We have mounts (a surprise to some of you, I know). If we're using a horrible-appearing but useful flying mount (I'm looking at you, stuffed toy pegasus), we can use another mount as it's appearance. This is a good thing. However, there's a little problem with it. We cannot use *all* other mounts as appearance mounts. Specifically, we can't use ground-pounders as appearance mounts for flyers. On the face of it, this is valid as horses don't generally fly, except when a catapult is involved. The problem there is that we've already got flying (non-winged) horses in the game. Just take a look in Lavastorm or Loping Plains. The real problem, though, is carpets and similar. The Carpet of Clover, the Hotwired Gnomish Hoverpad, the Lava-Threaded Carpet, so on and so forth. All of these are non-flying, none of them can be used as appearance replacements for fliers. An extra annoyance for the Lava carpet is that as a house item it's actually called a Lava-Threaded FLYING Carpet. (And yet the Gnomish C.R.A.S.H. Pads *can* be used.) In 2013 (or 2014) I attended Fan-Faire and specifically asked about using the Gnomish Hoverpad as a flying mount appearance item. I was told at the time that it couldn't be done because they'd have to make character movement sets for all of the races in order to do it. At the time (more fool, me) I accepted that answer. The answer doesn't fly anymore. We have LOTS of carpets / hoverpads / platforms and others, and as far as I can see ALL of them use the same movement sets. Simply flagging all of the non-flying carpets et cetera as viable appearance alts should be a simple operation. That way, all of us who built our own "flying" mounts would be able to actually, y'know, use them for flying. (Or at least the appearance of same.) Truthfully, given that we have flying horses (see Lavastorm), flying reindeer, and flying people (see the catapult in Zek and the assorted strap-on wings), I think it's time they did the *real* simple thing and disable the flag entirely. Allow any mount to be used as an appearance for any other mount. Let *us* decide how silly we want to look.
They problem, at least as it's been mentioned in the past by the devs, is that every mount needs it's own individual animations for flying. If the mount doesn't have those animations, it can't go in the flying slot.
I agree with the OP - existing animations for leapers and gliders and at least some ground mounts such as carpets and clouds are sufficient to allow them as appearance over flying mounts.
I've tried to get cloud of bats fixed for a long time to be used as an appearance mount for the flying mounts.still not fixed. so annoying. Its a mount paid for by DBC too. So if DBC mounts can't get a fix what hope do the rest have.
See my BROOM MOUNT campaign that has been going on for over 2 years now. I was told by Ttobey himself in one of the other threads that he tried a BROOM MOUNT and it made everybody look like they were extremely well endowed. I compromised in yet another thread where a VROOM BROOM was suggested and Ttobey stated that would be more doable. That was over a year ago. Windstalker stated in the server Dev chats over 18 months ago that it was in the works, that they were deciding the type of broom. I have suggested re-skinning the flying discs, the characters could appear to be standing on the broom like a surfboard. I have suggested side saddle, they were able to animate that in the 1950's and 1960's so that in the intro for Bewitched, Samantha could be riding a broom. There was a large amount of community support for the BROOM MOUNT. A version that could be earned during NoTD, and many, many people stated that they would buy one from the marketplace or a more elegant version from the marketplace. I am the guild leader and my title is Wicked Witch of the West, the other titles are Flying Monkeys, they have been this way for a very long time. *thinks perhaps she needs to start a lesser campaign for Flying Monkey Mounts* I have told Ttobey the BROOM MOUNT Campaign will NOT EVER end until my BROOM MOUNT has been created. Ttobey thinks I will get tired of my campaign and give up, well he is WRONG!!!! Ttobey has run into the most stubborn Irish lass ever to walk on the planet, so this will NEVER end, NEVER!!!!
So what is wrong with the males being well endowed? And so the females may look like aroused hermaphrodites, but hey, its livable. We can just ask each other "Is that a broom in your pocket or you just happy to see me?" *laughs as I apologize to Mae West*
Thing is, for me to believe that requires me to believe that the animations for the C.R.A.S.H. Pads are different from the Carpet of Clover which are different from the Carpet of El'Khazi which are different from the Carpet of Assured Quality which are different from the Elemental Disk of Flame..... you get the point. I've got an assortment of carpets / disks / pads / platforms and they sure don't *look* like they use different animations. Even if they are, you'd think after EIGHT years they'd have fixed at least ONE of them (the Hotwired Gnomish Hoverpad).
The devs never said each requires unique animations, but that they do require animations.. I interpreted it to mean that every single mount requires the animations to be hooked up individually. Whether they're using similar/same animation as other mounts or not. I know code, not animations, but I can make educated guesses based on my knowledge of code.. and things are rarely as easy as they seem to be (or 'should' be) when it comes to code. I'm not going to assume animation is any 'simpler'.
*sticks her tongue out at Ttobey before running off to put up even more BROOM MOUNT campaign fliers across all of Norrath and the Plane of Magic*
Another for the broom mount, and also, a crow mount, and another for making clouds mounts fliers! (looking at you, lil storm whistle, and Tenebrous Timeline mount...and the pox mount from NOTD....hell, any of them.....)
There have been mounts like \aITEM -2033173056 -668537249:Carpet of Assured Quality\/a (Altar of Malice tradeskill Beta) and \aITEM 1066550437 794857943:Superior Djinn Bracelet of the Sky\/a (Pre-Tears of Veeshan raid zone) items already, which used the traditional carpet mount appearances and were perfectly flying mounts too. The first even perfectly usable with other flying-only mounts. Be sure to select & copy the links into the game to preview them. So it's not like it wouldn't be doable to make flying carpet appearances usable for other flying mounts. Why all other carpets were not made usable for appearance with all flying-only mounts... now that's a question.
As you yourself said earlier in this thread. "... as it's been mentioned in the past by the devs, is that every mount needs it's own individual animations for flying". So yes, by your own quote, every single mount needs a unique set of animations. That's also what I was told in person when speaking with the devs at Fan-Faire. And I don't believe it. As for how hard it is to do, if it *is* hard then they messed up badly when designing the software. Why? Because the motion animations are *already* attached. Just watch when you're traveling across the ground on a CRASH Pad and then later when you're using it as a flying appearance mount. Looky! Animations! The entire requirement to enable a mount to be used as a flying appearance mount should be setting / clearing a single flag. If it takes much more than that, then yes, they messed up.
Some animations != all animations. Also, if there is an animation for 'climb', it needs to have something attached to that node. It doesn't matter if the animations 'exists' if it isn't attached to that 'node' for that critter. If it isn't attached, the creature won't use the climb animation when climbing a wall... Sure, it may go up the wall, but it won't have the animation that goes with it. Clearly the decision has been made that mounts without flying animations aren't allowed to fly (whether they lack the animations because they haven't been attached or the animation doesn't exist, isn't really the issue). I can't speak directly to the crash pad mounts or the carpet mounts.. I don't use any of the 'crouching' mounts on my toons because I don't like the player animation on them. But that is neither here nor there.
Since we are on the subject of appearance mounts, are Fae and Arasai ever going to have the ability to have an "invisible" mount option and keep just using their wings? If nothing else, I'd like to see either Blessing of Xegony turned into a mount, or some pixie or dragonfly wings become available. I feel odd being a flying capable race riding a mount, or having to have bat/demon wings to fly (though it's fun at Halloween), otherwise I have to give up the mount stats to keep my appearance.
