Boards›[ARCHIVED] Miscellaneous

Thoughts on Haunted Zyra

KingKongs Banana··6 votes·1,989 views

To start I love Zyra, she's my favorite character in league. These are just a couple of my thoughts on the Haunted Zyra skin. I'm just wondering how the rest of the community feels here.

  1. Personally after waiting and waiting for a new Zyra skin and hearing about how its been in the works for a while, I was disappointed to see Haunted Zyra. Maybe its just me but when I think about Zyra and skin ideas first thing that comes to mind is: well what else pops out of the ground? The answer: zombies. Maybe I was doing too much fan art browsing and looking at the community ideas, but I find the skin's concept less creative than what I was expecting. I also think the whole color scheme on her model is just bad. I mean it's the harrowing, some pumpkins,or fall colored leaves would spruce things up. Not Brown and Gray. Again this is just my opinion.

  2. Pricing. I know Zyra skins take a lot of work, but can we seriously get one for 975? I own wildfire, but paying for 1350 for it is ridiculous (I bought it on sale). Riot has basically said that every Zyra skin will be over 975 because of the amount of work it takes. But here is how I feel, the skins at 1350 (Haunted/wildfire) are only that way because of her plants. If zyra did not create seedlings these skins would most definitely not be 1350, because they just don't redefine the character. I feel like riot is so caught up in the seedlings that they forgot to work on Zyra's models in her skins.

  3. Also whats up with this being a harrowing but not being a harrowing skin? Is this the skin that has been in the works for so long or is it a holiday skin. I vaguely remember hearing something about Zyra's first skin not being a Holiday one? This point is probably just me hoping I don't have to wait another year for a Zyra skin worth buying. Is this the Zyra skin Morello has been talking about?

Anyways what do y'all think? I'm interested to know if people share some of my feelings or not.

TL;DR Not impressed with new Zyra skin. It lacks character, color, and is an over-simple theme. The price point is too high and is only justified because of seedlings, not because the skin concept is worth 1350. I hope this isn't the Zyra skin I've been hearing about for the past few months.

16 Comments

Thales4 votes

From what I've seen of the particles, it looks pretty good. The base model is a bit weak, but the particle effect on her Q is great, and the plants have a much cooler identity than they do on Wildfire Zyra. Honestly, if there's a skin you want to complain about being priced at 1350, it's that one.

KingKongs Banana2 votes

I definitely agree that there was more work put into the "seedlings" on Haunted Zyra. I just wish they would put that work into her model and not just focus on the seedlings and slap a 1350RP tag on it.

Thales3 votes

Now, I main Zyra, so I care a lot about this issue. But though I main Zyra, I dislike her aesthetics. The colors clash, the vines are visually bland, and the character model is generic. Base Zyra looks more like a halloween costume than Haunted Zyra, ironically enough. But Wildfire Zyra doesn't do it for me.

To be honest, I consider the model to be generally the least important part of a skin. In cases like Darius, there's little but the model to carry the skin, but Zyra is not Darius. What I really want in a skin is for it to feel different than the base model. That's chiefly down to animations, particles, and sounds.

For instance, I consider Toy Soldier Gangplank to be a superb skin mostly because of how he moves differently from the base GP. The puppet-like walk conveys the alteration of the skin much more so than exaggerating the differences between the models would.

With Wildfire Zyra, she's still throwing down thorns and thornbushes. Sure, the plants do look different, but they don't feel different. I guess you could say they're intended to be somewhat draconic? But that doesn't come through. The sounds are the same, the way she moves is the same, and ultimately the particles are basically the same too. I don't own WFZ on my main account, but I've played her on PBE, and she feels exactly the same.

Now, I obviously don't have all the information on Haunted Zyra, and I probably won't for a while. But what I've seen looks very promising. True, the model isn't great (although I think better than base Zyra if they can fix up the skirt a little), but the animations, and plants all look legitimately different. Instead of just poking people, the slowing plants actually grab them. The fingers move! That's cool; that's different. The ranged plants don't shoot thorns, not even recolored ones. They shoot spectral bolts of energy with a very different visual profile. Her Q particle is again the flailing of ghostly hands, rather than just stabbing with vines. There's a lot we don't know — what E and R look like, what her sounds will be, etc. But we can be sure that those will be different.

Now, there's a bit of stuff I'd still like for it that I doubt they'll include. Though I like Zyra's voice filter, I think it's not quite appropriate for the mood of this skin. Something a bit more hollow would work better. I also wish there were at least two different models for the W. I'm fine with one seed looking the same as another, but you expect tombstones to at least represent both genders. But these are minor.

Even when it was on sale for half-off, I wasn't tempted in the least by Wildfire Zyra. Why should I want more of the same? But Haunted Zyra, from everything we've seen, goes in a different direction. For that, and for the sheer work put into changing nearly every element, from creative design to sound to, yes, model, I believe Haunted Zyra earns its 1350 RP.

KingKongs Banana2 votes

You make some very good points. Haunted Zyra is indeed a large step away from her original skin. The new vine plant models on haunted Zyra look cool from what I have seen, specifically the claws. I think the reason I dislike the skin overall is because I really enjoy her base skin a lot. For me the organic theme and summoning plants is awesome. I think this is a large reason why I am turned off by this skin. For me its simply that I don't like the direction they took haunted Zyra. That and me hyping myself up for a new zyra skin these past few months is where my disappointment comes from. Personally I think Zyra has a kit capable of some of the coolest skins, and to me the undead/zombie theme is just not anything special, and in my opinion clashes with her character and lore of being so entwined with nature. Maybe they wanted to focus on her darker side. But then again if riot did want to focus on her darker side I think they could make the her model on the skin more intense. To me the whole new model is dull and lackluster, all of the pizazz being in her plants/tombstones.

As for pricing, I'm still of the opinion that just because Zyra has extra models that she is going to get pricier skins because of this. It just seems to me that later on down the road i can expect to hear that Yorick skins are going to be 1350 because they have to re-skin all the ghouls. Maybe 'm making too big of a jump there, but all champions require different amounts of time to make skins and just because zyra is the most time intensive seems like a lame reason to put skins at 1350. Now does WFZ belong at 1350, NO. I regret buying that skin and it was on sale. While I would definitely agree that Haunted has more work in it than WFZ does. But until i get a look at the completed Haunted zyra it will be too early to say if its worth the 1350 or not.

In the end I guess i just wish they picked a different concept for the zyra skin, but who knows maybe riot has another skin for her on the way, hint hint riot.

XSkylarcX1 votes

Im in a bit of the same situation, i was really exited about seeing a new zyra skin. ever sense i first saw hints about it on surrender@20 some months ago. now that i have seen the basics of the skin im not liking it as much as i would have hoped. headhunter nidalee and ghost bride morgana were amazing, but im not feeling the same about haunted zyra.

the new skin dosent look like zyra : / I posted a few changes in other threads of how i think it could be fixed (but i doubt riot will have the time/will to change it)

plants are awsome :) atm im feeling like its possible ill get it if the spell/particle effects are amazing! or if thay manage to improve the zyra base model/texture to make it look like zyra.

If not i'll just wait and hope for the SK telecom skin for Zyra to be cool.

I Am acually ok with the price on the skin sense thay have a discount for the first days. what i dont like is the cop-out thay made with not making it a legacy skin like all the previous horrowing skins

Riot tried to hit 2 birds with 1 stone. get skins for new champions and get skins for a seasonal event. its disepointing, now thay ruined both the horrowing skins and the champions skins by trying to combine things that dont fit together.

KingKongs Banana1 votes

I tend to agree with you on the 2 birds with 1 stone. Besides Headmistress Fiora there arent really any harrowing skins that interest me. I just feel like making it for 2 purposes limited the concepts of the skin. Also now that I have seen the whole skin in action I have some more thoughts.

The animations look nice on all of her abilities and I feel that the skin looks good overall, although I still feel that Zyra's Model is lacklauster (lacks color or intensity). I'm still not digging the whole theme of the skin and the overall feel. The plant theme of her death animation and ult seems weird to me since it got ditched in the rest of her kit. I thought maybe if she just froze in place like the tombstone angel she is would be cool. The whole skin just feels off to me overall. The animations look nice and overall I think a good amount of people will like the skin but its just not for me.

I have hope for SKT zyra but i'm worried on that too as the TPA skins didn't impress me.

Calderweiss1 votes

Have you even seen the particles for her other skills? We have all these animated creepy hands grasping out of the ground on all her skills.

This is actually a 1350 tier skin. The problem is, we have too many of those.

KingKongs Banana1 votes

Agreed, I've been meaning to post my thoughts on the skin after seeing a full preview, the particles look great, especially the grasping claw.

Bl3u1 votes

I can't really comment on how the skin looks because until i see it in action (not just early PBE screens) i'd like to refrain from making any judgements.

I do agree that it would be cool if her plants were like, a zombie's arm and such. Also I think the 1350 pricing point is BS. They are punishing Zyra fans for liking a champion which takes more effort to make skins for. I don't think that is really fair. If there were options for cheaper skins for her, then I wouldn't be complaining, but the fact that there isn't is why I think its BS.

KingKongs Banana1 votes

Maybe I should hold back some judgment on the skin, since its still so early in PBE. I did see one video of it in game and was not impressed. I guess I just wanted a different theme for the skin after seeing all of the community ideas. Also I think skin price should solely have to do with the quality of the skin not the amount of models it has, and in my opinion wildfire and haunted are 975 skins.

XSkylarcX1 votes

its not about judgin, its a new skin on PBE, its there for testing and feedback. if there is things you dont like about it then now is the time to speak up, let riot know and possibly thay can make some improvments before its live.

Pickled Rick1 votes

Not Brown and Gray.

This. I think her model looks really nice, but she just looks "dirty." I hope they just clean it up a bit, and maybe add some color and redefine the base colors they are using now. I really like her face and hair, she looks really cute.

I think if they make just a couple adjustment it'll be a great skin.

Wrekkoning1 votes

I agree, it is just too bland. I'd feel better if they removed the some of brown and added more glowing blue like there are on her "plants" and put that on her base model and maybe add some green in there? I don't know, I'm not a great artist, I just do pencil sketches at best.

KingKongs Banana1 votes

I like this idea and think it would intensify her model and add to the feel of the skin.

ModCaptainMårvelous1 votes

One important thing I've noticed with 1350 skins as of late is that they start on sale at 975 RP. I'm willing to be it'll cost that at release or, at the least, be part of a bundle with Officer Vi and/or all the old harrowing skins.

My Queen1 votes

The login screen makes Zyra look like she has a lazy eye. The shadowing on her left eye makes it look like the pupil is in the corner. It makes me giggle every time I see it.

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