Flying / Gliding mounts?

Suggestions
#1

With the mount system about a week off, i’v been curious and thought i’d bring this up. Have flying / gliding mounts been considered? I’ve mentioned it in game and have found a lot of people would love having a flyable mount (myself included). Any ideas on this? Could they break gameplay, and if so how bad? Would it be to hard to contain in world? Would it even be possible with the they way movement is designed in Orbus in the first place? Fly height limits? Could some of the common concerns be addressed with a mount that does more of a flap-glide rather than flying (thinking griffons from guild wars 2).

And lets not use the argument against flying mounts because it might make some people sick to use. If this game was developed along those lines we wouldn’t have smooth locomotion because that too makes some people sick. Lets not punish those who can for the sake of those who can’t.

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#2

This does sound cool but i think it could be a bit of a coding nightmare.

#3

That is what i was thinking too. The movement system that is in right now doesn’t seem to accommodate any type of movement that isn’t attached to the ground. We are like a bunch of bumper cars, we stop working if we aren’t touching the grid.

I’m just hoping that we can get a conversation going. The devs seem really responsive and i’d like to hear the technical challenges from them too. Maybe if we can generate enough interest we may one day get to see Highsteppe from a different perspective.

#4

I don’t think technically it is that hard to implement. The challenge however, which is the same one that wow had is that it required all the art work to be redone. The entire game has been made with you seeing everything from a specific spot. All the sudden you move the camera in the sky and things start looking really bad really fast. They would have to redo the whole world and improve the transitions between zones even further.

#5

Good points, especially on a game with such simple textures i’ll bet the texture tiling would look really bad from up high. As far as all the artwork having to be redone, they are actually doing that right now. Highsteppe has already been rebuild, and Guild City is in the works now. Hopefully the devs have thought about introducing flying one day and are rebuilding the cities to not only work for their new art style but maybe future proof a little maybe?

The transition issue is also very valid. That little hitch as you crossover would be jarring, but i imagine it will be just as much so with our mounts we are getting next week.

#6

I personally feel that flying mounts aren’t a good fit for a game like OrbusVR.

For other MMO’s that aren’t VR it’s perfectly fine because you aren’t really experiencing anything and you wanna get from A to B as fast as possible. But in OrbusVR you are actually walking (or here soon riding) Up the road to the next city or forest or whatever, flying above it all would kinda make the experience dull in my opinion

But that’s just me. I would much rather walk through the forest and really feel it around me rather then fly above it and not get to experience that at all.

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#7

I really like teleporting and gliding. Which could work well in this game , but gliding or even flying in be might be jarring at first.

#8

@Vital, the immersion of being on the ground is nice yes, but your 100th trip from highsteppe to guild city to see if someone is selling some potions for 50 dram less is… quit dull indeed. I can see your points, being in the world and experiencing it around you is awesome. I just think we wouldn’t be losing any of that if we could hop on a giant raven, take off, then swoop back down and help fight some baddies. Especially if it was behind a mount level cap or something (thinking fishing levels, but mount levels unlocking gear sets to get different mounts or something). That way you get to know the world and experience it as you level up?

@Mike_F, at first probably. One of my friends couldn’t smooth motion in this game AT ALL, at first. Now she can make it through an entire play session and only uses teleport to get out of an AOE. It may come quick to some, or slow to other, some may not be able to do it, but it would be nice to at least have the chance.

Sorry I’m so long winded about this. It’s just the potential of a flying mount really excites me.

#9

I am whole heartily against any sort of flying mounts. Sure, mounts on land are fine, but I strongly believe flying mounts will ruin OrbusVR.

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#10

Care to elaborate? Is there some aspect of the game that would be lessened, or might become neglected if a flying mount was available?
I’m just curious about opinions here, and would like to see what side i might be missing or overlooking is all.

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#11

I don’t :slight_smile: I’m not looking to convince anyone of anything. It’s just a blunt no from me.

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#12

ha, Deal :slight_smile:
I do appreciate bluntness, straight to the point!

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#13

I think it would be better to allow marking of runes and to have a runebook with personal locations like in ultima online rather than flying.

#14

The whole game needs new graphics :wink:

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#15

Looks like you got your wish :smiley:

#16

I don’t think the disc actually flies, it looks like it just hovers slightly above the ground. When does the content actually drop today? I’m excited to try it out non the less.

*Edit: Nevermind, just saw the post :stuck_out_tongue:

#17

True, but that cloud!!!

#18

Runemages need flying broomsticks so I can have a bout of quidditch. Jokes aside, flying could lead to content that’s unique to VR. But unless the developers decide to develop content for it, flying for flying sake doesn’t feel like a compelling reason to deal with any overhead in implementing it.

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#19

I don’t know how I feel about flying mounts but I’d love a glider. I think it could be fun even just as a diversion rather than real method of transportation. It would give more meaning to the parts of the game with large elevation changes. I’m just imagining launching a glider from above Tinny’s Cave and trying to make it all the way across the lake to Old Kingsport. I thought Rec Room’s Battle Royals implemented gliders pretty well too so it seems doable in vr with minimal motion sickness. It felt pretty immersive there too.

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#20

I didn’t know rec room had implemented that, i’ll have to give it a try. Gliders would be cool because most of the air ship docks are high enough to make the gliders useful.