Radiant Apex Disappointment

Artisian0001

For the last few newest crown crates, the release of the Radian Apex mounts, the ones that are the most rare, has disappointed me. This disappointment isn't because I dislike the design, or even the animations associated with the mounts released, but the inconsistency with which mounts get which animations.

Anyone who uses their mount regularly, which should be almost the entire active player base, should know each action associated with their mount has the ability to have a unique animation or particles associated with its action. The most noticeable and appealing for many mounts are their rear-up and mount-up animations. The 3 Radiant Apex mounts are also broken down into 3 different price points:
2,500 gems
1,600 gems
1,200 gems

Every other game I have played, or anything even real life related with price, by the same provider, usually provides something additional or "better" for an increase in price. LoL does this with its skins and having additional animations on higher costing ones, as well as basic ones with lower costing skins. Obviously, these are Radian Apex mounts, they are already the most rare, but even among them, they have 3 different price points.

My biggest issue is that the 2,500 gem mount, which is supposed to be the most exclusive even of the rarest option, is often poor in the animations it gets. The latest crown crates released, and many before, see the highest costing mount possible lacking in a rear-up animation.

The 2,500 gem "Dreadmare of a Thousand Truths" has the most basic horse rear-up animation. There are zero additional particles. There is no unique animation at all. For the most expensive item purchasable by gems in the entire game, it has nothing associated with a major selling point of the mount.

The 1,200 gem "Mara's Glory Wolf" on the other hand, which is less than half the cost of the dreadmare, has a unique animation and unique particles associated with its rear-up animation.

This is the case for a vast amount of the crates that come out, and it makes me not want to buy them. I buy crowns in the hopes of either
1. Getting the mount by some insane luck or
2. Saving up enough gems that I can purchase the most exclusive mount, as long as it has good animations and particle effects.

The major issue obviously, is I haven't been able to do this for a while because for whatever reason, the most exclusive mount is pretty lackluster. I see the preview of the mount and it looks cool, and I wait to see the animations and they just disappoint.

Why is the company giving plain, boring, or even sometimes ZERO animation and particle effects to its most exclusive option?

Jaimeh

I wonder how often players trigger the rear-up animation for the special effects, I use a couple of radiant apex mounts on my toons, but I never remember to do that. I like some of them, and it's cool that ZOS adds these effects and makes them unique, but for me the important thing is the overall visual, not something I have to keep triggering in order to see. I get your question though OP, all radiant mounts should have something unique (especially given the ridiculous RNG and prices associated with them, but that's another story... ).

flizomica

It does get additional particles on the rear up - more purple smoke effects, though I guess they're a little more subtle than other rear-up effects

Artisian0001

Jaimeh wrote: »

I wonder how often players trigger the rear-up animation for the special effects, I use a couple of radiant apex mounts on my toons, but I never remember to do that. I like some of them, and it's cool that ZOS adds these effects and makes them unique, but for me the important thing is the overall visual, not something I have to keep triggering in order to see. I get your question though OP, all radiant mounts should have something unique (especially given the ridiculous RNG and prices associated with them, but that's another story... ).

From my experience people who know about it spam the bar swap plus rear up that makes the cooldown of the rear up much lower than it normally is. Also, some mounts of rear ups that add additional particles not only for the rear up itself but for a period of time after while riding.