This might be why they changed Sunwing (5.1 spoiler inside)

[Melissa]

I was doing a part of the 5.1 alliance side questline a few days ago (Just forgot to post this) and ended up with a quest telling me to kill some sunreaver dragonhawks... There were the usual red and orange dragonhawks, but also, the armored one.

As you can see in the screenshot I took, the model seems to lack a death animation, and possibly other animations we just won't get to see (as we can't tame it). Seems to me this is a good reason to change Sunwing to the black skin, much like they changed the worm (whose name I forgot, sorry)

And yes, I tried both with beast lore and tame beast, none of the dragonhawks here are tameable, sadly

[Loki]

I was doing a part of the 5.1 alliance side questline a few days ago (Just forgot to post this) and ended up with a quest telling me to kill some sunreaver dragonhawks... There were the usual red and orange dragonhawks, but also, the armored one.

As you can see in the screenshot I took, the model seems to lack a death animation, and possibly other animations we just won't get to see (as we can't tame it). Seems to me this is a good reason to change Sunwing to the black skin, much like they changed the worm (whose name I forgot, sorry)

And yes, I tried both with beast lore and tame beast, none of the dragonhawks here are tameable, sadly

O.o Interesting find. And yeah, that would make sense as to why they swapped Sunwing.

[Lisaara]

That makes perfect sense.

[Wain]

Well spotted

There are two models of dragonhawk. While I think they're pretty much identical in form, they seem to use a different skeleton. The beast version is more upright, the riding version more horizontal when idle.

The riding version does seem to lack some key animations, and that was the model Sunwing was using. Oddly, the armoured skin *is* available for the regular beast model, and it works fine on that model, but it hasn't been used. It's only present in a lower case version in the database for that model, which seems to mean that it hasn't been used or activated or something for that model. I'm actually not sure exactly what's involved, but skins always get a capitalized version when they're active. It certainly could be used, though. Hopefully it will again soon

[Kalliope]

As for the comparison to The Deep Tunneler, his problem wasn't a lack of animations, but rather, a lack of a lower body, so he looked really odd in underwater areas, for example.

[Lisaara]

Silly Kalli...we all know he was using Portals to swim underwater....XD

[Kalliope]

Silly Kalli...we all know he was using Portals to swim underwater....XD

And he got stuck.

[Lisaara]

Silly Kalli...we all know he was using Portals to swim underwater....XD

And he got stuck.

Kinda. XD The other portal was...um...in some other dimension.

Don't tell GLaDOS he lost the portal!

[Neilaren]

The riding dragonhawks also lack a /mountspecial; I guess I'm not surprised they're lacking some other animations too. (has been lobbying for dragonhawk mount /mountspecial for yeaaaarrrrssss)

[Lisaara]

The riding dragonhawks also lack a /mountspecial; I guess I'm not surprised they're lacking some other animations too. (has been lobbying for dragonhawk mount /mountspecial for yeaaaarrrrssss)

I'm right there with you. <3

[cowmuflage]

They don't have a /mountspecial? how the hell have I missed that for all these years XD

[Zhinru]

They don't have a /mountspecial? how the hell have I missed that for all these years XD

You used them in flying areas so space never (would have) produced anything but fly up?

They could probably just use the armored skin on the regular model and give that to Sunwing, like they did (talking about unexpected skin usage) with those blue bears in western Krasarang who use Arcturis skin on regular bear model.

[Akyo]

anyone else notice that the dragonhawk is a greenish tinted color? wasent the original sunwing a darker color with armor?

[Melissa]

anyone else notice that the dragonhawk is a greenish tinted color? wasent the original sunwing a darker color with armor?

I targetted the mob to show it's actually dead (and not just standing still or anything) mobs always light up a bit when you target or mouse over them

[Lisaara]

They don't have a /mountspecial? how the hell have I missed that for all these years XD

You used them in flying areas so space never (would have) produced anything but fly up?

They could probably just use the armored skin on the regular model and give that to Sunwing, like they did (talking about unexpected skin usage) with those blue bears in western Krasarang who use Arcturis skin on regular bear model.

/mountspecial does the same as hitting the space bar would have.

[Chimera]

They don't have a /mountspecial? how the hell have I missed that for all these years XD

You used them in flying areas so space never (would have) produced anything but fly up?

They could probably just use the armored skin on the regular model and give that to Sunwing, like they did (talking about unexpected skin usage) with those blue bears in western Krasarang who use Arcturis skin on regular bear model.

/mountspecial does the same as hitting the space bar would have.

But you'd need to type it in or make a macro which isnt usually the norm for most players (i love my macro tho >.> i love doing air flips in flight form xD)

[Zhinru]

But you'd need to type it in or make a macro which isnt usually the norm for most players

Exactly. You rarely see /mountspecial of fliers because it takes extra few seconds of our precious time. I'm not surprised Pandaren keep telling us to slow down.

[Akyo]

anyone else notice that the dragonhawk is a greenish tinted color? wasent the original sunwing a darker color with armor?

I targetted the mob to show it's actually dead (and not just standing still or anything) mobs always light up a bit when you target or mouse over them

i do realise that, after playing the game for many years. But that dident answere my question. wasent the original Sunwing a darker color?

[Chimera]

anyone else notice that the dragonhawk is a greenish tinted color? wasent the original sunwing a darker color with armor?

I targetted the mob to show it's actually dead (and not just standing still or anything) mobs always light up a bit when you target or mouse over them

i do realise that, after playing the game for many years. But that dident answere my question. wasent the original Sunwing a darker color?

Sunwing used the mount model that you acquire through the Argaent Tournament which is a lighter color then current Sunwing, almost like a blend of the grey and black dragonhawks, but he was changed to the black skin since the grey skin was already implimented at the time of the change as Manas from Winterspring (all within the PTR before it became live of course)

Edit: Make that a dirty brownish blend of the black and grey skins, the picture in the opening post is the exact model the tournament dragonhawks and Sunwing use/used

[Lisaara]

Actually a lot of players use /mountspecial. I've lurked at Halfhill and Stormwind and Orgrimmar to know. *giggles* People will do it just for the hell of it. Perks of being on a high pop server I suppose.