Bring FLYING to DDO!

[Alkusoittow]

Consider this:
How many flying creature types are in DDO? Dozens (if not hundreds)
How many flight-based quests are in DDO? Zero.

DDO has evolved and expanded greatly since inception. So many things have been added over the years, but why not flying? Flying creatures or flying mounts would add a great deal of interest in DDO and help add a whole new dimension to gameplay. Some of the best parts of other MMOs have been (in my opinion) flying (or space flight) missions/quests. It has it's own virtues in terms of game development: Experience, upgrades, mission capabilities, player skill, enhancements, etc.

So why hasn't this been developed into the system? DDO's main engine has stayed largely the same for years now, while hardware continues to improve. Any concerns for computational ability are somewhat irrelevant as there is a low-res engine for very old systems, and many other MMOs (newer and older) incorporate flying, thus proving the feasibility. Futhermore, flying machines could easily be justified as artificer creations, domesticated creatures, or simply magically imbued objects (but that sounds a lot like artificer works).

I implore the developers to consider implementing flying into the game! Don't just add more of the same, add more variety as well!


**EDIT**
I do not mean to say we should have the Fly spell (from Reaver's Refuge). I am saying we should add flying machines or mounts. And, these flying machines/mounts are only useable in certain zones, NOT in currently existing content. (Nearly every other MMO with flight has this clear separation)

You could even make a whole new world, in the same way that Eveningstar is a whole new "world." Make it an expansion for all I care. But the point is, new flight mechanism, new worlds, new quests, and a whole new way to look at DDO.

It would add a great deal of satisfaction to the game, in my opinion. It would add a completely new dimension to DDO, and something the game has lacked since day 1. Fighting a dragon in the AIR would be MUCH more interesting than fighting it on the ground.

[catouse9]

DDO has evolved and expanded greatly since inception. So many things have been added over the years, but why not flying? Flying creatures or flying mounts would add a great deal of interest in DDO and help add a whole new dimension to gameplay. Some of the best parts of other MMOs have been (in my opinion) flying (or space flight) missions/quests. It has it's own virtues in terms of game development: Experience, upgrades, mission capabilities, player skill, enhancements, etc.

So why hasn't this been developed into the system? DDO's main engine has stayed largely the same for years now, while hardware continues to improve. Any concerns for computational ability are somewhat irrelevant as there is a low-res engine for very old systems, and many other MMOs (newer and older) incorporate flying, thus proving the feasibility. Futhermore, flying machines could easily be justified as artificer creations, domesticated creatures, or simply magically imbued objects (but that sounds a lot like artificer works).

I implore the developers to consider implementing flying into the game! Don't just add more of the same, add more variety as well!

Stand Like Stone: Action Boost: For 12/15/20 seconds you gain +10/+20/+30 Balance, Physical Resistance Rating, and stacking Energy Resistance, but have a 50% penalty to movement speed, sink in water, and cannot fly. (Cooldown: 3 minutes.)

mostly they say dwarves can not do it-What does it mean-put another post up but no one relplied at all

[Monkey-Boy]

Flying would be cool but it would break so many encounters in this game that it's never going to happen.

[Impaqt]

We do have fly. Its in revers refuge. the stormreaver can cast it on you.


It became very clear, very quickly, that the rest of the game was NOT designed with Flying PC's in mind.

If it was ever released as a PC ability, nearly every quest in the game would have to be reworked with a bunch of invisible walls.

[Enoach]

While I to would love to see fly (Level 3 Wiz/Sorc Spell) and Levitate (Level 2 Wiz/Sorc Spell) I don't believe the issue is the engine DDO uses. I think the limitation is in dungeon design. There are many dungeons that would be trivialized with the ability to bypass with a spell available to these types of classes.

On mounts and machines Turbine has stayed out of the mount side and to implement them would mean having to implement Paladin Mounts (I'm not against this, I'm just not convinced Mounts are a good direction at this time for the game)

Now much like the implementation of "Underwater" fighting with Red Fin Quest series, maybe a quest or three built around this type of activity might be a fun addition but to implement it entirely would mean redesign of many dungeons where developers do not want this ability to be able to bypass sections of the quest.

For now we only have Reaver's Reach and the Heroic Reaver's Raid where we can enjoy a few minutes of flying around.

[Uska]

NO! bad idea

[blerkington]

Hi,

Flying would pretty much break every quest in the game.

It would allow you to bypass most fights. For those fights you did have, characters who could fly would be immune to melee damage. Combine flying and ranged attacks or offensive spellcasting and much of the game would become completely trivial.

There are already a few quests in the game where the PCs are up in the air (like Acute Delirium and Precious Cargo), as well as the part of the raid Reaver's Fate where someone has to fly up to activate the lever for the puzzle chamber.

It might make sense in a quest where the enemies can fly too, making for fairer combat, but generally it wouldn't work terribly well.

Thanks.

[Qhualor]

I would love to have flying, but we can't have it for the same reasons why jump has a cap.

[Alkusoittow]

Let me clarify, because many people are missing the point:

1. The Fly spell in Reaver's Refuge is not at all what I'm referring to. That's like a really slow version of feather fall in any direction...

2. By adding flight to the game, I mean to add quests where this is the method of completion. I do NOT mean to say we should be able to fly in current quests. In example, games like the old Star Wars Galaxies had missions that were flight-exclusive or land-exclusive. Obviously flying an X-Wing into Jabba's palace and leveling the place defeats the purpose. The point is to have completely separate areas where flight occurs.

3. As far as mounts go (as would most likely be the case in DDO), the same would hold here. They are only allowed in certain areas, certain quests, etc.


Just imagine, though, what a 3D flight-based quest would be like. Furthermore, the worlds and maps could be MUCH larger. Imagine fighting a dragon IN THE AIR instead of having it ludicrously pinned to the ground where everyone can reach it. Ridiculous.

[Psiandron]

Yeah, it'd be really cool to have, but the game wasn't designed for it. They've already had to fix one quest because of a clever (okay, it was meta-gaming, but still clever) use of fly from the Stormreaver, if they made the fly spell generally available to casters the game would pretty much just fly apart at the seams.

[Qhualor]

Let me clarify, because many people are missing the point:

1. The Fly spell in Reaver's Refuge is not at all what I'm referring to. That's like a really slow version of feather fall in any direction...

2. By adding flight to the game, I mean to add quests where this is the method of completion. I do NOT mean to say we should be able to fly in current quests. In example, games like the old Star Wars Galaxies had missions that were flight-exclusive or land-exclusive. Obviously flying an X-Wing into Jabba's palace and leveling the place defeats the purpose. The point is to have completely separate areas where flight occurs.

3. As far as mounts go (as would most likely be the case in DDO), the same would hold here. They are only allowed in certain areas, certain quests, etc.


Just imagine, though, what a 3D flight-based quest would be like. Furthermore, the worlds and maps could be MUCH larger. Imagine fighting a dragon IN THE AIR instead of having it ludicrously pinned to the ground where everyone can reach it. Ridiculous.

Quests designed specifically for fly would mean a new spell for casters and/or an NPC that gives you fly in the quest since only casters can get the spell.

[Alkusoittow]

Again, I'm not talking about the perma-slow spell from Reaver's... I am talking about adding flying machines, or mounts like Rocs, and using those to do battle in the air. These are things that have speed, attributes, strengths and weaknesses that could all be customized and enhanced (through XP, gear, crafting, etc).

I'm talking about a completely new dimension to the game.

I guess many people here have never experienced flight simulators and as such do not have the vision for what I'm referring to...

[blerkington]

I guess many people here have never experienced flight simulators and as such do not have the vision for what I'm referring to...

Hi,

Don't make the mistake of thinking that the problem here is people just don't understand what an awesome idea flying is. It's not that people don't understand, it's that there are some serious problems with what you want.

Since your original post, you seem to have accepted the point that flying would break a lot of the game's content. So now you are asking for it to be implemented in what would be a very small part of the game. This is problematic in its own way.

Designing a few more quests where we can fly would be a nice addition to the game, and clearly some of the work has already been done to allow this. I imagine that would be relatively easy for the development team.

However, implementing a complex set of additions (such as mounts which would require coding and new animation assets) for a very small part of the game doesn't make a whole lot of sense as an efficient use of very limited development resources.

Given how many problems we have with bugs and duping, it seems a little frivolous. I'd like for my character to be able to fly as much as anyone else, but I think it's important to be realistic about how it would work in the game, and how much effort it would require to implement versus the reward for doing so.

Thanks.

[Uska]

Again, I'm not talking about the perma-slow spell from Reaver's... I am talking about adding flying machines, or mounts like Rocs, and using those to do battle in the air. These are things that have speed, attributes, strengths and weaknesses that could all be customized and enhanced (through XP, gear, crafting, etc).

I'm talking about a completely new dimension to the game.

I guess many people here have never experienced flight simulators and as such do not have the vision for what I'm referring to...

Done plenty of flight simulators and did SWG and have no desire to see flying here or mounts the fly spell in dnd is pretty slow to. Done the thing where you get taken up in a real fighter jet so I know a real flight experience. I see nothing that this would do but waste dev time . A few more quests like reavers with specialized flying might be ok but I see no thrills there for me

[bennyson]

Why do some people want mounts in this game?

The only way for Mounts to ever exist in DDO is for the entire game to be shutdown and transformed into a Landscape MMO like World of Warcraft or Rift.

That is how and the only way it could happen, DDO is a game where you can just walk to places. Very quickly walk to places too.