Fancy Hand Fans!

Hello once again! ^_^

As a fun little side task I was asked to expand upon the idea of the rustic, rigid woven-reed hand fan I created earlier. You'll eventually see this simple, craft-able version in-game once you are able to use the fan emote. It looks like this!


To add to the hand-fan selection by way of even fancier versions you can purchase in the Add-On Store, I was tasked with creating four new versions made of obviously richer materials. When considering what to make, I also had to consider the kinds of limitations we have concerning the "effect" these fans could have... We chose rigid fans for the initial designs because they are easier to implement, as opposed to fans made of materials that look like they should easily bend or that look like they should animate through an articulated "opening up" event (like folding fans would do).

Additionally, I wanted to begin considering the "theme" of these fans based on our in-game cultural regions. Fans popular throughout or own world's history often came to be recognized as valuable and coveted because they came from remote and exotic locales. I wanted to create a similar feel for our world's items, whenever possible, and so I chatted a bit with Keith to see if I could decide on at least four cultural paradigms to pattern these new fans from. For instance, this first set of fans pictured below might have been created in the regions of Elysium (for the gilded peacock feather fan) and the Perennial Coast (for the more "Asian influenced" fan that could have been made by a craftsperson in Ardoris).


Likewise, the two fans pictured below might have been made in the region of Norgard (for the fan on the left), and in the areas of either Midmaer or Regalis (for the one on the right with the more "Gothic" medieval European feel)... At some point I'd love to apply the same cultural logic for a variety of our other areas so that as we create more and more items from specific places, we have a general "template" of cultural designs that we might be inspired to apply... Imagine an area with the flavor of the Moorish culture, for instance!


What makes this fun (to me at least) is the idea that in-game merchants might then begin to promote the value of items in one land as being more "exotic and valuable" when sold in another land... And of course, being able to speak of items in this way lends to more interesting tales of travel and adventure if you return from such outings with interesting looking goods from far away shores...

Lastly, allow me to unveil the look of the fan that will be going to those who helped us reach the "Fan Emote" goal for the Summer Telethon! It is of a similar rustic design (based on the basic straw fan geometry), but with a darkly-painted interior adorned with a striking silver weave over its tan base! We decided to grace it with the symbol of Virtue, featured prominently on each side. Here’s what it looks like!



Those who received the fan emote through the telethon will have access to both this special "Virtue" fan as well as the basic rustic straw version (seen at the beginning o f the post), and can teach this emote to others in-game. Those they teach (and any taught from then on) will be able to craft the basic rustic straw fan for themselves in turn, once that recipe is made available… Fun!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this quick post. Have a wonderful weekend!

Scottie ^_^

 

These are each so special that it will be hard to choose. I might need to use the same logic and add a "cultural background" to my personification of my various alts - so to decide which fan would suit each of my gals the best.

Thanks for this preview, @Scottie !

 

Wow, really nice!

 

Awesome artwork!!

 

Good work ! It's beautiful !

 

Amazing work as always, @Scottie. I'm a fan!

 

Very nice looking, but I can't see myself ever using them.

 

HAH!!!!!

 

That just means you must strive to get more in touch with your inner Diva!!!! ^_^

 

They look really awesome but was the /fan emote not a telethon reward? So how should people use it if they have not this emote?

 

They are really beautiful Scottie. I love all of them.

 

You called Scottie?

 

In making fans a telethon reward only, this is sad if true since it is a requested feature we've had for a long time, and many are working during the telethon. I can see special fans being given as rewards but not allowing the players to do possible actions at all because they had to work is lame. I do hope that when giving telethon rewards in the future this thought will be considered. Who knows the numbers of those who watch or are even able to watch the telethon due to work or other things, but I would say it is a large amount of the player base.

 

Oh, I love those "Moorish" fans!

Anyone else think of fan-weapons right away?

 

it would be fun if you could flag crafted items by region(heard its kinda in plans) but have them produce different skins on same items with same recipe.

btw fans look nice you guys all do nice work even if some times i/we can be a bit critical on some of it

 

Ha ha!

 

I'd have to ask if there's another way to gain the ability to craft the basic fan in-game... It could be that the basic craftable fan is indeed limited to those that gained it through the telethon (along with the emote), but I'm betting that if any of the fancier fans are purchased, then you'll get the emote then as well, since you'll need it to use it...

Thanks so much!

Scottie ^_^

 

Luckily, the fancy ones will be available in the Add-On Store eventually, so you'll get the same emote for them as you would if you got the basic one during the Telethon.... ^_^

 

/fan is teachable, just like all the other reward emotes.

 

Thanks @Scottie, this makes me so happy to see that those who couldn't do the telethon for one reason or another can still get access to the fans even at a price, which supports the game and on that point I'm all in anyway to do that