They should, in my opinion, generate more advantage than the equipment they replace. Remember they were a reward not a curse. Perhaps the advantage should not be much more, but it should be an advantage. In this case the advantage is given in PK. This is quantifiable however.
A ranger archer using the proper arrows and a decent bow can output a lot of damage every round and is a lot more reliable. In this circumstance why would this character want to use the dragon? A fire dragon can smoke, but so can the archers arrows which again do more damage. Sadly I don't know the other dragons well enough to comment on those in this circumstance.
Any other character that has the appropriate skill set using a bow and arrow is going to be doing more consistent damage over the fight than the dragon will though the dragons damage might be able to spike a little higher on any given shot than the arrows or produce smoke. Access to smoking equipment is really not all that limited so that's almost always a danger anyway and most classes that can use ranged weapons can dirt kick anyway. A fire or lightning dragon here is not really an advantage over a bow other than you give up the consistent damage for random damage and/or a chance to blind and you can use a shield if your not dual wielding.
Any character who cannot use a ranged weapon can pick up a significant advantage from a fire or air dragon OR use any one of a number of more useful floating items at least one of which also produces lightning damage. The key here is it is still replacing an item. I have never seen a dragon more useful than certain floating items particularly some of the unique ones, but the dragon you can hang on to no matter what.
This can also be an issue. Remember if you accrue too much owner only stuff your inventory will get full. Pit weapons, RP necklaces, Dragons, Quest Rewards, Imm Rewards... eventually you will have to start choosing what you want to be rid of.
The point of this is, I dont think the dragons need their own spot. I think they need to either be made more viable at 50 to justify their continued use (Again upgrading with RP points is a possibility and Vaerick also had an awesome Idea) OR have them not come with curses on them so when they are no longer usable they can be discarded OR have the ability to store them in a bank.
By stating you have never received a dragon for a desc shows that the effort your willing to put into descriptions, and character concepts, is less than it could be.
Get off your high horse man. I've had multiple qclasses, I'm sure all of those were due to lack of character concept.
Due to my timezone normally all my descriptions are approved via dcheck while I'm not on, I'm sure you can get a dragon while not being on but I guarantee it's a lot easier for an imm to give you one while you're on.
But please, continue to act all high and mighty and personally attack people regarding how much effort they put in.
Im not, I am countering your arguments. One of your arguments in your original post was "I have never gotten one." and "this nerfs me". If you cannot debate a topic as a responsible, mature adult perhaps refrain from posting assaulting comments like "**** you" and "get off your high horse". If you are allowed to verbally dismantle my arguments in an attempt to validate your points, you should expect the same. Your right, I got a dragon, I want to be able to show it off. It is hardly even a buff in reality, more a thumbs up for the effort I put into creation, and concept, and RP. So yes, I do want to be able to wear my dragon for the world to see.
To re-iterate everyone's point - the stance that it would help characters too much that have gotten IMM rewards (such as a tiny dragon) is a bit far-fetched. Everyone has that chance (and not just through descriptions) and you shouldn't really shoot down an idea just because you think it may be overpowered.
I'm pretty good at determining if something is overpowered or not, and more often than not, things are toned down to such a degree (because we appreciate fairness) that rewards are simply a hassle and shouldn't have been given in the first place. I think this is a good idea, but it would seem those against it are only against it because they have never 'received' an IMM only reward in the way of an owner only object.
Please keep your mind open. You CAN and probably WILL receive them over the lives of your characters. Imagine a month from now and you receive a cool little item that casts or boosts something on your character from an IMM only to find out there's a better, rare (always in) item in the Ford that could replace it?
I've dchecked and logged in to having a dragon in my inventory. In fact, I think standards for giving out dragons has dropped considerably from the past OR the skill and talent of the player base has increased to where they are now common..?
Also, how many people re-write their description through out their character's life? I have changed my main character's description 4 times since creation to convey the changes he's gone through during his lifetime. A description is a living thing and just because you didn't get an IMM reward at creation doesn't mean you couldn't get one later on for a change to his appearance..
Also, how many people re-write their description through out their character's life?
Exactly what I was thinking. If your character is long lived, he WILL have many chances at dragons if he has failed his first dcheck.
IMO, one should be able to restring his dragon and mount it too.
Mounting a little dragon at will is a bit excessive as I've always envisioned them no bigger than a small cat. Vaerick's idea has merit, but with a timer to emulate fatigue on the little guy for growing as large as a pony (or similar) and carrying you around for 24 hours. A 12-24 hour cooldown would be more than fair in my eyes. Even a level/2 mounted timer with a level*1 hour cooldown would be reasonable.
Now restringing it, that I like.
Dave the winged earth dragon.
Flit the winged air dragon.
Though can't you do that in the Astral Conclave? Haven't tried yet.
Upgrading dragons was something we considered during the Bazaar conceptual phases, along with special mounts (if you've explored, you'll notice some inexplicably empty rooms). We got distracted by other things, but we'll take a look at this as soon as we can.