Why have seemingly pointless shifting options?

[Khevor]

I don't understand the point of a few of the things you can shape-change into. Bear and wolf are the two most useful shapes but the others leave me scratching my head in why they even exist.
When I got the rat form, I thought maybe it's used to slip into areas and basically be unseen. Nope. In fact, there is only one place in the entire game where that form is even used and it's MUCH later than when you get the form.
Then the spider form - okay, you can dig underground and sit there to wait out the sun but why? I thought that maybe it would allow you to tunnel a short distance but nope, it's there to sit and AFK provided no saw you as you can still be attacked.
Then there is the frog form. I thought, okay you can jump really high so maybe you can leave places - such as the silver mine (there's a spot with a high ledge in the silver mine that you can fall into it from). Nope. Even though the frog can jump really high, you can't use it to reach high ledges. I don't have the last form yet so I can't comment on it but why have these pointless forms at all? At least make them *useful*, please.

[Mercurial]

They're all useful.

Frog form is LEAST useful, because it's only really useful in PvP, but that's a use. Frog form absolutely allows you to be a nuisance getting around walls and cliffs, etc. Many bases that appear to be secure to vampires and horse-jumping can be breached with froggy BS.

Rat form enormously reduces aggro in PvE, and hides player model/name/level in PvP.

Spider form is quality of life, to AFK.

Could they be more useful? Sure. But it's just a fun bonus.

[Khevor]

Ah. I don't play PvP. And I've seen no real use of rat form. If it is suppose to reduce aggro I haven't experienced that and pretty much wrote it off as useless (except for that one place where it actually *has* a use). Forms could have so much more potential.

[zedazlt]

Not everything needs to be equally useful, otherwise everything will be equally uninteresting, you need some bad to see something good

[Mercurial]

Originally posted by Khevor:

Ah. I don't play PvP. And I've seen no real use of rat form. If it is suppose to reduce aggro I haven't experienced that and pretty much wrote it off as useless (except for that one place where it actually *has* a use). Forms could have so much more potential.

Play on a server where you drop your equipment when you die and you'll find a use for reducing aggro reaaaal quick.

[Khevor]

I do drop my equipment when I die. I didn't change default server settings. I can easily run in with wolf form, grab my stuff and run out without an issues (usually).

Edit: Unless you mean your armour and weapons - in which case, why would you purposely remove blood-bound entirely from the server options on purpose?

[Mercurial]

Originally posted by Khevor:

I do drop my equipment when I die. I didn't change default server settings. I can easily run in with wolf form, grab my stuff and run out without an issues (usually).

Edit: Unless you mean your armour and weapons - in which case, why would you purposely remove blood-bound entirely from the server options on purpose?

Default server settings currently does not drop gear on death.

Many servers used to, and still do, have blood-bound turned off.

Yes, you are safe to pick up the items you dropped in a Gear 65 zone, because you are also ~Gear 65, because you didn't drop your equipment on death.

One of rat forms uses is to safely navigate areas that are much higher gear score than you, where one or two hits would kill you. Such as returning to high level areas where you dropped your gear, or looting brighthaven at gear35, etc.

It can *also* be used to hide in the bushes while someone else fights a boss, which is hilarious.

[Dribs]

Originally posted by Khevor:

Ah. I don't play PvP. And I've seen no real use of rat form. If it is suppose to reduce aggro I haven't experienced that and pretty much wrote it off as useless (except for that one place where it actually *has* a use). Forms could have so much more potential.

The thing is though, that the pretty much the entire game is designed for pvp. And in pvp rat form is an insanely useful form. If you get chased by a whole team and are able to break line of sight, if you go ratform, your chances for survival increases quite a bit because you can then hide in a some small shrubs.

Due to this, I just think that if you choose to play pve instead of pvp in a game designed for pvp, you just have to accept that not everything will be useful to you. In pvp, literally everything in the game has a use and a purpose.

[Khevor]

Ok, so in order for these forms to be useful, I would need to play on a PvP server with default settings turned off. I see.

[Dribs]

Originally posted by Khevor:

Ok, so in order for these forms to be useful, I would need to play on a PvP server with default settings turned off. I see.

Why would you have to turn off default settings? I play on default settings pvp server… its called official.

[Mercurial]

Originally posted by Khevor:

Ok, so in order for these forms to be useful, I would need to play on a PvP server with default settings turned off. I see.

Incorrect. 👍

Happy to help.

[Aetemes]

Rat form in pvp is super hilarious and fun...cause it hides your name plate, they are forcedd to use their actual eyes to see you...so you can use it while being chased in pvp running then juke by hiding in the bushes or something, and watch them chase a direction they think you escaped too. So rat form def has a solid place. Pve wise...it doesn't stay useful for too long tbh as a lot of enemies easily detect it, but the reduced aggro range can be good if you are just...I dunno in that I don't want to press buttons mood. But sure pve wise...kinda meh.

Spider form....it's difficult to remember pulling that form out when you need, but there are zones where the sun can be really like all over the place and you are stuck (Harpies nests is what I recall), and having a "forced shade" option might help, I have died to the sun a few times...but I just never ever manage to even go like...damn should've used spider form, although it would've probably did something. I am not sure if it hides your nameplate while buried or not?

Frog form...that form was unfortunately nerfed - I think...it used to do things..but it just doesn't anymore, I definitely feel that form needs to be looked at the most. While I understand that a jumping cliffs mechanic can potentially cause way to many problems pvp wise...but...I dunno...can it maybe swim through these ponds through out the map...I mean just give it something a little cute to work with.

[DeMasked]

The shapeshifting isn't designed well when it pertains to both PVP and PVE.

[Ice-Nine]

Originally posted by DeMasked:

The shapeshifting isn't designed well when it pertains to both PVP and PVE.

Your brain isn't designed well.

All of the forms are very useful, except Froggo, which is only kinda useful in niche settings but 99.999% useless. And Human Form is arguably gimmicky rather than generally useful, but still.

[DeMasked]

Originally posted by Ice-Nine:

Originally posted by DeMasked:

The shapeshifting isn't designed well when it pertains to both PVP and PVE.

Your brain isn't designed well.

All of the forms are very useful, except Froggo, which is only kinda useful in niche settings but 99.999% useless. And Human Form is arguably gimmicky rather than generally useful, but still.

You just circumvented your own argument by saying "Froggo" isn't very useful.

For both PVP AND PVE they aren't balanced or designed well.

Wolf is fine. Bear is only PVE - nothing really good for PVP to my knowledge. Rat could be a bit more useful like having some Sun Resistance or Spacebar having a scurry movement speed buff - also more areas to actually crawl into besides the 1 that I know of. Spider could use a minor regen buff while burrowed and perhaps better fishing. Frog should be able to jump up cliffs like tunnel passages. Bat is fine.

[Luc]

Used rat form to gather Greater Stygian Shards from Dracula's Garden (and whatever the suicidal Silverlight mobs dropped) while I was around 20 levels below the recommended level. This was mostly as I was waiting for my coop buddies before progressing gear-wise. Oddly enough, rat is probably my most used form due to that.