Hands-On Preview: New World's Mounts Make Travel A Breeze In Aeternum

mmorpg.com:

Getting my first mount in New World was an incredibly memorable experience. Standing before me was a figure I had read about for years and studied, even thanks to a voracious desire to learn all I could about the Mongol Conquests of the Middle Ages. Jochi Khan, the eldest son of the great Ghengis Khan, stood before me in a felt tent, speaking about communing with the wild beasts, namely the horses, and his connection to them, of Aeternum.

It’s a compelling moment if you’ve played New World since launch, as getting a mount has been one of the most requested features. Obviously, in an MMO set on a magical and deathless island, those mounts don’t have to be horses, but it was inspired to have the first you earn be a steed, given to you by one of the great Horse Lords in history. Jochi’s own personal history is mired by the mists of time — and it’s a reminder of one of the great qualities of New World : being able to take cues from our own history and make it their own.

Mounts in New World weren’t in the game at launch, and the MMO had a lore reason for this: they could not be tamed. As animals came to Aeternum, the lore said that they essentially go wild and cannot keep being tamed. It was a tidy, in-universe way to explain why you couldn’t saddle up and ride despite the fact that many of the adventurers in the world would have likely brought a steed with them at one point (you can’t tell me that the Roman Auxiliary in Brimstone Sands didn’t have a single mount with them). 

However, thanks to New World: Rise of the Angry Earth breaking some of the lore rules and transforming the region of First Light into Elysian Wilds by Adiana, alongside the Beast Lords coming out of hibernation in the Abyssal Realm, this connection has