Since the game's inception I've had one spell that I just can't get behind, and as is clearly evidenced from the title... it's humungofrog. Myth is one of my favorite schools in the game. It just feels fun to play, the lore is great, the spells mostly are beautiful and fun. Orthrus was always my favorite of the original endgame 7-pip spells (and still is, though I miss the flavor of the double hit). But humungofrog... nope.
Not only do the damage numbers seem off (doing only 15 more than Ice's blizzard, when comparatively Orthrus does 255 more than Frost Giant, albeit without the AoE stun), the flavor behind the spell is incredibly disappointing and gross. The 4-pip AoEs are iconic hits, filling an integral role in the game, especially when farming lower-level content. Tempest is the most exemplary of this, where it is truly the deepest essence of storm magic. Blizzard harnesses actual ICE to do the damage- as opposed to a creature. Sandstorm and Meteor Shower are the same; these are some of the only spells in the game where we summon the actual element as opposed to a creature.
You're telling me that the essence of Myth is... a large, disproportinate frog with digestive issues? Myth is, in my opinion (and as someone who isn't even a Myth main) the school that should be the most filled with wonder and imagination, especially to function in an axis with Storm, which is about invention and tangible creativity. Myth is dreams and mysticism. Not the gross nitty gritty of an upset stomach.
Watching a big frog vomit is not at the top of my "pleasing aesthetics and sounds to hear nonstop" list. The 4-pip AoEs need to be functionally replayable- we use them constantly, and that's known by the team- they know we need a 4 pip AoE, which is why they not only provided Life and Death (the two schools missing one in normal gameplay progression) with a lore spell version, they also added 4 pip AoEs to the Dragoon amulets. We use these spells a lot. The devs know we use these spells a lot. But I certainly rarely use humungofrog.
I don't love the inclusion of the frog at all. It has always felt off and disappointing to me as an inclusion to the game, both because of the aesthetic disgust as well as the apparent lack of creativity from KI. But, similarly to the inclusion of Blood Bat as a myth spell, it would be less grating if it weren't sitting in such an iconic role. There is also an abundance of frog pets, and their variations, which at this point could absolutely feel like a loss to the players who may actually enjoy this aesthetic, whoever they may be.
So here's my thought. With Blood Bat, we start out Myth's spell-progression with just a slight twist off of the creatures of our real world, with a bat that is just slightly off-kilter from how bats actually work. Why not put Humungofrog in the 2-pip slot, moving Troll up to the 3-pip slot, and Cyclops to the 4-pip AoE? This places Humungofrog as the next progression away from the real world into the mythical, where not only does this animal function differently from how frogs work in real life, it also is disproportionate and has a silly attack. Then, when we jump from reality-bending to truly mythical creatures, the change is all the more epic.
There is already an animation for Cyclops that has him smash his hammer into the ground, causing a chasm that attacks the player. This is easy enough to translate to an AoE animation (also, this sets the stage for Earthquake as an AoE, another spell that seems to have a flavor that's out of place for Myth, but, you know, baby steps). Additionally, all the Frog-style pets can keep their old AoE, allowing the flavor to be maintained- though I'd perhaps want the Wandering Eye pet to have a Cyclops instead, just because that's what I use...).
Anyway, this was a much longer post than I intended. TL;DR, Humungofrog is gross, and I'd love to have it not be slotted into such an iconic spell as the 4-pip AoE, giving that spell-slot a more creative and replayable animation. But I'm off to go wait an extra round in every fight, giving my Myth enough pips to cast Earthquake instead of Humungofrog, and saving myself a couple waves of nausea. Cheers~
Since the game's inception I've had one spell that I just can't get behind, and as is clearly evidenced from the title... it's humungofrog. Myth is one of my favorite schools in the game. It just feels fun to play, the lore is great, the spells mostly are beautiful and fun. Orthrus was always my favorite of the original endgame 7-pip spells (and still is, though I miss the flavor of the double hit). But humungofrog... nope.
Not only do the damage numbers seem off (doing only 15 more than Ice's blizzard, when comparatively Orthrus does 255 more than Frost Giant, albeit without the AoE stun), the flavor behind the spell is incredibly disappointing and gross. The 4-pip AoEs are iconic hits, filling an integral role in the game, especially when farming lower-level content. Tempest is the most exemplary of this, where it is truly the deepest essence of storm magic. Blizzard harnesses actual ICE to do the damage- as opposed to a creature. Sandstorm and Meteor Shower are the same; these are some of the only spells in the game where we summon the actual element as opposed to a creature.
You're telling me that the essence of Myth is... a large, disproportinate frog with digestive issues? Myth is, in my opinion (and as someone who isn't even a Myth main) the school that should be the most filled with wonder and imagination, especially to function in an axis with Storm, which is about invention and tangible creativity. Myth is dreams and mysticism. Not the gross nitty gritty of an upset stomach.
Watching a big frog vomit is not at the top of my "pleasing aesthetics and sounds to hear nonstop" list. The 4-pip AoEs need to be functionally replayable- we use them constantly, and that's known by the team- they know we need a 4 pip AoE, which is why they not only provided Life and Death (the two schools missing one in normal gameplay progression) with a lore spell version, they also added 4 pip AoEs to the Dragoon amulets. We use these spells a lot. The devs know we use these spells a lot. But I certainly rarely use humungofrog.
I don't love the inclusion of the frog at all. It has always felt off and disappointing to me as an inclusion to the game, both because of the aesthetic disgust as well as the apparent lack of creativity from KI. But, similarly to the inclusion of Blood Bat as a myth spell, it would be less grating if it weren't sitting in such an iconic role. There is also an abundance of frog pets, and their variations, which at this point could absolutely feel like a loss to the players who may actually enjoy this aesthetic, whoever they may be.
So here's my thought. With Blood Bat, we start out Myth's spell-progression with just a slight twist off of the creatures of our real world, with a bat that is just slightly off-kilter from how bats actually work. Why not put Humungofrog in the 2-pip slot, moving Troll up to the 3-pip slot, and Cyclops to the 4-pip AoE? This places Humungofrog as the next progression away from the real world into the mythical, where not only does this animal function differently from how frogs work in real life, it also is disproportionate and has a silly attack. Then, when we jump from reality-bending to truly mythical creatures, the change is all the more epic.
There is already an animation for Cyclops that has him smash his hammer into the ground, causing a chasm that attacks the player. This is easy enough to translate to an AoE animation (also, this sets the stage for Earthquake as an AoE, another spell that seems to have a flavor that's out of place for Myth, but, you know, baby steps). Additionally, all the Frog-style pets can keep their old AoE, allowing the flavor to be maintained- though I'd perhaps want the Wandering Eye pet to have a Cyclops instead, just because that's what I use...).
Anyway, this was a much longer post than I intended. TL;DR, Humungofrog is gross, and I'd love to have it not be slotted into such an iconic spell as the 4-pip AoE, giving that spell-slot a more creative and replayable animation. But I'm off to go wait an extra round in every fight, giving my Myth enough pips to cast Earthquake instead of Humungofrog, and saving myself a couple waves of nausea. Cheers~
The frog barfs primarily to make the little kids that play laugh. Adults, and most teens, don't like the animation and never have.
And I have yet to figure out which mythological creature the giant front is actually supposed to be. Everything else myth gets is based on something.
The frog has always seemed like a lame joke one of the devs thought up and their 6 year old liked.
