Which of these large races are you most thankful for?

I had to vote Troll, because I played a Troll SK in EQ. Very original, I know.

I can't actually get this to run on my new machine yet, I think some sort of graphics/clipping issue. My avatar and surroundings feel as though they are in a constant earthquake.

Okay I would like to bring up a question here , and only because I really think this game has everything to be awesome.

What do you guys think of faction turncloaks ?

Like for instance , I am a human , that after leveling up to some lvl got tired of the human raca and truly believe the orcs are the real deal , so after of couse proving my loyalty to the orcs faction I start a new life there , I would always be branded as a turncloak to the human raca , but its ok because I'm killing humans now.

So tell me what do you think . . .

IMO, factions should be more complicated than that. There should be many different human factions, they're not united. And you shouldn't have just one faction to belong to, you should have a separate rating with each faction that can range from being kill-on-site to neutral to super-best-friends and anything in between. More how EQ1 handled factions than how recent games do it. So yeah, if you want to raise your standing with the local orcs, you can try, but it would be hard and you'd probably spend a fair bit of time grinding reputation points. In doing so, you might lose standing with some human factions, at least the ones that are directly opposed to those specific orcs that you're trying to help. At the same time, not all orcs are united, so while one faction of orcs might like you, another orc faction might still hate you.

I like the way you think, really like the way you think , yeah , I have to agree with you factions should be more complicated than that, I used to play a lot of WOW , and as u all know there is alliance and horde , and I always tought it would be amazing to be able to turncloak

yeah, I'm really hoping they don't go with typical alliance/horde, sith/republic, good guys/bad guys, etc. They could have hundreds of different factions in the game.

There is going to be one player faction at launch. You can join or befriend other factions in the game but your only a part of the Combine at the start. There also been hints of factions being dissolved and created dynamically through player interaction and in game play. A civil war for example.

What that means for PvP and other factional mechanics is still up in the air however.

EQ2 had a betrayal system so you could swap sides early on in the game. I don't see this game having static sides that your permanently a part of.

Also no one starts off described as evil or good. How characters perceive you is based on your actual actions in game.

Anyways, thread getting a bit derailed.

Must.... Haz.... Iksar!

This will be my first Everquest game, so my opinion comes from more of an outside view on how I would like a lizard/saurial race to look. While I'm not well versed in EQ lore or design, reptilian fantasy races are certainly my favorites, so I'll try to pull from what I know there.

To start, I have to say I like the saurian approach to the Iksar as opposed to the lizard/snake like designs:


I like features such as the raptor like feet, and the slightly bulkier body of the 2nd one above. The face of the 1st one is a fun very dinosaur-ish approach to the design that I don't see enough of in reptilian fantasy races. However if the EQ team decides to go in the more saurian direction for the Iksar, I don't think they should limit it to raptor and other carnivorous species. This has been seen in the saurials in D&D games.

For facial or body accents, they could use concepts like boney plates/protrusions or even feathers (the argonians in Skyrim pulled it off rather well) to supplement the spikes and fins already seen in the concept art.

As far as the aesthetic for their culture/armor design, I've never been a huge fan of the tribal flavor that most fantasy game put lizardmen in. I love the first and last armor designs seen in the concept art they have already posted. Perhaps some armor could even include some Egyptian like elements to it, such as in this image.

Hopefully these suggestions aren't too far from what the team and/or players would like to see in the Iksar, especially given that this game has the chance to reinvent them and give them a unique take on their design. Either way I am really looking forward to diving into my first EQ game and seeing Iksar in the game (hopefully as a playable race). And I agree with the other posters that these concept designs would make for great forum avatars

My favorite design is the middle one on the second row. He just seems to be the best combo of all designs.

First off, I gotta say I like all the concept art.. Beautifully done. I have always thought the Iksar race as a lizard as they're described from the beginning as Lizardmen. That being said, dragons are overgrown lizards.. Dinosaurs and dragons may have been around in the same time, but dinosaurs are an entire species where as dragons are.. well dragons.
Snakes may look similar to the idea of lizards and dragons because of the scaling and facial likeness.. but again, I see them as a separate species.
I think Lizardmen should be the evolving stages of a lizard becoming a dragon. So the more dragon-like the drawings are, the more I like them. Perhaps even some elongated shoulder blades or larger backs for the wings to come would be nice though. The closest to my liking in the concept art id say is the bottom row, middle Iksar and the Top row on the far right for the entirety. The heads I like pretty much the five heads to the right side.

Not to distract from the Iksars, but I hope we get more races then the previous Everquest games, I'd love to have playable Gnolls I purposely use a petrified gnoll eye in EQ2 to run around rp as one. EQ2 is full of great species that'd be great to play too. Hope they add as many as possible along with the original races ^.^ I love games with options.

I actually wish you guys would make Iksar more draconic, simply because everyone knows that dragons >>> boring lizards, snakes and such. Nobody goes wow when they see a lizard after all, but everyone would if they'd see an awesome dragon! ^^

To improve in that aspect it would be nice seeing Iksar having horns, glowing eyes and may be even wings(that's unlikely but may be you can add some items that add wings to any race in future?)

Now speaking of concepts that i liked:

:
Imho this body type has perfect mix of everything. Agile, graceful and dangerous. Would definitely look great in armor and natural with movements and animations.


This head concept is the most draconic, so i obviously chosen this one ^_~ Now add glowing eyes to it and you've got a jaw dropping look right there.

I've got a question though... Why not add different body types in game? Letting players customize more is always welcome, especially considering how few games we have that let us customize anything exept humans(they always get tonns of body/head sliders but beast races don't :\ ) Actually i could recall only 1 game with such customization and it was Champions Online. So... why not include a couple of body/head types? This could be done with some in-game store purchases too, for example i would definitely pay real money if i could get body/head types that i liked for my character.

Agreed on all points, dragons rock!

Devs, I find it odd that you're trying to find only 1 solution for everything when it's known that best solution was and will always be MORE DIVERSITY!

I personally love Iksars and when I see these concepts I am extremely excited about where their design is heading. There is one thing in this picture that I don't think anyone else has mentioned that I think would really help with customization, not only with Iksar but with every beast race. That thing is their tails. A lot of these concepts have what looks like different kinds of armored scales on their tails, then there is that one on the far left middle who has the spikes on his tail and then that one on the bottom row with the fin on his tail. I love that! Giving us the ability to choose not only the head adornment we want but also different style tails would add immensely to immersion and feeling like your character is truly unique. You could do the same thing with the Kerra, Ratonga, and Sarnak as well. Maybe someone wants a bobcat looking tail on their Kerra, or maybe someone wants to role play their Ratonga got its tail caught in a trap and now it is broken. Giving us more ways to differentiate ourselves certainly can't be a bad thing

The highest tier of armor for the original Iksar models had a sort of Egyptian aesthetic.




All the others had a more Asian look though like Mongol / Early Chinese.

I have to go with ice giants, or giants of any kind I guess. I've never been able to play one in a game, sounds pretty interesting

All right I have two suggestion regarding the Iskar design and they both heavily depend on how much work the developers want to put into it.


My first choice was going to be a more bulky build. The thought behind that was that the Iskar was born and breed to be warriors. I imagined they'd be evolved to near murderous perfection and maybe even twisted and shaped by dark magic to enhance their ferocity. However the more I thought about it, the more realized we already have massive brutes. Ogres, trolls, giants, they all kind of serve that function. But with the Iskar we can have something more than that.

I imagined them running through the wilds with the grace of a elf, but the ferocity of a hunting lion. I'd want their every move to scream out with predatory menace something completely unique from any other playable race out there.

That is the catch though. They need to have a very bestial grace to their movements, like the raptors from Jurassic park.

Without it they would simply feel like a reskin of the human or elves. A good example of this is the trolls for Warcraft. They are meant to be tall, slim, agile killing machines! And I loved every moment of them. Fast forward to wow and because they need to match the speed of every other race, their not as much running as jogging and their walk animation looks like their about to fall asleep.


So if that is to much to ask for here is my second choice.

Yes we already have several brute like races, but the Iskar could pull it off with style!

Born and breed for battle there is nothing getting between these warriors and their prey!

Much the same as my earlier choice I'd want this type to have a real bestial flow of movement. Though while my number one choice would be subtle hunters, these Iskar's would be feral berserker. Snarling, hissing, clawing at the ground in anticipation for the next kill.... Heavens, YES!!! As near feral warriors, these Iskars would have a strong bestial charm to them, but being more blunt and obvious, they'd be a lot easier to animate.

As a final note I'd want either choice of the Iskar to have scales with a certain colour pattern, making them a lot more visually appealing than simple one tones. Examples are listed below.


Thanks for your time and thanks for bringing me in on the process! I have always had a thing for reptilian races, but it is not until now I've had the chance to RP one and I eagerly await the opportunity.

i really hope u add all the races from EQ1 and EQ2 but i would have to vote Iksar out of them one becuase i played the crap outta champions of norrath:realms of everquest and champions:return to arms for ps2 and two because i like the lizards ,Also they already have a dragon looking race Sarnak look like dragons,i also hope if you do the whole good,evil,neutral thing that if u are neutral you can pick good or evil OR you can not pick a side and fight both sides to truly be neutral! that would be fun haha and if you do battlegrounds the neutral players get randomly put on either side if they have not picked good or evil! just a thought prolly wont be liked.

I want trolls , I want them with muscles rippling off them and faces aged with wisdom and rage!

Love that we finally have some new content to work with here now. At first, I had some misgivings due to how used to the old Iksar models I was, but I see that they really took all of the Iksar's shortcomings in EQ2 and fixed them (the legs, the feet, and general proportions of the arms and torso, and being a little too much like stretched humans with lizard faces). With that, these are the ones that I like the most (*NOTE: all of the below is simply my opinion, I am in no way artistically inclined or entitled to give any sort of criticism whatsoever. It's simply how I feel personally about each design*)

I most liked #1, it just had the closest feel to the original Iksar. The overall posture gives it a very primal and savage feel while simultaneously fostering a penchant for heroism and nobility. The proportions would translate very well into the new EQN style, with the elongated arms and torso and scaled down legs gives it such fantastic character and depth, this was probably the highlight of the design, and will very much be appreciated in drawing attention to even the finer details of animation. The proportions would also best show off the armor of the character while still giving the character a unique shape to set it apart. The chest and midsection also get high praise, as they seem well built, giving a very sturdy feel that can be well applied to different roles and shapes. Given the length in its proportions, I imagine this overall torso build will lend itself some very fluid/serpentine movement animations, comparable to snakes or eastern-style dragons. While the tail is not as long as some of the other designs, I actually view that as something of a plus, as then there will be fewer instances of the tail being caught, disappearing, or dragging on the ground, however, there is still enough tail to be noticeable and relevant to the design. The scale design seems very plated and helps accentuate the features without too many protrusions. The overall proportions between the head size and the body is perfect imo, giving plenty of room for both the body and facial expressions to shine on their own, and the raptor claw is such a nice touch. My only criticism is, while I love the design and proportioning of the body overall, the shorter legs (while sturdy) might not be able to exhibit leg and boot armor as well as longer or larger legs. I have real reservations bringing that up, as I do absolutely adore the overall layout and proportioning of the design, and really that facet gives the design such great character and depth, however, I feel it should still be said.

#2 is also great, as it again gives a sense of savagery and bestial nature. My real issue with it is that it comes off as a very generic humanoid beast model that you see in a lot of mainstream designs (slight hunch, slight backwards lean onto the haunches, well-proportioned slight-build, a lot of slights) and doesn't give off as much character or distinction as #1. It does have the same lanky style as #1, but the lankiness is mainly in the proportions of the limbs and doesn't give it as much character or distinction as #1 did, if anything coming off as less sturdy, especially in the lower leg and upper arm. While I can see this design working for a number of roles and scenarios, I think it wouldn't be as able to fit a "heavier" role, like a warrior or paladin the same way as #1 can. Not that it can't pull it off, it's just that while I can visualize him rogue, mage and shaman gear, when I think of him and #1 in warrior gear standing side by side, #1 makes it work better, along with the other looks, as he is able to give it all more character and depth. The tail length is a bit longer, and drags on the ground a bit. The longer tail makes for some interesting animations in movement, but somewhat detracts from the overall design.

#3 certainly has character and is easier to imagine in a more villainous light. It makes me think of a henchman in a sleazy bar, just relaxing and surveying the perky upstart spouting some altruistic drivel. The posture comes off as very relaxed and gives a great silhouette to make the character stand out. The fins aren't too over the top to detract from the overall lanky design, and I like the spikier scale design on the shoulders (not so much on the torso). Of the designs, the arms and legs seems to be equally proportioned such that there is a little more leg emphasis this time. The design is also great as I can't think of many characters being able to pull off that kind of backwards leaning "S" posture in a game before while still giving a sense of viability as playable character. My issue here is that it gives off almost too much character. I can't really see him in a combat environment and I have problems trying to imagine his animations in combat and in movement while still giving off that character or with that posture shape without changing the design into a completely different pose or compromising the overall character of the design. Also, with that kind of relaxed posture and air, this may not allow the player to project his or her intended personality onto the toon the way a more neutral stance might.

#4 is definitely noteworthy. I love the T-Rex vibe going on, and of the models, this just screams sturdy and steadfast, things you would expect to see in warrior/slaves. However, therein lies the problem: it's too sturdy to really think of in a stealthy or arcane role. The muscular build is great for warriors and plate classes, but it's going to come off too macho or buff for robes or cloaks without seeming off a bit. Also, the posture, particularly the hunch at the neck seems like too much of a departure from EQ2 Iksar.

#5 is again, very reminiscent of the EQ2 Iksar. However, it is also the most humanoid and generic. It is the most upright of the designs, and the limbs and torso are equally proportioned. The seems to be emphasis on the hands and feet, as those areas seem larger in proportion. The head compared to the body also seems a bit large. While it's a great base design, it's very generic without as much character as the other designs.