Not really a spoiler, just something I think/say every time I come across stuff like this lol:

I have no idea how people have the time, dedication, patience, and ingenuity to figure this stuff out.

As far as clients, I use Voyager. It’s not perfect (it likes to crash/reload a lot, which if I’m understanding correctly is a longstanding bug in one of the underlying frameworks) but the rendering is on point. And as a longtime Apollo user the interface is very familiar.

Personally, I think it was a very bad call to remove the Ancient Saddle & Bridle.

Likewise. I get wanting to push the devices as transportation but as you said there’s enough terrain that requires it already (if you want to navigate other than by foot, rune, or paraglider).

I do feel that there’s enough “missing” from the game to indirectly support the idea that DLC was supposed to be a thing. There’s enough ancient tech in the game (towers/mapping, fast travel, Purah Pad) that adding another piece wouldn’t be out of place.

Or just hide a special saddle with mechanical wings behind some late-game quest to make your horse able to glide.

…now that is one hell of an idea.

This is fantastic info, thanks! I spent more time than I care to admit trying to find a “best” horse, constantly cycling out my stable to check stats etc. Only to be very discouraged once I hit the end of the Malanya quest and seeing that 1. Every horse could be made “perfect” and B. How absurdly expensive/time consuming it was going to be to do so. So I just stuck with what I had at that point. Then after beating the game I allowed myself to build a hoverbike… and haven’t looked back 🫤

Yep, that’s one of them. But if you look close, you can see that the ascend starts at a board and ends on a sky island. Assa lotta interdimensional swimming lol.