I've never heard an official answer from Daybreak as to why Necromancers, and Shadow Knights and Enchanters (and those who use the items like the Amulet of Necropotence) can not switch on the old skeleton graphics. This question may have been answered before, so I apologize for the duplicate question. In EQ classic, the white skeleton pet became larger the higher level the spell. Then at level 24 the skeleton pet became red and then got larger the higher level the spell. These cosmetic changes in the size and color of the pet were prestigious and gave Necros and SKs something to look forward to as they progressed their characters. But now, all of these changes have been removed. These old models were far superior, better rigged, and animated and were stylistically more cohesive with the original art style of EverQuest. Currently, the old white and red skeleton models exist and you can see them in various zones. So they are available in the global file. One of the reasons, I don't play necromancers these days is because of the inferior look of the skeleton pets. They are wimpy, laughable, and unappealing to me instead of being terrifying denizens summoned from the realm of the undead. Part of the nostalgia for me and and others is the iconic look of skeletons in classic EverQuest. Many of us would gladly pay for way to turn on these old skeleton graphics. Please bring them back or at the very least give us a way to turn them on via a purchase at the store. Thanks.
I'd rather the dev team were invested into wholesale revamping the game's UI, graphics, combat & fluidity of play as I want the game to move forward & modernise, with the long term goal of appealing to a younger audience & recapturing more of it's former players. If they can do that while retaining some old flavor for the die hards by giving them the option of playing "old" zones with "old" models and they can make a few old farts happy with some cheap oldskool skellies then sure, go for it.
Didn't the original skeletons predate mounts and were incompatible with them? Current skeletons is the only "nonplayer-race illusion" that works with mounts afaik.
I agree with you. To be honest, I would rather see a brand new EverQuest MMORPG with state of the art graphics instead of new TLP servers. I only play on TLP servers while I wait for a new EQ which I feel is inevitable. I believe Darkpaw was created for this reason. MMOs come and go and millions are spent but EQ has outlived them all because it has a timeless and enduring magic formula that creates loyal players. As you said, the only way to attract a new generation of players to EQ is to have appealing modern graphics and animations but with the time-tested design foundations of classic EQ. The lore, the geography, the classes, the spells, the abilities are already done and ready to go with 23 years of content as a reference and a roadmap with triumphs, mistakes, warts and all. All we are waiting for is to EG7 to pull the lever and release the Kraken.
Honestly I wish they would do something like this as well. I am in contact with most of my original EQ buddies and I cannot for the world of me get them to come to a TLP. To a man(and one woman) they say there is no way they could play a game with 20 year old graphics yet each one is eagerly awaiting Pantheon so they can, "Play EQ with a new graphics engine". Seriously, most of them just consider Pantheon to be the EQII we always wanted, it is pretty crazy. So honestly, yeah I think EQ remastered or reimagined would be a very popular thing. They could literally just leave much of the game as is except for a few glaring issues and release with updated graphics, animations and models and it would be a success. I realize it isn't as easy as swapping out a graphics file, but they wouldn't have to come up with anything new as far as content. Same Zones, Same Mobs, Same Items, Same Bosses, Same Raid, just updated graphics, animations and models and instant success.
For player illusions it seems almost certain it would be dueto the mount animation not existing for the old models, though it is surprising it would not be an option in the launcher like the mage elementals for pets
It would be soooooo sick if they had old models.. Maybe I would actually want an AoN. Funny y'all say its about compatibility with mounts when the old models literally stand through the mount but are usable.
And it took dev time in order to make old models work on mounts like that. You want devs to work on old model skeletons standing on mounts vs literally anything else? Of the laundry list of things they could be doing, this may land 2nd to last on list of priorities right above bringing back old Freeport and Oasis of Marr.
Yes, I do. I think they look cool. I am sure it took a LOT of dev time to make a model literally stand through a mount. Good lord
spell effects changing as you level was one of the coolest parts of the game I'd say they should bring it back but everything is shoved into a 5 level range now
I doubt it. We can use the old character models which aren't compatible with mounts. I hear this request often, so I'm curious - does anyone know when this change was made? And why?
It was my impression that old models couldn't be made compatible with mounts, and look acceptable to the devs. The solution we ended up with was not something the devs were satisfied with(which is why it was so hard to convince them to do it anyway). I think the devs care about things looking right, and old models on mounts does not look "right". I wouldn't be surprised, if DBG no longer had the required tools for adding riding-animations to the original models.
Bring back the classic skelly. Model is already in-game. Can make it a custom illusion item out of a crate or something we can purchase with 999 claims. Best model. Its in the game. I personally don't care if it works on a mount or not!
Well said! I think the "old skeleton doesn't work on a mount" argument doesn't hold water. Many illusions such as wolf form, bear form, elementals, and such do not work on mounts either.
Just make the skeleton stand straight up with its legs coming out from the under the mount like everything else.
