Add More Variations to the Great One Mule Deer (Antlers + Fur Types)

[sullen summit]

So it's no secret that the new Great One Mule Deer has been disappointing for a large portion of the COTW playerbase, myself included. There's only six possible fur types and six antler configurations, and of those, only a couple of each really look good, the rest are pretty weird and they don't really represent what true trophy Mule Deer look like. Some also start to stray pretty far from the game's mostly realistic aesthetic. I think it's clear that this Great One is not EW's best work. With all due respect, we know that they can do better than this.

Rather than getting rid of the existing fur types and racks that someone at EW probably spent a lot of time creating, I propose that they should just add a few more rack variations and fur types that are more believable and what many people were originally hoping for with this Great One.

Not to mention that six racks just doesn't seem like enough for a species that is as popular and iconic as the Mule Deer, and only six fur types is significantly less than some other Great One species like the Red Fox. I think this Great One needs a few more antler configurations and fur types, ideally four more of each. These should be based on community concept art designs and real-life examples of big Mule Deer.

Below I will include some examples of some real Mule Deer racks that could be used as inspiration for additional antler variations, and in the thread I'll post images of fur types that I would like to see added. There will also be additional pictures of real Mule Deer posted in the thread, which EW can use as more inspiration for new racks. I humbly implore the COTW developers to take a look at these and consider adding some of these as new antler and fur variations in the future.

Now for the fur types I would like to see in the game

"Fabled Darkness" a sort of melanistic-looking fur type with a lighter patch on its side
Artwork Credit: @worthy latch

This is what I'd like to call "Fabled Ghost", a deer that sort of looks like it might be leucistic, but with some nice black markings on the face to spice things up

"Fabled Copper" which is a bit of a more natural-looking one

Finally, Fabled Slate, a dark gray variation that also has a more naturalistic look

Again, all credit to Cervid Slayer for this wonderful concept art

[sullen summit]

and since some of the racks in this post are asymmetrical, EW could go even further and create two racks out of each, one for each unique antler

[sullen summit]

And if EW wants another unique fur variation, we could get a "Fabled Spotted" fur type that is an adult Mule Deer, but one that still has spots on its fur like a Mule Deer fawn (shown here). This theoretically could happen in real life due to piebaldism or something similar, so it's a bit more believable, but it would still be unique and different enough to be a special trophy.

||(photo courtesy of the Utah Division of Wildlife resources)||

[sullen summit]

I think it's also important to point out that these are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to potential variations that could added for this Great One. These are just the racks and fur types that are personal favorites of mine, there's plenty of other possibilities that were posted in this thread a while back:

#1249779561948778548

[worthy latch]

Oh hey I made that (it's ok to use l"m being funny)

[sullen summit]

lol, I figured that you'd probably be okay with me using your artwork as an example as long as I gave you credit for it. It's for a good cause after all, right?

[worthy latch]

Yes, a very good cause. Btw when they revealed them I ate like half of a Ben and Jerrys Ice cream tub cause i was that sad

[sullen summit]

when all else fails, ice cream always makes a bad day at least a little bit better lol

[sullen summit]

if some more variations get added and they're the ones that I posted here, I think this Great One would definitely be more popular than it is right now.

[topaz kettle]

Yes! @worthy latch Did a great job with the concepts for a G1 Mule deer, would love to see some of their fur/rack concepts into the game.

[worthy latch]

Yes please! Another problem I have is I made the post like 10 mins after the G1 Tahr was announced. So they had almost a year to look at it and decide on what to do.

[topaz kettle]

It's like they took one good look at your post, went "Mule deer!" Then scrolled through and saw the concepts and were like "No, these are too good for us, lets make our own fairytale ones!" Honestly so silly.

I won't lie, Dusky drift and Dripple Drizzle and the so called "Sack rack" and "Typical rack" aren't bad, even though the typical isn't typical lol

The rest are, WTF are these

[worthy latch]

The Fungus rack actually has the best antler frame, but then the antlers stop and go bulbous and stupid mushrooms on us. The typical is the best rack by far, and it looks decent for big Mulies. Yeah idk why they didn't take inspo from me or any other realistic looking thing.

[topaz kettle]

It's just that Mule deer were so highly requested and had so much potenial but then let us down big time, so sad 😦

[worthy latch]

It is so sad, it could've been the best Great One ever. But they threw it in the trash for weird, diseased deer that look like tigers or antlers that are twisted. They could've done the Broder Buck, the world record, that was shot IN ALBERTA, the Buck of Justice, the Fauria Buck, the Murphey Buck or almost any other big Mule Deer shot.

[sullen summit]

yeah the fact that we didn't get any of those racks is pretty unfortunate. My hope is that we'll eventually get more racks to depict the diversity of Mule Deer racks better.

Here's another cool nontypical that I would have liked to see as a Great One rack.

Another cool nontypical rack that could be made into a new Great One rack

(couldn't find a picture of it that wasn't black and white unfortunately)

[sullen summit]

If EW wants to add another brightly colored fur type, this one that Cervid Slayer made is another one that would be cool to have, the Fabled Dark Bronze

[sullen summit]

something like this tall rack could be a nice Great One rack too

another example of a huge nontypical

[worthy latch]

All they need for some new dime rack is this kinda stuff. Small extras, droptines and tines that could be implemented into TruRacs

[sullen summit]

yep, even just adding a few stickers and droptines to the existing diamond racks and having those be the new variations, would be enough to add some great extra variety to their diamond racks

[tropic summit]

didn´t we voted for more antler types for mule deers last year?

[sullen summit]

I think so

this post is specifically about new racks and fur types for the Great One Mule Deer though

[sullen summit]

If I'm not mistaken this is the world record nontypical Mule Deer. It would be pretty cool to see a Great One rack based on this one.

[sullen summit]

Seeing this rack in COTW as a Great One would be pretty awesome

[worthy latch]

it was also shot in Alberta

[sullen summit]

yeah, it would also be very fitting too imo

[celest trench]

I agree with this, especially in regards to the antlers. I do like most of the racks for the GO mule deer but it still feels like they massively dropped the ball, I was really expecting more racks like the ones already shown in the thread

Like I know g1s aren’t always meant to be realistic, and I don’t mind them adding their own flair but it just feels like they overdid it a bit on the “fantasy” aspect this time you know?

[worthy latch]

exactly, even the Moose or Fallow look realistic, with some flair, but they added too much this time around

[celest trench]

Of all the species they could’ve done a g1 for, the mule deer is the one where they had to overdo it the least, it’s not like they had nothing to take inspiration from 💀

[sullen summit]

yeah I totally agree. They really could have toned it back a bit when it came to the bright colors on fur variations, and then let the amazing diversity of wild and crazy racks that Mule Deer can have irl become the main selling point for the Mule Deer Great One. People would still grind for it anyway.

[sullen summit]

Add More Variations to the Great One Mule Deer (Antlers + Fur Types)

I changed how some things were worded in my original post to further clarify that this is about new variations for the Mule Deer Great One, not getting rid of any existing variants that people might want to keep in the game.

[tropic summit]

you can already hunt non-typcal mule deer in the game. This is the most realistic non-typcal mule deer :

[abstract vessel]

More than "new" variations, they could make new content instead of reskins....

[sullen summit]

is that supposed to be some sort of xenomorph deer?

[gritty lintel]

I’m not climbing down until I know that thing is truly dead.

[sullen summit]

that's totally understandable!

[sullen summit]

bump for more G1 Muley variety

[nocturne sleet]

I'd honestly love to see these included! I'm not super into Great Ones anymore bc grinding for them is generally just not fun to me, but I did find the current Mule Deer variants to be rather disappointing (aside from two furs and two antler variations)

I'd love to see more that are inspired by real non-typical mule deer, and I'd also love more semi-realistic fur types (like the ones that were posted earlier in this thread)

[sullen summit]

yeah I completely agree. Plus I think there's really no harm in adding more variants, it just gives people who like grinding more fur variations that they can try to hunt for and collect. People who prefer realism get more of what they like while the people who are into Great One grinding can also get more things to grind for (meaning even more reasons to play the game more). It's a win-win for pretty much everyone.

[worthy latch]

Droptine antlers we could've gotten

[sullen summit]

I would have loved to see a velvet rack with droptines

[nocturne sleet]

ngl, the "mushroom rack" absolutely should've been one in velvet

[sullen summit]

yeah the one we got doesn't look very great

[worthy latch]

my problem is, those are WT, not Mulies

[nocturne sleet]

Yeah I know, I couldn't find any mulies like that so I just went with the closest thing to the "mushroom rack" in-game

[worthy latch]

sorry, I guess I don't like the mushroom rack cause it looks like a WT and not a Mulie, I've never seen a Mulie look like that, no matter how many pictures i go through

[nocturne sleet]

Yeah same, I've tried hunting down any pics of crazy stupid farmed mulies with velvet on and I can't

[worthy latch]

I wouldn't mind it on the WT G1, but for the Mulies it don't make no sense. Also the farmed Mulies haven't broken the WR yet so that's cool, they broke the WT Record a long time ago in the farms

[sullen summit]

yeah there's just so much more that they could have done with velvet antlers

[slow meadow]

I think maybe other great ones should be reworked first, such as whitetail and red deer, sure they're cool but I would like a little bit more variety. This is still a very good idea and I would love to see more antlers on the mule deer great one

[sullen summit]

I can understand that, fair enough 👍

[latent mural]

Well, i finally got to see one of these great ones up close after killing one. I dont hate these velvet antlers after seeing it up close. They could have been better, but they're not as bad up close as the pictures I've seen. Im just glad I didn't get the tiger stripes fur type. .

Hopefully we get some more options for the G1 Mule deer in the future. This great one had so much potential

[nocturne sleet]

oh wow, I've never seen the velvet texturing on them, that's actually really neat. I wouldn't be mad if I got those antlers then

[latent mural]

They definitely look better close up than far away for sure.

[worthy latch]

they shouldve let him grow more 😭

[latent mural]

That would've helped also.

[sullen summit]

I mean the velvet texture looks nice, I just wish that they did more with it. It would be nice to have a couple more racks with it, preferably ones without the big mushroom-looking structures at the end of every tine, which I really don't care for.

[latent mural]

The rack i really don't like is the heart rack. I wish it would've been one of these you posted above. I'm ok with the other racks , i just wish we we had more variations to go with them.

[sullen summit]

A great one rack with velvet and droptines would have been awesome, in my opinion

[sullen summit]

I think a rack like that would fit perfectly with this fur type

[nocturne sleet]

I agree, I feel like that could be really cool

[steel jackal]

I feel like the heart rack would fit better with caribou I don’t know if that’s weird to say but it does not at all look like something you would see on a mule deer. I don’t personally hate the heart rack but there were definitely better options

[sullen summit]

yeah I totally agree, I feel like the heart rack just isn't very fitting for Mule Deer.

[steel jackal]

The other thing again I don’t know if there’s a weird thing to say, but I feel like the furs would look really great on a Whitetail

[sullen summit]

maybe some of them? I guess I can see what you're talking about.

[sullen summit]

Here's another velvet rack that could be a nice G1 rack

[worthy latch]

while i dont like that deer, it does look better than the fungus rack imo

I am glad they didnt do a cactus buck tho, some look real bad

I wish this was the droptine rack, I love this deer

Or this buck as the velvet rack, I just don't understand how they couldn't find or do better looking deer.

[sullen summit]

that's another really cool one

[steel jackal]

Bump

[worthy latch]

wish we had a fur like this, but a bit darker body, and a bright white face and neck patch

Or one that looked like an elder buck, who was old and smart. Old and gray, with a bit of spice, either some flecks of white or light gray, with some flecks of umber.

[sullen summit]

that one looks like it has patches of fur missing. Scar tissue maybe?

[worthy latch]

it got attacked by a coyote, it was on antelope island

[sullen summit]

that makes sense

[worthy latch]

It's been about a month and EW hasn't done or said anything about them, or why they chose to ruin them. I haven't even hunted that much for a Great One after Tahr. And this is another nail in the coffin for me. Fungus is the worst, Cinnamon looks like a Tiger, the Corkscrew rack is just disgusting, and most furs besides Milky Way look horrible.

Did you guys not think about any cool or big looking deer? Not see my feedback post or anyone else's? Who showed big, realistic looking deer that are magnificent? No. I don't think you did. Some people love them and that's what you want, but as for me and some others, we do not like them at all. They do not look real, they do not look good, and they are not "great" to me.

I just want to let you know that while I enjoy Mule Deer in the game, they did not get any new diamond racks, well, one but it was just a Level 4 rack before, that can make it. I would've liked a few more.

[sullen summit]

I think the racks and fur types we got wouldn't be so bothersome if there were more variety of racks and fur types for them. Only six racks and six fur types isn't enough to do this species justice, especially when 1/3 of the racks look pretty ugly and half of the fur types are pretty bad as well.

even just adding four new antler configurations based on the bucks I put in my original post here would go a long way towards making the GO Mule Deer better.

[worthy latch]

Would like one like this

[sullen summit]

yeah some sort of scarred deer would be nice, it could be sort of like the Fabled Ashen for Moose

[sullen summit]

bump for more G1 mule deer variety

[patent token]

I’d say while I’d agree the mule deer G1’s are let down, I’d also argue there should have been more diamond racks added. Theres so little variety to dime racks of every species in this game.

[worthy latch]

C'mon EW give us a couple more Muley Great Ones!

[sullen summit]

yeah more diamond racks would be nice too

[sullen summit]

bumping this back up

[worthy latch]

Bump

[sullen summit]

afaik those aren't reworking the Great One racks or adding more racks for the G1, it's just for the basic Mule Deer to make the normal ones look better. Which is nice I guess, it just isn't what this post was originally about.

[sullen summit]

seeing the increased variety of normal mule deer TruRACs really makes me want to see more Great One racks as well. Hopefully they'll add more eventually

[sullen summit]

considering just how many people are getting Mule Deer Great Ones, it really has shown that six fur types and rack variations just isn't enough for them, unless you want a lot of people getting duplicate ones. I think we need at least four more racks and three more fur types (ideally four more of both).

[worthy latch]

Exactly! That is my problem with the Moose, only 4 antlers and 6 furs, which isn't enough to have amazing combinations. I think there should also be 2 versions of the velvet antlers, one more grown, and the one thats weird

[worthy latch]

I drew the velvet rack all grown out

[sullen summit]

that looks awesome

[sullen summit]

This article by Field and Stream includes photos of some of the biggest and most wild-looking nontypical Mule Deer that have ever been taken IRL. There's plenty of racks here to use as inspiration for new Great One racks (for both Whitetail and Mule Deer, might I add)

https://www.fieldandstream.com/stories/hunting/big-game-hunting/gnarliest-boone-and-crockett-bucks

Here's a personal favorite of mine from that article

[sullen summit]

here's another one of my personal favorites from that article

[sullen summit]

A slightly more "typical" looking rack like this with a wide tip-to-tip spread would be a nice addition as either a new Great One rack or even an additional diamond rack.

Image Credit: Victor Schendel on Instagram

[sullen summit]

A rack like this could be some nice inspiration for a Great One or diamond rack

[worthy latch]

It's Buck Norris!