Flying -n- Swimming

[StriderC]

It sure would be nice to see something new in a MMORPG.  The ability to fly, either via magic or racialy.  Not just hover off the ground and still be able to be hit by melee attacks from ground based apponants as in EQ, DAoC, and AC.  I mean really be able to get out of reach of a attacker on the veritcle plane.

Id also like to see real swimming, the ability to dive deep and move about, so far of all the MMORPGs Ive tried only EQ has anything like this, with the same problems as flight, regardless of diferance in depth, the enemy can still hit you with a melee attack.  

I know these two forms of movement seem to be taboo, and Im guessing becaues it creates some for of imbalance, but Id love to see them for a change.


StriderC

[Keldorn]

Well, we are going to be able to fly, we can use some kind of dinosaurs for that. Though they will be expensive.

[Kada-El]

You\'re in luck

You should check out the races  page. As well as having the Pterosaurs mentioned by Keldorn, two of the existing races already fulfil your wants: The Nolthrir are a race of water elves and the Klyros can fly for short distances - both are able to breathe underwater, neat huh?

So the issues of flight and swimming and any unbalance that this may cause will have to addressed eventually, stick around to see what happens

Welcome to Planeshift!

[Link]

Originally posted by StriderC
I know these two forms of movement seem to be taboo, and Im guessing becaues it creates some for of imbalance, but Id love to see them for a change.
StriderC

I don\'t think it is so much for imbalance, but how hard it is to code.

But what do I know?

[boonet]

Hmm... even not being a coder, I can say a couple of things related to swim/fly coding since they\'re closely related to how the 3D world works... A big coding problem (but maybe Venge&Acraig can point out more) is related to the fact that when flying you have the possibility of seeing vast parts of the landscape all at the same time, and these parts may comprise let\'s say a city, some trees, a farm, animals, rocks and whatever you like. This means that a huge quantity of geometry and textures must be processed to be displayed on the screen. Now think: if it is difficult already  to have one single street of a city move at the desired FPS, what can be the number of operations that the engine must perform to show not just the street, but the whole city, the landcape, the trees, etc all at the same time? The answer is: huge. This is why some clever optimizations and shortcuts must be found, and this is the point where the \'hard\' coding related to flying starts (underwater swimming is much like flying, maybe a bit easier, only with some minor differences). I am not the person doing it, but the implementation of these clever tricks has already begun and, if for sure flying & swimming will not be present in MB, they will make certainly their appearance in later releases.
Of course this explaination is not telling you a single thing about physics models and fly/swim mechanics, and those are just two of many other problems that need to be addressed, but it just gives you a hint of what is (and will be) happening behind the scenes.

[Kendaro]

I don\'t know if this has been said but from a ballance point of view, what you are talking about is done for the sake of ballance. Think about it, if you could go verticle to keep from getting hit by combat then you would have an exploit. Say there is this mass experience MOB and you have no way to kill it on your own. Well if you were able to go verticle and keep it from hitting you then you could sit at safty and pelt it. That is exploiting the fly factor and it unballances many aspects of the game.

[Aduin]

True Kendaro, very true. Maybe give the MOB an AA gun or something =P But on a more serious note, the frame-rate is the biggest issue, ballance issues aside. If the frame-rate weren\'t an issue, flight could be balanced by making flight a high level spell, and only have a very limited duration. As for full 3d swimming, that isn\'t nearly as much of an issue as the flying, because in water you have a greatly reduced view distance, so seeing too much shouldn\'t be a problem.

[Aruneko]

Perhaps you should be unable to do any actions in the air and water such as using healing items, casting spells, or attacking.

There has to be a limit somewhere.  Kylros will be able to get from town to town with no trouble if they could fly like we are asking.

Also archers and long range fighters must be able to attack them.

[Silverblade]

I understand everything boonet said about having to process much more visuals, therefore slowing down the FPS.

My suggestion is that the Klyros use their flying skill to transport themselves from place to place, but without you, the player, actually doing the flying.

You would go to your skills menu, select fly, then select the place you would like to fly to. You would only be able to fly to cities and other major locations. And only to places that you have been to before.

You would then see a short, generic, clip of a klyros flying, then you would be there, out the front of the city or major location.

The purpose of only being able to fly to places you have been before, is so that you cannot just fly round the whole world in your first hour of play. When going to a place for the first time, you would have do it on foot, the hard way.

Also, for flying characters, there should be a bar, like a mana or HP bar, that regenerates extremely slowly. This would make it possible to only fly like once a day.

[Aduin]

Good ideas Silverblade.

Another issue about mounts, is what happens to them when they aren\'t being used? Will they sit in your inventory as an item? Or will they stay where you left them, but they are identified as yours, so no one else can use them? I personally like the latter of the two better, but if too many of them are introduced to the game, cities could crowd with them, and they would be extra objects to render when moving through cities, slowing down the fps for everyone.

[Aruneko]

I bet that some kind of stables will be made for them.

It\'ll be free of course, right, dev\'s?

[Aduin]

Maybe not free stables. Maybe lower the cost of the mounts a little, but then factor in an upkeep cost, of the cost of food and mantenance of the animal.

[Aruneko]

If it isn\'t free, then people will complain and will want to be able to keep their animals outside.

But perhaps you would have to feed them yourself, or request some food from a stablekeeper to feed it.

[Snake_Aes]

what if the klyros could had a skill from the begining of the game that was like fly or something that would be cool...so if u trained ure flyng skills u would be able to fly further...


i think that would be cool

[Tornado]

what if there were clouds so if you fly your visibility is decreaced cause of the clouds.