Flight Rising Discussion

Absolutely no hate towards anybody; all should share their opinions. :)

I love Dusthides and think that their simplicity is their appeal. We have Aberrations, Undertides, Banescales, Auraboas, and Aethers that break the mold of moderns (four legs, two wings, one head) and to be honest, I don’t think it needs to be broken for every Ancient breed. As others have said about the hope for an isopod/less stereotypical dragon, it may come off too convoluted for some of the user base. But, we have so many breeds now there is something for everyone and while I would not like a less conventional dragon like that, many would.

Dusthides themselves are cute lil guys imo and I personally find them to be unique compared to the other breeds (in that they don’t look like other breeds). I don’t know if this is the stated purpose of Ancients, but in addition to providing us with different body structures, they also allow us to have new dragons more often while we wait for the more pre-structured modern breeds. In my opinion, they are lovely, but I understand not everyone shares that opinion. This thread is very interesting to read, to understand others’ opinions.

I've babbled on about how much I like them and why for the past day...but I like how creepy they can be. Their bald heads can be kissable and cute, or can draw attention to their weirdly human necks and skulls. I love creepy stuff so I love that about them. Carnivore looks amazing on them. I also think the male version has one of the best poses in the game...I like the variety, I feel like their faces are very different from previous breeds. I've said their tails are too much like Aether's, but I feel like it was kind of a superficial opinion now, they do look clearly different. I think they're cute, cool, beautiful, and I'm excited about the males. I think their eyes are borderline too small, but I like that this is a unique attribute of theirs. It makes them different from the other dragons.

I don't really like the pose of the females...I think they'd look a lot better if their tail was placed behind them and away from the viewer. As it is the tail takes up a lot of the visual weight of the illustration, distracting from the face and wings of the dragon, which are usually the focal point. Or, for something a little different, I think it would be really cute if she was 80% rolled up, her hands holding her tail, and her face peeking out. One of her wings, the one facing away from the viewer, could also be folded in, but the wing facing us would be swinging open so we can see the face of the dragon. this would be unique and dynamic, and give her a lot more personality, while making all of the breed's unique attributes visible. Basically, I think the design is really good, but the F pose does not allow us to actually see these nice design elements. My initial negative reaction to the breed was based on my only looking closely at the female when first seeing them. I think they're charming and I can live if they remain the same, but I think a revision of their pose could be good.

Aside from this criticism, I am very happy with this breed and the release has been a bright spot. I've had so much fun with it. I think the dusthide m has the best pose in the entire game, and several male dusthides will find their homes in my lair!

i'm mixed, honestly!

i don't dislike them, not by any means; i actually really like their head shape, and i just find them charming! but... well.

the wings.

i was SO hopeful that we'd get an ancient without wings or any kind of similar structure; i adore sandsurges, but id love for something that really leans away from a membrane-type secondary space! this would have been the perfect opportunity to have a shell, or an armadillo or isopod-type armor to act as the slot for secondaries

sure, would some secondaries not work? yeah. but a lot of ancients already don't Have most secondaries, and i think it would allow for some really unique interpretations of genes we already know and love!

i think they're neat! but how... modern-esque they are was a let down, unfortunately

I very much enjoyed logging on to see the news of the DHs, but I think that's mostly because I missed all the teasers, and so I didn't have expectations. I think the breed teasers and individual expectations are the main reasons for new breed hate threads.

I like some things about them. The tail is adorable, and when I first saw it I immediately thought, "They have gecko tails?!" The male and hatchling poses are dynamic and fun. I love the pads on the tips of each wing-finger, and the fact that the patterns of the primary gene continues onto the back of the wings. And I was amused to see the gender dimorphism expressed in some of the primary genes. Looking at them, I can see what inspired these dragons, and how they fit into their environment.

They also have traits that I agree could be better. They kinda lack texture, making them look more like they have shark/dolphin skin, instead of armored plates. They're wings could be better, too. I don't know if it's due to the lack of texture, but the wings feel a little too much like flight-ready wings. This doesn't really match their lore in the encyclopedia. I feel like they could have maybe had less membrane between each finger, or wings more like Monster Hunter's Gore Magala. While some of the tertiary genes are stellar, I feel like they could have utilized the bald head area better. Additionally, the female pose is very bland.

Ultimately, everyone's taste is different, and we're each allowed to like or dislike different things.

Also, some of you have some really creative ideas for what DHs could have been. I did enjoy reading some of them.

Thinking about it more, I think maybe my biggest issue with these guys is, like others said, there's no texture and they seem so flat... and... squishy. I think maybe what would have helped is a light shine on their tail to show that it's plated, but I don't actually know if they're able to do that with how dragons are colored lol

I like the dusthides generally speaking, but like everything they have pros and cons for me.

The hatchling pose is adorable. I think the male adult pose is one of if not the best pose in the game. The female pose is a bit of a miss for me, but I'd still have one if the colors were nice. Display and parade are possibly the most well-done genes in the game, in my opinion, perhaps only second to mochlus/riopa. Glowtail is really nice on this breed, and that's nice to see, because it's such an expensive gene and is so lackluster on many other breeds.

That said, I have trouble scrying them. Maybe it's because the breed is missing many of my go-to genes (boulder/myrid, fern/paisley, capsule, firefly... the list goes on.) They just look... odd. The baldness is bothersome to me, especially in some of the fleshier colors.  There's a noticeable lack of texture. Overall, the dragon (especially in the female pose, since it's less dynamic) can look empty or "boring," for lack of a better word. Empty as in I want to give them all blossom because at least that tert covers most of the body and fills that emptiness. I don't know how else to explain it.

Now, this will be fixed for me when skins are made and released - or it would be, but most skins/accents don't account for line breaking terts, and this breed feels like it needs a line breaking tert to be complete. Here's hoping for some tert specific festival skins/accents, but I won't hold my breath.

I don't understand why this breed wasn't released with the plating gene? It seems like it would be a staple gene for a spiky/digging earth breed. In fact, scuttle would have been nice, as something about them is insect-like, and in my opinion, scuttle would have matched the breed better than, say, batty?

I'm not nearly as fussed as some seem to be about the "modernness" of the breed, nor does it bother me that it doesn't have sixteen limps or eight sets of eyes or whatever. But I like more conventional dragon designs, and I can see why others who want major changes/differences for ancient breeds would be disappointed at yet another "basic" design. My sympathies, and I hope you all get what you'd like to see in the future!

Overall, breed release grade is a B- for me.

[quote name="@Amei" date="2024-04-18 18:34:45" ] Thinking about it more, I think maybe my biggest issue with these guys is, like others said, there's no texture and they seem so flat... and... squishy. I think maybe what would have helped is a light shine on their tail to show that it's plated, but I don't actually know if they're able to do that with how dragons are colored lol [/quote] agreed a third highlight layer showing the texture of their plating or something similar like wing leather to at least give some idea of texture the art for them just seems so........ boring. no flavor, nothing exciting. which sucks bc i usually quite like the detail on some of the other breeds

Yeahhh. There's no texture and they seem really flat, which could have been fun if it was leaned more into but it kind of isn't. Aside from the tail and the claws the design itself feels pretty uninspired imo. Something about them feels really rushed in general when you compare them to other Ancients.

To me its the lack of creativity. Ancients were supposed to let us break away from the "2 wings, four legs" rule but the only ones that have done that in any major way are Banescales, Undertides, and Auras. (I know aethers have six legs and abbers have two heads, but aside from that they really are quite similar to the regular rule)

I also really think they could have benefitted from ears or something on their heads so they weren't so bald. To me they look kind of like when you're drawing and you accidentally delete the layer that the character's hair was on.