New Special Race: The Phoenix

[Xanthia]

Heh I think there is a reason why we don't have Phoenixs in the game and why the Gryphons were never implanted even though they did plan them a bit. They just wouldn't work. Simple as that. They are either two powerful and unbalance with the other races or would just be exactly like the dragon which would make them pointless (except for those who prefer them over dragons of course).

You could always go with the "mount" idea. Though I rather see dragon players having this ability instead (something different than what other games have. Have other players be mounts! . But that is another topic for another time.)

There is one more option though that may work. I mean we all agree they are overpowerd right? Then you know what that means! Make them monsters! Who wants to head into the lava pit and mass kill some Phoenixs? Or maybe head to the icy top mountains and blow some Gyphons out of the sky! Would work nicely with those people wanting to see ariel combat for dragons (What? A dragon can't fly and breath fire at the same time?! That's like saying I can't walk and breath air at the same time XD. Again, that is a different conversation for another time.^^)

At this point Phoenixs and Gryphons are just things that would LOOK cool..... but not really be worth time to putting ingame do to various problems with both. (maybe they can make them into shoulderpets.... shoulderpets look cool too *grins*)

[Spirit]

This is from the original line up - Angels were supposed to be in game:

Those old Gamespy previews almost made me want to cry... so much stuff! Lets hope, in the long run, they're still in the plan. On todays technology, with a lot of revisions/overhauls etc... it could see the light of an Istarian day.

... and Takora; where do you find these things lol?

I'm all for new races, when the basis is there to support them (there are other issues to fix first. ). Underwater cities with an underwater race, along with very limited and rare artifacts that would allow players to cross the borders between the two for any significant amount of time. Hell they could even eat one-another... unsuspecting gnome takes a skinny dip in the sea, only to be devoured by a shark-esk race who takes home the quarry to feed their kids. On the other hand that said gnome could be an expert fisherman and catch the unsuspecting water-breather. I know there isn't really any pvp in Horizons, but if the races were 'incompatible' then there's no reason pvp couldn't exist in the water.

But enough of that... Flying races.

I'd love to see Gryphons ingame, and even Phoenix's. I am certain that there could be a way to 'break-in' even a phoenix so they're not uber-super-duppa all-the-other-races-stink kinda stuff.

With a Gryphon it's clear enough... they're born small and need to grow up. When junior they could look like a bizarre lion with an eagles head, with short stubby wings lacking the big feathers to get airbourne. Think of the Travel form in WoW and expand on that. The scope for lore, places of living, race traits is there for development.

With Phoenix's it's rather more challenging... however... it stands to reason that they must be 'born' at some stage, and like any other bird they would not know how to fly. They probably wouldn't be on fire either (think Fawkes in Harry Pothead). You could probably start out with a 6ft chicken on steroids and a very colourful (and customisable) plummage, limited like a hatchling dragon but bipedal. Clearly, with wings only, tool usage in any form is a No but mentally controlled magic is very possible ... like the original post BUT... that would be towards the higest-level ability phoenix. Certainly no res at birth... a high-level quest (research the art of igniting life in the lifeless).. and like the original post, not a great amount of health. To help with the performance issues of a player on fire, perhaps (like Fawkes) the phoenix could appear like a large colourful bird ... but when they use a 'flaming phoenix' type ability they could then flare up and:
- if flying ... allows you to fly faster, like a flying 'sprint'.
- if on the ground... a beserker mode enhancing your melee and spell damage for a limited time, appropriate to your level.

For flying itself, it could be awarded at a level or 'online' time... or even better a combination of both. How the Phoenix would tie into the lore of Istaria and what social structure and living environment would be appropriate... that I don't know. I'd have to leave that to the experts. I'd suggest that they 'wing' it as I'm not aware of any references either!

I'm a Gryphon nut so I'm biased towards the addition of this race, especially as they have models already *cough*... however it would be great to see an underwater race and geography... but even swimming would be a start. Reading that article about boats, underwater cities... I'm glad it's been in the games development history and I hope it's still on the cards.

Thanks for the post!

Rakku

[Nambroth]

I like the way you think, Rakku!! :}

[Spirit]

hehe thank you Nambroth!

*points at the Gryphon expert* ..

Rakku

[Galdethriel]

Oh, what I would've give to be able to play a demon! XD They should have open PvP... >;D

Griffons...hmmm...they're just like dragons that look different. :/ I do like that water-dwelling race though :P

As for the Pheonix, I do think that's be a little overpowered. >.> It is quite an interesting idea though

[Zinnia]

Wow,I would just LOVE to see Angels in game,they need a human like character with wings that can fly among dragons I think.

[Spirit]

Oh, what I would've give to be able to play a demon! XD They should have open PvP... >;D

Griffons...hmmm...they're just like dragons that look different. :/ I do like that water-dwelling race though :P

As for the Pheonix, I do think that's be a little overpowered. >.> It is quite an interesting idea though

True... but Gryphons are another choice and could vary *very* significantly in lore and play style. The Phoenix, if done right, could be balanced I'm sure.

Can't say I'm sold on Angels though... unless you had Demons also. However, lacking Demons, we have Dryads... small humanoids with wings.

Rakku

[Sindala]

Ohh, I think the Vampire would be so cool
You could even have it so it has to eran its flight form, a vampire bat.
I also have to agree with others that the skies should belong to the Dragons.
Afterall, i'd hate to be in glide mode and 'accidently' take out a passing angel
The oceans are the way to go i think, vast oceans where an underwater race could could go where no others can.
Its the uniqueness of the races in this game which make it for me ^^

[Galdethriel]

I think if they were gonna make angels with the ability to fly like dragons they should make it so that it's limited... I dunno, an ability perhaps? You could activate it and it lets you fly for like... 30 seconds or something XD

If they made demons I think it'd be cool if angels and demons could attack each other, but they both have abilities that allow for an easy escape > I just had the vision of being a demon and going to the Angel's newbie area to spill some blood >:] Mwahahahaha! lmao XD

But I also really like the aquatic race :P The only thing about those is... how would they interact with non-fishy players? O.O If you were friends with a dragon or something you'd never be able to go hunting with them unless you could walk freely on land, and that would then make it unbalanced. :/

[Starmind]

No PvP. It's totally against the whole concept of Horizons. Better idea would be to have Demon npc's which the Angels get bonus on, but they'll always attack the Angel in the party.

[Sindala]

Land-Shark !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Spirit]

No PvP. It's totally against the whole concept of Horizons. Better idea would be to have Demon npc's which the Angels get bonus on, but they'll always attack the Angel in the party.

True... and good suggestion for the demon/angel thing...

I'd see it as... sea races and land races... neither can last long in the others element, except with rare and limited 'scuba' (lack of a better word) gear. When you're in the others element... you're at risk... think of it like a reeeeally big arena with the risk of a death point. I've written it above... the aquatic race could be hunting (you're the prey) or you could be fishing (also hunting)... or both hunting eachother.

Could prove interesting...

Rakku

[CottenCandy]

I would love to see more characters in game and not just flying ones. Yes the dragons help make this game unique along with the malti crafting and adventure lvls, but it would bring more originality to the game to have more races that other games dont have. Sorry but if i wanted a Pet Griffon or a riding mount for a griffon i'd go play wow but i dont want to. I love this game. There are ways to make new characters and not over power them or unbalance them.

For example...

Griffons

Start out looking like a ball of fur and fluff from the baby feathers and hair. They can be a race that a rouge mage created and left off to the west of WD (new map area). The Angels could become guardians of them (hmm there brings in another race). They have to learn and grow Griffons are a mis of magic and might yes like the dragons but in a different way lol imagine a griffon shooting flame out of it's mouth :P that would just be silly. Magic could be mainly like druid type spells and fighting with claws and beak but with new animations who knows maybe they can work out a type of flying attack too.

Make them as small as a drawf when they are first born (or are they hatched? lol can't remember) They also have to go thru a series of quests to grow to adult (either they could learn flight then as a teenager/young adult or wait till they are full grown). instead of 3 life cycles like the dragons give them 4 or 5 and once they get full grown they can have full flight. hehe even can make them fly like a ancient in the rift for a baby griffon more of a hop and glide sort of thing. and the more they grow the more they cay fly at a higher lvl and longer. (so far most actions i have mentioned could be taken from already implanted coding).

A new feature could be a different type of plot for them.... Well we have bipeds on the ground spreading out everywhere hehe and we got our dragons taking up the cliff sides hmmm what does that leave us??? Water?? Naw if there feathers get wet there done for oh i know how about Trees? Build Up and you can do different branches with different stuff. a Lair could be 10 layers deep just do it the opposit way going up and the rooms can look like nests (we got enough artists that we could even draw up some designs on here). lol look at the Tree in brist by the pad there's a few areas there big enough to hold an ancient dragon and enough space underneith to make a few rooms too.

Griffons like shinnies too so they should be able to use hoard also.

Hehe ok i'm getting carried away here but i think you get my point. And trust me even if new races came out i would never leave my poor CottenCandy for very long i love my dragon

Sorry i would just love to see some new races and Griffons would be one of them but heck for that matter the rest looks cool too

[Kitimandiri]

Hmm well I don't really see the point of another flying race quadruped race per se. A flying bipeds a bit different because they have there multiclass system and what not, but I think a gryphon or other flying beasty simply be a dragon with a different skin in order to maintain balance.

Dragons are unique to Istaria in terms of being playable and flying, we all know this. My .02c on what should happen with races is give the bipeds something to do end game to increase proficiency at something, be it crafting or adventuring. Have a long involved quest like dragons do, maybe involving the WA. I have never played a biped past level 15 so if I'm wrong about something feel free to correct me. I know from the minute RoP and later ARoP was released the dragon community really enjoys helping out with that. Give us something to help the bipeds with.

Last thought on the race thing, I'd vote for the merpeople because that's also unique as far as I know, and there are a lot of unique things you can do with that, almost like reverse dragon in terms of flying.

[Fridlekh]

I dunno if the resources are there to make any new races for a good long time... monsters are a lot of work, playable races are 10x more...

and while I'd like to see a game with all of these interesting fantastic creatures as playable, I'm not sure how they could be effectively worked into the lore of Istaria.

That being said... I wouldn't mind having a little magical-construct firebird battle-buddy sitting on my shoulder. ^_^ (procing shoulder buddy)

[Spirit]

A new feature could be a different type of plot for them.... Well we have bipeds on the ground spreading out everywhere hehe and we got our dragons taking up the cliff sides hmmm what does that leave us??? Water?? Naw if there feathers get wet there done for oh i know how about Trees? Build Up and you can do different branches with different stuff. a Lair could be 10 layers deep just do it the opposit way going up and the rooms can look like nests (we got enough artists that we could even draw up some designs on here). lol look at the Tree in brist by the pad there's a few areas there big enough to hold an ancient dragon and enough space underneith to make a few rooms too.

I like the tree-plot idea... although I think you'd have to have a plot area and call that an earie... or a collection of associated gryphon plots an earie. It would be interesting to see how that could be devoped. However I believe gryphons are all for mountain earies generally... so similar areas to the dragons, but perhaps implemented differently.

The same could apply to the Phoenix ... Topic coming rapidly back to the point lol... however you'd have to be sure not to be on fire or you'll burn your house down. :|

I also agree that a mer-people race would exploit an area that is completely unexplored for Istaria. That would be a lot of work to implement. In the long run this game is going to have to fight with the likes of ToA, and that does have dragons... and gryphons... not sure about a water-race though (don't think so).

I also also agree that the peds' need an epic quest similar in style to the RoP/ARoP ... so the dragons can help.

Rakku

[Balthizar]

I say they first need to add a school for each and every race in game kind of like the dragons have there school. With like quest and hardships to gain adult hood and what ever after that.

Then let the dragons start working on the other schools that fit it like all the monk schools and all the spell casting schools.

Now everyone can fly and dragons no longer suck becouse they can fly and not much alse.

[Creme]

I definitely think that more flying races would be a good idea. The Phoenix is a good one, the mechanics of flying already exist and it would be nice to see the skies have a multitude of different types of flying creatures. Gryphons would be very cool as an alternative, whichever would be easier to implement.