Players running through Crimson Desert's world of Pywell are discovering that while every mount is a permanent addition to their collection, they cannot be ridden indefinitely, prompting fans to urge developer Pearl Abyss to change this limitation.
The game's sprawling open world reportedly takes up to two hours to cross on horseback, but as players progress they unlock faster options including bears, raptors, and wolves. The most coveted mount, a dragon, requires reaching Chapter 11 of a 12-chapter campaign to unlock.
The problem emerges once players obtain these premium mounts. According to reporting from IGN on March 23, the dragon can only be ridden for 15 real-world minutes before entering a 50-minute cooldown period during which it becomes unavailable, and this timer cannot be skipped or accelerated. Some creatures such as the tiger and raptor become aggressive after being dismounted, meaning players cannot simply leave them parked and return when needed.
Player Backlash and Comparison to Other Games
The most visible complaint on the game's subreddit comes from fans reporting to Pearl Abyss that all mounts should be "tameable," with players noting that because mounts were featured so prominently in the game's marketing materials, it would have been preferable if they were permanent. This sentiment extends across social media platforms.
The limitation stands in contrast to other fantasy RPGs. Players have pointed out that titles like World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, and Shadow of War allow permanent dragon and creature mounts once unlocked. Community members argue that because Crimson Desert is a single-player game, permanent mounts should not create balance problems—noting they could ride dragons, bears, and other creatures permanently in both WoW and GW2, and even have permanent dragons and other creatures in Shadow of War.
The dragon has been one of Pearl Abyss' major promotional banners for the game's marketing. While the dragon is extremely powerful, it comes with a nearly one-hour cooldown function, which is disappointing for many players considering it was a huge selling point in the game's marketing campaign.
Developer's Design Rationale
Pearl Abyss has provided a design justification for the restriction. The studio's Director of Marketing and PR Will Powers explained that flying mounts are limited because the world of Pywell contains "tons of hidden corners" that would not be visible from the air, encouraging players to explore on foot or by ground mount. Unlocking the dragon early in the game would ruin much of the intended experience, as players should be exploring on horseback or through the Abyss without relying on infinite flight to get over every obstacle.
Some players accept this reasoning. Those sympathetic to the design note that more powerful mounts having limited time and cooldown makes sense for balance reasons, since once players unlock a dragon, they would otherwise have no reason to use bears, dinosaurs, or other travel abilities.
Room for Compromise
Some critics suggest a middle ground: instead of having the dragon removed after its 20-minute work period, Pearl Abyss could delegate the fireball and firebreath abilities to a cooldown-based resource, allowing players to still take to the skies while limiting combat power, or implement dragon-tonics to extend uptime or unlock extended flight through quests and challenge objectives.
Pearl Abyss has demonstrated responsiveness to player concerns, recently releasing a patch that addressed several issues including fixing controls and simplifying the game. The developer is also aware of generative AI concerns, stating that AI-generated assets were "unintentionally included" and that a comprehensive audit will help identify and replace such assets in future patches.
Whether the studio will revisit the dragon cooldown system remains to be seen. The tension highlights a genuine design challenge: balancing the power-fantasy appeal that drives player engagement with mechanical systems that ensure the broader game world remains engaging and relevant. Crimson Desert is currently available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.