Ghostcrawler Told Me Why We Can't Have Hydras!

[Aggannor]

Seriously, I can't understand how they "hate" hydras' model. What I looked from Wowhead's model viewer (not most up-to-date, but something), I didn't notice any animation bugs. Only "problem" that I see with model, is that they have only one attack animation (seriously, three heads and you only use one?).

I hope that that Blizzard is just teasing us.

[Neilaren]

I would point out the not liking the model doesn't necessarily mean the look of the model. There is a lot more in a model then just the skin. They may be talking about something about how it is put together or other background thing that makes them awkward to work with for it to be hunter pet.

That's how I feel too. I saw that twitter response and I actually was like "Well, yeah, OK." I don't know? I'm not bothered by this at all?

I had a hydra and Wrath and the constant BLAAAAAGHRUFRAFRUFRAF from it idling every half a second because it wasn't in water pissed me off to no end. I'm sure that's what they're talking about here.

[Vephriel]

This is more or less what I expected, but it's nice to get some official confirmation. With the amount of time that's gone by it was clear there was something holding them back from making hydras tameable, otherwise they had everything ready to go.

I've come to terms with the fact that hydras do not seem to be ready yet, and I'll patiently await a future expansion when they might be approved.

I know it's disappointing, but it's easier to try to let it go for now. I've wanted a hydra since the beginning, I couldn't love them more, but we'll just have to trust their judgement and hope to look forward to them at some point down the road.

[lilaughingwolf]

How can they hate them!?....I mean maybe not totaly like...but HATE...they are so tame-a-hug-ably-cute...but what ever...maybe they will undate and change thier minds

[Araela]

This is more or less what I expected, but it's nice to get some official confirmation. With the amount of time that's gone by it was clear there was something holding them back from making hydras tameable, otherwise they had everything ready to go.

I've come to terms with the fact that hydras do not seem to be ready yet, and I'll patiently await a future expansion when they might be approved.

Well-said. I can't say I'm surprised either, but along the lines of the possibility of a joke, it would be cool if on the 25th we all just happened to notice that they were suddenly tameable.

*will keep hoping*

[Meggers]

IDK, most of the vanilla stuff looks awful to me. The plain non-saber cats imo look silly (boxcats) and the vanilla basilisks look a bit wonky themselves.

Bagh.

[Lisaara]

I'm having a hard time believing that anyone would prefer say, the vanilla Basilisk model to Hydras... But here we are.

(I'm fully expecting a lot of people to jump at me for this statement, but I'm taking the risk. XD)

Basilisk models need updating to be sure. I just like their colors and sounds.

Admittedly I have an outlands basilisk but I don't think the classic basilisks are that bad off.

Nah they're not too bad. It's mostly their face that needs touch up, much like the hyena.

[Niabi]

Hm, the only thing I've ever found found a little "put off" by the current hydra models were the fact that they only have legs and no arms. Not enough to make me hate them or anything ... I'd still tame one in a heartbeat if I were able to.

It's going to take a lot more than someone stating "I/We don't like them" to convince me their position on the matter is fair and logical. So long as the model doesn't suffer from any serious glitches that would otherwise inpact the quality of the game itself, I honestly don't see there being any reason why hunters can't tame hydras.

[Kalliope]

The "no promises" part indicates (to me, at least) that the team will at least consider the possibility. They should, at any rate, especially since one is already in the game.

[Chimera]

I cant understand his tone on the internet but i've always, always, ALWAYS found GC to come off a bit abrasive and harsh when he posts. I also dont know who the 'we' is that he's referring to. By 'we' does he mean the community that makes the decisions? Does he mean the company? Is he just putting it there with his personal opinion but he feels he's speaking on behalf of the Blizz community?

We'll never get answers to who the 'we' is. And we'll probably never find out if he was dead intent in his statement or if he was actually just screwing around. He has a rather akward sense of humor. His choice and placement of words.. they've always rubbed me the wrong way. With these considerations in mind, its really a big toss up on what will happen in the future.

Im also gradually getting more and more pissed off with Blizzard for making unstated changes or changes they are forcing on the players irregardless of the yey's or nay's. It may be their game but WE, the subscribers are paying to fuel their little fantasy world project. They've done a lot for the players. Lots. Lots lots lots lots. But they do stupid little things thinking that 'its better for us this way' or little things they feel they would not be a big deal and secretly slip them into live without telling anyone, hoping that no one ragerolls over their forums about it and just instead rolls over and accepts it like a submissive animal.

Thats what peeves me. Not that we may never get Hydras, just that they do stupid little things and have stupid little decisions that for all we know are (in this hydra case specifically for this statement) true and completely biased. We already have a hydra family. Blizz never took away the hydras that were tamed. Ive seen how they run and interact at tamed size and speed and i see nothing wrong with them at all. They have no distinct and upsetting flaws to me, nor have i ever heard anyone who has one complain about them.

But to back track to my first paragraph.. GC does come off harsh and abarasive in my eyes, tone is pretty much impossible to understand on internet and its all completely based on wording so if the typing is harsh, then the tone sounds harsh even though the person on the other side could be screwing around. We also dont know what the 'we' means. We just dont know who he's involving in that statement with the 'we' part. At this current moment of time i wont pin anything on GC because theres just too many questions and not enough clarity to understand the intent behind the statement. Only until i have complete confirmation that he honestly does not like them and honestly does not want them tamed, will i be royally pissed.

[Loki]

This is pretty silly. Perhaps someone could ask him about the yaks and mushan; I don't have Twitter. If the response is the same, then obviously they have very little faith in their graphics team. 8 year old models is one thing, but models that were made for release this year?

EDIT: Well, I suppose mushan have untameable precidents. But yaks basically have tameable precidents. Anyway, I'd be interested to see his response. Those silly silkworms have horrible models at that scale, and hydras look a thousand times better. And then yaks and the rest of the MoP stuff do the same to the hydras. And the basilisk model is as low-poly as the hydra model. Gah, it's just so frustrating.

[Sesamee]

I'm having a hard time believing that anyone would prefer say, the vanilla Basilisk model to Hydras... But here we are.

(I'm fully expecting a lot of people to jump at me for this statement, but I'm taking the risk. XD)

I agree completely! I don't care about either really but Hydras look so much better than Basilisks. Esp the vanilla ones which all look horrible IMO. I think they even look better than vanilla cats and wolves. It was a very odd answer.

[Holgarr]

I would point out the not liking the model doesn't necessarily mean the look of the model. There is a lot more in a model then just the skin. They may be talking about something about how it is put together or other background thing that makes them awkward to work with for it to be hunter pet.

I was just about to say that. It's possible there's something about the model's skeleton or number of animations or somesuch that they think is currently unsuitable for hunter-pet usage. Notice how they did say if the models got redesigned that taming might be more likely - that does imply there's something fundamental about the current design that is an interference.

[7seti]

He says "model", but I'd bet he means "animations". The hydra run animation does not look good when sped up, and I'd guess they either don't want to spend time updating it, or the skeleton is somehow difficult to work with.

[Galaxy]

We have fen striders and pandas, which took A LOOOOOOOONG honkin' time to get. *huggles Lunaria, the fen strider, to pieces and swishes her soon-to-be-red-tail* Heck, I have swooned over Fen Striders since I first encountered them, and they are the sole reason I rolled a hunter. Life shall be complete for all of us, soon! I'm sure of it!

It'll happen The design team can't be expected to do something that they believe in their heart of hearts will detract from their quality standards. Even if it doesn't. (and I'm not saying it doesn't as I'm not entirely sure what it is they hate about the model)

But, I'm fairly certain it'll be considered and perhaps we'll have a SURPRISE! SPIRIT BEAST HYDRA! or something You know the devs love to pull random gifts like that anyway. So don't give up hope!

EDIT: "sole reason I rolled hunter". I "became" a hunter b/c I loved it regardless of fen striders being untameable

[Vephriel]

To look on the bright side, just think of how exciting it will be when we finally get them.

[Holgarr]

He says "model", but I'd bet he means "animations". The hydra run animation does not look good when sped up, and I'd guess they either don't want to spend time updating it, or the skeleton is somehow difficult to work with.

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of pets get their anims re-tweaked on-the-sly with Pandaria's launch.

...and if they do, hopefully, the Chromaggus model of Core Hound will be one of them - he's been buggy from day 1.

[Ziarre]

This reason confuses me.

Because...hyenas? That's just one example, but there are so many models that are worse off in my eyes. For instance, I want to bond with a hyena. Badly. But the animations plus the uni-boob plus the lack of pixels = it's just too much, I can't take it.

[Redith]

Well...lets just add another reason I won't be going back to WoW

[Wain]

Well I'm glad the reason is finally out in the open at least. I suspect not everyone at Blizzard shares the reason, but it's probably a group decision nonetheless.

I understand the reason, but I personally don't feel it's a good one, given the huge amount of desire for that model. To be fair, I can see what they're getting at. They waddle like old ducks that need a hip replaced. Sped up when they're chasing a mount, it looks downright comical. I'm guessing, as others have, that it's more the animation than the actual model, because Outland hydras are ruled out as well, despite being much newer.

But, yes, since they decided to be whimsical and throw in caterpillars as a "silly-but-fun" bonus, despite them looking pretty terrible blown up, it's a shame they didn't apply that to hydras instead. It would have been a far more popular decision. My suspicion, of which I have no proof, is that there was some desire to add only tameable families that were located in Pandaria. Of the older families, basilisks were just good enough to fit, but the hydra model probably looked wrong (graphically) in that environment. Again, that's just my theory based on the way things went.