It’s way too much “giant bug” and not enough “guy”.
If it wasn’t for the liiiiiiittle tiny bit of tattered cloth you can barely make out when he’s standing still, that thing just looks like a big Locust. There’s some semblance of a human-esque shape to the main hind legs and a little more in the chest, and that’s about it. Neither of them are noticed easily if at all from the isometric perspective.
I don’t know about anyone else, but this really puts a pretty substantial damper on the feel of the Form as far as being a “transformation” like the other two. It doesn’t feel like you’re transforming into a Swarmblade Form but just into a Swarmblade itself. Looking at the concept art for Swarmblade, every single last one of them has a substantial amount of humanity left in it literally until the final finished version, where it’s all gone.
Werebear, Spriggan, both of those look like a guy who has transformed into a thing. Swarmblade just looks like a thing, and it…bugs me.
Have the same complaint about the looks of Swarmblade.
Too much insect and nothing human like.
Looks for me as a temporary character model imo and should be changed ASAP.
Guess their idea was to make a floating shapshifter form, and went intect type into one extreme instead of making something that looks like a humanoid (but still insect like) Killik from SWTOR or similar.
Btw i think your thead would be good in the feedback & suggestions forum so people can upvote your idea if they are likeminded or give the devs some ideas how to improve this particular form.
I agree with you that a humanoid type form similar to the concept art would have been preferable (probably for a lot of people). I DO however love that EHG is pushing their own ideas for forms, skills, systems etc. and don’t want to discourage them from that path. This game is a breath of fresh air for the genre.
Though I can’t confirm what I’m about to say, I believe that EHG is likely planning customization options for the Druid forms through uniques and, more likely, through the cosmetic store. We already have White Fur for Werebear and I personally suspect some recolor options to become available over time. One of the Swarmblade humanoid forms would require more work than a recolor to implement, since the animations aren’t likely to carry over from the default Swarmblade model. This is just my theory and hope for the Druid forms. Shoot, maybe I should post in the Feedback forum about it.
Not. One. Bit. Me either. Their direction is awesome, and they have already shown that they are not afraid to completely re-do something simply for aesthetic purposes, and I think Swarmblade, albeit a very new addition, is a prime candidate. It just doesn’t fit with the other forms, and the overall feel of the class by being waaaaaay far in the bug side of the spectrum, and retaining very little of its humanity. The concept of a bug-form is refreshing indeed and like I said, playing with it is awesome, I’m having a lot of fun with these builds and it’s easily the most diverse form available to the Druid. It just doesn’t look right to be playing as a giant bug, instead of a giant bug-man. They literally redid the Spriggan and Werebear form visuals for this very reason, to make them look better and fit in the fantasy well.
As far as recolors go, the Swarmblade node that converts damn-near everything to Cold damage actually changes the colors and effects of damn-near everything as well! It looks super cool, the form itself takes on an Icy blue and white color scheme, the hives are actually MUCH easier to see as they’re nearly white-gray, the locusts themselves are blue and white as well, and all the melee effects including Locust Swarm are all converted to have icy effects. Incredibly well done stuff, and the same goes for Spriggan form and its cold conversion, all the things change colors and effects and its brilliant - except Healing Totem, even with Thorn node, and even when Thorn Totem has its own 50% cold conversion that changes its base model into an icy one. Boo.
I actually think it looks fine imo. The others are actually more bear/ENT than man as well. They just have a vague human shape, and I think this one matches it well.
Not to say your opinion is wrong, but I’m not really seeing it myself.
Thanks for the suggestion, I will post it there as well.
I’ve had a vision for the Swarmblade Form and I can’t let it go now, I’m envisioning more of a…man being carried by a giant bug.
Not like, literally, but the Swarmblade bits would be up on the top, wings and a MUCH smaller thorax coming out just south of his shoulderblades, the head being largely insectoid but leaving the Primalists beard and jaw to show through, giving it the appearance of a grisly headdress. The Primalists legs and torso and arms would still be very human, with bits of chitin and insect sort of spilling out from his shoulders and neck down. His legs don’t quite leave the ground, they more drag across it as he is propelled by the wings. A second pair of giant scythe arms grow above his own now smaller and weaker human arms, the former used for the Swarmblades melee attacks, the latter for summoning its hives.
Sort of like, Blue Beetle from the DC universe…It’s like this big mutant hybrid growth that comes out of him or attaches to him like parasite. It’s like a symbiotic metamorphosis instead of a full on transformation, this bug entity growing into and out of his spine and brain, carrying his half limp body around - it’s super appropriate for nasty bug behavior too, as they do have a penchant for carrying around the half dead bodies for their own devices.
