Mounts, Animal Companions & Upkeep Update!

January 15, 2026

☆☆☆☆☆ Official Staff Post ☆☆☆☆☆

Happy Ratification Day Event Eve everyone!
 
I know its down to the wire here, but we are ready to announce the new mount upkeep system! For the purposes of this Ratification Day, you will have a choice between paying for your mount the old way or the new way, and starting next Rat Day we will fully migrate to the new system.
 
First big change, there is now an option to pay for mount upkeep entirely in crown. This is a much requested change, but it does come with some price changes for the various animal categories. Speaking of which, there are 4 new categories that all existing animals are sorted into:
 
Basic animal companion: 15 crown upkeep, Includes any animal that is not rideable and is breedable/sellable
 
Advanced Animal Companion: 30 crown, Includes any animal that is not rideable and is a unique specimen, or has a non-standard effect (subject to marshal discretion)
 
Basic Riding Animal: 30 crown upkeep, Includes any animal that is rideable on either Land OR Sea.
 
Advanced Riding Animal: 300 crown upkeep, includes any animal that is rideable in the air OR is a hybrid type mount (subject to marshal discretion)
 
The next big change is to the Animal Husbandry skill. For anything except an Advanced Riding Animal, each level of animal husbandry will reduce the upkeep crown cost by 1cr. For Advanced Riding Animals, that discount jumps to 10cr per level off crown upkeep. The number of animals you can take care of with this discount has not changed (1 animal per level of AH).
 
Lastly, to make up for this change the discount provided by AH, materials listed for upkeep now provide a discount to the crown upkeep cost of your animal, instead of being a requirement in the old system. Similar to the "optional materials" section of a recipe, turning in all the upkeep materials listed for an animal will reduce the crown upkeep cost by 50%.
 
All of these changes mean that pulling upkeep tags with skills or acquiring them at a good discount via good merchanting (or other means) will significantly reduce the price of upkeep for an animal, and anyone who is either unable or unwilling to go through the process of finding these tags to get the discount can always just pay the crown cost. No more required materials for upkeep, and more standardized costs across each category.
 
Upcoming changes for 2026 include continued distribution of recipes for breedable animals, recipes and updated mechanics for carts, and a potential playtest of ranked animal ranches via the guild system. Happy Ratification day everyone, see you all tomorrow!