<p><span style="color: #993366;">They look rediculous, can't you at least try to be somewhat origional and make mounts that look like they belong in the game?</span></p>

<p>Why don't these look like they belong in the game? Just because WoW has cat mounts? There are a lot of people who really like how they look and I guarentee it isn't a bunch of folks who love how WoW looks either. Whether you like the look of the item is completly subjective. I personally really hate carpet & disc type mounts, but certainly wouldn't argue that they don't belong in the game.</p><p>There are other games out there other than WoW with unusual mounts, some of them are big cats, wolves and such. The coloration is no more bizarre than a LAVA horse or ghost horse or sparkly eyed pony or flaming hooved creature.</p><p>Big cat mounts really aren't any more odd than large warg things or dire bears etc. Besides, I KNOW people have been asking for cat mounts since a dev or guide was seen riding a panther type mount back in the days of DOF. It's about time that they gave people some even if they had to buy a collectors edition or off SC.</p>

<p><cite>Lethe5683 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #993366;">They look rediculous, can't you at least try to be somewhat origional and make mounts that look like they belong in the game?</span></p></blockquote><p>cat mounts are not the invention of WOW - they where in fantasy long before the first thought of WOW, they fit in well</p>

<p>Why does everyone have to think something was copied from WoW just because it's unusual or colorful? The genre has blended together that it's impossible for any one game to be the creator of something.</p><p>Something tells me you only made this topic because of the blue, green, and pink cat mounts on the market.</p>

<p>EQ1 had blue cat mounts too, via LoN, plus a nice assortment of other kitties (my personal fav was the snow leopard) <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" /></p>

<p>Well I do always have inspiration.  I will break down my thoughts on the cat mount for you. </p><p>My first thought was to not make it a straight cat but a combination of creatures.  I was thinking what if someone created these things with magic and experimented with creatures.  Then a designer did tell me that Erudites in Odus had been experimenting like that so it fit the lore. I thought oh cool perferct.  I usually like to have a story to help drive my art, it makes it much easier to come up with something good.</p><p>So I wanted to make a cat tiger pattern, but with cracks that had glowing power emanating from them.  I wanted it to have a jaw like a rottweiler or pitbull, and a strong chest like them.  For the feet I was thinking of the creature in the first ghostbuster movie, and was thinking it would have big claws that didnt retract like a normal cat. My original concept had a tail but we didnt have a cat mount animation with a tail int he bone structure.  Tom tried to attach it to the Lynx skeleton we have but it was causing problems.  We would have had to do a complete reanimation of the cat and all the players, which took Tom and another animator Evan over 3 months to complete.  So I  made the tail short like a rottweiller.</p><p>Then I wanted to give it some protruding bone, and make a crest out of it.  I had been watching Avatar that week and remmember them talking how the Navi and other creatures had kevlar bones or something like that.  So I thought hey we have Karborite all over the underground caves in odus.  What if their bones where made of that stuff, so thats why the crest, bones on the neck, teeth, and claws glisten like Karborite as you move the camera around the model.  When I told my producer the bones where Karborite he looked at me like why does that make difference.  Well because it has a cool green and purple sheen when you move the camera and its cool with lore.</p><p>The purple version was the first one, and the thought was to make it have magic eminating from inside it.  And also give the female player base something to have, and other players who dont always want something evil and black.</p><p>The green one was next, I wanted to go more evil with this one.  So my thought was that it actually had poison boiling inside it.  Thats why its the only one with the dripping poison drool.</p><p>Then after that a designer took me in his office and told me what he wanted to ride, which was the black and blue one.  So I said ok I will do three just for you.  Well I have to say it was a good choice because more people are getting the black and blue.</p><p>Oh ya this was in response to ripping WOW.  Well on this model I didnt look that direction.  But they have a lot of great stuff, I have the Lich King art book in my office, along with Warhammer Online and many others.  I try to play all the mmos I can fit time in for, well actually all games for that matter.  I never limit where my inspiration comes from.  The game art world is always evolving and new ideas are always coming out of different studios, we all feed off eachother. I have friends in many different studios.</p><p>The thing we game artist try to do is make our game look as great as we can for our player base, that is the ultimate goal.</p>

<p>While I disagree with calling them "WOW mounts" I do agree that we need more NORMAL mounts. We haven't seen a cool looking horse in a while. No, I'm not talking about LON mounts, I want to see an in-game raid or heroic instance dropped HORSE. We've seen wargs, rhinos, and bears (tho the bears were not special appearance... which stinks cuz thats the only raid mount I was able to attain!) as raid drops. I'd love to see something smaller, more balanced around normal proportions of a horse. As a halfling, I straight up look stupid on these large mounts, like a 5 year old on an elephant. My feet don't even reach past the bottom of the saddle, and the back of the mount is at least twice as high as I am tall. That means that I either have one hell of a vertical leap, or I must carry around a stepladder with me so I can get on my mount.</p><p>If appearance slots are ever implemented for mounts, I would immediately purchase a plain ol armored horse from the stables in Freeport. Their proportions are far more pleasing for smaller races, and the size is much more manageable for looking or targeting around it.</p><p>I don't want a unicorn, we have enough of those. I'm NOT a girly girl, I am a rough-and-tumble halfling who isn't scared to get her feet or hands dirty. I don't want sparkles or sunshine or hearts floating off it. I want a HORSE, or something similar in size and proportion, like a zebra, or a strider (SWEET), or a llama!</p>

<p>That was a very interesting break down into the cats development,  and I can see the reasonings for it looking as it does.  But for my personal tastes it is a big shame there isn't a more natural looking choice. </p><p>I think the underlaying model is one of the best looking to come out in recent times, second only to the original horse models (which is my mount of choice) but the over the top glowing magic and colours are a put off.</p><p>I understand a wish for a more mundane natural pelt and no partical affects goes against they lore/story drive behind the creatures creation, so I don't expect any changes.  But just to raise a voice in favour for the occasional natural mount in future if possible.</p>

<p>I find myself agreeing with the OP. Not that the mounts are bad its just that there are too many freakish ones around. Burning Rhinos, Giger-esque horses, enormous over the top armoured wargs etc...</p><p>I'd love to see something more sublime like a Clydesdale Warhorse with shiny plate barding. Camels, Elephants with Houda's and so on. At least a couple at any rate - and not on SC please, or not for the mad amounts of money!</p>

<p>I don't like cats and don't support the marketplace but I think it's great that Covic took the time to explain his inspiration process, which I found very interesting reading.</p><p><cite>covic wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Then I wanted to give it some protruding bone, and make a crest out of it.  I had been watching Avatar that week and remmember them talking how the Navi and other creatures had kevlar bones or something like that.  So I thought hey we have Karborite all over the underground caves in odus.  What if their bones where made of that stuff, so thats why the crest, bones on the neck, teeth, and claws glisten like Karborite as you move the camera around the model.  When I told my producer the bones where Karborite he looked at me like why does that make difference.  Well because it has a cool green and purple sheen when you move the camera and its cool with lore.</p></blockquote><p>This greeny-purple hue is of course <a href="http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/Octarine">octarine</a>, the colour of magic!</p>

<p><cite>Guy De Alsace wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I find myself agreeing with the OP. Not that the mounts are bad its just that there are too many freakish ones around. Burning Rhinos, Giger-esque horses, enormous over the top armoured wargs etc...</p><p>I'd love to see something more sublime like a Clydesdale Warhorse with shiny plate barding. Camels, Elephants with Houda's and so on. At least a couple at any rate - and not on SC please, or not for the mad amounts of money!</p></blockquote><p>gnome invented OCC retro chopper with FV painted on the tank for good and Lucan painted on the tank for evil</p>

<p>Seems you only got the guys posting in here that didn't like your mount so i figured I'd pipe in and say I think it looks awesome great job. The only issue i have with it is that it is a station cash item but no biggie it's nice to see that you have some cool looking thoughts in your head there. Now lets see some good old lizard mounts with a bonus to jumps you know that would be fing cool.</p>

<p><cite>covic wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Well I do always have inspiration.  I will break down my thoughts on the cat mount for you. </p><p>My first thought was to not make it a straight cat but a combination of creatures.  I was thinking what if someone created these things with magic and experimented with creatures.  Then a designer did tell me that Erudites in Odus had been experimenting like that so it fit the lore. I thought oh cool perferct.  I usually like to have a story to help drive my art, it makes it much easier to come up with something good.</p><p>So I wanted to make a cat tiger pattern, but with cracks that had glowing power emanating from them.  I wanted it to have a jaw like a rottweiler or pitbull, and a strong chest like them.  For the feet I was thinking of the creature in the first ghostbuster movie, and was thinking it would have big claws that didnt retract like a normal cat. My original concept had a tail but we didnt have a cat mount animation with a tail int he bone structure.  Tom tried to attach it to the Lynx skeleton we have but it was causing problems.  We would have had to do a complete reanimation of the cat and all the players, which took Tom and another animator Evan over 3 months to complete.  So I  made the tail short like a rottweiller.</p><p>Then I wanted to give it some protruding bone, and make a crest out of it.  I had been watching Avatar that week and remmember them talking how the Navi and other creatures had kevlar bones or something like that.  So I thought hey we have Karborite all over the underground caves in odus.  What if their bones where made of that stuff, so thats why the crest, bones on the neck, teeth, and claws glisten like Karborite as you move the camera around the model.  When I told my producer the bones where Karborite he looked at me like why does that make difference.  Well because it has a cool green and purple sheen when you move the camera and its cool with lore.</p><p>The purple version was the first one, and the thought was to make it have magic eminating from inside it.  And also give the female player base something to have, and other players who dont always want something evil and black.</p><p>The green one was next, I wanted to go more evil with this one.  So my thought was that it actually had poison boiling inside it.  Thats why its the only one with the dripping poison drool.</p><p>Then after that a designer took me in his office and told me what he wanted to ride, which was the black and blue one.  So I said ok I will do three just for you.  Well I have to say it was a good choice because more people are getting the black and blue.</p><p>Oh ya this was in response to ripping WOW.  Well on this model I didnt look that direction.  But they have a lot of great stuff, I have the Lich King art book in my office, along with Warhammer Online and many others.  I try to play all the mmos I can fit time in for, well actually all games for that matter.  I never limit where my inspiration comes from.  The game art world is always evolving and new ideas are always coming out of different studios, we all feed off eachother. I have friends in many different studios.</p><p>The thing we game artist try to do is make our game look as great as we can for our player base, that is the ultimate goal.</p></blockquote><p>Cool story, always interesting to see the inspiration process.</p><p>That being said, I think the criticism is that most of the graphics in EQ2 have been going towards the "Rainbow Caveart" style used for years by warhammer and then in the MMO world by WoW.  </p><p>If you do play other games, check out Age of Conan and specifically look at some of their non-human creatures - demons and things.  They have absolutely badass art without resorting to giant rainbow glowing spikes on everything.   I'm not saying "hey instead of ripping off wow, let's rip off aoc", just saying that's far from the only way to make cool looking graphics. (something i'm sure you as an artist know)</p><p>oh and here is a pic of AoC's recently released cat-style mount:  <a href="http://corpserun.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/screen_1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://corpserun.files.wordpress.co...03/screen_1.jpg</a></p>

<p><cite>arieste wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>covic wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Well I do always have inspiration.  I will break down my thoughts on the cat mount for you. </p><p>My first thought was to not make it a straight cat but a combination of creatures.  I was thinking what if someone created these things with magic and experimented with creatures.  Then a designer did tell me that Erudites in Odus had been experimenting like that so it fit the lore. I thought oh cool perferct.  I usually like to have a story to help drive my art, it makes it much easier to come up with something good.</p><p>So I wanted to make a cat tiger pattern, but with cracks that had glowing power emanating from them.  I wanted it to have a jaw like a rottweiler or pitbull, and a strong chest like them.  For the feet I was thinking of the creature in the first ghostbuster movie, and was thinking it would have big claws that didnt retract like a normal cat. My original concept had a tail but we didnt have a cat mount animation with a tail int he bone structure.  Tom tried to attach it to the Lynx skeleton we have but it was causing problems.  We would have had to do a complete reanimation of the cat and all the players, which took Tom and another animator Evan over 3 months to complete.  So I  made the tail short like a rottweiller.</p><p>Then I wanted to give it some protruding bone, and make a crest out of it.  I had been watching Avatar that week and remmember them talking how the Navi and other creatures had kevlar bones or something like that.  So I thought hey we have Karborite all over the underground caves in odus.  What if their bones where made of that stuff, so thats why the crest, bones on the neck, teeth, and claws glisten like Karborite as you move the camera around the model.  When I told my producer the bones where Karborite he looked at me like why does that make difference.  Well because it has a cool green and purple sheen when you move the camera and its cool with lore.</p><p>The purple version was the first one, and the thought was to make it have magic eminating from inside it.  And also give the female player base something to have, and other players who dont always want something evil and black.</p><p>The green one was next, I wanted to go more evil with this one.  So my thought was that it actually had poison boiling inside it.  Thats why its the only one with the dripping poison drool.</p><p>Then after that a designer took me in his office and told me what he wanted to ride, which was the black and blue one.  So I said ok I will do three just for you.  Well I have to say it was a good choice because more people are getting the black and blue.</p><p>Oh ya this was in response to ripping WOW.  Well on this model I didnt look that direction.  But they have a lot of great stuff, I have the Lich King art book in my office, along with Warhammer Online and many others.  I try to play all the mmos I can fit time in for, well actually all games for that matter.  I never limit where my inspiration comes from.  The game art world is always evolving and new ideas are always coming out of different studios, we all feed off eachother. I have friends in many different studios.</p><p>The thing we game artist try to do is make our game look as great as we can for our player base, that is the ultimate goal.</p></blockquote><p>Cool story, always interesting to see the inspiration process.</p><p>That being said, I think the criticism is that most of the graphics in EQ2 have been going towards the "Rainbow Caveart" style used for years by warhammer and then in the MMO world by WoW.  </p><p>If you do play other games, check out Age of Conan and specifically look at some of their non-human creatures - demons and things.  They have absolutely badass art without resorting to giant rainbow glowing spikes on everything.   I'm not saying "hey instead of ripping off wow, let's rip off aoc", just saying that's far from the only way to make cool looking graphics. (something i'm sure you as an artist know)</p><p>oh and here is a pic of AoC's recently released cat-style mount:  <a rel="nofollow" href="http://corpserun.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/screen_1.jpg" target="_blank">http://corpserun.files.wordpress.co...03/screen_1.jpg</a></p></blockquote><p>Sorry but people have different tastes.  I love the mounts EQ2 just released and I think that AoC one (AoC in general really) looks terrible.  It all comes down to what you like and I happen to like things in my fantasy world that I can not see in my real one.</p>

<p>thank you Covic for the breakdown!! very interesting.</p><p>i think our eq2 new mounts do look cool, i would've preferred the longer tail - but totally get why it's got the rotty tail now that you've taken the time to explain your creative process - so TY</p><p>on a side note - i personally think that the AOC mount is AMAZING looking - i'd pay 25 bucks for that mount in a heart beat, even if it were only for one toon on the account</p>

<p>Just wanted to add my thanks for your post, Covic. I love creature design, so reading about the process of creating a neat looking beast is always fascinating. I really like the detail about the kaborite bones - I actually thought that was just armor on its neck/back until I read your post and took a closer look. Very cool.</p>

<p><cite>covic wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Well I do always have inspiration.  I will break down my thoughts on the cat mount for you. </p><p>My first thought was to not make it a straight cat but a combination of creatures.  I was thinking what if someone created these things with magic and experimented with creatures.  Then a designer did tell me that Erudites in Odus had been experimenting like that so it fit the lore. I thought oh cool perferct.  I usually like to have a story to help drive my art, it makes it much easier to come up with something good.</p><p>So I wanted to make a cat tiger pattern, but with cracks that had glowing power emanating from them.  I wanted it to have a jaw like a rottweiler or pitbull, and a strong chest like them.  For the feet I was thinking of the creature in the first ghostbuster movie, and was thinking it would have big claws that didnt retract like a normal cat. My original concept had a tail but we didnt have a cat mount animation with a tail int he bone structure.  Tom tried to attach it to the Lynx skeleton we have but it was causing problems.  We would have had to do a complete reanimation of the cat and all the players, which took Tom and another animator Evan over 3 months to complete.  So I  made the tail short like a rottweiller.</p><p>Then I wanted to give it some protruding bone, and make a crest out of it.  I had been watching Avatar that week and remmember them talking how the Navi and other creatures had kevlar bones or something like that.  So I thought hey we have Karborite all over the underground caves in odus.  What if their bones where made of that stuff, so thats why the crest, bones on the neck, teeth, and claws glisten like Karborite as you move the camera around the model.  When I told my producer the bones where Karborite he looked at me like why does that make difference.  Well because it has a cool green and purple sheen when you move the camera and its cool with lore.</p><p>The purple version was the first one, and the thought was to make it have magic eminating from inside it.  And also give the female player base something to have, and other players who dont always want something evil and black.</p><p>The green one was next, I wanted to go more evil with this one.  So my thought was that it actually had poison boiling inside it.  Thats why its the only one with the dripping poison drool.</p><p>Then after that a designer took me in his office and told me what he wanted to ride, which was the black and blue one.  So I said ok I will do three just for you.  Well I have to say it was a good choice because more people are getting the black and blue.</p><p>Oh ya this was in response to ripping WOW.  Well on this model I didnt look that direction.  But they have a lot of great stuff, I have the Lich King art book in my office, along with Warhammer Online and many others.  I try to play all the mmos I can fit time in for, well actually all games for that matter.  I never limit where my inspiration comes from.  The game art world is always evolving and new ideas are always coming out of different studios, we all feed off eachother. I have friends in many different studios.</p><p>The thing we game artist try to do is make our game look as great as we can for our player base, that is the ultimate goal.</p></blockquote><p>thats a pretty neet story! always great to see how the artists come up with their ideas. to many call things ripoffs...its a fantasy world...and anyone with an imagination, who see other fantastic things, either inspired from popular movies or books, then made it themself, one could say it was a rip, even tho it legitimately wasnt. its the same as onld history art. ancient races who made art were inspired by what they seen, and love, and thought was beautiful. and its still the same today. that doesnt make, them, or current artists ''ripping off'' other games. but anyways...</p><p>i simply LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE! these new mounts! i KNEW before SF was launched, there would be more cat-type mounts released...silly Devs have a wonderful way of wording things as to hint but not give away...<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> i am hopeing since there are these theres more scheduled for non-SC, like in game status/coin ect. howEVER...i most likely will end up with a new SC mount within the week <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>my biggest wish....is to bring back the <span >Clydesdales...their my favorite horse...and i think they would fit perfectly with New Halas...i mean, its home to barbarians, barbarians you would think would have heavey, large horse mounts, like clydes, or draft horses. they could be the standard clyde colours, brown and white, or even all white, or even a pretty blue, purple...ect...i was SOOOO sad when the old clydes model was removed...so now when i go to a city stable...and see a horse there on show beeing called a </span><span >Clydesdale, and it has the normal horse model...a little part of me cries each time. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></span></p>

<p>Add my vote for a Clydesdale...which I agree, would accent the new Halas theme perfectly.</p><p>One of my earliest childhood memories was when my dad took me to the Budweiser plant here in Houston when the Clydesdales were in town. It has always been my most vivid earliest memory because I was completely overwhelmed by their size and majesty and to actually be carried up to one to pet it and still only being able to reach its shoulder.</p><p>Dad says I was only 4 when he took me but I can still recollect everything of that moment, from the dusky earthy smell to the slight quiver of its warm skin when I touched it.</p><p>So I would absolutely love to actually see Clydesdales in EQ.</p>

<p>Just wanted to add that I <em>dont</em> mind the new mount (I just object to the price) or old ones for that matter but I wouldnt mind seeing some more realistic ones coming around in the near future. Dont focus on speed particularly either. I'd love an Elephant mount that could be earned by people looking at low tier horses or guildless horses such as very new players or players with little cash. Hell, I wouldnt mind a Clydesdale Paladin Warhorse as their level 10 freebie. I'd roll a Paladin for that!</p><p>Taking inspiration from WoW is (imo) not doing EQ2 justice. WoW's engine is abysmal. EQ2 is so so much more capable than WoW's could ever be. Downgrading EQ2's graphics to emulate WoW is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">not</span> in any way a good idea. The SC mounts lack a TON of detail. Take the barding on the Cavalry Horses. The SC mounts dont seem to have anything close to that kind of detail on them.</p><p>Play to the strengths of the engine - the incredible level of detail it can render. If you must use WoW as a reference, take what they have and imagine the detail on it raised by an order of magnitude or more.</p>

<p><cite>arieste wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>covic wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Well I do always have inspiration.  I will break down my thoughts on the cat mount for you. </p><p>My first thought was to not make it a straight cat but a combination of creatures.  I was thinking what if someone created these things with magic and experimented with creatures.  Then a designer did tell me that Erudites in Odus had been experimenting like that so it fit the lore. I thought oh cool perferct.  I usually like to have a story to help drive my art, it makes it much easier to come up with something good.</p><p>So I wanted to make a cat tiger pattern, but with cracks that had glowing power emanating from them.  I wanted it to have a jaw like a rottweiler or pitbull, and a strong chest like them.  For the feet I was thinking of the creature in the first ghostbuster movie, and was thinking it would have big claws that didnt retract like a normal cat. My original concept had a tail but we didnt have a cat mount animation with a tail int he bone structure.  Tom tried to attach it to the Lynx skeleton we have but it was causing problems.  We would have had to do a complete reanimation of the cat and all the players, which took Tom and another animator Evan over 3 months to complete.  So I  made the tail short like a rottweiller.</p><p>Then I wanted to give it some protruding bone, and make a crest out of it.  I had been watching Avatar that week and remmember them talking how the Navi and other creatures had kevlar bones or something like that.  So I thought hey we have Karborite all over the underground caves in odus.  What if their bones where made of that stuff, so thats why the crest, bones on the neck, teeth, and claws glisten like Karborite as you move the camera around the model.  When I told my producer the bones where Karborite he looked at me like why does that make difference.  Well because it has a cool green and purple sheen when you move the camera and its cool with lore.</p><p>The purple version was the first one, and the thought was to make it have magic eminating from inside it.  And also give the female player base something to have, and other players who dont always want something evil and black.</p><p>The green one was next, I wanted to go more evil with this one.  So my thought was that it actually had poison boiling inside it.  Thats why its the only one with the dripping poison drool.</p><p>Then after that a designer took me in his office and told me what he wanted to ride, which was the black and blue one.  So I said ok I will do three just for you.  Well I have to say it was a good choice because more people are getting the black and blue.</p><p>Oh ya this was in response to ripping WOW.  Well on this model I didnt look that direction.  But they have a lot of great stuff, I have the Lich King art book in my office, along with Warhammer Online and many others.  I try to play all the mmos I can fit time in for, well actually all games for that matter.  I never limit where my inspiration comes from.  The game art world is always evolving and new ideas are always coming out of different studios, we all feed off eachother. I have friends in many different studios.</p><p>The thing we game artist try to do is make our game look as great as we can for our player base, that is the ultimate goal.</p></blockquote><p>Cool story, always interesting to see the inspiration process.</p><p>That being said, I think the criticism is that most of the graphics in EQ2 have been going towards the "Rainbow Caveart" style used for years by warhammer and then in the MMO world by WoW.  </p><p>If you do play other games, check out Age of Conan and specifically look at some of their non-human creatures - demons and things.  They have absolutely badass art without resorting to giant rainbow glowing spikes on everything.   I'm not saying "hey instead of ripping off wow, let's rip off aoc", just saying that's far from the only way to make cool looking graphics. (something i'm sure you as an artist know)</p><p>oh and here is a pic of AoC's recently released cat-style mount:  <a rel="nofollow" href="http://corpserun.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/screen_1.jpg" target="_blank">http://corpserun.files.wordpress.co...03/screen_1.jpg</a></p></blockquote><p>haha thats funny, I played AOC at launch and recently signed up again last week.  They have awesome looking armor, and the environments are great.  They got me back with that new pet that you get with the expansion.  It looked awesome in the screen shot then the ingame model was not near as cool, and I am pretty sure its a reskinned Ape.  They definatelly go toward the more realistic approach, which is why I only signed up for a month again, I want to fight something epic, Im still fighting wolves and cats at level 45, and I keep getting lost when trying to find new quest hubs.  Their 1-20 level experience is awesome, great story though.</p>

<p><cite>Lethe5683 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #993366;">They look rediculous, can't you at least try to be somewhat origional and make mounts that look like they belong in the game?</span></p></blockquote><p>Really, your spelling is what is <em>ridiculous.</em> </p><p>The mounts are lovely and fit in very well. They surpass the WoW mounts IMO, lovely art on them <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p>

<p><cite>Chiyoiche@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>covic wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Well I do always have inspiration.  I will break down my thoughts on the cat mount for you. </p><p>My first thought was to not make it a straight cat but a combination of creatures.  I was thinking what if someone created these things with magic and experimented with creatures.  Then a designer did tell me that Erudites in Odus had been experimenting like that so it fit the lore. I thought oh cool perferct.  I usually like to have a story to help drive my art, it makes it much easier to come up with something good.</p><p>So I wanted to make a cat tiger pattern, but with cracks that had glowing power emanating from them.  I wanted it to have a jaw like a rottweiler or pitbull, and a strong chest like them.  For the feet I was thinking of the creature in the first ghostbuster movie, and was thinking it would have big claws that didnt retract like a normal cat. My original concept had a tail but we didnt have a cat mount animation with a tail int he bone structure.  Tom tried to attach it to the Lynx skeleton we have but it was causing problems.  We would have had to do a complete reanimation of the cat and all the players, which took Tom and another animator Evan over 3 months to complete.  So I  made the tail short like a rottweiller.</p><p>Then I wanted to give it some protruding bone, and make a crest out of it.  I had been watching Avatar that week and remmember them talking how the Navi and other creatures had kevlar bones or something like that.  So I thought hey we have Karborite all over the underground caves in odus.  What if their bones where made of that stuff, so thats why the crest, bones on the neck, teeth, and claws glisten like Karborite as you move the camera around the model.  When I told my producer the bones where Karborite he looked at me like why does that make difference.  Well because it has a cool green and purple sheen when you move the camera and its cool with lore.</p><p>The purple version was the first one, and the thought was to make it have magic eminating from inside it.  And also give the female player base something to have, and other players who dont always want something evil and black.</p><p>The green one was next, I wanted to go more evil with this one.  So my thought was that it actually had poison boiling inside it.  Thats why its the only one with the dripping poison drool.</p><p>Then after that a designer took me in his office and told me what he wanted to ride, which was the black and blue one.  So I said ok I will do three just for you.  Well I have to say it was a good choice because more people are getting the black and blue.</p><p>Oh ya this was in response to ripping WOW.  Well on this model I didnt look that direction.  But they have a lot of great stuff, I have the Lich King art book in my office, along with Warhammer Online and many others.  I try to play all the mmos I can fit time in for, well actually all games for that matter.  I never limit where my inspiration comes from.  The game art world is always evolving and new ideas are always coming out of different studios, we all feed off eachother. I have friends in many different studios.</p><p>The thing we game artist try to do is make our game look as great as we can for our player base, that is the ultimate goal.</p></blockquote><p>thats a pretty neet story! always great to see how the artists come up with their ideas. to many call things ripoffs...its a fantasy world...and anyone with an imagination, who see other fantastic things, either inspired from popular movies or books, then made it themself, one could say it was a rip, even tho it legitimately wasnt. its the same as onld history art. ancient races who made art were inspired by what they seen, and love, and thought was beautiful. and its still the same today. that doesnt make, them, or current artists ''ripping off'' other games. but anyways...</p><p>i simply LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE! these new mounts! i KNEW before SF was launched, there would be more cat-type mounts released...silly Devs have a wonderful way of wording things as to hint but not give away...<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /> i am hopeing since there are these theres more scheduled for non-SC, like in game status/coin ect. howEVER...i most likely will end up with a new SC mount within the week <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" /></p><p>my biggest wish....is to bring back the <span>Clydesdales...their my favorite horse...and i think they would fit perfectly with New Halas...i mean, its home to barbarians, barbarians you would think would have heavey, large horse mounts, like clydes, or draft horses. they could be the standard clyde colours, brown and white, or even all white, or even a pretty blue, purple...ect...i was SOOOO sad when the old clydes model was removed...so now when i go to a city stable...and see a horse there on show beeing called a </span><span>Clydesdale, and it has the normal horse model...a little part of me cries each time. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" /></span></p></blockquote><p>I am going to have to look into that, the clydesdale being gone.  I didnt know we had one allready.  I really want to do one, using the rhime horse as a base since its much beafier then the older horses.  I would also like to do a cat with a tail, more on the real side so we could replace some of the old cats in game that are looking a little dated. Well there are a lot of things I want to do, just have to get the expansion stuff done first.  Most of the things I hear players want are on my list of things I want also, just have to block in the time.</p>

<p><cite>Guy De Alsace wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I find myself agreeing with the OP. Not that the mounts are bad its just that there are too many freakish ones around. Burning Rhinos, Giger-esque horses, enormous over the top armoured wargs etc...</p><p>I'd love to see something more sublime like a Clydesdale Warhorse with shiny plate barding. Camels, Elephants with Houda's and so on. At least a couple at any rate - and not on SC please, or not for the mad amounts of money!</p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>YES!!</strong></span></p>

<p><cite>covic wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I am going to have to look into that, the clydesdale being gone.  I didnt know we had one allready.  I really want to do one, using the rhime horse as a base since its much beafier then the older horses.  I would also like to do a cat with a tail, more on the real side so we could replace some of the old cats in game that are looking a little dated. Well there are a lot of things I want to do, just have to get the expansion stuff done first.  Most of the things I hear players want are on my list of things I want also, just have to block in the time.</p></blockquote><p>I've always wondered... how compatible are the models in EQ1 with the EQ2 engine? Would it be possible to import art resources from there (like the Snow Leopards, since you mention cats <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/ed515dbff23a0ee3241dcc0a601c9ed6.gif" border="0" />) and polish it up a bit to work here? Or is it faster/easier to build it from scratch in EQ2? (And I'm kinda assuming that there's no licensing or other type restrictions keeping the two apart as well)</p>

<p><cite>Kaozz@Crushbone wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Really, your spelling is what is <em>ridiculous.</em></p><p>The mounts are lovely and fit in very well. They <strong>suprass </strong>the WoW mounts IMO, lovely art on them <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>HA HA. FAIL.</p>

<p><cite>Kaozz@Crushbone wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Lethe5683 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #993366;">They look rediculous, can't you at least try to be somewhat origional and make mounts that look like they belong in the game?</span></p></blockquote><p>Really, your spelling is what is <em>ridiculous.</em> </p><p>The mounts are lovely and fit in very well. They <strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">suprass</span></strong> the WoW mounts IMO, lovely art on them <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p><span style="color: #993366;">Nice attempt to <em>surpass</em> my spelling.</span></p>

<p><cite>covic wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Well I do always have inspiration.  I will break down my thoughts on the cat mount for you. </p><p>My first thought was to not make it a straight cat but a combination of creatures.  I was thinking what if someone created these things with magic and experimented with creatures.  Then a designer did tell me that Erudites in Odus had been experimenting like that so it fit the lore. I thought oh cool perferct.  I usually like to have a story to help drive my art, it makes it much easier to come up with something good.</p><p>So I wanted to make a cat tiger pattern, but with cracks that had glowing power emanating from them.  I wanted it to have a jaw like a rottweiler or pitbull, and a strong chest like them.  For the feet I was thinking of the creature in the first ghostbuster movie, and was thinking it would have big claws that didnt retract like a normal cat. My original concept had a tail but we didnt have a cat mount animation with a tail int he bone structure.  Tom tried to attach it to the Lynx skeleton we have but it was causing problems.  We would have had to do a complete reanimation of the cat and all the players, which took Tom and another animator Evan over 3 months to complete.  So I  made the tail short like a rottweiller.</p><p>Then I wanted to give it some protruding bone, and make a crest out of it.  I had been watching Avatar that week and remmember them talking how the Navi and other creatures had kevlar bones or something like that.  So I thought hey we have Karborite all over the underground caves in odus.  What if their bones where made of that stuff, so thats why the crest, bones on the neck, teeth, and claws glisten like Karborite as you move the camera around the model.  When I told my producer the bones where Karborite he looked at me like why does that make difference.  Well because it has a cool green and purple sheen when you move the camera and its cool with lore.</p><p>The purple version was the first one, and the thought was to make it have magic eminating from inside it.  And also give the female player base something to have, and other players who dont always want something evil and black.</p><p>The green one was next, I wanted to go more evil with this one.  So my thought was that it actually had poison boiling inside it.  Thats why its the only one with the dripping poison drool.</p><p>Then after that a designer took me in his office and told me what he wanted to ride, which was the black and blue one.  So I said ok I will do three just for you.  Well I have to say it was a good choice because more people are getting the black and blue.</p><p>Oh ya this was in response to ripping WOW.  Well on this model I didnt look that direction.  But they have a lot of great stuff, I have the Lich King art book in my office, along with Warhammer Online and many others.  I try to play all the mmos I can fit time in for, well actually all games for that matter.  I never limit where my inspiration comes from.  The game art world is always evolving and new ideas are always coming out of different studios, we all feed off eachother. I have friends in many different studios.</p><p>The thing we game artist try to do is make our game look as great as we can for our player base, that is the ultimate goal.</p></blockquote><p><span style="color: #993366;">I'm not saying that you took the idea from WoW but the art style is very reminiscent of WoW.  Ever since RoK we have had nothing but freakish looking mounts that glow and have odd proportions, not that I'm saying they are bad, but they are defiantly not the type of thing I like.  What we need is some relatively normal mounts.</span></p>

<p>If the look is cool, I don't mind artists take their inspiration in other games like WoW or Warhammer ...</p><p>And while you're at it, you should get a look at armors in other game to make them more cool in EQ2 ...</p><p>I'd love to see armors with assymetric look, just like armors worned by Crushbone Orcs ... With left/right arm and shoulder naked and the other one being covered with an armor with extravagant shoulder.</p><p><img src="http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20071112064721/eq2/images/thumb/1/1f/A_Crushbone_footman.jpg/180px-A_Crushbone_footman.jpg" width="180" height="268" /></p>

<p><cite>covic wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I am going to have to look into that, the clydesdale being gone.  I didnt know we had one allready.</p></blockquote><p>I don't think we had an actual Clydesdale model that was removed, it's more like every horse used to resemble a Clydesdale because the models were more stocky, but then they were revamped into the horses we have today. Here is a picture of the old Misty Mustang for example (with bonus giant cow because it's the best old horse screenshot I can find atm):</p><p><img src="http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu263/gtpix/eqstuff/eq2-polymorphfun.jpg" /></p><p>If I remember correctly all the horses were built like that. It was years ago though, so I may be completely off. On a semi-related note, I know at least one person who would be ecstatic if a cow mount was added to the game.</p><p>Personally, I'd like to see this cute little guy return in mount form, I don't think I've seen him around since the horse revamp.</p><p><img src="http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu263/gtpix/eqstuff/eq2-meathorse.jpg" /></p><p>Overall my favorite mounts are the "traditional animal with a twist" sort, so I really love things like the prowlers, the icemare, and Mr. Meathorse up there. I figure anything really bizarre can be explained as the result of Gnomes or Erudites screwing around. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" /></p>

<p>Despite some rather rose tinted memories, the original EQ2 horse models were not really very good, and werent up to the art standards of the game. They were, I believe, replaced with the current, anatomically accurate and more detailed, models  for that reason.</p><p><a href="http://eq2vault.ign.com/screenshots/?ss=1207&page=1&cat=11">http://eq2vault.ign.com/screenshots...7&page=1&cat=11</a></p><p>..an old horse. Cant see them putting THAT back in.</p>