Will we ever get Flying Mounts?

[Palleon]

Flying mounts seem to be the big selling point for games like Warcraft and Vanguard, but will we ever get them here? I'm not even sure if the EQ2 engine could cope with them, but it would be nice to think that one day we could be sweeping down on our own dragons or similar. Maybe something for a future expansion?

[Armondpb]

God i hope not...Giffins are one thing but player controlled flying mounts always sucks....When people became grow dragons in horzions i was.....not happy..

[Mirander_1]

To my knowledge, the reason flying mounts present a problem it that the zone design and geography doesn't really support it.  As far as I know, it would be possible to redesign all the zones to allow for it, but it would be extremely time-consuming.  I suppose it could also be done like WoW handled it, with flight only working in new content, but to me that way always felt like a bit of a cop-out.  Better to take the extra time and do it right, in my opinion.

[The_Real_Ohno]

Flyin mounts would be amazin, I wouldnt even care if they only worked in the New Exspansion/Adventure packs. 

[Spyderbite]

I'd be ok with it as long as they were for transportation only. On a PvP server its bad enough that people are able to slide under the radar due to exploits. I don't want them dropping on my head as well. <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> And, of course, any such exotic mount should be extraordinarily expensive.

[UlteriorModem]

<p>They would be difficult to implament without alot of exploits.</p><p>I think the carpets are about as close to flying as your gonna get.</p>

[ratman22]

<p>I'd <b>love</b> to see this!</p>

[Cusashorn]

The only way they'll ever add Flying Mounts into the game is if they act exactly the way flying carpets and hover discs act now. A couple inches off the ground, and no ability to actually fly them.

[Ratslave]

NO WAIT A FLYING HORSE!!! I think the horse the only mount the current artist can draw...LOL.

[UlteriorModem]

<p>Ive seen a flying pig in Thundermist the other night.... Ill post screenies tonight</p>

[Tayros]

<cite>UlteriorModem wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>They would be difficult to implament without alot of exploits.</p><p>I think the carpets are about as close to flying as your gonna get.</p></blockquote>On that note, and while we're still on topic: How about adding fae-glide to the carpets? You wouldn't even need to specify it was on there, but it makes sense. Edit: OH! and there ya go, a thread below discussing this exact thing.

[tass]

if they did do it it would have to be at a certain level like vanguard and theyd cost a [Removed for Content] load. In vanguard I think they cost quite a bit of plat and over there gold is a rarity. So here it would probably be somthing like 100 plat or 200 plat. Because its so easy tyo make plat in this game and farm its sick. Or right now just contact 1 of those queers always spamming u and pay like 11 bucks for 20 plat.

[Leemeg]

<p>We will probably not seeing this, _maybe_ unless it is restricted to a newly designed zone. If you try to climb buildings, walls, etc.. in the world, you will soon see how shallow the zone is build up. With shallow I mean that there is no texture at all on places that you shouln'd be possible to see. The other part is that each zones seems to be split up in smaller parts (including in the heights), and you need to go past invisible portals to able to enter other parts of the zones, if you don't...you fall off the world <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Example: Try to climb the wall that divide the the lower and upper Beggar's Court, and jump down the lower area (and not using the stairs). There is also other examples of this, but that place is the easiest to spot it.</p>

[Zagats]

<p>I like to think of Jesus with big... eagle wings, singing lead vocals for Lynnard Skynnard, with...like an angel band, and Im HAMMERED drunk!</p><p>I think they should implement a pegasus mount.  50% runspeed, and has the Glide and Slow Fall abilities (works just like fae's abilities).  Imagine you're an iksar... running through Kelethin slaughtering little hippies, and you need a quick getaway... Simply glide on your pegasus!</p><p>Wouldnt really be that hard to make would it?  Take the horse model you have now, add wings, code it to have glide and slow fall.</p>

[sayitaintso]

<cite>tass wrote:</cite><blockquote>if they did do it it would have to be at a certain level like vanguard and theyd cost a [I cannot control my vocabulary] load. In vanguard I think they cost quite a bit of plat and over there gold is a rarity. So here it would probably be somthing like 100 plat or 200 plat. Because its so easy tyo make plat in this game and farm its sick. Or right now just contact 1 of those queers always spamming u and pay like 11 bucks for 20 plat. </blockquote>Make 100 plat each so the plat sellers can make their profit....You would see people with no previous wealth mysteriously purchasing flying mounts...

[zaun2]

The main reason I don't want to see flying mounts is so people can't accuse EQ2 of "ripping off WoW".  If flying mounts are implemented, have them on older content behave as Fae slow-fall.  On new content that is 100% designed, rendered and checked for any pathing or terrain exploits, then allow for full 3D functionality.

[Norrsken]

Creub@Splitpaw wrote: <blockquote><p>We will probably not seeing this, _maybe_ unless it is restricted to a newly designed zone. If you try to climb buildings, walls, etc.. in the world, you will soon see how shallow the zone is build up. With shallow I mean that there is no texture at all on places that you shouln'd be possible to see. The other part is that each zones seems to be split up in smaller parts (including in the heights), and you need to go past invisible portals to able to enter other parts of the zones, if you don't...you fall off the world <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Example: Try to climb the wall that divide the the lower and upper Beggar's Court, and jump down the lower area (and not using the stairs). There is also other examples of this, but that place is the easiest to spot it.</p></blockquote>´The reason for these "holes" in the world is optimisation. No need to have geometry being calculated if its not gonna be used. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Zagats]

<p>I fell through the world in Maj'Dul once with my Fae SK...that was alot of fun!</p><p>I jumped and glided over some stairs, and fell through the world when I landed.  Guess I wasnt supposed to glide over those stairs.</p><p>Anyway, fell through, and saw the entirety of Maj'Dul and it was quite...interesting.</p>

[KBern]

<p>They only way they would implement this would be to have them behave as the Fae glide as someone said.</p><p>The present carpets should stay working as they do and the new rides should be very expensive, not some freebie carpet from an easy quest.</p><p>There would be no need to horses at that point and they would not do away wiht the present horse system, but adding of some unique new expensive mounts that have fae glide would not be hard to do.</p>

[Beldin_]

<cite>Zagats wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I fell through the world in Maj'Dul once with my Fae SK...that was alot of fun!</p><p>I jumped and glided over some stairs, and fell through the world when I landed.  Guess I wasnt supposed to glide over those stairs.</p><p>Anyway, fell through, and saw the entirety of Maj'Dul and it was quite...interesting.</p></blockquote><p> Yeah .. had that also some days ago, and that was how it looks :</p><p><img src="http://mitglied.lycos.de/Drizzt/EQ2/EQ2_000309.jpg" border="0"></p>

[Convalescence]

<p>  I want all out flying mounts.  Its the next step and it has to be done to keep up with the other games.  A lot of us have a tremendous amount of time invested in Eq2 and it would be a good reward for us senior players and it would attract a lot of new players as well.</p><p>   Give us a bunch of different mounts too, like in Vanguard.  That warg lookin thing is badass.  Someone made a comment earlier about the horses, and I have to agree, what the hell is with the artists and designers that they can't make a mount OTHER THAN a horse?!?  </p><p>   I'd like to see some new armor designs too (note, not trying to hijack the thread).  I am tired of them just changing the color of armor or just making it reflective, or some other crap.</p>

[Convalescence]

Ulvhamne@Nagafen wrote: <blockquote>Creub@Splitpaw wrote: <blockquote><p>We will probably not seeing this, _maybe_ unless it is restricted to a newly designed zone. If you try to climb buildings, walls, etc.. in the world, you will soon see how shallow the zone is build up. With shallow I mean that there is no texture at all on places that you shouln'd be possible to see. The other part is that each zones seems to be split up in smaller parts (including in the heights), and you need to go past invisible portals to able to enter other parts of the zones, if you don't...you fall off the world <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Example: Try to climb the wall that divide the the lower and upper Beggar's Court, and jump down the lower area (and not using the stairs). There is also other examples of this, but that place is the easiest to spot it.</p></blockquote>´The reason for these "holes" in the world is optimisation. No need to have geometry being calculated if its not gonna be used. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> </blockquote><p>  I have seen what you mean in Qeynos Harbor as well, as many may have seen when those gnomish stilts came out and everyone was jumping really high, before they fixed it.   I believe that it wouldn't be possible in places such as the cities, however there are plenty of other zones that I believe it would be fine, antonica for example, and definitely KoS.   </p><p>   I play on a PvP server and it would be fandamntastic to have a flying mount and swoop down on your enemies!</p>

[bubbaj6]

I want an ill-tempered Griffon mount with missile launchers attached to its wings.

[Valdaglerion]

Sure, you will probably see them in EQ3 which is currently slated to ship winter 2009. SOE claims EQ3 will be based on a new 3D engine they are developing in house. Using that and the additional dev time they might develop zones to specs which allow for uniform above ground (to the highest point in the zone) travel with consistent space in between (not an easy task btw).

[Darkstalker666]

<p>Fae should ride the the Dragonfly. I dont see how Fae ride the tiny horse like that. The Fae do ride the horse for thousand years ago, are they?</p><p>Fae are small, will fix the dragonfly but the horse? i know it so cute the tiny horse. hehe</p>

[Velsha]

Flying mounts would require a complete re-haul of the game engine, not something I'd expect Sony to want to do. We might eventually see them in an expansion pack, but even then they would probably be limited to that world/area. Even in WOW, the only place you can use flying mounts is in Outland, as the "old world" doesn't have the proper code to allow for flying mounts. I don't care so much for flying mounts as I care more for just different kinds of regular mounts. The horse thing gets kind of boring, especially when it's just a horse scaling to different sizes.

[Hellswrath]

Yup, I can see this in EQ3.  No way it will happen here, though.

[your savior]

I'd like to see them.  But I also think that getting them should be one of the longest, not necessarily hard or expensive, accomplishments possible.  To make them very, very rare.

[KBern]

<cite>Velshara wrote:</cite><blockquote>Flying mounts would require a complete re-haul of the game engine, not something I'd expect Sony to want to do. We might eventually see them in an expansion pack, but even then they would probably be limited to that world/area. Even in WOW, the only place you can use flying mounts is in Outland, as the "old world" doesn't have the proper code to allow for flying mounts. I don't care so much for flying mounts as I care more for just different kinds of regular mounts. The horse thing gets kind of boring, especially when it's just a horse scaling to different sizes. </blockquote> Yeah I would be happy with just some different ground based mounts...drakes, rhinos (like the splash screen), clockworks, clouds (like the KoS version), anything....the possibilities are endless.

[interstellarmatter]

<p>I could see them doing it for EQ2.  It would have to be in an expansion plus for new zones only.  The zone would have to be designed for flying mounts from scratch.  </p><p>It could be part of the next expansion that expands content for lvl 70s..like a new epic quest on top of other new content for lvl 70s..hint hint...</p>

[trainzebra]

I just came over from WoW and the flying mounts really aren't that special.  It has an ooo aaah factor at first but what it comes down to is swimming in air, just another method of travel.  They're handy for getting around some of the zones, but that's just because the zones were obviously designed to be unfriendly to land mounts and make you want a flying one more =p  Personally I'd much rather see a wider variety of ground mounts (Rhinos!) in EQ2 than flying and let that development time go towards more (ground based) content.

[JackBurtonBTLC]

the answer to flying mounts seems to be 'Yes' see update notes for update 34.

[Iseabeil]

Saurakk@Guk wrote: <blockquote><cite>Velshara wrote:</cite><blockquote>Flying mounts would require a complete re-haul of the game engine, not something I'd expect Sony to want to do. We might eventually see them in an expansion pack, but even then they would probably be limited to that world/area. Even in WOW, the only place you can use flying mounts is in Outland, as the "old world" doesn't have the proper code to allow for flying mounts. I don't care so much for flying mounts as I care more for just different kinds of regular mounts. The horse thing gets kind of boring, especially when it's just a horse scaling to different sizes. </blockquote> Yeah I would be happy with just some different ground based mounts...drakes, rhinos (like the splash screen), clockworks, clouds (like the KoS version), anything....the possibilities are endless.</blockquote><p> Actually, atleast the KoS cloud already exists as a mount, in the form of the tinkered hoverering device, althou its very rare sight, Ive so far never seen anyone else then myself use it. Personally, I cant stand the upper tier horses, as a mage I cant see why I should have a war dressed horse if I want to travel fast, so more options would be wonderfull.</p>

[mellowknees72]

<cite>Zagats wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Imagine you're an iksar... running through Kelethin slaughtering little hippies, and you need a quick getaway... Simply glide on your pegasus!</p></blockquote><p> I gotta chime in here and clarify that no self-respecting Iksar would EVER have a flying horse.  They hate everyone and everything...it would be like seeing one in rainbow suspenders.</p><p>Now, I can imagine that an Iksar would get a helluva good time riding around on the back of a Shissar mount, however.  Turnabout being fairplay, that seems just to me.</p>

[mellowknees72]

<cite>JackBurtonBTLC wrote:</cite><blockquote>the answer to flying mounts seems to be 'Yes' see update notes for update 34. </blockquote> if you're referring to the post made by ZUES, that's a joke, not really a "sneak peek".

[Gnollkicker]

<p>Short Answer: No.</p><p>Long Answer: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.</p>

[Nivmizzet]

Programmatically impossible since inception.  This would be a development nightmare.  Wait for EQ3 <img src="/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Ziviel]

"Programmatically impossible since inception.  This would be a development nightmare.  Wait for EQ3" weird... I don't know the code or anything since I don't work for EQ2 DEV, but I'd think that something like this wouldn't be too tough. But like I said, I haven't seen the code, or the reasons why its technically a nightmare to do.

[Iseabeil]

<cite>Ziviel wrote:</cite><blockquote>"Programmatically impossible since inception.  This would be a development nightmare.  Wait for EQ3" weird... I don't know the code or anything since I don't work for EQ2 DEV, but I'd think that something like this wouldn't be too tough. But like I said, I haven't seen the code, or the reasons why its technically a nightmare to do. </blockquote><p> Id say it would be possible, but itd mean redoin both the code and the graphics for every single zone that this feature would work in. A necessity for a game is collision detection, without it youd just fall through, you need it on every piece of item that you can not walk through. Any area you arent suposed to be able to reach will not have any colllision detection, why add extra code that is useless? Same applies on graphic, why add texture that has to be loaded on areas you can not see? Since EQ2 is based on not bein able to fly or even levitate, any area that would require that to be reached will be so to say under-developed. Add in flying, and suddenly you have loads of areas reachable that doesnt support it. In the best case you will fall through the world, in the worst case you might crash a server, so for them to allow you to fly they have to redo all these areas and make them support this mode of travel wich would be a huge undertaking, seein how many zones there is. Might they add flying and ad support for it in new zones? Possible, but personally Id prefer not, how fun is it to have say a pegasus that you paid loads of plat for only to have it stuck on ground as soon as you enter zones without support?</p>

[Seraki]

<p>I think it would be a bad idea.   The more you create ways for the higher end  players to segrigate them selves into exclusive environments they more lonely a game environment gets in general.</p><p> I would say no to flying mounts</p><p> Besides they tend to be buggy on the games that have them.</p>

[Drewx]

<p>I think Flying Mounts are a good idea. But only for zones that are VERY expansive or trecherous.</p><p>For example the Kingdom of Sky Zones could use flying mounts, large dangerous zones kinda like Lavastorm(where you can easily fall to your death if you aren't looking) and I guess any new content areas (since they'd be coming out after flying mounts.)</p><p>Old content needs to be left alone. Serious what good will flying in Commonlands or Antonica do? You get to stare down at a large barren land mass. Flying in the Feerrott? You'd just see treetops. EL and Zek? Too small. Everfrost? Meh...I see no point. it's pretty small imo. Lavastorm...dangerous zone but only certain spots are deadly.</p><p>There is no point in flying in old zones...but KoS could use it...I've gotten stuck on some islands before thanks to some werid falling glitches...and I'd think...[Removed for Content] if I could fly or glide(curse you Faes) I could get to the main isle.</p><p>With flying mounts old mounts need some love...</p><p>Is it me or are Horses really [Removed for Content] ugly? What happened? They move ALOT more like REAL Horses....but the old models of the horses were actually pretty....these are monsters...everyone pretty much has an armor horse not only for the buff...but because plain horses are missing hair...and just look bland and sickly imo. We need new land mounts...Camels, Rhinos(like the splash), Drakota...</p><p>What EQ II needs most of all though...is some advertising...seriously...I never see advertisments...this game like barely exists....</p>

[janmystique]

The idea of "flying" around is quite exciting and I really fancy a red, fire breathing dragon! However, I am not sure that I want one if it means more lag or even more difficulty seeing the banker because of giant wings flapping! I suppose we have to be a bit practical... <img src="/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />