The Bat
Photo by Rob Potter on Unsplash
In the land of the Celts the bat has long been associated with witches, ghosts, and other tragic beings of the night. In the 1949
Encyclopedia of Superstitions we find one such example: In Scotland, it was said that when a bat rose quickly from the ground and then descended again, that the "witches hour had come". The bat in Celtic folklore wasn't always bad, though. In the book
Folk-lore of the Isle of Man we're told, "fine weather is certain when bats fly about at sunset".
In modern times, the bat has become emblematic of Halloween. Halloween, as we know, is descendent of the Celtic holiday Samhain. In this way, the bat has now become an object of festive tradition instead of a creature loathed or feared.
General coloration of bats:
Bats are typically brown or black in color but may have grey, red, white or orange fur. Select species have striped faces or backs or possess patches of white over their shoulder area.
Bat's diet:
Large bats eat fruit, nectar, or pollen, while most small bats eat insects; others feed on fruit, nectar, pollen, fish, frogs, small mammals, or blood.
First-tier (rarest color) stats and bonuses:
- Dexterity: 16
- Attack: 25
- Movement Attack Evasion: 25
- Gives Skill: Sonic Overload
Sonic Overload skill description:
Your Bat violently shrieks, deafening and stunning your target for a short time and reducing their evasions.
Basic mechanics of the Sonic Overload skill:
By using the ability on a target of any level and star count you stun it for 1 (PvP*) or 2 (PvE) seconds, preventing it from moving, attacking and using any skills (already applied DoTs on you still remain in full effect). The appliance of the stun effect changes when using the skill on a Raid Boss: instead of stunning the boss completely for the listed amount of time, Sonic Overload simply interrupts the casting of a skill by a boss, similar to what Shield Bash does. The cooldown of Sonic Overload must be longer in order to balance its usage and prevent players from abusing its effects.
*
Whether to apply the Sonic Overload's full stun or downgrade it to a simple interrupt in PvP environment is up for debate.
Pet Store description:
This Tiny Black Bat is the rarest Bat and loves spending time with its owner, granting its bonuses and the skill 'Sonic Overload' which stuns an enemy and reduces their evasions - as long as it is fed.
Elva the Pet Breeder text:
So you want to upgrade your Black Bat today, *player name*!
Anything to keep your Bat's wings strong and resilient.
Druid Robena Bat taming quest description:
So you seek to tame the child of Nocturne, the creature of the night? Be warned, Hero, the Bats are not easily tamed and one must be ready to observe and learn their habits in order to have a chance to win their allegiance. You must use your Natural Divination skill on one of the Bats in the *spawn area title* and return to me so I can teach you how to tame a Bat.
Bat taming placeholders spawn area options:
[*]Crookback Hollow
[*]Tavern's attic
[*]Dustwither Catacombs
The Bat pet is designed primarily for Rogues to help them sustain themselves in a fight or give them an opportunity to deal damage consistently. The Bat will be universally useful to all classes, however, since the short stun is beneficial to everyone and practically in every circumstance. The Rogues especially will benefit, since Sonic Overload will give them CC they're lacking currently since Warriors have Shield Bash, Rangers have Bolas, Mages have Freeze and Druids have Roots, but even they will benefit from the skill since it allows them to save precious skill points.
If the skill seems too OP (and it's not, in my humble opinion) one can replace the stun effect with either slow (Bolas-like) or immobilize (Roots-like), but that goes against the design I drafted out and makes the skill less universal and relevant to other classes other than Rangers and maybe Mages/Druids.
Another argument to be made towards the Bat is that apart from Eagle players don't have easily attainable flying pets with Dragons and Phoenixes are being too heavily dependent on RNG and are extremely expensive.
To sum up, the game lacks a pet which affects movement in any way and since we have this debuff option to pick when choosing Mounts (the Elk), I feel the Bat will offer the same flexibility in the Pet department.
As a bonus for VR: you guys can just use the same assets for Bats from Fingal's Cave if your art-team feels particularly lazy or someone has a paralyzing phobia of the cute critters.
Sketches:
Courtesy of Safranek Zita from http://safranekzita.com/photo-portfolio ... ketches-2/
Courtesy of Marie-Louise-Fitzpatrick from https://thebelugasarewatching.com/tag/owl-bat-bat-owl/
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