Simple suggestion(s) regarding flight visuals

[Vaz]

When a dragon flies while overburdened or pulling a cargo disk, it looks ridiculous. They're barely moving their wings, which strains plausibility past its breaking point.

It's been established in the lore (I can't remember where...I'd love to see the source again, if anyone knows where it is) that Istarian dragons fly with the aid of inherent magic.

So, my suggestion is one or both of the following:

A) Remove the effect speed has on the flapping animation. This would fix the ridiculousness at high speeds, too, and would cause much rejoicing.

B) When a dragon is flying while overburdened or flying while pulling a cargo disk, a subtle magic particle effect around their wings is activated. The slower they're moving, the more intense the effect.

[Raptress]

Agree with this. Option A would be great, simply because it also fixes the "hummingbird dragon" effect, but option B would be kind of a neat lore-nod. Overburdened/disk-dragging flying dragons (and really fast ones) look pretty silly as-is. >_>

[Sigi]

Personally I like the overburdened one exactly because it is slow, slow flapping is for me much more acceptable than - the hummingbird dragon - big birds slow flap too - it gives a "majestic" feeling.

[Vaz]

It just looks to me like there should be a comical creaking sound effect. What big, majestic bird takes five seconds to complete a flap? Moving its wings in an exaggerated motion from below its body to above its body and back?

[Akrion]

Personally I like the overburdened one exactly because it is slow, slow flapping is for me much more acceptable than - the hummingbird dragon - big birds slow flap too - it gives a "majestic" feeling.

No bird flaps anywhere near slow as an overburdened / disk pulling Dragon.

[Sigi]

No bird flaps anywhere near slow as an overburdened / disk pulling Dragon.

So? You don't really think dragons excist do you?
I like the slow flapping, shoot me for it.

[awdz]

I love the look of overburdened dragons flying. Rarely do I get to see the detailed wing motion otherwise.

[Akrion]

So? You don't really think dragons excist do you?

So then why'd you even try to compare it to large birds in the first place? :P

[Raptress]

Well, I suppose part of my problem with it is of my own doing. I've modded my game to remove the hummingbird aspect because I couldn't stand it, it looks so stupid. But as a result, my overburdened dragons flap even more slowly than they would otherwise. So it seems that either you deal with hummingbirds and you don't mind the disk-dragging, or you fix the hummingbird and disk-dragging looks ridiculous.

If they just moved at a constant, natural speed, that'd solve everything.

[Cynny]

If they just moved at a constant, natural speed, that'd solve everything.

I totally agree here, wish we didn't have so many different flapping speeds. I mean, with one large, slow, graceful beat, a dragon thats good enough to fly so fast anyway could do so without horribly flapping around, right? ._.
And I agree with the disk too. Pff. I hate how the wings move -so- slow XD

[Vaz]

So? You don't really think dragons excist do you?

That argument reminds me of Godwin's Law. Because someone always tries to use it to oppose any "realism"-oriented improvement in a game.

[AguaRush]

I totally agree here, wish we didn't have so many different flapping speeds. I mean, with one large, slow, graceful beat, a dragon thats good enough to fly so fast anyway could do so without horribly flapping around, right? ._.
And I agree with the disk too. Pff. I hate how the wings move -so- slow XD

Agreed! maybe its possible with a mod??

[Cynny]

Agreed! maybe its possible with a mod??

I think someone actually worked on this a while ago, something about changing the numbers in the flapping file. I forgot though...long ago.

[Shian]

I love the look of overburdened dragons flying. Rarely do I get to see the detailed wing motion otherwise.

I agree with this. It also tells me loudly that I forgot to take off the disk.

[Vaz]

Would the implementation of option B alone keep you happy, Sigi, Awdz, and Shian?

[Dhalin]

I've always wanted to see something like this put in-game, perhaps by an option that could be turned on/off, or maybe a slider.

Once you've played WoW and used some of the dragon mounts there (especially netherdrakes) and then you come back to Istaria, the flap speed seems really, really off.

The wing animations are nice, but when you've got Gift of Velocity, your dragon becomes a literal hummingbird (and I'm not even an ancient, AND I'm using GoV IV, not V) that just seems so silly for something that large to flap that fast.

But yet, you stick a cargo disk on, and it is just like the others here mentioned, your dragon climbs and his wings are slowly moving at like 5-10 frames a second.

It'd be nice to have some sort of median, perhaps the unbuffed wing flap speed of an adult dragon or thereabouts, or like I said, perhaps add a slider and a checkbox. The slider would set the speed of your default flapping, and the checkbox would determine whether the flap speed applies while carrying a cargo disk. If checked, the default flapping overrides the slow flapping while carrying a cargo disk, if unchecked, the default flap speed is always the flap speed, even while carrying a disk.

That way, everyone gets what they want. It would be customizable, too!

[Thicklesip]

Would the implementation of option B alone keep you happy, Sigi, Awdz, and Shian?

I know I'm not Sigi, Awdz, or Shian, but a particle effect scaling with overburden speed loss would look great to me, if we're doing any of these things. (Me, I slowed down all my animations so AncienThickle's full speed looks like it's lumbering through the skies. It makes me giggle.)

[awdz]

Would the implementation of option B alone keep you happy, Sigi, Awdz, and Shian?

*shrugs* i won't be upset whatever happens, as long as i do get to see dragons in istaria. :-)

[Xepher]

To be honest I really wish they'd change and improve the current flight animations and speed in general, but for the sake of this topic I add my signature :x

[Darkwing_Duck]

I personaly think dragons don`t flap as much as glide on wind currents, much like a large bird like an eagle or volture does. too bad there isn`t a way to make them flap slower, and maybe only flap 3 or 4 times then glide. I`ve learned a little trick that helps me not get annoyed by the hummingbird effect. but can get a bit tiring on the fingers XD

As for disk dragging? I don`t mind the flapping speed when overburdened. just the flight speed itself, but that can`t be helped hence the term "overburdened" XD