Dual Wielding Animations Need Some Looking At

[TheWalkingDoctor.9457]

I know this isn't a new topic, but I REALLY think that Anet should consider making dual-wielding feel like dual-wielding.

 

One of the things that has always bugged me in this game is the presence of dual wielding, but no animations to go with it. I know this point has been brought up before, and that this would require the development team to put in some work into a game aspect that shouldn’t directly affect gameplay. However, I personally find that it looks odd when the character swings wildly with one weapon in one hand while the other hand lays limp. So here I am going to try to offer as simple of a solution as possible. I am no martial artist, so I don’t know how real dual wielding works, and I also have no idea on how much effort this would take on the programmers’ or animators’ part, but I will try to keep realism and practicality in mind.

 

Essentially the only thing that would change are the animations for the autoattack whenever a class is holding two similar weapons. Weapon skills 2-5 would be untouched. The animations would be different, but mechanically (damage, speed, other special effects), the "1" skill would remain exactly the same. Each one handed autoattack on classes with the ability to wield two melee or two ranged weapons at the same time would have to be looked at.

 

I will make an example with the warrior, who has the most options for dual wielding out of any class.

 

Sword/X, Axe/X, Mace/X, Dagger/X

 

In this case, this would need 3 new animations on core warrior, and a fourth animation on spellbreaker.

 

Because of the reverse grip of the dagger, dagger would only receive dual-wielding animations with another dagger, and sword/axe/mace would not receive dual-wield animations with a dagger off-hand.

 

Sword/X

 

So in this case, if a warrior is going sword/X, instead of doing a left swing, right swing, and a thrust, they swing with both weapons left, both weapons right, and then a right-handed thrust with the right hand. The current animations actually look very similar to this, and I personally find that sword/X has the most tolerable animations, because the character slightly rotates their body when swinging, so it almost looks like they are swinging both weapons at the same time. Damage and mechanics would remain unchanged. Animations would take the same time and inflict low base damage and high bleeding damage as normal.

 

Axe/X

 

Axe/X falls on the opposite side of the spectrum as sword/X. The animation looks a bit wonky with the left hand not doing anything. However, the axe auto has a very convenient animation that lends easily to dual-wielding. Instead of single, double, triple chop, the warrior can do singe (right), double (left, right), and triple (left, right, double), with all swings being the similar vertical swing pattern of the axe auto attack, except with alternating left and right swings. Simple, and makes the warrior look very berserker-y. Once again, damage, animation speed, and mechanics remain the same regardless of the offhand.

 

Mace/X would be very similar to sword/X, swinging the weapon on the side of the weapon they are swinging from, with the third upward swing simply being done with only the mace hand. So, swing left (mace), swing right (offhand), swing up (mace).

 

Dagger/Dagger

 

Swing left (right dagger), swing right (left dagger), down swing with both daggers (like some sort of twin fangs attack).

 

In the case of two pistols (warrior doesn’t have, but thief, and engi do), they would alternate which pistol to shoot with.

 

In the end, this would require four extra animations for warrior (Sword/X, Mace/X, Axe/X, Dagger/Dagger); two for mesmer (Sword/X, Axe/X); one for ranger (Dagger/Dagger; I don’t think axe throwing requires an offhand animation for Axe/Axe. Reminds me of the axe throwers from Age of Mythology); one for necromancer (Dagger/Dagger), two for thief (Pistol/Pistol, Dagger/Dagger), one for engineer (Pistol/Pistol), and two for revenant (Sword/X, Mace/X).

 

All in all, that means thirteen new animations, which is a lot to ask for considering that this would have no impact on gameplay. However, I think that aesthetics are a very important part to any role-playing game, and I would love to see if dual-wielding animations could be implemented.

 

[MachineManXX.9746]

It's already exactly like dual-wielding. Whichever weapon skill you use will animate that weapon. Maybe use skills other than auto-attack and you will see both weapons in action?

[Scoobaniec.9561]

> @"MachineManXX.9746" said:

> It's already exactly like dual-wielding. Whichever weapon skill you use will animate that weapon. Maybe use skills other than auto-attack and you will see both weapons in action?

 

Autos should use both hands..

[Airdive.2613]

> @"Scoobaniec.9561" said:

> > @"MachineManXX.9746" said:

> > It's already exactly like dual-wielding. Whichever weapon skill you use will animate that weapon. Maybe use skills other than auto-attack and you will see both weapons in action?

>

> Autos should use both hands..

 

I sure love smacking them with my trusty warhorn.

[ChronoPinoyX.7923]

> @"Airdive.2613" said:

> > @"Scoobaniec.9561" said:

> > > @"MachineManXX.9746" said:

> > > It's already exactly like dual-wielding. Whichever weapon skill you use will animate that weapon. Maybe use skills other than auto-attack and you will see both weapons in action?

> >

> > Autos should use both hands..

>

> I sure love smacking them with my trusty warhorn.

I mean why not?


 

[Skotlex.7580]

Or with an offhand shield, that would look silly.

 

Frankly, GW2's design isn't "dual wielding friendly", skills belong either to the right hand, or to the left, but not both (sole exception: thief's 3rd weapon slot).

 

Though I'd like to see better dual wield animations in game, it would be a lot of work: one can't just use the same animation regardless of off hand weapon (hitting with a sword might be comparable to an axe, but not to a shield or a focus).

 

Also, for sake of consistency, the weapon skill 1 change would mean that your autoattack damage is determined by the mean of both your weapons, so there's that to consider.

 

If I want good dual wielding mechanics, I just hop on Tera and use a warrior: a class designed from inception to dual wield.

[TheWalkingDoctor.9457]

I guess a tdlr is in order. What I was specifically asking for was that swinging both weapons for skill one would only occur if you have two similar weapons in each hand (so swinging with shields or warhorns wouldn't count). And regardless of how often some autos are used over others, that doesn't make their animations any less important. Anyway, appreciate the feedback. Reddits and other game forums made this look like a more popular issue, so I tried to create the least invasive, simple implementation as I could.

[Westenev.5289]

I have to admit, duel wielding in this game looks somewhat awkward - especially Revenant sword/sword, where one sword is limp 1/2 the time.

 

While you probably wouldn't bludgeon people with a foci or warhorn, you'd think torches, shields and other offhands would be fair game (if you think shields don't have any use beyond blocking attacks, do some more research). Some more 1 skill animations would be cool if they could show this.

[Khisanth.2948]

> @"TheWalkingDoctor.9457" said:

> I am no martial artist, so I don’t know how real dual wielding works, and I also have no idea on how much effort this would take on the programmers’ or animators’ part, but I will try to keep realism and practicality in mind.

 

According to people who are and hand done actual research into the subject the general answer is "very niche" and "you are better off with a shield or a two handed weapon" so starting from realism and practicality is a poor choice and that is for same weapon types. Mixing would be mostly worse. The purpose of a sword is very different from a mace.

 

Only reason to do it is "because I think it looks cool".

 

> @"Airdive.2613" said:

> > @"Scoobaniec.9561" said:

> > > @"MachineManXX.9746" said:

> > > It's already exactly like dual-wielding. Whichever weapon skill you use will animate that weapon. Maybe use skills other than auto-attack and you will see both weapons in action?

> >

> > Autos should use both hands..

>

> I sure love smacking them with my trusty warhorn.

 

Meanwhile Dragon's Claw's animation looks like it was designed for D/D not so great with D/F or D/W.

 

Actually I think that also the animation for Dual Strke ...