Attak animations and sounds are awesome.  If OP can interject his opinion, so can I.

Originally posted by Axxar

Originally posted by Master10K

After seeing how ArenaNet improved the "sense of hitting" in their combat, I'm surprised that people can still complain about it. Now the way your character slides, when it altrernate between strafes is a different matter entirely.

Can you link to a video with the improvements in place?

Do a youtube search for BWE2 and you'll find a few videos showing combat from that event, but I'm not aware of anyone that really went out of their way to do a bwe2 combat improvements showcase. Esp since everyone puts voice/music over the game when they upload.

I can give you a personal perspective though. My main character through BWEs1 and 2 was a melee (sword+pistol/whatever) Mesmer. in BWE1, there was almost nothing in the way of impact effect. My strikes would have a little flash of light and maybe some blood when I hit the enemy, and they would do a "I took a hit" animation sometimes, but overall it just felt like my sword was swishing around, and I never felt like it connected.

In BWE2, they added some subtle sound effects that would make a satisfying, solid sound when my attack landed, and increased screen shaking effects. Blurred Frenzy in particular felt like you were really beating the crap out of someone. Which honestly you are, that attack is amazing. Anyway..

Dagger thief still felt a little not-oomphy in BWE2. That might be the nature of the beast. Daggers are not a weapon you associate with WHAM sound effects.

OP issue was most noticable on 1st betas, last beta was way better. Still some room to improve though.

Originally posted by Master10K

After seeing how ArenaNet improved the "sense of hitting" in their combat, I'm surprised that people can still complain about it. Now the way your character slides, when it altrernate between strafes is a different matter entirely.

That video is more or less why I don't really care for GW2's combat animations.  I'm more of a fan of traditional combat animations. The video reminds me of one of the reasons I hated Dragon Age 2.  GW2 just tries too hard to be flashy. Instead of going "Man that looks cool."  I find myself pretty much always just thinking, that looks pretty retarded (just like with DA2).  I personally find AoC's, FFXIV, and Tera's animation quality to be leagues ahead of everything I've seen in GW2.

About the only GW2 combat animations that don't bother me (from melee standpoint), belong to Guardian while using a Greast Sword.

There is defiently a wierd fluidity to the animations, but I think thats the price they pay with maintaining the active combat feel of being able to dissengage and engage an enemy at will.  PvP and PvE revolve around movement and character position, so having solid animations that lock characters into place would not work well in this system.  I'm ok with balance, overall it works well.

As for sounds, yea more is always beter, but its not at the top of my list for things to be improved.

I totally agree with the OP.

I think the combat animations are pretty weak and I hope they get better. These are the kind of things that get tweaked and improved before launch, so we'll see.

Originally posted by Roin

Originally posted by Master10K

After seeing how ArenaNet improved the "sense of hitting" in their combat, I'm surprised that people can still complain about it. Now the way your character slides, when it altrernate between strafes is a different matter entirely.

That video is more or less why I don't really care for GW2's combat animations.  I'm more of a fan of traditional combat animations. The video reminds me of one of the reasons I hated Dragon Age 2.  GW2 just tries too hard to be flashy. Instead of going "Man that looks cool."  I find myself pretty much always just thinking, that looks pretty retarded (just like with DA2).  I personally find AoC's, FFXIV, and Tera's animation quality to be leagues ahead of everything I've seen in GW2.

About the only GW2 combat animations that don't bother me (from melee standpoint), belong to Guardian while using a Greast Sword.

Using the same video you're referring to, I actually find the combat animations quite enjoyable. However, I am a fan of "flashy" combat, simply because after longer periods of time I find myself getting bored with combat animations in many games. I can understand your frustrations with animation entirely though, since unenjoyable animations will keep me from playing a game (like TSW).

I don't really feel that way about the animations. Especially using things like the Hammer, it most definitely sounds like you are beating the crap out of whatever you are attacking.

I would like to see more variance in the animations, but that might be one of the "telegraph" or "eSports" side of the game, making moves more predictible?

Originally posted by GTwander

Originally posted by thekid1

Originally posted by GTwander

*Checked user's post history*

Yeah, I know what this is really about.

Care to explain this to us then Mr. writer, musician, game designer?

You really are a renaissance man aren't you.

I'm a triple threat.

~but yeah, I rescind my comment. It seems the OP sways between the TSW and GW2 forums but doesn't necessarily clown either of them... but I do find it ironic he would point out the animation/sound issues in this one, rather than the other.

Maybe it's because we all already know TSW's animations are lacking (sounds are not) but no one dares mention the animations/sound of the "God game" GW2.

I don't think they are bad, but I sure hope they get altered eventually.

Animations and sounds aren't a game breaker for me, and shouldn't be for anyone, but they aren't excellent like some people would have you believe.

Originally posted by rdrakken

Thread must have been started by a TSW fan hoping to shift attention away his game...lol.

wow another one?? its amazing how many people try to claim that i am a troll because I mention one bad thing lol, even after i explicitly mentioned in the first sentence of my thread that I own both GW2 novels and the artbook. Do i have to mention I have all the hall of monuments awards unlocked as well???

Originally posted by gessekai332

Originally posted by rdrakken

Thread must have been started by a TSW fan hoping to shift attention away his game...lol.

wow another one?? its amazing how many people try to claim that i am a troll because I mention one bad thing lol, even after i explicitly mentioned in the first sentence of my thread that I own both GW2 novels and the artbook. Do i have to mention I have all the hall of monuments awards unlocked as well???

Don't forget your first born child you sacrificed for ArenaNet.

But yeah, I don't see what you did wrong. You gave a critic of the game, I gave my own arguement, you accepted it. End of story. Would be nice if Internet threads could proceed without people calling each other trolls. But who are we kidding, it is the Internets.

Originally posted by gessekai332

Since i've been praising this game ever since it was announced and even bought the artbook and read both novels I'd like to point out something I didnt like about this game, and thats the attack animations and sounds. For some reason another, whenver you hit a monster it feels lacking somehow. i cant put my finger on it but you do see this in some games. In games like Aion, Diablo 3 or TERA you can really feel the hit of your weapon as it connects and the monster recoils. in games like WAR, and GW2 when you hit something for some reason you dont feel it as much. Maybe it has something to do with how the models are made or game physics. And this i feel is a very important aspect to mmorpgs, the rewarding feeling of hitting your opponent and then finally killing it. Anyone feel the same way or know what the problem is?

 

edit: whoops typo DX

I felt strongly as you, but about LOTRO. the sounds felt so weak, and the animations in melee did not feel as powerful as i would have had them be.

It's been a minute since I played gw2 BWE, but I will weigh in again after the next BWE.

Originally posted by thefang01

Interesting how people immediately try to dig up post history "dirt" on people they disagree with ;)

As for the animations - I quite like most of them with the exception of the running animation (especially when the character is changing direction while I keep the camera facing straight ahead). It feels.. floaty somehow and not quite natural. The camera smoothing doesn't help there either and makes it appear a little sluggish IMO. It conveys a lack of responsiveness that's probably not really there. And it's hard tp put into words ^^

Anyway, what the OP mentioned is not really much of an issue for me, but it could be better a little - to put some more punch in the.. punches.

I don't think they were trying to dig up history dirt on the OP; more than anything, they were trying to put his post into context. Had the OP had a history of mindlessly bashing games then it would explain his criticism as just plain trolling/hating. If the OP was generally fair in his history then people would be more inclined to respond.

Originally posted by Master10K

Originally posted by gessekai332

Originally posted by rdrakken

Thread must have been started by a TSW fan hoping to shift attention away his game...lol.

wow another one?? its amazing how many people try to claim that i am a troll because I mention one bad thing lol, even after i explicitly mentioned in the first sentence of my thread that I own both GW2 novels and the artbook. Do i have to mention I have all the hall of monuments awards unlocked as well???

Don't forget your first born child you sacrificed for ArenaNet.

But yeah, I don't see what you did wrong. You gave a critic of the game, I gave my own arguement, you accepted it. End of story. Would be nice if Internet threads could proceed without people calling each other trolls. But who are we kidding, it is the Internets.

btw, I hope you sacrificed your first born to Balthazar cause any other Tyrian God wouldn't have done it.

I agree with Master10K, I don't think you did anything wrong and don't think you're a troll/hater; I could be wrong though haha (jk). I'm a huge fan of the Guild Wars story and am greatly looking forward to GW2; having said that, I have no issue with people (including myself) pointing out flaws and problems with the game. How else will the game ever get better if people don't critique it.

I saw some recent gameplay footage with an Asura Mesmer where his attacks definitely looked as if it had a nice look and feel. I've gotten a key for the beta so I'll see for myself soon.

Originally posted by Axxar

I saw some recent gameplay footage with an Asura Mesmer where his attacks definitely looked as if it had a nice look and feel. I've gotten a key for the beta so I'll see for myself soon.

Lol. If nothing else in this game, Asura animations are absolutely awesome :D I think the devs have favorites XD

TBH, I felt like this when I first started playing GW2.  But as I played more, I learned why I felt like this...and then I stopped thinking the animations were lacking.

You see, when I first started playing, I didn't understand much about the combat flow of the game, and I would just fire an ability whenever it became available.  And since I was low level, this worked fine in combat.  The problem was that I felt like I was playing whack-a-mole with my hotbar and I felt really disconnected from my character.

I hardly knew what the attacks did, and it just felt like I was doing a continuous "stream" of damage with no real sense of "impact" for each attack.

But as time went on, I started to learn what each attack did, how long they took to cool-down, and which ones were best for which situations.  As such, I approached combat differently, I would use specific attacks with intent, and I could "feel" the impact when I hit something because I had established that mental "link" between myself and my character in game.  When I pressed "hundred blades," I expect my character to just whale on someone with his 2H sword, and that's what happens.

So I think a lot of it is the fact that you really get inundated with a lot of weapon skills so fast that you don't have enough time to figure them out and form a mental "expectation" of how they should work.  So the result is that you feel a bit disconnected from your character until you have a chance to learn them.

At least this is how it was for me.

The Sylvari gameplay video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wJbS0AMix8&hd=1 gave a pretty good look at the Guardian's animations. I'd say the female Sylvari running animation is pretty bad. It looks like there's no gravity or weight to the movement. Perhaps rectified by choosing a male character.

The attack animations, on the other hand, as far as I can tell from the video, are very good. They're really the more important part, here. Combat tends to be the main point of these games, and you want to feel power and "oomph" when you land your blows. Guardian seems to deliver very nicely here. It's more difficult to hear the sounds since the volume is low in the recording, but from what I can hear it doesn't sound bad.

Yeh i find them somewhat lacking to maybe its the bad performance i am getting on my wifes and my pc on beta weekends. Did play gw2 also on gamescom in germany and it did feel better their but still bit floaty and not big impact compaired to like wow for example.