Lunar New Year Mini Racers

If you're hanging out in DR waiting for friends and don't feel like racing, instead follow one of the NPCs to see how they race. (You're almost guaranteed of finishing on time anyhow.)

Among my favorite things in the game are the underplayed elements. The kids playacting Destiny's Edge during the personal story, the asura progeny signifying in Metrica ("your mom's so dumb..."), the call outs to pop culture ("By Ogden's Hammer, What Savings!"). And this year, hidden beneath the decorations and festival retread prizes and activities, we have the NPCs competing in the Race Around Divinity's Reach (LNY).

• There are 13 competitors, one representing each of the Real Life™ symbols of the Asian Zodiac plus Gourdon (the racing choya, naturally).
• The 'snake' and 'monkey' are borrowed holographs from the Super Adventure Box (operated by the 'Holomancer' at the race's start)
• The 'dragon' is the mystical dragon mini.
• The 'dog' is the new mini shepherd
• The 'horse' is, of course, three mini skritt disguised as a horse.

I love how they march in an Olympic Opening Event style parade to get to the race, how they line up synchronized to the starting line (and again at the end), and how they each have their own style for completing the race. (PS they cheat, since they are faster than an unmounted player, even with the Leader of the Pack III buff). Among the differences:

• Gourdon has trouble with hard turns and frequently makes a dyslexic choice (e.g. right when he should go left). He finds a circuitous route back to the next checkpoint.
• Similarly the pig gets confused and retraces its steps to get back on course.
• Three of the minis stay together the entire time.

I like the rat riding on the ox.

Agreed, I love all the little details tucked away into this game, sometimes it's a joy to just wander around maps and see what you find.

(BTW, the NPCs will stick around the finish line until the race ends, so you can also get a closer look at them there.)

@"notebene.3190" said:I like the rat riding on the ox.

I like that too. In real life I'm a Taurus born in the year of the Ox (or as my mum put it a stubborn cow), so the one bit I remembered from the fictional story behind the Chinese Zodiac was that they had to race across a river and the rat couldn't swim (untrue BTW, rats are excellent swimmers) so he rode on the Ox and then jumped off his head just as they reached the finish line to get there first. I like that it made it into the game.

I also love all the little details they put into this game. My personal favourite is Sally, an NPC in Harathi Hinterlands you can't reach without a lot of jumping, who then criticizes you for jumping up there. There's a similar thing in Crystal Oasis with an NPC who says he's concerned all the raptors jumping around will damage roofs with their claws.

@"notebene.3190" said:I like the rat riding on the ox.

I hadn't noticed before, so last time, I targeted the rodent as it marched up. And right before the race starts, it jumps out of formation, leaps on to the Ox, and stays there until the end. Good plan, since (a) the Ox is pretty darn quick and (b) actually manages to run in the right path, hitting the necessary checkpoints. (Could only have been funnier if the rat had ridden the "horse" instead.)

I have seen these NPC racers and I thought wouldn't it be a great idea to have a race that you have to do in tonic form?A much shorter race. I don't think I could finish the race on time as a quaggan.Probably everyone has endless tonic. Why not give us something to do while we use them?

I noticed the rat riding the ox for the first time today and giggled for far too long.

@"jediwolf.8724" said:I have seen these NPC racers and I thought wouldn't it be a great idea to have a race that you have to do in tonic form?A much shorter race. I don't think I could finish the race on time as a quaggan.Probably everyone has endless tonic. Why not give us something to do while we use them?

I actually tried this in using "Endless Monkey King" Tonic, and there were several Quaggans running along too and a couple of Kodan...perhaps it was due to getting hung up on Lamp Posts a few times, but with no movement abilities, I finished the race, but about 4 seconds too late for the on-foot time achievement. Which was no big deal, just ran it again on-foot in normal form with movement skills and finished with time to spare.

The thing was, unless I was near someone who was speed boosting the foot runners...it was a lot slower going. :) But still fun!

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@"notebene.3190" said:I like the rat riding on the ox.

The rat riding the ox is supposed to be part of the traditional story of the animals being assigned their places in the zodiac. I was pleased to see that little nod.

Now, if the rooster would actually render for me...

Thanks for posting this, I hadn't really thought to stop and watch them.

It seems Gourdon and i share the same racing ahem ‘strategy’.....

@"Taelac.7036" said:The rat riding the ox is supposed to be part of the traditional story of the animals being assigned their places in the zodiac. I was pleased to see that little nod.

TIL. Thanks for the link.

For those even lazier than I, here's the story. It's short and I'm hoping people get a chance to watch the NPCs and see for themselves how much of the story was implemented into the DR race.

! >! > The most well-known of the Chinese zodiac legends states that Buddha invited the animals to participate in a race. The prize was a coveted position on the Chinese Zodiac calendar. The first 12 animals to cross the river would appear on the Chinese Zodiac calendar in the order in which they completed the race.! >! > The first animal to make it across the finish line was the rat. Although it seems unlikely that such a small animal could win such a strenuous race, Chinese Zodiac legends and mythology explains that the rat used his brain rather than his brawn. It hitched a ride on what it perceived was the mightiest swimmer, the Water Buffalo (aka Ox). Just before the buffalo reached the shore, the rat jumped off the buffalo’s back and crossed the finish line first.! >! > The buffalo came in second and became the second animal listed on the Chinese Zodiac. The tiger, also being strong, came in third, followed by the rabbit that jumped his way across and was helped during the last stretch by the dragon. A snake hid in the hoof of the horse which is how it managed to make it across the river. At the last minute the snake jumped out and scared the horse into seventh place.! >! > The sheep, monkey and rooster helped one another across and earned their spots on the calendar as well. The dog made it too, but decided a bath was more important than the position which is why it came in eleventh. Finally, the pig appeared and is listed last because the pig feasted and rested half-way through the race.