Guild Wars 2

Flipping the model on whatever axis distinguishes right from left might be the start of the solution, followed by some work around the saddle to account for the fact that most (if not all?) characters are right-handed. As well as the animations if there’re any reigns involved.

Of course, I’m speculating at this point, and that probably won’t work if they ever plan on putting text on their skins, but I don’t see it taking more than an “easter egg”s worth of time? Maybe just flip the animation rigging instead, since nobody’s going to notice something like the right leg being slightly bigger than the left (I doubt they even put in that much detail).

Isn’t the Skimmer supposed to glide? I know they talked about it hovering over water and obstacles, but it looked like — in the video where they introduced it — it was gliding like a player between two cliffs.

You know that feeling when you notice a very small detail in a big announcement that really bugs you and nobody else cares? Well, this post is largely me venting that feeling.

In the video showing off the mounts, I got excited just like everyone else — though not because of mounts for theirown sake, but rather because they looked different, felt different, and didn’t look nearly as stilted as other games tended to animate their riding animals. With that said though, there was something writhing in the back of my mind and that really didn’t sit right. Each time the raptor mount entered into a run, it would step forward with its right foot first.

There’s currently not a clear answer on whether dinosaurs had laterality (left-handedness or right-handedness) — at least according to my brief searches on Google — but I did remember, while watching the release stream showing off the mounts, something I’d heard from a nature documentary: that birds are predominantly left-side dominant. Most of them prefer grasping with their left foot, spotting prey with their left eye, and launching into the air with their left wing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laterality#In_birds

Birds are the closest we have to knowing what living dinosaurs were like, so I think it’s fair — even if not 100% accurate — to use them as an analogue for creating a creature that is supposed to resemble a raptor from Earth. You put this on top of the fact that most models in Guild Wars 2 are right-handed, and I think even a small detail like this could add a lot to preventing the world from feeling like it’s cast from the same mold. But you guys already know that: this game has tons of little details in it that do just that, even if not intentionally.

Even if the raptor mobs that we fight are right-handed (I didn’t check), the mount will be far more present in a player’s field of vision for much more time that I think the change is worth it. Maybe the left-handed raptors are friendly and the right-handed ones are enemies? Like how good hylek are blue and bad ones are red; we can even make the neutral raptors ambidextrous <(^_^)>

Also, some people are speculating about mount skins, and I thought I’d put my two cents in at the end of this post here: I’d totally drop $5 on a feathered raptor. I don’t care what the creators of Jurassic World say — the twelve yearold boy in me thinks feathered dinosaurs are awesome. Not too bird-y, ya’know; a dinosaur, but with feathers. ESPECIALLY if it launches into a sprint with its left foot first: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LYns77bQLPs/maxresdefault.jpg

Side note about post location: I wasn’t sure where to put this because the Path of Fire sub-forum doesn’t exist yet, and I wanted to get this in as early as possible because it relates to how things are animated and portrayed so this idea would have as much chance as it can have to be seen before the expansion is released and everything is finalized. I decided lore would be the second-best place to put it because of how it relates to the creatures in the world and this idea won’t really impact gameplay regardless of if it’s looked at or ignored. Just how cool the raptor in this game can truly be when it isn’t dyed red.