Suggestions

[size=2]The topic of hybrids has come up a bit lately, and while I don't really want a hybrid you can breed for (or pops up in your breeding pairs) what I would like is various apparel that could mimic breed Characteristics, such as the Imperial Antlers, or the Ridgeback male nose. This would be apparel, so yes you could put it on the breed that it is mimicking. I would like to go this route instead of official hybrids for several reasons. 1. There are so many variations of what a hybrid of two dragons look like that no matter what FR comes up with, a lot of people are going to be disappointed. While I don't see this apparel breaking the line art as such (such as giving a long neck to a dragon with a normally short one, making a four legged dragon stand on two legs etc..) I think it would be nice to have the small things like perhaps a tundra's ruff, coatl's feathers (and I am sure you can think of many more, I haven't exactly studied each breed to learn the characteristics between one breed and the next). This way, YOU are in charge of what your hybrid looks like, and you could even make a hybrid of more than two dragons (grandma was imp, but ma was guardian, while pa was a coatl? no problem, imp horns, guardian body, coatl feathers) 2.) I would also be afraid that the need for hybrids of all the dragons would soon bog down making new breeds as each new breed coming out would need a hybrid of all the old breeds. Not only would this be all the old breeds and genes, but apparel, and each time you added a new breed, you are adding to the hybrid count. 3.) This wouldn't mess with breeding pairs. Those that like predictable pairs, have them, they don't have to worry about a hybrid popping up with the perfect genes/gender/color and then having to wait until their dragon's breed cooldown was over. They would be able to choose whether or not their hybrids present any of their other parent's breed characteristic. 4.) Potential Treasure Sink and gem revenue. I honestly don't know how popular this would be, but if it IS popular, I would think that it would be come a treasure sink for those apparel items that cost treasure, and if some of them cost gems, then that might bring in more gem sales. Now for some drawbacks. 1. The line art thing, this way, your guardian dragon would STILL have the shape of a guardian dragon, he would just be able to have various characteristics of other dragon breeds. Whether or not the breed apparel could break lines (nocturne wings on a skydancer and the like) would be up to the Developers. 2. Genes/colors -Dragonsage and thecatsred pointed out that they wouldn't have to do every single color, but rather a basic rainbow of colors to match the basic color of the dragon and not the various shades. I think that making light and dark variations of all the basic colors (Red, orange, yellow, blue, green, purple and pink) and add white and black should cover just about all colors. Any color discrepancy in the apparel could either be explained away by it is just apparel, or that when the hybridization occurred, it mutated somewhat into a slightly different color. Less work overall, but still have colors that will ALMOST match. I think the two biggest reasons I support apparel over a hybrid dragon are the fact that with a hybrid, I feel that the artist(s) would need to do ALL the hybrids available at one time (release them all at once) which means, instead of working on a new dragon, they would need to be working on hybrids. With Apparel they could take one characteristic, and release it, then not work on any others until they feel like it or they have the time. They don't have to release all the characteristics of even one specific dragon (imperial horns, imperial beards etc..) at once, just one lone apparel piece. The second is sheer flexibility. As I stated earlier, if you want a hybrid of three dragons, with apparel you can, but with a hybrid you can only have a hybrid of two dragon breeds. (unless you want to get into a nightmare of hybrids of hybrids, percentages of breeds in a dragon etc.. which most people don't really want) So, let me know what you think and where I went wrong :D I know there has to be more drawbacks to the idea, I just can't see them myself. Also if you would like, add what characteristics of various breeds you would like to see :) Here are some ideas of apparel: For those who have trouble with columns, here is a listing on a dragon, without the columns. HOpefully it is more readable. [url=https://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=21154034] [img]https://flightrising.com/rendern/350/211541/21154034_350.png[/img] [/url] [columns][list]Mirrors: [*]Ear Fin [*]Four Eyes [*]Tongue [*]Front Leg Wings[/list] [nextcol] [List]Faes: [*]Ear Fin [*]Wing Tails [*]Cheek Fins [*]Long Toes[/list] [nextcol] [list]Guardians: [*]Neck ridges/Fin [*]Leg Fins [*]Horns [*]Beards [*]Wing Claws[/list] [nextcol] [list]Imperials: [*]Antlers [*]Tail Fluff [*]Leg Fluff [*]Whiskers (DragonSage) [*]Beard [*]Spine Fluff[/list] [nextcol] [list]PearlCatchers: [*]Pearl (DragonSage) [*]Whiskers (DragonSage) [*]Fluffy Tail [*]Wing Claws [*]Mane [*]Face Horns [*]Ears [*]Leg Fluff[/list] [/columns] [columns] [list]Skydancers: [*]Wing Droops [*]Feather Spine Ridge [*]Eyelash Antennae (DragonSage) [*]Fluffy Tail [*]Wing Feathers [*]Elbow/Knee Fluff [*]Head Feathers [*]Forehead Gem (DragonSage)[/list] [nextcol] [list]Spiral: [*]Horns [*]Ears [*]Tail Barb [*]Leg and Arm Wings (ShingekinoKyojin)[/list] [nextcol] [list]Wildclaw: [*]Raptor Claw (DragonSage) [*]Horns [*]Ragged Wing Edge [*]Feather Crest (Demesne)[/list] [nextcol] [list]Nocturne: [*]Nose Bump [*]Tail scales [*]Underbelly Fin [*]Head Spines [*]Eye Horn[/list] [/columns][columns] [list]Ridgeback: [*]Nose (male) [*]Spines [*]Foot Spine (males) [*]Wing Spines [*]Long Toe claws (Female) [*]Blocky Face (female)[/list] [nextcol] [list]Tundra: [*]Tundra Mane Fluff (thecatsred) [*]Tundra Wing Fluff (thecatsred) [*]Tundra Ear Fins (thecatsred) [*]Tundra Horns (HondaYori) [*]Tundra Fluffy Feet (Honda Yori)[/list] [nextcol] [list]Coatl: [*]Butt Wings (Vallantis) [*]Head Crests - Relaxed and Alert (Dragonsage) [*]Chest Feathers (HondaYori)[/list] [nextcol] [list]Snapper: [*]Face Horns (thecatsred) [*]Back Horns (thecatsred) [*]Tail Tip [/list] [/columns][columns] [list]Bogsneaks: [*]Headfins (Almedha) [*]Warts/Discolorations (Almedha) [*]Teeth (Almedha) [*]Variety of Headfins (Dragonsage) [*]tongue (DragonSage)[/list] [nextcol] [list]Gaolers [*]Gnarlhorns [/list] [nextcol] [list]Generic Characteristics (all DragonSage): [*]Longer claws [*]Fangs [*][list]Antler/Horn [*]Long unicorn like horn [*]Moose like antlers [*]Bull horns [/list] [*][list]Tail Tips: [*]Arrows(DragonSage) [*]Fluffy(DragonSage) [*]Club (DragonSage) [*]Spiked(DragonSage) [*]Forked (DragonSage)[/list][/list] [/columns] Edit: Changed name to Breed Characteristic instead of Dragon. 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@Jemadar I'd love more apparel that adds different traits to dragons (like the feathered wings and woolly apparel, both of which can be used to give dragons a hybrid like appearance.) Not only could they be used for 'Hybrids' but they can make for more unique dragons. I suspect any future characteristic apparel would have a limited range of colors like the feathers and woolly apparel but there are quite a few types apparel they could introduce that doesn't need a bunch of color ranges:

• Big Pearl (Pearlcatcher Pearl)
• Raptor Claws (Wildclaw Claw)
• Antenna (Skydancer antenna)
• Whiskers (Imperials, Pearlcatchers)
• Forehead Gem (Skydancer)

[quote name="DragonSage" date=2015-08-13 17:26:26] @ Jemadar I'd love more apparel that adds different traits to dragons (like the feathered wings and woolly apparel, both of which can be used to give dragons a hybrid like appearance.) Not only could they be used for 'Hybrids' but they can make for more unique dragons. I suspect any future characteristic apparel would have a limited range of colors like the feathers and woolly apparel but there are quite a few types apparel they could introduce that doesn't need a bunch of color ranges: Big Pearl (Pearlcatcher Pearl) Raptor Claws (Wildclaw Claw) Antenna (Skydancer antenna) Whiskers (Imperials, Pearlcatchers) Forehead Gem (Skydancer) [/quote] [center][color=purple]I agree with @DragonSage. But also - Feather Crests like Wildclaws. I would adore some feather crests.

@Dragonsage I forgot all about those :)

Yeah, as I said the wide range of colors and genes is what I would think would hold them back, though it could be that you could explain it away that the hybridization of the genes 'neutralizes' them and makes them basic, meaning you would really only need one of each color (and I would think that once you get the basic outlines/shadows down, most colors would be fairly simple to do)

I really want my guardians to have a Pearlcatcher Pearl now :D ) and the forehead gem :D)

I think my brain just caught up with me... If they didn't do any genes for the characteristics, then they would really only have to do a small set of colors, as the various hues could be explained away by, again, how the colors are hybridized. (ie yellow, orange, blue, green, purple, red, white and black, with maybe a few extras such as pink, a dark/light variations for the others)

@Jemadar yeah I saw your concern about the wide range of colors; I suspect that any future characteristic apparel will probably be handled like the wool and feather (a limited range of colors) Fortunately there are plenty of things that could be added that a limited range wouldn't detrac from for those that would be bugged by different shade on the dragon vs apparel item. Heck the imperial antlers don't need to match the dragon's color when you think of antlers on earth species.. hopefully any imp-antler apparel fit better than the existing horn/antler apparel

@Demesne, Feather Crests would look quite nice, and even with a limited range it should work well, much like how spines gives a punk look on maned breeds. Speaking of spines, they could possibly do a spikes apparel item that gives ridgeback spikes?

@Dragonsage yeah, it hit me that even if they don't make a match for each hue, they could still do it so, like the glowing clawtips, you have the basic colors down and the rest could be explained by genetics.

I hope so as well :)

@Demesne Thanks, think I will add all the possible characteristics to the first post :)

I just think it would be cute and give more possible customization to be able to add these to the dragons :)

There is also another aspect beside hybrids. If you had characteristics that are known for one sex (again ridgeback nose) you could potentially give a female ridgeback the long nose and maybe some of the threads about having a sex change would die down (not all, but the ones who want non-binary dragons) Even without those specific characteristics, they could still use various breed specific characteristics on the dragons to make them look different from the others.

Support. I have been supporting this for months. Not only can they make clothing that can create the illusion of hybrids, but they can also create clothing, skins and accents that create the illusion of physical disabilities and/or mutations. By making it clothing, it leaves a whole lot of freedom for users to customize dragons to suit their clan lore without rubbing rabbits feet in front of the RNG. This would take no additional work than any particular clothing release, and as said before, would not mess with anyone's breeding pairs.

I also agree that these types of clothing should only come in half a dozen or so colors, otherwise it would simply overwhelm the artists. As a result, some characteristic apparel may not look good on every single dragon--but that's true for just about every clothing piece on the site. It'd just be something we as individual users would have to choose to use or not for our dragons.

Oh yeah, and please no lazy shortcuts with making clothing like this? I'm referring to the badly overlaid apparel that were probably cut and pasted from specie to specie. The artists on the site are talented, so don't take shortcuts and make the apparel look the best it can be.

Any other ideas?

Support.

I'll add stuff if I think of something later.