The freaks line up as the crowd looks on.
by Moorgard on 2001-07-27
I've spent a lot of time in Velketor's Labyrinth recently. Since a couple patches ago, Velks has become the exp farm of choice, and rivals Sebilis in terms of the desirability of some of its items. There are now named spiders in the ramp area that drop some very nice things, the spiders no longer hit you with deadly poison, and nothing there tries to flee when it's low on life. Folks, Velks is literally like shooting exp in a barrel.Well, since I'd been spending so much time there in recent weeks, I haven't gone there since the patch on July 24th. I needed to get out and see parts of the world that aren't covered with ice.
That being the case, an Ester the Tester bugbite snuck under my radar and didn't even register with me. Ester mentioned:
In Velketor right now there are problems with Human Male Animations. We are aware of this and are working on a fix.
I looked at that update and thought, "well, okay..." but I was much more interested in the pink text phenomenon.
So imagine my surprise when my guild went to kill Velketor last night and my fellow monks and I--along with a very silly looking human paladin--were being changed into twisted lumps of flesh the likes of which you've never seen before.
The freaks line up as the crowd looks on.
 | A poor human monk twists and turns within the icy grip of Velketor. |
I wish I could show you the full animation here instead of still photos. While it entertained my guildmates to no end, the distortion process was fairly disconcerting, as my perspective swayed in and out like a bad 3D movie. I almost needed Dramamine to be able to fight.
 | A tortured paladin becomes a plaything in the evil giant's mystic clutches. |
If you watch the character movements, you begin to realize that what is happening is that human male models are for some reason being assigned the same animations as the gargoyles. When a gargoyle sits or floats, its form changes quite a bit. You can see what happens when a human skin is put through this animated wringer.
Who knows what coding flub caused this, but it leads to an interesting idea... what if Verant did things like this on purpose? Have a certain zone where your character becomes twisted, distorted, or otherwise transformed as some kind of evil curse? Actually, if it makes sense anywhere, Velks is the place to do it, as he's been outcast by the giants due to strange experiments he's performed (killing him raises your King Tormax faction, btw).
 | Ever have one of those days where you just don't feel like yourself? |
I'm sure this phenomenon will be fixed soon. Until it is, if you feel the need for an acid flashback, come to Velks Lab and watch the contortionists in action.