Rikti Reskinning

[rolandgrey]

No, I'm not asking for a massive overhaul of the Rikti.

 

Just some of them.

 

I feel like the Rikti Guardians and Rikti Communications Officers don't stand out enough.  You wind up with a sea of pea green and pumpkin orange, topped with protoceratops heads.  However, there are some Rikti uniforms that are criminally underused.  They only show up in a couple arcs, but they'd be amazing to help diversify the rank-and-file Rikti. 

 

One's an orange uniform, practically all-orange.  That'd be great for the Guardians.  It would highlight their utility in a fight.

 

The other is a forest green uniform with purple shoulder pads and highlights.  That would be simply stunning for the Communications Officer, as its resplendent appearance would signify the enemy NPC as a character of rank and responsibility.

[biostem]

I also think the version of the RWZ from Ouroboros should use the old Rikti models... 

[rolandgrey]

Just now, biostem said:

I also think the version of the RWZ from Ouroboros should use the old Rikti models... 

 

Yeah, that would be neat.  I'm sure there's a bunch of naysayers out there, but it would be funny to be able to see the old "Naked Rikti" models again.  😛

[Rudra]

Nay. Nay! NAY! Nay, I say!

 

What am I naying?

 

Oh. Okay, yeah. Being able to identify the comm officers more readily would be nice. Right now I can't tell a Communications Officer from a Guardian at a glance. (Though, I do appreciate that the two of them do at least look different than the other Rikti units. Even if only in coloration.)

[Arc-Mage]

Pants. All Rikti should be given pants. I mean they wear sashes. Why not pants?

[rolandgrey]

I got some pictures of what I'm talking about.

First, the normal outfits.  Green.  Brown shoulder pads and boots.  BORING.

Second, the potential for variety!  I got the second picture from a mission in the Angus McQueen arc.  The outfits were apparently assigned at random, so none of the colors corresponded to any particular jobs.  That gold-dressed Rikti was a Guardian, but so was the black-dressed one.

 

Edited March 3, 2023 by rolandgrey

[Luminara]

There's a wider variety of Rikti models already in the game, but they're only used in Montague Castanella's arc, Lost and Found.  Been waiting ages for those to be brought out of the closet and put to use.

[Sakura Tenshi]

This has my stamp of approval!

/regnarj

[Arc-Mage]

The changes to the Rikti look were on live. Wasn’t it met with displeasure like the changes to CoT? Maybe that’s why it wasn’t fully rolled out?

[rolandgrey]

On 3/3/2023 at 4:48 PM, Arc-Mage said:

The changes to the Rikti look were on live. Wasn’t it met with displeasure like the changes to CoT? Maybe that’s why it wasn’t fully rolled out?

 

The complaints about the CoT revamp were because this is what the Paragon devs did...

Devs: "We're revamping the Circle of Thorns!  No longer will they be a male-only enemy group, and we're updating their outfits to make them a bit more aggressive and fit in better with their latest story developments..."

 

Players: "Okay.  Cool.  Those designs look great."

 

Devs: "You'll also get to use Circle of Thorns costume parts!"

 

Players: "Really?  Even the old ones?"

 

Devs: "uh...  You'll get to use Circle of Thorns costume parts!"

 

Players: "That very deliberately doesn't answer the question we very directly asked."

 

Devs: "...Uh...  You'll see."

 

Players: "Oh, for crap's sake..."

 

Like, there was no reason to play it coy like they did.  Players had been asking for enemy group outfits, but enemy groups have special designs (Hellions, for instance, tuck their pants into their boots' ankles in a way no player can).  The old Circle of Thorns robes just could not function with Player Character skeletons.  By way of an example, the Talons of Vengeance parts we get to use are notorious for clipping issues.  All the devs had to do was explain it, but they didn't, leaving it to players to explain for them.  It was nuts.

 

As for the Rikti redesign, I don't remember anybody really being that bothered.  There were a couple Rikti outfits that vanished (like the solid-red Rikti Soldier armor; none of the new designs do that), but the Rikti outfits were near-universally praised...  If only because they were something as opposed to the many, MANY naked Rikti.  I still have an image of how they looked, I think...

 

There it is.  Pretty much the only thing intimidating about the old Rikti was their height.

 

As for the diverse coloration for the uniforms, there's never been an answer why they were never distributed.  Instead we've got a sea of pea green interspersed with some neat glow-paneled power armor.

[kito]

Old rik'ti where just the exo suits from independence day. Good to know. Wonder if the monkey was originally them out of the sut. 

[Clave Dark 5]

On 3/5/2023 at 7:11 PM, rolandgrey said:

The complaints about the CoT revamp were because this is what the Paragon devs did...

Devs: "We're revamping the Circle of Thorns!  No longer will they be a male-only enemy group, and we're updating their outfits to make them a bit more aggressive and fit in better with their latest story developments..."

 

Players: "Okay.  Cool.  Those designs look great."

Untrue!  I somehow lucked into being one of the first, like, dozen forumites to respond to their "new improved CoT" roll-out post, and just posted something like ".... ew.  "  I wasn't alone in that opinion (got a bunch of upvotes for that), and saw a lot of similar "not a fan of this look" posts in that thread after mine.  I specifically remember this because the devs soon took the designs back in for a bit of retooling with some grumbling on their part. 

 

I'm not saying I caused that to happen, I was just in the early rush to say we didn't care for it.  Kind of wish now I'd been a bit more diplomatic about my post, but, well, the past is the past.