this game down.

[Evebel]

As others have pointed out, it used to be level 35 and over 4 GOLD to obtain a mount.

When I began playing WoW, it was level 40 and 100 gold (back then, 100 gold was a lot). Eventually they lowered the requirements dramatically, to level 20 and 4 gold.

In LOTRO, it’s an even sweeter deal – level 20, 500 silver, a free 24-hour mount AND the option to purchase a mount in the store as early as level 5. And yet, people still want more, cheaper, and faster.

Mind you, I understand the desire to want early mounts. Would I be thrilled if LOTRO gifted me a 200% speed increase horse for free every time I popped out another level 5 alt? Of course I would. Most people would, that’s perfectly natural. So there’s nothing evil or wrong in people asking for more.

On the other hand, the OP (and others who complain about this issue) are, IMO, missing something that is key to the enjoyment of this game. Unlike other MMO’s you might have played, LOTRO is not all about speed, rushing frantically to end-level where your character’s “real game” can finally begin. LOTRO is much more about the journey, about taking your time and really absorbing the little things around you as you go. The landscapes, the atmosphere, the epic story line, the people you meet and the adventures you have together.

Think about Frodo and his journey to destroy the Ring. How much shorter and less compelling would his story have been if he could have been instantly teleported to Mordor, where he mounted up his own personal 310% speed flying eagle, soared over Mt. Doom, and just dropped the ring into the fires? Boom, done, in less than 10 minutes. But I wouldn’t want to read that story, would you? It’s because his quest takes so long to complete, because he has so many hurdles to overcome, that we find ourselves caught up in his story.

In the same way, *you* are creating your own epic storyline in Middle-Earth. You’re going to traverse the world, dealing with struggles and hardships, overcoming difficulties and slowly improving your character. Enjoy it as you go. Someday you’ll be level 65 and looking back on this time with fondness, proud of who you’ve become and what you’ve accomplished.

[Angry_Deuce]

Think about Frodo and his journey to destroy the Ring. How much shorter and less compelling would his story have been if he could have been instantly teleported to Mordor, where he mounted up his own personal 310% speed flying eagle, soared over Mt. Doom, and just dropped the ring into the fires? Boom, done, in less than 10 minutes. But I wouldn’t want to read that story, would you?

I don't know, do the eagles have frickin' lasers on their heads? Cuz that would be sweet!

[Mircea12345]

They are already easy and cheap. You should have been around before f2p went live when you had to be lvl 35 and pay over 4g to get a regular horse. Chill.

[Celestrata]

I think we've all answered the OP's question and provided some good ways of obtaining a mount.

Closing the thread.