MMO where you could play a dragon

MightyUnclean · January 2018

Anyone remember the name of an MMO, maybe from thee early 2000s, where you could play as a dragon? Really slow progression, if I remember correctly.

EponyxDamor · January 2018

Horizons: Empire of Istaria

MightyUnclean · January 2018

That's it! Is it still active? I seem to remember a game named Horizons that turned out to be varporware.

Benezetta · January 2018

http://www.istaria.com/

MightyUnclean · January 2018

What I really meant was, how is the current player base?

MightyUnclean · January 2018

Official forums look extremely dead...

Myrdynn · January 2018

you would probably find about 30-50 people still play it in total

ironically they still charge a subscription to play any race other than human

TheScavenger · January 2018

When I tried it (Istaria Chronicles of the Gifted, formally Horizons) 2 years ago, there was pretty much what Myrdynn said...about 15 people in dragon chat (think a bit less), about 20 in general chat or whatever it was maybe it was newbie chat or something, some people in the auction/trade chat and about 10 people in "human" chat.

And EVERYONE ignored me. And I wasn't trolling like I do on forums. I was legit playing the game like I would socialize in real life. I didn't even ask questions since sometimes that annoys communities, just said "hello"...and "how is everyone"...first thing I did say was "checking out the game, haven't played in a long time"

Not one person answered.

And I wasn't ignored because no one was online to chat

I was ignored because EVERYONE has their own cliche groups, their own friendships and their own little groups. People were literally talking AROUND my chat and flat out ignoring it and talking to each other only.

The community is really tiny. Going back to first paragraph of this post...some of those numbers cross over to other chat groups, so not exactly accurate...so probably a bit less playing actually.

MightyUnclean · January 2018

Ah, OK. I need a pretty active and social base to keep me interested in an MMO.

TheScavenger · January 2018

MightyUnclean said:

Ah, OK. I need a pretty active and social base to keep me interested in an MMO.

yeah, pretty much same here. Its a pretty decent MMO otherwise, especially for the time it was released. And still no MMO with playable dragons. But community size is probably tiniest community of the bigger MMOs.

However if I may make a recommendation...take a look at Ryzom, its on Steam (ignore the steam activity numbers, most people actually don't play on Steam. Its still small but not as much as steam shows).

As said...the community IS small (kinda quite small so you might not like that), but chat is usually always active and if you say something people usually answer back. Its super friendly and very social though despite the small community). Its also the only sandbox PvE MMO, granted though it has optional PvP but its not forced.

And actually AI is pretty involved in Ryzom compared to other PvE MMOs. Creatures behave different, and many actually come up to your character to interact with you

No jump button though, seems to drive a lot of people away for some reason lol.

TheScavenger · January 2018

As an additional note. I haven't played Ryzom in like a year though, but community has always been stable, so don't think the community would be any less than it was then. But it probably has peak/off-peak times.

Like I said though, it might be too small for you...its in truth probably like the 2nd or 3rd least populated MMO that I can think of out of the bigger ones (as of a year ago). Its a really awesome MMO though.

Amathe · January 2018

Yes and no. Neverwinter announced dragons as an upcoming playable class in 2014. That announcement was made on April the first. So you see where this is going ....

anemo · January 2018

SecondLife. Though if you're not a programmer, 3d Modeler, animator, or similar you'll not have any "game" and just being using a 3d chat program.

Scot · January 2018

Why do you want to be a dragon? Must always be a bit of a squeeze when you want to go to the Inn.

Eldurian · January 2018

You might check this one out. I think this is one of the less promising MMOs in development but the ideas are really cool. If it's between playing an early 2000s MMO with 50 people I've never heard of (As an indie MMO enthusiast) or some current indy title in early release, no point not to give it a shot I guess:

http://trialsofascension.com/

MightyUnclean · January 2018

OK, thanks guys!

Loke666 · January 2018

Scot said:

Why do you want to be a dragon? Must always be a bit of a squeeze when you want to go to the Inn.

Duh, everyone knows dragons can shape shift themselves, or at least that many of them can.

Heck, we had one guy my party were interrigating rather rudely go all Shadowstalker dragon on us in R.I.F.T.S once, a rather painful experience.

But to make actual dragons a playable class in a MMO is another matter, shape shift or not. I just don't see a dragon interested in most quests and it is rather rare you hear of a dragon using weapons, armor or similar gear. They just seem to collect treasures for a big pile they use as a bed.

I think you would have to make a game were all players play dragons for it to actually be fun. The mechanics between humanoids and dragons are just so different that anything else would be rather silly.

Scot · January 2018

Loke666 said:

Scot said:

Why do you want to be a dragon? Must always be a bit of a squeeze when you want to go to the Inn.

Duh, everyone knows dragons can shape shift themselves, or at least that many of them can.

Heck, we had one guy my party were interrigating rather rudely go all Shadowstalker dragon on us in R.I.F.T.S once, a rather painful experience.

But to make actual dragons a playable class in a MMO is another matter, shape shift or not. I just don't see a dragon interested in most quests and it is rather rare you hear of a dragon using weapons, armor or similar gear. They just seem to collect treasures for a big pile they use as a bed.

I think you would have to make a game were all players play dragons for it to actually be fun. The mechanics between humanoids and dragons are just so different that anything else would be rather silly.

Now you are taking me seriously, but if you want to play a dragon I doubt you are actually going to want to run around as a human, rather defeats the point.

How about dragon sized cities, with dragon sized inns? The puny humans could have an adventure trying to get from the door to the bar while avoiding getting stepped on by over indulgent dragon clientele.

Wizardry · January 2018

I remember Horizons,i quit after about 4-5 days because 90% of the population were all playing dragons,so it gets to look stupid.

This is a common mistake devs do with their games,some goofy gimmick to lure in players but make their game look silly.I feel the same with flying mounts,every time you introduce them ,every player is on a flying mount,developers need to keep their games in check instead of cheap gimmicks.

Loke666 · January 2018

Scot said:

Now you are taking me seriously, but if you want to play a dragon I doubt you are actually going to want to run around as a human, rather defeats the point.

How about dragon sized cities, with dragon sized inns? The puny humans could have an adventure trying to get from the door to the bar while avoiding getting stepped on by over indulgent dragon clientele.

Well, you could transform yourself for certain quests.

I am not sure dragons really would be much for pub crawling even if there are a lot of them around but it would be rather refreshing compared to the standard MMO.

VengeSunsoar · January 2018

Istaria let's you transform into a humanoid. Pretty useful at times actually. Getting into small spaces is definitely useful.

Dvora · January 2018

Ya it's too bad Horizon's original design concepts were not followed through. I think budget became an issue and they pushed out an extremely cut feature list. I can't remember for sure but I think they completely scrapped development and started from scratch with basically an entirely different and generic game.

Eldurian · January 2018

Loke666 said:

Scot said:

Why do you want to be a dragon? Must always be a bit of a squeeze when you want to go to the Inn.

Duh, everyone knows dragons can shape shift themselves, or at least that many of them can.

Heck, we had one guy my party were interrigating rather rudely go all Shadowstalker dragon on us in R.I.F.T.S once, a rather painful experience.

But to make actual dragons a playable class in a MMO is another matter, shape shift or not. I just don't see a dragon interested in most quests and it is rather rare you hear of a dragon using weapons, armor or similar gear. They just seem to collect treasures for a big pile they use as a bed.

I think you would have to make a game were all players play dragons for it to actually be fun. The mechanics between humanoids and dragons are just so different that anything else would be rather silly.

Shapeshifting is an interesting spin. And appropriate, I do know many D&D dragons can take human form. You would have to balance that though. If dragons can be dragons AND humans, there is no point to playing a human.

I think the hoard mechanic is the best balance. Especially in a full loot PvP game. If a dragon has to store up a massive hoard somewhere that can be stolen then you can have balanced dragons without everyone and their dog being one. Guilds and alliances would come together to support their dragon and make sure his hoard isn't stolen in exchange for them supporting them in massive battles.

I would also make it so the most terrifying dragon abilities are powered by eating gold. And that enemies destroyed by dragonfire have their items melted to scrap typically. So essentially dragons are painting a huge target on yourselfs (In terms of having a hoard people can steal) and literally eating money in exchange for terrifying power.

You don't want half the game playing great wyrms they use to gank newbs. Large dragons should be weapons of war in massive kingdom vs. kingdom battles.

Amathe · January 2018

If I played a dragon, could I jump off a ledge, die, and collect my phat loots?

Cryomatrix · January 2018

Id make an mmo with dragon mounts available but would then make it so you need to have played about a year to be able to do it, plus be pretty lucky to find the necessary items for it. Sort of like how capital ships are in EVE.

Cryomatrix

DraconianPhilosopher · January 2018

It's not the same, but in FFXIV you can play as the Au Ra - dragon/human hybrids. But more literally, in WoW there are several instances where you can spend some time controlling a dragon such as in Dragonblight or in the Nexus dungeon area.

Haven't played any games where it's a permanent staple though $:\$

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