re: Drake gait

drartwhodent

Why did it change from a run to a hop?
Looks silly now.
I used to like riding my drakes but now I might as well be on a toad.
Please change it back. Lizards do not 'hop'.

hotfrostworm

I do not own a drake mount, but my wife has one on her account. We checked it out today, she agrees this looks very unlizard-like way to move. I don't think giant lizards would be a better mount than horses in all reality. For the most part, lizards move in an S shaped walk, the rider would be thrust side to side rapidly. I don't think the gait is a hop as much as a horse gallop at a slower speed. I cannot compare a before-after as I never owned or purchased any drake mounts.

I would like to know @percemer , if you can you tell us. Was this an accidental change or one with some underlying purpose? I can only suspect and conjecture, it would be done to either fix a broken animation or removed have fewer mount animations in total. My wife tells me this was not broken as of last year.

greywynd

drartwhodent said:

Lizards do not 'hop'.

Leaping lizards is a thing. Ask Little Orphan Annie.

hotfrostworm

greywynd said:

drartwhodent said:

Lizards do not 'hop'.

Leaping lizards is a thing. Ask Little Orphan Annie.

I was going to bring up the common basilisk, nicknamed the "Jesus Christ lizard". When fleeing from predators, they gather sufficient momentum to run across the water for a brief distance. The animal's low body mass and webbed hind feet allow it the push up against the water surface and run in an upright stance on its hind legs. But then I thought it would be a bit too "preachy" for a topic of fiction.

plan009

I never checked if it happened with other drakes, but my Guard Drake sometimes had an animation bug. Sometimes, when starting to move, if you turned right before, he would stay in a turned pose and sort of slide along with his feet and head moving. It was pretty silly looking, but amusing. I haven’t seen the bug since, but I prefer that to this completely unnatural galloping they’ve changed to. Having had various lizards as pets and something of a lizard watcher (as opposed to bird watcher) it totally ruins the immersion for me. It’d be like making all horses scurry like a lizard, lol.

plasticbat

plan009 said:

I never checked if it happened with other drakes, but my Guard Drake sometimes had an animation bug. Sometimes, when starting to move, if you turned right before, he would stay in a turned pose and sort of slide along with his feet and head moving. It was pretty silly looking, but amusing. I haven’t seen the bug since, but I prefer that to this completely unnatural galloping they’ve changed to. Having had various lizards as pets and something of a lizard watcher (as opposed to bird watcher) it totally ruins the immersion for me. It’d be like making all horses scurry like a lizard, lol.

Guard Drake has the sliding move for a long time. With a little lag, it can slide all the way. However, I do like its new hopping. The previous walking was awful for me. No, I don't consider it was running. The silly walking + the sliding was the reason I did not equip it for my toons. Now, with hopping, I give it to one toon to ride for now.

pitshade

Sliding is caused by moving immediately after leaving an interaction with an NPC or object like the bank. It persists until you stop for a second. Affects both Guard and Rage variants. I meant to check out the new animation this weekend but forgot. Makes me wonder if it us the same as the Salamander.

aslan3775

hotfrostworm said:

I do not own a drake mount, but my wife has one on her account. We checked it out today, she agrees this looks very unlizard-like way to move.

With all due respect to the OP, if we are going to ask your wife to come back to Neverwinter to check out stuff, we can't waste it on potential mount gaits.

Let's look at Fashion, please.

My characters have been struggling to keep up with the latest trends, and while some of my characters don't worry about trends and would wear ripped robes if their companions let them, it's just too much. With all the new transmutes that have been released since she stopped playing, we could use some commentary to weed out the mildly inappropriate, raunchy, or just plain gauche.

hotfrostworm

aslan3775 said:

hotfrostworm said:

I do not own a drake mount, but my wife has one on her account. We checked it out today, she agrees this looks very unlizard-like way to move.

With all due respect to the OP, if we are going to ask your wife to come back to Neverwinter to check out stuff, we can't waste it on potential mount gaits.

Let's look at Fashion, please.

My characters have been struggling to keep up with the latest trends, and while some of my characters don't worry about trends and would wear ripped robes if their companions let them, it's just too much. With all the new transmutes that have been released since she stopped playing, we could use some commentary to weed out the mildly inappropriate, raunchy, or just plain gauche.

@aslan3775 I will see what I can do. The conversation was less like her jumping on a PC, all giddy and helpful, to give me the information. It was more like me shouting from the next room at her, "Wendy are you busy?!".
"I am busy playing my games and then I am editing my movie! What the HAMSTER do you want?!".
"Which of your characters on Neverwinter has a drake?!"
"That all depends on the HAMSTER type! A mount or a HAMSTER companion!??"
"MOUNT!"
"Hang on a HAMSTER minute I will be in there myself!"

I don't recall her exact words about the movement, just that she acknowledged they changed it and it looks unnatural.

blargskull

I see Wendy still curses at you in pastel colors.

greywynd

Blarg started spiking the drake feed.

armadeonx

I suspect they may have changed the gait as jumping over small bumps on a drake mount is trickier than most other mount types. My cleric has a rage drake and you can't do things like climb the rocks in WoD - unlike many other mounts.

sandukutupu

I don't cuss in pinks and cyans! If I HAMSTER cuss you will HAMSTER know it.

aslan3775 said:

hotfrostworm said:

I do not own a drake mount, but my wife has one on her account. We checked it out today, she agrees this looks very unlizard-like way to move.

With all due respect to the OP, if we are going to ask your wife to come back to Neverwinter to check out stuff, we can't waste it on potential mount gaits.

Let's look at Fashion, please.

My characters have been struggling to keep up with the latest trends, and while some of my characters don't worry about trends and would wear ripped robes if their companions let them, it's just too much. With all the new transmutes that have been released since she stopped playing, we could use some commentary to weed out the mildly inappropriate, raunchy, or just plain gauche.

Did they really add any new clothing? I am amazed, if they did. All I ever did in the past was sort through the available green armors in the AH and find the good matches, throw on a splash of color. If it looked good to me, I posted it. Most players don't seem to mind how they appear in these games, as long as they can beat the snot out of something.

I hope all of you are doing well, my immediate family is doing well. The rest of my family always seems to have issues, nothing but drama there. Last year we all had covid-19 and now everyone seems to be in fear of Galvatron or Omegatron... whatever they rebranded the sequel to this year. Anything to make a buck off my medical insurance, get the shot, I took 2 shots they are small, and didn't even make me tipsy. It sure is cold here in Michigan, can someone turn up the global warming please? Thanks!

plan009

armadeonx said:

I suspect they may have changed the gait as jumping over small bumps on a drake mount is trickier than most other mount types. My cleric has a rage drake and you can't do things like climb the rocks in WoD - unlike many other mounts.

Well, I just saw the Guard Drake slide (not a new dance), so I can’t see any other reason for the new gallop/hop.

pitshade

Finally checked and it has the same animation as the Salamander and Basilisk. Guessing it's a bug and won't ever be fixed.

aslan3775

sandukutupu said:

I don't cuss in pinks and cyans! If I HAMSTER cuss you will HAMSTER know it.

aslan3775 said:

hotfrostworm said:

I do not own a drake mount, but my wife has one on her account. We checked it out today, she agrees this looks very unlizard-like way to move.

With all due respect to the OP, if we are going to ask your wife to come back to Neverwinter to check out stuff, we can't waste it on potential mount gaits.

Let's look at Fashion, please.

My characters have been struggling to keep up with the latest trends, and while some of my characters don't worry about trends and would wear ripped robes if their companions let them, it's just too much. With all the new transmutes that have been released since she stopped playing, we could use some commentary to weed out the mildly inappropriate, raunchy, or just plain gauche.

Did they really add any new clothing? I am amazed, if they did. All I ever did in the past was sort through the available green armors in the AH and find the good matches, throw on a splash of color. If it looked good to me, I posted it. Most players don't seem to mind how they appear in these games, as long as they can beat the snot out of something.

I hope all of you are doing well, my immediate family is doing well. The rest of my family always seems to have issues, nothing but drama there. Last year we all had covid-19 and now everyone seems to be in fear of Galvatron or Omegatron... whatever they rebranded the sequel to this year. Anything to make a buck off my medical insurance, get the shot, I took 2 shots they are small, and didn't even make me tipsy. It sure is cold here in Michigan, can someone turn up the global warming please? Thanks!

Glad to hear you are doing well. Cold is relative--just like global warming. I always thought winter was nice if it was sunny and between 5 and 25°F, but then I moved just a bit further south and found out that winter is cold when it is 30-35°F, cloudy, and really wet all the time.

While i agree that the last two years has been an incredible loss of content, beginning with the Foundry, there have been a few things that are nice for role playing. Having a stable of clothing and dyes that allow your characters to change clothes once in a while is pretty great--and after all the Hamster changes to combat systems and enchantments, I will be spending trade bars on dyes and other consumables "just for fun" instead of making my characters better at beating the snot out of the latest group of mobs.

Although, beating the snot out of mobs while looking good has its own rewards.

Back to the OP--i don't like the rage drake movement much at all--I prefer to use the bug and slide across the screen as long as possible. It's a much smoother movement and less distracting. But that is why i tend to use the wings or tenser's or a broom, or as a last resort, the Yeti or water horses--the hopping is just not easy for me to watch.

silente07

When you changed the drake gait, you took away their footprints. No more flame prints or shadows.
Uncool
Seriously why?

armadeonx

I have to say that since the update, my Cleric's rage drake gets stuck a lot less on bumps...

hotfrostworm

@silente07#2597 those in the 3D business call them decals. Decals are limited to a certain number and get replaced or relocated to another place. For example; boot up an old first person shooter where you can shoot at a wall and leave bullet holes. After a time or when you reach the max allowed the bullet holes will get filled in and new ones can be placed. That always makes it difficult to write your name on walls with your automatic rifle.

My guess would be, they needed to remove more assets and thought no one would miss them.

@armadeonx that has more to do with the bounding box and nothing to do with animation of the 3D rig. The bounding box is the simple collision mesh (usually a box) placed around any 3D object in the game. They "fixed" the collision by making the bounding box hop up and down.

This was a "poor solution" in my opinion. You don't change the animation, you repair the issue at the source. In this case, the bounding box needed to be lifted up or rotated slightly to make it up a hill. The more I read this thread, the less respect I have for the staff. Their work ethic is in question.

silente07

I rarely miss appearance effects. Fiery feet completed the look of inferno for one toon.

They repurposed so many things for this new mod. All the appearance items are rebases of old and the Harper outfit gives you a frogs throat. I’m waiting for them to start croaking secret messages.

plan009

I have to say again, especially after hotfrostworm’s info, that anyone who’s seen four legged reptiles knows they don’t hop. These drakes are larger than alligators and, like every other four legged reptile, they use a scurrying motion (bodies stay close to the ground while legs move). No animals I can think of run in a hopping motion (frogs don’t run). Dogs and cats may do this in short bursts when really chasing something, but not for long because of the energy it takes. And because Drakes are longer than frogs, it looks like what a hopping worm would do, lol.

Drakes getting stuck on rocks wasn’t anywhere near the big complaints of bugs and more in this game (the sliding bug remains), yet they decided to break the immersion and make it move in a ridiculous way. I consider it almost on par with changing horses to flap their legs to run, while leaving any bugs intact.