Feldon Flying Squirrels (Glider), Fire Gryphons, and… is that Zarrakon?
Tom Tobey (and Chris Meyers) are always working on new and more complex mounts. The Flying Squirrel glider was particularly impressive due to how the character is mounted to it, yet the range of motion the squirrel can do. It crawls on all fours, leaps, glides, and all 26 races stick to it like glue. 🙂
UPDATE: Tom corrected us about Chris Meyers animating the Flying Squirrel glider.
The Fire Gryphon was no less impressive, with wisps of flames trailing behind it as the entire mount is engulfed in flames. It’s both a particle system and animated textures.
We also saw the infamous Ratonga riding a T-Rex mount, and finally, a mount which may or may not be headed for the game, a mount that looks to my eyes like Zarrakon, a boss of The Shadow Odyssey.
I hope Lucan has some fire-proof pants on or there won’t be any little Lucans running around anytime soon. That bird looks hot!
Where’s the T-Rex? >o 8]
And really, they should miniaturize & add a saddle to Zarrakon if people are gonna mount him…@_@ lol.
Like the flying squirrel…sized to proportion, might make a neat mount for Fae alts. Also looking forward to when Fae “take flight” on their own.
Could be Zarakon is designed to be mounted by Mistmoore.
Where’s my giant bat? ^v^
People asked about brooms.:)
What, no Ratonga/T-Rex pix? And where’s that froglok in a bikini? I need some lighter-side materials…!
Can I just mention that the phoenix mount looks a lot like the Ashes of A’lar Flying mount from World of Warcraft…
Brooms have got to be the lamest, Harry-Potterish request ever.
The squirrel scares me. Looks like something irradiated a squirrel and made it freakish.
Next we will have circus clown mounts … shudder.
I do like the flaming griffon, though.
@Kwill, our current griffin mounts resemble the hippogriff from Harry potter if you look at it side by side…
I hate to say this I know some might take offence, but why are we trying to add wow type mounts to our game, some of these things are getting silly and out of hand. I guess im just and old timer but really a squirrel mount.
shakes head and wonders why.
Because WoW has squirrel mounts, right? Before they started “WoW type” things to this game the art was on the boring side. Whether it was influenced by WoW or not, the game has a lot more color and nicer artistic value than it used to. Compare the old drab zones of EL, Zek, among others to the nicely done zones from EoF, SF, and Velious. The art is never, ever going to please everyone but you also cant stand still or your game grows stales and dies. I hope they keep it up because these mounts sure are looking better and better to me.
The squirrel isn’t from Free Realms? I don’t mind them getting ideas from other MMO’s and making them their own, but if the “WoW”-Pig is any indication of their art ability they really need to keep hunting. Even though the squirrel is out of place for all except MAYBE brownies (aka wingless fae), at least it’s closer to EQ2’s art style…though probably closer to the recent cartoony othmir than the more impressive and photorealistic work they’ve done. The griffon…whether an improvement on WoW’s attempts or original, looks superb, and is the level of talent I’d like to see more of in game.
Obviously some of the new assets they are making suit people who play with alternate models more than those to prefer the less anime/WoW looking models.
where’s my bunny mount?!!?!?
Ratongas on flying squirrels is going to be f***ing awesome, idc what any of you think.
I posted 2. 😉
oh! I was thinking the other day a bunny mount as a leaper style would be awesome too! Then I was thinking for kitch that a kangaroo leaper type of mount where you sit in its pouch and can fight from there would be awesome too. I would buy one of those for all 5 accounts,lol.
@isest I agree that the entire mount thing could get way out of hand, and restraint is needed!
I also thought a couple of the griffon models very closely resembled the flying bird mount from the movie Heavy Metal! But why not a nod to the cheesiest 70s stoner movie ever? Perhaps we should get flying Corvettes …
Also wanted to say the more mounts we get, the more we have to suspend our belief … case in point, when you are invis with the gnome flying machine, it still makes noise and belches smoke, which you would think the bad guys would notice!
Same with the flaming pheonix, as someone pointed out, better have some flameproof armor or it’s gonna get mighty hot up there. What does a carnivorous squirrel eat, anyway? He has fangs …
But hey, it’s a fantasy universe and best not to ask too many questions.
my post got changed, if only there was an edit button it would stop double posts 😉 like I did but @Kwill I mentioned that same thought on the squirrels being carnivorous with those huge tusks/fangs. Doesnt make sense to have him biting into a nut like that with those things. I havent seen if he has smaller teeth for that yet hidden under the lips but so far it would seem he needs to be munching on some meat, lol. I know they are omnivorous.
Vitae,
Someone asked “why is he eating a squirrel, rather than the player on his back with those fangs?”
Chris Myers animated the squirrel to give credit where credit is due 🙂
Thanks Tom for the update. 🙂 Sorry you couldn’t make it.
Dave talked a lot about the rig you made for the Squirrel and making the most with just 2 influences per vertex.