Dragon and human ideas (Dragon riders?)

[Spirit]

I think there was a fairly recent response regarding dragon riding... simply that there are more important things that can provide more benefit and content for the players. If there's a to-do list, this is pretty far down it given the size of the team.

Rakku

[Frith-Rae]

Basically, and this HAS Been stated in ANOTHER of these threads over the years, it requires not only work but a rewrite of our current engine.

The engine we have now simply does not allow for dragon riding, or any other mounted riding (its why we don't have it...). Its been stated over and over and over again. Its not just a matter of coding, its a matter of REWRITING THE ENGINE.

So as much as you dont like us pooping on your suggestion thread, us Elder players do get tired of the 3-6 threads of THIS EXACT THING coming up every year, to have to repost over and over again.

Its not just time, its the game engine itself, doesn't do this sort of thing. It would take literally years of dev time to make this ONE THING happen. When that same years of dev time could rewrite the actual CONTENT of the game, adding dungeons, quests, loots, mobs, etc.


We (those of us who respond this way) really are trying to be as nice as we can in letting you in on these tidbits of information passed down over the last 7 years or so.

If you put it in open discussion, you're going to get "quit beating the dead horse - they can't do it - not even that they don't want to - its almost an impossiblity to actually do.."

Because there's a difference between, to me, suggestions that are based in reality, and suggestions that won't actually HELP anything about the game because they can't happen.

I mean we've had suggestion threads about varying wierd races - for fun discussion that's great. But in the spirit of "if enough of us post maybe they'll actually do it" um...no.

(And its not even because I don't read, I've read the entire Pern series (Pern dragons are nothign like Istarian dragons though lol), the Eragorn series, and almost every other dragon containing series you can think of or that I can find - interesting fun discussion - but don't get peeved because no matter how much this topic is rezzed its not going to happen anymore than a dragon playable race is going to come to WoW..) lol

[Frith-Rae]

(p.s. added extra detail to the FAQ post so that others later can get more explanation as to why this has been shot down in the past )

[Zanukk Sytheclaw]

Im against the idea of a biped riding an istarian dragon. It goes against the lore for both helian and lunus. Its basicly painting it that the bipeds are superior and dragons are nothing more than a horse or mule to carry things here and there.

But the question is, why do the bipeds want to ride dragons. to show they are better? Why do the bipeds need to make a saddle and mount the dragon on their back? if they wanted to get to a place they cannot get why not ask the dragon to take them there, the dragon picks them up with their claws and flies off. There should be no comfort for that biped that needs to go somewhere it cannot reach.

Who do these bipeds think they are that they should get the luxury to slap things on dragons backs and yell giddie up.

As for the Pern books. Yes the wyverns were bioengineerd from the firelizards , They were made to fight off a threat from another nearby planet. When hatched they would mind link with a child which they would grow up with (some fire lizards would do the same) If the rider died so did the dragon. if the dragon died, the rider was crippled mentally. Some firelizards would die if their esteemed human died. When the dragons mated it caused the humans who were linked to the dragons to mate, thus the riders would end up mating different partners depending on who their dragons choosed. The dragons also had some form of teleport which was used alot. staying to long into it could cause death which was the method the dragons would take if their rider died.

[Zanukk Sytheclaw]

P.S. You can become a dragon in wow with an item called the vial of sands wich turns you into a sandstone drake (mount) does allow you to carry someone with you.

[Raptress]

If you're against the idea, then you don't have to utilize the feature, should it ever actually make it into the game. I don't personally think it goes against the lore. The saddle might be pushing it, but if a dragon chooses to allow a biped the privilege of riding on their back, that doesn't mean the biped is in any way superior to the dragon.

The only way I can see this feature working game mechanics-wise is for the dragon to offer the ride, not for the biped to ask for the ride. Can you imagine how annoying that would get if it were the biped asking? Players on dragon characters would probably get spammed with requests.

So, even in game mechanics, the dragon is offering the ride. Perhaps as a favor, perhaps in necessity because people need to get to an epic hunt and it's way easier for dragons to get out to SoG, perhaps the dragon is going to get paid for it. In no way do I see dragon-riding itself as making the biped superior. It all depends on context, and I just don't see the context where the biped is the one in control being the context that happens unless players are RPing that way or something, and that wouldn't be this feature's fault.

[Dragonboy]

There would be no difference between getting a spam of Riding requests or spamming in local area chat, joining a chat channel requests, /tell's send... All of which some already get. It still happens, one way or another.

[Raptress]

Personally, I think there's a pretty big difference between getting spammed in chat, which easily ignorable, and getting spammed with a confirmation box that says something like "Would you like to give So-and-so a ride? [Yes] [No]".

So.. the dragon player having to offer the rides would make a sizable difference to me.

[velveeta]

totally totally against dragons being used as any kind of mount or beast of burden....
the only way i would be in the least bit favorable, is if the dragon is always in control. the dragon offers, the dragon consents, the dragon has the choice to terminate the ride at will.

this is the only way dragonriding could even be made to fit into istarian lore, to my way of thinking.

[Spirit]

The amount of time required to implement this feature (both in terms of programming and art) and the low return (basically it isn't a feature that everyone would want/use) is why its never really been anything we've put effort into, either from a planning or development perspective.

Because of the size of our team (and not just at present, but going back all the way to late-2004) we've had to be careful with the things we choose to develop. We typically focus on things that have a high return, such as high-level content, low-level content, performance improvements, plot/lair art, and that sort of thing. These things have a high return because they either a) appeal to the long-term folks, b) appeal to new players, or c) are for plots and thus appeal to just about anyone.

I can't say I like the idea much either... but I've quoted Amons earlier post.

Rakku