New Skill Speculation - Shape Shifting

[Central_Keeper]

I read through few parts of the forum to see if this has been discussed or not, but it doesn't seem like the case so I guess its fine to post.

 

I was talking to a friend on RS a while ago, and of course wrecking out brain out trying to see what the new skill might be. Of course for next little while, anything we mentioned already falls under one of the existing skills. As we are trying to come up with one that fit the whole RS theme (medieval).

 

Then it suddenly dawn on me, why not shape shifting, or morphing, or transformation. Its not exactly summoning, and not exactly magic, and it does help combat if you can shift into something that has different ability. Imagine yourself morph into a dragon, and the players your are fighting suddenly have to do something about your dragon fire breath when they don't expect it. We did see a few of it being practice for quest and holiday event effect (the turkey and the Easter ring), but never on bigger scales then that. Base on one of the thread that some new game mechanics will be introduced along with the new skill makes me thing that if shape shifting does get induced into the game, it would make it interesting since you can do many new things that you can't do as your human avatar.

 

That being said, since I am a F2P so I don't really investigate if member have similar features already, but it does makes sense that shape shifting can help combat, and it would be like prayer, that it has a certain cast time. and u need to recharge once you used it up. It would also help other skills too just like agility that open to new area.

 

Anyways, I am sure tons of other players could come up with cool suggestion, so see if you agree with this new possible skill or not, and list out potential things that you could do if you can morph into something else.

 

Like my other friend suggest, it certainly cool when someone ask your ss lvl, shape shifting lvl. lol

[Sy_Accursed]

I doubt they would add shapeshifting as a skill.

 

Simply because they never really add skills that would have to be back dated, and arguabley shapeshifting would have to be back dated to take into account all the shapeshifting we've done before

[Central_Keeper]

I doubt they would add shapeshifting as a skill.

 

Simply because they never really add skills that would have to be back dated, and arguabley shapeshifting would have to be back dated to take into account all the shapeshifting we've done before

 

I am not really sure what you mean by back dated, but I am assuming that shape shifting itself it a concept, but it doesn't have to be morphing into animals. Maybe a rock to fool your enemy when you are in Pvp, of course, that would be annoying, lol

 

Still, its the only thing I can think of that doesn't really fall into any other skills at the moment. And if they have been working on it for years, all the existing transformation should have already been taken care of. Well, more or less

[Sy_Accursed]

Back dating as in editting prexisting content to fit.

 

As we already can shaepshift into sheep imps rabbits rocks eggs familars monkeys etc etc.

[JoeDaStudd]

Transforming has always been glitched in 1 form or another.

 

Paw_Claw means quests like land of goblins and cold war all require you to transform so a lot of players would be owed backdated exp on release.

[Central_Keeper]

Transforming has always been glitched in 1 form or another.

 

Paw_Claw means quests like land of goblins and cold war all require you to transform so a lot of players would be owed backdated exp on release.

 

 

Well that makes more sense now when its explain in detail. But if the shape shifting doesn't involve all the mentioned quests or holiday events, its still somewhat doable. But yes I can see what the problem is to take account into the old pre existing transformation. Like I said, I didn't know member could transform into their familiars, I only aware of rabbits and turkeys.

 

Still the concept would be interesting if it could happen.

[Sy_Accursed]

But thats the thing.

 

Shapeshifting isn't and interesting concept that "could happen", it HAS happened.

 

There quests where u spend 90% of ur time as a penguin or a goblin or a monkey

[Daavorian]

Okay, that's blatantly false Paw_Claw. We had cats long before summoning (or hunter for that matter). The shaikahan could ahve been a hunting thing, legends had you plant a tree using herblore...so they don't NEED to gvie us xp. Also, a skill of this sort would probably imply some certain mechanic for transformation, so other forms of transformation don't have to fit in. Just like summoning that ghost in Merlin's Crystal, or Agrith-Naar from shadow of a storm are only summoning in the definition of the word ( ;) ) but Summoning the skill is a certain mechanic, you use shards, a cahrm, a pouch and another ingredient to summon spirit X from the spirit plane.

[JoeDaStudd]

You have to think about it this way.

How do you make shape shifting different from the effects of gree gree's, goblin potions, shrinking potions, penguins suits, familiar transformation and so on.

Summoning skill is pretty much nothing like the previous summoned monsters in the game.

 

Shape shifting has been done in so many ways theres not really any "new" way of doing it. potions, wear items, magic, minigames, location dependent, use item...

[Daavorian]

Summoning isn't like going to a location and using certain items to summon something (Merlin's Crystal) ?

 

Summoning isn't like having a pet (Cat)?

 

Farming isn't like planting a tree seed in a specific area of ground (Legends)?

[JoeDaStudd]

Farming isn't limited to 1 location or type and yields more then a totem.

Cats are nothing like any familiar you can have, yes they are like pets. When did a cat collect items, fight with you or heal you. You can't feed a familiar, you can't sell as summoned familiar, a familiar can't catch rats or numerous other things.

Summoning isn't location dependent. When was the last time you had to chant a sentence correctly to summon a familiar

[brando13a]

I'm not totally clear, but if I remember correctly, every time we've been transformed in the past- someone else did it for us.

 

so why on earth would we get any experience? and beyond that, shape shifting could open whole new areas, games and tactics. Used in combat they could be a devastating new tactic, and think of new places you could explore like monster dens for treasure hunting? sounds like a cool idea to me, dont knock it because we've been transformed before- get excited that we might get to do it on our own!

 

 

edit- and to the discussion above: we've only ever used transformation (done by npc's on us) for passive exploration. A new skill would entail this, but obviously more. look at summoning, we get pets through our summoning level, but also get combat and skill familiars. Transformation could entail passive exploration, as well as new combat features and skilling features.

[Grimy_Bunyip]

backdating isnt completely impossible.

We had Chompy Hunting before we had the hunter skill (okay this might be a stretch)

 

Anyways i think shapeshifting isn't the new skill simply because Jagex said that the new skill is "something that hasn't been done before" in runescape or in other games

Shapeshifting isn't a particularly new concept anyways

 

Additionally the new skill was originally going to be its own MMO, before jagex implemented it to Runescape instead. We know the new skill will take us to new areas, and I expect that the skill will somehow be another MMO within itself.

Shapeshifting just doesn't fit the descriptions that jagex has given us

[wretched_axe]

I thought Jagex had stated this was something "Completely new and never before seen in other games." Shapeshifting has been done in loads of other games so I think this would be highly unlikely.

[Me_Hate_Libs]

The reason why it's not being discussed is because there is nothing to discuss. Not enough information, if any to be honest, is available to us. So we wait patiently and idiots will keep asking when it will be released.

[Central_Keeper]

The reason why it's not being discussed is because there is nothing to discuss. Not enough information, if any to be honest, is available to us. So we wait patiently and idiots will keep asking when it will be released.

 

Part of the fun is discussing what the new skill might be, just like the other thread discuss about possible dynamic dungeons and quest. I think any ideas would be good to help past the time. That being said, shape shifting does occur in other MMO before, and if Jagex did state that it's never been done before then I am totally stumped what it will be. At the same time I am also excited that its never been done before, since I can't figure out how they manage to pull it off. I am usually passive about those kind of update since I am more of a skiller type person. Even with all the major updates happen in the past until now, I think nothing big has change in terms of game, at least for myself.

 

Its just something that I thought would be fun to talk about while waiting patiently for the new skill to come out.

 

As I stated before, I have no idea how much older content they have to take into account to incorporate shape shifting into the game. I thought it would definitely interesting if you can morph into something during battle to keep your opponents always on their toe. A new factor that you have to take into consideration so its not just protect from mage, range or melee anymore.

[Pinkbullet3]

The reason why it's not being discussed is because there is nothing to discuss. Not enough information, if any to be honest, is available to us. So we wait patiently and idiots will keep asking when it will be released.

I agree. The more you think about something, the longer it takes to get here.

 

Shape-shifting would be cool, though. If anyone's played WoW... druid? :razz:

[Ronan]

One thing that may be good to clarify is if Jagex are referring to any other game genre, or just the MMORPG genre when saying that the concept hasn't been done before. If the first, it certainly would be pretty staggering to say the least.

 

I think Shape Shifting would certainly be quite an interesting concept to add to the game, I just don't quite believe it would work entirely well within RuneScape's environment. I can certainly say I find it a cool area though, I always loved the Polymorphing in Neverwinter Nights! You can see where it would add some tactical skill into the game, if different forms had various weaknesses / advantages and had to be countered with other styles, but I'm just not sure RuneScape is quite flexible enough to allow that kind of dynamic. (Edit :- Granted, this is actually already in RuneScape with the combat weaknesses, I guess I'm thinking more in real-time reactions than preparations.)

 

If they could pull it off, it would be fantastic to have though! One of the major cons that always come up in my discussions about game design is always the need to have actual skill in a game and it's implementations, primarily around MMORPGs. It's such a tricky area because one of the long-time traditions is that time is a major relation to progress within MMORPGs, getting around that certainly requires something revolutionary if it's to remain difficult and balanced.

 

I believe it's also mentioned that the new skill will involve all other skills in some form, which again, although possible - doesn't seem entirely plausible with a skill like Shape Shifting. Although I can certainly think of some great concepts that could occur! :^_^:

 

Nonetheless, I do love the skill speculation and really brainstorming the idea certainly can't be bad! Heavily anticipating this - really hoping for some actual skillful content!

[999134]

Sorry to kill this thread but jagex have said they would not be implimenting anything like choosing own race because of graphic difficulty(all armour and emotes and quest cutscenes etc ) would have to be changed for each different shape-shift which is not viable sorry :(

[Earth_Poet]

The new skill will allow you to play as a player who plays Runescape. Similar to World of World of Warcraft.

 

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/warcraft_sequel_lets_gamers_play

[Ronan]

Sorry to kill this thread but jagex have said they would not be implimenting anything like choosing own race because of graphic difficulty(all armour and emotes and quest cutscenes etc ) would have to be changed for each different shape-shift which is not viable sorry :(

I would of thought that if it's anything similar to other implementations of it (which in itself suggests it's not really the skill, but anyhow), then equipment in general wouldn't be present on the 'shifted' body. In previous games, the character would simply morph into the form of what you have chosen, having equipment simply vanish (:P), or be unequipped to an inventory.

 

To relate to this suggestion, I guess you'd be controlling say, a Blue Dragon as you've seen in RuneScape previously, and equipment wouldn't show. Can't say I see that working all too well though! ;)

 

The new skill will allow you to play as a player who plays Runescape. Similar to World of World of Warcraft.

 

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/warcraft_sequel_lets_gamers_play

Lol! :P One of the best videos i've seen in a while!

[sarg1010]

Shape shifting would be cool. It could be like prayer and summoning, where you can only change into a monster or something for a certain amount of time, and you would have boosted stats depending on the monster. Turning into a dragon anyone?

AND FLYING??!?!

 

Too bad it probably won't happen. Although it would be a nice summoning update....

[stonewall337]

Not going to happen. Jagex said this skill will be unlike things other games have. Quite a few have some method of shape shifting.

[nerdboyxxx]

Would be fun, but I can't see it as a skill. It can be tied into all f them and could benefit combat in some way, but too much back-tracking and phasing out old items such as the gree-gree. Still, it sounds like an interesting concept but has been done too many times for it to be made into an individual skill :).

[Fools_Taco]

Transforming has always been glitched in 1 form or another.

 

Paw_Claw means quests like land of goblins and cold war all require you to transform so a lot of players would be owed backdated exp on release.

 

Thats the dumbest thing i have ever herd.