Let the mount speed buff only apply to characters with no gear on their character with the exception of bags, food and potions. And be unable to swap gear while mounted several seconds after dismounting.
Scrap the rest of the proposed changes and fire the people whoever came up with them. It kills localization for a large part of the map and will make the game worse for everyone who isn’t a zergling. The faster mounts means that you are killing solo and small group pvp even more, because the aggressors will be even less likely to kill the land-pillagers and loot them before the swarm arrive.
Being able to refine resources and make them weigh less for transport is a desirable skill to have on any character, and you negate that by making raw materials weight the same.
Also, on a side note, please remove the ability to add learning points to all crafting/farming abilities. It is utter crap that dedicated crafters are being outdone and left in the dust by dedicated crafting mules, often shared between players, that spend all their learning points on one part of an item making process. That, or add diminishing returns on learning points for lack of complimentary skills like other games have done IE: you would need more learning points to advance smelting if you lacked mining. And it also allows a rush to tier 7 that learning points and soon, faster mount travel will provide has players spread all over the map instead of being concentrated in the same areas.
The game of alts is super lame and gives your game a shitty rep that most people won’t want to touch after they hear about it. Especially considering that alts are arguably more powerful in AO than any other full loot pvpmmorpg that has been.
1 character per account and remove ability to add learning points to all crafting/farming skills