Druid Shapeshifting

I'm curious as to what other people think in regards to what forms Druids can and can't shapeshift into.

I think we can all pretty much agree that Blizzard constantly introduces new forms on a whim simply because they can, and force it into lore ham-handedly.

Worgens belong to Goldrinn, Stormcrows/Birds belong to Aviana, Bear form belongs to Ursol and Ursoc, and Stag form belongs to Malorne, but then you have the totemless Druid forms such as the Cat form, Cheetah Form, Moonkin form, Sea Lion and Orca forms, and that's not including Druids of the Fang who all become snakes/lizards. Then to top it all off, there's the additional problems of Ancients who seemingly don't have followers such as Tortolla, Agamaggan or Aessina*.

So... Where do people stand on Druids taking the liberty to use a form not explicitly in-game.

* - You could argue that Nelves take on the form of Aessina in death with their racial death passive.

Post inspired by the discussion on Spiders in another thread, the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

my personal opinion is this: if your model can't make the shape in-game, don't do it. I'm even fine if you use the alchemical potion to shift into a dragon and say its part of your druid ability. What I dislike is RPing with a character that doesn't look like what i'm looking at on screen.

it just creates a dissonance with me, when i'm looking at a cat that's supposed to be a spider.

I suppose it's a bit late to stock up on hallows end spider wands.

Pretty much what Amaryl said. If you have the shapeshift, go for it. If I have to look at a bear pretending to be a spider, I'm gonna be looking at a bear and treating it like a bear because it is a bear.

@Ixi and Ama... Should I bring up the whole "is a high elf" thing or would that be to controversial?

I treat "high elves" like human characters and make no reference/do not acknowledge any references to their "high elf-ness". So yes, far as I'm concerned, if you're a "high elf", I'll treat you just like all your fellow human characters.

Ixirar/Kavalis wrote:I treat "high elves" like human characters and make no reference/do not acknowledge any references to their "high elf-ness". So yes, far as I'm concerned, if you're a "high elf", I'll treat you just like all your fellow human characters.

Dwyburn wrote:@Ixi and Ama... Should I bring up the whole "is a high elf" thing or would that be to controversial?

I wouldn't know even know if someone is roleplaying a high-elf since that would require me to read an RSP, which in general I don't do unless I'm bored. But yeah, If you're not what your character looks l think you're doing others a disservice. The difference is though; that being a high-elf has no effect on my RPing with you, because it is inconsequential. Just like having a scar or one eye, it doesn't change anything in macro-RP. But having 8 legs as opposed to four, and mandibles that are doing things and a butt that spins webs when i'm looking at an elf with two feet - does change things in the macro and will generally cause me to not bother.

Raene wrote:I suppose it's a bit late to stock up on hallows end spider wands.

Do those even cast on the user? I thought you needed a friend to slap them on you.

Hmm, that's a good point! I've never actually looked into it truth be told.

Never really been interested in RPing a Spider or any of the other Wands Mogs, but it'd be interesting to see if they'd work for RP.

With Amaryl and Ixirar on this one.

Dwyburn, Humans and High Elves are very similar. Bears and spiders are not

What about a mantid morph like the new Tier set, or perhaps a living plant vineweave creature using Tier 10?

If it looks like a vineweave plant creature it can be a vineweave plant creature.

This is proving to be a decent thread so far. Let's see if I can up the ante a bit to get people disagreeing.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

If X looks like Y, X can feasibly pull off X or Y because it is X and it looks like Y. It can not pull off Z because it neither is nor looks like Z.

Raene wrote:This is proving to be a decent thread so far. Let's see if I can up the ante a bit to get people disagreeing.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

They're viable mutations so I would roll with it, although they'd need to pay heed to public reaction if they wandered through any main populated area.

Like everything, depends on how well it's RP'd, imo. Worgen form only came about because of dabbling in wolf shapeshifts, after all.

If it's an animal (I don't think shapeshifting into dragons works since they're highly intelligent), you can RP the reasoning well and accept the consequences, then okay. Even Druids of the Talon have been shown to take all sorts of bird forms--owls, vultures, crows, etc. If it's a really far stretch from the norm, like a Kodo or Horse, I might not be able to take it seriously even if I tried.

If an entire druid cult cropped up around practically worshipping and turning into an unusual animal, basing their lives and philosophies around it and being entirely okay with being seen as disturbing, that'd be awesome.

If on the other hand someone comes up and claims to be a Druid of the Warp Stalker after watching them for five minutes, and OOCly expects other druids to be fine with such experimentation ICly, then no

Mostly, I don't see a reason to; and like anything that people start RPing well out of the ordinary, if it makes you wonder "why are they doing that" and if you have to think over whether it's even possible, then it's breaking immersion too much, and should really just be left alone.