Hooves of Hurt

[PearlyReborn]

Looks awesome!

[wolf_whisperer98]

"Luck and skill"? It definitely sounds like it'll be a challenge! However, I believe the odds of taking down large prey will be easier in multiplayer, simply because there will be more than 1 wolf to overwhelm said prey.

[Kereudio]

When you just gotta reaaaally make sure that spider is dead!

For real, I am loving how far this game has come and how far it continues to go in truly bringing a realistic wolf sim to the gaming industry. Hearing about these potential improvements to the ""combat"" (for lack of a better word) are sure to add a new element of fun,
risk, and strategy to this game, and I think it can only benefit!

I think adding in the risk that any kick could be the last you take (that is to say, varying damage dealt) will encourage players to really assess the situation they are getting into before they go charging in. Hunting elk in this game has always felt like a chore between fighting your speed and stamina against the elk's, and having to worry about your health dropping too low on top of that, having to eat most of the carcass to restore it, leaving hardly anything for your pup food meter.

I can't wait to see how hunting continues to improve in this game!! The models are top notch beautiful, by the way.

[Wolvencall]

OH my gosh did I notice different phases of the moon when the elk were sparring?? ( Crescent moon in above the elk to the left)

[Windstrider]

Our goal in all this is to make the entire elk hunt more fun, so we can make it longer, which will make it more realistic! So tell us what you think would make the hunt more fun and interesting!

I think it should be more based on skill and good judgement than on chance. Chance is an occasional factor, but especially since a lot of players wanted things like the dodge ability, the hunt (and game) should rely more on player skill and minimally on chance (a bit of chance is realistic and adds a challenge...but there's little motivation to improve your skills in the game, and it'd be easier to get bored or frustrated, if it's too likely that you'll just randomly get a death-kick or lose the prey). For the people who want more chance, maybe higher difficulty settings could make the chance rate a tad higher.

The elk model looks amazing! o.o

[BerryCupcakes]

xD At the beginning, it looked like my dog trying to play with me.
It was cute.

But anyways, nice job on the elk models and animation! :D

[wolf567]

Looks awesome!

Just a quick reminder that you need to have three words or more in your post - otherwise it can be seen as spam. Thanks

[Kitsuma]

I think instead of taking random damage. both the wolf and the elk, damage should be done by where they are hit. So if the wolf gets hit in the head, it is going to likely be a lot more damage whereas if a wolf bites the elk's behind, then it is not as likely to do as much damage.

[xc92u3]

Yes, I like that it is totally random, depending on the elk's strength, how you take in the kick. Say... what if you were kicked in front leg? That shouldn't kill you. Say the stomach or head. That may be fatal.
Also, can you split the health bar from the hunger bar? Then there could be a sleep bar, then all the other bars, you know, the territory quality bar, the pup-train bar.

• Post Merge

I think instead of taking random damage. both the wolf and the elk, damage should be done by where they are hit. So if the wolf gets hit in the head, it is going to likely be a lot more damage whereas if a wolf bites the elk's behind, then it is not as likely to do as much damage.

Then I saw Kitsuma's post, which was about the same thing as mine. Haha. Oh, and, suppose your wolf is very young -you just started. You won't be a very skillful hunter at all. Say your very old, a skillful hunter. but you're weak from age. You have dirty fur, and you are a grandmother/father. Will age create a difference when hunting? If not, I don't care, I just want to play this already!!!

[Nor-easter Forecast]

Wow, the elk bugle is just beautiful in this video. Echoing everyone else, the animation and textures look amazing.

[Neamara]

I am certainly looking forward to the challenge of tracking down and tackling elk, and learning how to deal with their reworked AI. It's also cool that we're getting a dodge mechanic at long last. A job well done to everyone involved! The bugle at the end is a very nice touch too, so I hope that it'll be something we get to see in-game.

@TimberRaven: I've merged your posts into one. Again, please avoid double posting as doing so is not allowed and is considered SPAM. Instead, it is preferred that you edit your previous post if there are new replies. More information is available in the Forum Guidelines. Thank you. ^^;

[Frodo1]

Our goal in all this is to make the entire elk hunt more fun, so we can make it longer, which will make it more realistic! So tell us what you think would make the hunt more fun and interesting!

I think it should be more based on skill and good judgement than on chance. Chance is an occasional factor, but especially since a lot of players wanted things like the dodge ability, the hunt (and game) should rely more on player skill and minimally on chance (a bit of chance is realistic and adds a challenge...but there's little motivation to improve your skills in the game, and it'd be easier to get bored or frustrated, if it's too likely that you'll just randomly get a death-kick or lose the prey). For the people who want more chance, maybe higher difficulty settings could make the chance rate a tad higher.

The elk model looks amazing! o.o

I must agree, I'm more of a "skill" person than a "chance" person myself-- If I'm going to die, I'd rather it be because of my own failure than because a random number told me I was dead Although I could also see the benefit of having random chance make players think twice about charging blindly into a hunt, I feel like straight-up death might be too strong a penalty.
I remember the old game WOLF having an interesting system-- I'm not sure if it was based entirely off chance, or if the conditions at the time came into play, but during a hunt if your wolf landed a blow and failed to drop the prey, there was a possibility of them being injured. Injured wolves couldn't go faster than a trot and their health wouldn't rise past 75%ish until they'd recovered from their injury (I believe after around a day in game time). This was extremely effective in making players consider carefully if/how they wanted to hunt (or whether or not they should raise their own strength before taking on stronger prey), but at the same time, it wasn't so brutally hard that it became frustrating, at least for me.
I think there also was a random chance of death while hunting in that game, but it was very small, and I believe only triggered if the wolf already had low health. I believe I've only ever triggered it once or twice, and it didn't feel out of place because my wolf had already been severely injured at the time, so hunting was a matter of desperation and wouldn't have been a good idea otherwise, heh.
I could see a lot of potential for some sort of injury system in WolfQuest in regards to adding weight to the consequences of a hunt. It would still add an element of danger and some randomness to the situation, and unlike straight-up death (which I feel could cause a great amount of frustration unless the chance was incredibly small) it would still cause players to have to weigh their choices carefully (after all, an injured wolf would stand little chance of taking down larger prey, and would have to resort to finding smaller prey to survive-- something that's not always possible).
But that's just my two cents

In any case, this new elk model looks awesome! I'm very excited (and a tad scared) to face it in-game, hehe.

[Rustic]

AWESOME animation and the idea of implementing a dodge skill sounds FANTASTIC...am also loving many of the suggestions posed here by others. This dedication by staff and the effort at maintaining realism is why I love Wolfquest over any other animal sim game! (recently tried a fox sim and haven't played it since finding out that said fox can kill a bear!!....so not going to happen)

One thing that is half a suggestion and half a question.....what with the new techniques will there be an option for full controller support? I would imagine moving, biting and dodging would all be easier to manage with a controller of some sort than via a mouse or a keyboard.

I know myself, with our current game version I sometimes have a hard time trying to move, and target and now we are talking about more complex mechanics. Currently I'm using the keyboard to steer and mouse to bite, and can't imagine how I would configure a dodge action into that...just speaking for myself but yeah a controller of some sort would work MUCH better.

[Weylenn]

That actually leads me to wonder-- What kind of controller support will you have? Clickable joysticks? Gyro? Analog movement? Touchpad like on the PS4 controller or Steam controller? (Both of which can be used with a PC)

[resanfray]

This game is becoming more and more incredible! It's grown so much since the beginning. And just wow! It's amazing to see all the people still in love with it.

I think this chance thing about getting hit with a super deadly kick is kinds cool. But as stated by some previous people, I like it being based on skill. And an idea hit me,
what if we could select a certain trait for our wolves? But only once you get to a high enough skill.
Perhaps the wolves could have a 'lucky' trait and you could see the percentage chance of getting hit. Or you're more likely to find injured prey.
Anyways, that's just theorizing. it's kinda dumb lol.
But everything here looks so incredibly awesome! I am so excited, wish I had a time machine so I could just jump to 2018 and play the game!
This new update for the anniversary is gonna be so excited and amazing. Everything is absolutely stunning and so fluid. I mean 2.7 is AMAZING compared to 2.5 and 2.5 is GREAT compared to 2.... But WQ 3 all these update videos... It honestly makes WQ 2.7 look like the beta version of the game. I just can't wait to see what you guys come up with next!