Will Character Swapping Break the Game?

[terse wedge]

I think it will be nice to be able to have more ability to customize the characters but it takes away the challenge of having different classes. Thoughts?

(Also asked for this??? 💀)

[polar relic]

smh, I'm not pleased with this, and I don't think I saw anybody ask for it either

[undone bloom]

I think they shouldn’t add that feature to the game. Because it takes away the classes from having there own identity also it’ll be harder to spot what people are using based on what dragon there riding, also how and something beefy like a marauder or a storm raiser be as nimble and stealthy as a phantom? And vise versa

[alpine rain]

I made a precision about that : classes HP/abilities etc will not merge. You'll get to ride any dragon tho

[terse wedge]

I hope this is it, and and with how confident the the post was i feel like that could be it lol

[vagrant jetty]

So it's cosmetic only? That I can entirely get behind. My little headcanon for my character is made better by that if mixing hp/abilities isn't a thing. Just cosmetic only also mets me show off some skins for other classes I have but don't play much!

[alpine rain]

Yes it is

[terse wedge]

doesn't that break the story? somthing about a rider's link to their class?

[vagrant jetty]

Awesome! That answers all I needed to know. I love that, I was worried about balance. If I can suggest, I'd amend the announcement to ease up uncertainties

[alpine rain]

Kinad yes, unfortunately. We had to compromise

[terse wedge]

I think that it was meant to be misleading XD

[vagrant jetty]

I think there's room for lore to come in for the change. A legionnaire losing her Ironwing in a fight, finding a bloodied Bloodchaser on the field then bonding. A thornweaver having several dragons that allow her to ride because she cared for them, raised them, rescued them, etc. The latter example seems plausible with the recent lore.

[terse wedge]

I agree

[alpine rain]

The lore is just that, a lore, a canvas from which we show you pieces but who exists outside of what's presented

[vagrant jetty]

Mmhm! Much like my whole little headcanon for my character. She's ridden a good few dragons. It gives players a bit more space to think things up for themselves- and it's fun to make it all work and tie in. (I do this with D&D already, so more of it is good for me!) And also the game could introduce that a class riding another breed isn't impossible (again imo easiest with thornweaver!)

Thanks so much for responding, Clement. I appreciate it!

[alpine rain]

We could have make basic customization options like haircuts and skin color 🤔
That would have made the riders that much more personal

[terse wedge]

That would be cool

[vagrant jetty]

Oh, I'd love if that could be a thing down the road! And possibly change gender on characters, but that'll probably be much harder

[prime fulcrum]

Seems like the abilities are directly tied to the rider, which makes sense in most cases. I like the idea of being able to ride any mount, it adds more customization and character to your main. I think people are a little unreasonably upset. It ruins lore a bit, I admit, but it is what is is. It’s completely cosmetic, so if you don’t like it don’t use it? Anyways I’ll be waiting to try it out and see how it works.

(Also, how will showcases work now? Like a windguard doesn’t have an axe, so how will she do the big lightning cutscene with a stonesnout?)

[alpine rain]

You mean the sequence at the beginning of the game?

[prime fulcrum]

Yes ^^

[alpine rain]

Wait and see 👀

[prime fulcrum]

Hmm 👀

[vagrant jetty]

Ooh, spicy

I totally support hair and skin coloring. Maybe eyes too? (I'mma just make my D&D character a thornweaver now)

[prime fulcrum]

People would love this ^^ it’d be a great small addition!

Thank you for taking the time to respond to us ❤️

[vagrant jetty]

Ditto

[prime fulcrum]

Does this imply custom sequences that you can buy and collect like emotes?

[terse wedge]

ooo that would be cool

[prime fulcrum]

Yeah- like the mara entrance has the sword, which I imagine would be more difficult to make it look right with a rider who has a spear/staff. So who knows, we’ll just have to see

[vagrant jetty]

I like the idea of an animation where a windguard comes full speed with the rider brandishing the glaive like the weapon should be!

[terse wedge]

yesssss

[vagrant jetty]

Glaives are damned scary in the right hands, imagine someone on a dragon coming at you with one. Especially the hooked ones, they'll yank you off your mount

[prime fulcrum]

That would definitely make sense in dragon riding

[vagrant jetty]

Tbh phantom needs a bec-de-corbin weapon

[prime fulcrum]

Now the swapping may just be cosmetic, but let’s hope it’s not super buggy on release

[vagrant jetty]

Polearm + spear + war pick + war hammer

Yeah. I hope the dragons not using the correct sounds gets fixed soon... now they're using mara for roars (intro, takeoff, and podium) but my vinedrake was using phantom sounds ingame ;n;

[prime fulcrum]

I think the vinedrake is supposed to have the phantom noises, but yeah it’s annoying that everything has become a bloodchaser now

[vagrant jetty]

It used windguard when it was first introduced iirc?

[terse wedge]

That could make a cool ability 👀

[vagrant jetty]

It's a blast but I AM THE BLAST

I'm glad my nightsnagger is using phantom noises again, but it doesn't make sense on vinedrakes- too shrill imo XD

[terse wedge]

Yesss

[vagrant jetty]

Tbh if Windguard could target an enemy and dive bomb (same way that they come up on allies for a heal) that'd be fun

[prime fulcrum]

Vinedrakes havin voicecracks okay

[alpine rain]

But no gender option? 😭

[vagrant jetty]

I want Vinedrakes to really sound like the wooden beasts of the forest that they are! =P

[prime fulcrum]

I was imagining something deeper too

[alpine rain]

In an ideal world yes. But as I said somewhere else, it would mean making 6 whole new characters, which would be better off making new classes.
However note that most characters' gender is never stated 👀

[vagrant jetty]

Plus editing all the armors too and doubling workload when new armors are made

[prime fulcrum]

Hair/skin color cosmetics would probably be the best and least time consuming

I’m not sure if there’s a brunette windguard in the game but I’d love that ^^

[alpine rain]

I mean the option is still there you know? I'm not saying now or anything but in the future? I get it, it takes time but wouldn't be better to have some variety in the shop anyway?

[livid viper]

There's also nothing stopping them from just not changing the dragons on those riders too as well. It's simply an option to do so.

[prime fulcrum]

Seems so, we’ll just have to wait until we get more information

[livid viper]

As long as stats and abilities remain on riders, simply having an option to switch the dragons around isn't really a game breaking mechanic just an immersion breaking mechanic.

Cuz if i remember correctly you can still see the class symbols while in a dog fight chasing enemies right?

So you'd still be able to see what class they are just from that alone.

[fresh yew]

And what about the speed of the dragons? Because it's okay that the whole thing will be cosmetic. However, a Bloodchaser or a Stonesnout is much slower and slower than e.g. an Ironwing, or a Vinedrake.
Then a Marauder mounts an Ironwing, will it keep its own HP, abilities, but its speed will be faster? 😄 (This has not been discussed anywhere yet.)

[prime fulcrum]

Aren’t all the dragons the same speed?

Unless they aren’t, which in that case I have no idea

[livid viper]

I can't make a case for that cuz I don't data mine to find out if shit like that is actually statted or not but as far as i know they all fly the same it's just scale perspective that makes them look slow or faster than others.

[prime fulcrum]

Phantom may feel faster because it’s the smallest, and stormraiser the opposite, but I’m pretty sure they’re the same speed, just like how the hit boxes are also the same?

[cunning narwhal]

you tryna say my manly storm man with his bear chest open and muscles bulging is possibly a woman

i see what ur thinking clement u naughty man

[fresh yew]

I don't know, but it always seems to me that their speeds are different. (And I have friends who don't play Marauder and Storm precisely because they are slower than a Windguard or a Phantom...)

Although it might just seem... because of the dragon's dimensions.

[prime fulcrum]

For balancing I’d assume they are the same speed, but I do not know for sure, so I cannot say anything on the matter. We’ll just have to see

[carmine moon]

It’s just an illusion I never find myself not being able to keep up with smaller dragons

[vagrant jetty]

As I understand it's purely cosmetic. The agility of it will be unchanged. Think of it as skins.

[cerulean frost]

They are. The model sizes/animations create the illusion of being faster/slower

[prime fulcrum]

That’s definitely what I thought, thank you

[inland basin]

I don't realy agree with the change, even if it's just cosmetic. It breaks the character identity (in my apinion). I don't see why sone1 would use a phantom to ride a beefy dragon like the one used by stormriser. It feels off. But maybe i'm just old fashioned 😓

[vagrant jetty]

It gives more customizing. Both to the players that care to have headcanon about their characters, like me whose character was once a legionnaire with a tight-knit company that lost it all thanks to corruption and became a phantom and occasionally dips into marauder to hunt those who wronged her down.

Also for showing skins off, like I have some stonesnouts I love but don't get to ride often because I'm not a great stormraiser player XD

[fresh yew]

I totally agree with you. I feel the same way about this.

[bleak token]

Unfortunately they don’t seem to care

I don’t think I’ve seen much support about this at all only indifference or straight up hate but the devs do not care at all especially with their announcement

[inland basin]

"It gives more customizing": yes it's true. "Showing skins off": also true. But now I have a question for devs: why give us so many cosmetic choices, but in terms of actual gameplay we still CAN'T CHOOSE the gamemode that we want to play? 😕 It's either 50/50 for unranked or tied to a specific day for Arena

[vagrant jetty]

That's not what this conversation is about, please take it elsewhere.

[bleak token]

More customization is not always a good thing especially in game design, and breaking the lore for this and pretty much ignoring almost all of the feedback that they’ve gotten about it shows The intent behind the developers decisions

Even though it doesn’t change much it doesn’t bode well for how willing they are to completely ignore the community

[inland basin]

I was a bit off topic, sorry. But not entirely. It was about game design what I wanted to point out

[vagrant jetty]

To give you some info, it used to be that carnage, gates, and spoils were all in the same playlist and random. I like the system they have now, it's not quite as annoying.

As for the change; I appreciate the customization, and it's just cosmetic. You can explain it for your player, and the devs have an opportunity to work it in. I for one think it's not hard- I'm going to continue using Thornweaver for my best example. They're very kind nature spirits that will rescue a dragon in a heartbeat, nurse them to health, bring home abandoned eggs or orphaned babies to raise, so on. It makes sense that a single Thornweaver may have dozens of dragons that are the thornweaver's mount.

Fallen windguards who lost their ironwings finding wounded enemy dragons in the field and bonding as both of them healed.

Phantoms and Marauders that are starting to let go of their pain and bloodlust begin to gain the trust of other breeds.

The only one I have a little more trouble with is Stormraiser, given they're more isolated in lore, but I imagine any of the aforementioned are possibilities. Even if they'll look a little silly on a nightsnagger.

[livid viper]

The image of a dragon as skinny as a nightsnagger carrying a beefy stormraiser is funny

Same energy as Stoik the vast riding toothless before he got his thunderdrum dragon in the show.

[vagrant jetty]

YES

[next coral]

[livid viper]

Poor nightsnagger

Need to see Mara with a stonesnout

[supple spire]

Well, I'm almost done with wg and stonesnout...

[livid viper]

Ooo so Mara will get the plant dragons?

[supple spire]

Ye

I have planssss

[fresh yew]

I don't think any of this makes sense....And it was unnecessary development. Although I don't think it would have been that strenuous to do. Because the classes and the skins themselves were already there....
You show how many skis you have. And? (Also, the focus is even more on spending money.) Will the game modes and matchmaking be changed? Could it finally be possible to choose between the game modes so that we don't get 50-50 carnage or spoils of war? (If someone is doing a weekly/or daily quest, this would be an important consideration. Especially if you have less time to play.)
Could 4v4 be finally restored to 6v6? No one asked for it to be reduced. (Of course, there aren't that many players either... And those who are, often quit a game session that is currently running.
Or there are not enough players, the game loads various bot players who do nothing.)
Or we can also talk about the fact that a lot of shields were removed from the tracks, they could also be put back.

[vagrant jetty]

Crits I love you XD
Can I ask for a phantom doing "belelele" like a snake at a thornweaver?

[supple spire]

Mara is paired with the vinedrake tho...

[vagrant jetty]

The mara's mood is >:[

I love all of these and I hope they get added to the server stickers (if that's what you want too)

[supple spire]

They're free to use from my wmoji server

[vagrant jetty]

Oh? May I get a link? o3o

[alpine rain]

wheeze some one needs to make an animation of this