The Burning Head's Appearance

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Feedback
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Hello. I have been playing since early in the closed beta and I have seen Pyromancer’s Homing Firespear go through a few changes, both mechanically and visually. I am writing this post to inquire about the appearance of her ability, and if there are any plans to change it.

In the beta, Pyromancer’s ability was called “Homing Firespear”. Aside from the mechanical differences, the biggest difference between it and what we have now was the ability’s appearance. Instead of the glowing fireball we have now, the ability resembled a fiery skull.

skull
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I thought the appearance was pretty neat, even though it didn’t really look like a spear of fire. Soon after, however, the ability was reskinned to appear as a ball of flame. Along with this reskin, the ability was renamed to “The Burning Head”. I find it strange that the name of the ability was changed to better fit the earlier appearance, but the appearance itself was also changed.

Some of Pyromancer’s lines she says when using the ability also strikes me as a bit odd for the ability’s current look. She speaking, she addresses her ball of fire directly, and her voice lines often give personality and character to the ball of fire:

“Ride the wind, little one!”
“Find new friends, meet new creatures little one.”
“Fly free!”
“Head’s up!” <- Here, her pun even refers to it being a head.

It seems to me like these lines would make a lot more sense if the ability still looked like the skull, but something else is also missing. She also remarks about how comical it is:

“Yes, it’s funny, isn’t it?”
“Spread joy, little one!”
“Laughter’s contagious, isn’t it.”

My guess here is that at some point in development, the ability was going to deploy a fiery laughing skull. I honestly would very much enjoy watching a fiery skull bounce between my enemies as it let out a ghostly or sinister laugh. If this was the original intent with the ability, I dearly hope and beg that at some point you continue work on it, or at least bring back the skull appearance. Thank you very much for all the work you have done.

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I will continue to voice my support for the re-implementation of the flaming skull. I miss the little guy…

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Even though I haven’t played Pyromancer yet I can-t help but agree with you. Fly free!

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Looking into it further, I think I was right about the original design being a laughing skull that flies around. I don’t know when The Burning Head was introduced to Warhammer, but it is not new to the world, as it has existed in past games.

In Warhammer: Dark Omen, The Burning Head was one of the few Bright Magic options. It was described as being “A phantasmal flaming skull that flies from the mage’s hands and travels a short distance until the spell expires or hits a solid object. The disembodied head causes a good amount of damage to any target it passes through, and its unearthly laughter can cause units to flee in fear.”

It made a return in Total War: Warhammer, where it was described as follows: “A cackling, flaming visage appears before the Wizard. With a gleeful screech, it swirls around the battlefield, immolating anything in its way.”

I see now that this is what Fatshark was going for originally. I really hope they continue to work on it, as a laughing, fiery skull is far more awesome and hilarious than the fireball we have now.

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Agree, I agree!

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First off, thanks for the great game Fatshark! Me and my wife’s son have been playing it non-stop, you guys ROCK!!! That being said, I have to agree with Mr. Morpheel up above that the flaming skull is much more fitting for the bright wizard, as it is much more epic and funny. Please consider changing it back to the flaming skull Fatshark.

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It is indeed a great game. Haven’t been able to stop playing since closed beta. I’m glad you and your family can enjoy it together. Maybe in the distant future, we can see and hear the flame skull in action. :pray:

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What was the entire reason to remove it, i wonder? I can’t see any sensible explaination.

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No explaination, none at all! None I say!

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Maybe it is some kind of cosmetic? My wife’s boyfriend recently got the bi-hawk cosmetic for dwarf, it is totally epic! I suppose it’s possible that no one has gotten lucky enough to get this cosmetic.

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I think it’s because they didn’t have the laughing implemented yet, or they didn’t like the skull’s look. Either way, it was pretty uncalled for, and I hope they bring the skull back.

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I am going to bump this thread because I really really hope them implement the laughing skull idea. That would be so perfect for Seinna.

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