Guild Wars 2

It’s really not much of an issue, as such, it’s really just an aesthetic suggestion.
Thing is, the way a female character hold the greatsword just feels weak. In comparison, male characters will hold their sword at the ready, upright – whereas female seems on the verge to just, let it drag on the ground. I mean, alright, the argument that female are physically weaker than male in general, sure. But what’s the point of this “pseudo realism” argument, in a game where female players have just the same abilities as their male counterpart? Can’t they hold their sword in a more proper manner?

If they were to hold the sword upright with both hands, they’d likely get snarky comments and jibs from their male party members. It’s like eating a hotdog around a bunch of highschool guys…you have to chop it up in little pieces and then eat it with a fork and it just gets awkward…

Leo G.4501:

If they were to hold the sword upright with both hands, they’d likely get snarky comments and jibs from their male party members. It’s like eating a hotdog around a bunch of highschool guys…you have to chop it up in little pieces and then eat it with a fork and it just gets awkward…

I’m sorry, but that’s a weak argument against it. They’re going to have to grow up sometime. Anyway, if they are going to make snarky remarks, they will do it to a guy running along holding his greatsword up in the air.

I find a problem more in when they swing. Look at females (of all races except Charr and Asura). Norn and human females have the most noticeable problem. When they swing, it looks really awkward and uncomfortable like their entire torso is being twisted almost to the point of coming off as they do it.

Next time you get some free time, spam 1 on a greatsword with a female norn or human and see what I mean.

Yeah I agree, while I don’t find the standing animation much of an issue, the swing animation of Female Norn and Humans looks very unrealistic and weird, especially with the speed they do it.

I hate the way female norn hold greatswords sort of just… straight out to the side or something. I wish they’d carry them in the air like male humans, or over their shoulder like the asura do.

Over the shoulder would be sweet for female Norns.

I wholeheartly agree!

I find the fact that pretty much everyone holds the greatsword behind their torso ridiculous. But, I guess someone at Anet thinks it looks cool…

Well Tuomir, it’s a greatsword, and if you look at most of the Skins, they look mighty heavy. If they wouldn’t hold the Greatsword behind their torso, it would probably bang against their head with it’s blade while running and that isn’t very comfortable.

What class are we talking about here. Multiple classes have greatswords and they all use them differently. Each race also holds and uses the weapon differently.

Female Ranger, it’s too heavy for me, I have to drag the thing along then take a mighty swipe at something.

I’m only little !

(oh dear you can’t say “b-a-s-h” or “s-l-a-s-h” so had to use “swipe” instead)

Just to add, I like the way it’s held and I like the animation, pity it’s a bit repetitive.

You should be able to SELECT from a series of stances, for the purposes of character customization.

Kal Spiro.9745:

What class are we talking about here. Multiple classes have greatswords and they all use them differently. Each race also holds and uses the weapon differently.

Female norn and human rangers, mesmers, guardians and warriors hold the GS in the way the OP described. These are the only ones I can confirm because I have a human/norn of these classes, but I suppose it is the same with sylvari.
I agree with the OP. It looks that my characters are painfully dragging their greatswords around, specially my mesmer and my guardian (but that’s because of how slow they both are).

I actually like the way they carry the weapon…and I made my human mesmer look like a barbie, so if she started lugging that thing around like a lumberjack carries his ax I might get worried.

Astral Projections.7320:

Leo G.4501:

If they were to hold the sword upright with both hands, they’d likely get snarky comments and jibs from their male party members. It’s like eating a hotdog around a bunch of highschool guys…you have to chop it up in little pieces and then eat it with a fork and it just gets awkward…

I’m sorry, but that’s a weak argument against it. They’re going to have to grow up sometime. Anyway, if they are going to make snarky remarks, they will do it to a guy running along holding his greatsword up in the air.

Twas a joke.

And if a guy is holding his greatsword up in the air, guys don’t care unless he’s a kitten and then he’s accused of overcompensating. Entirely different.

Tuomir.1830:

I find the fact that pretty much everyone holds the greatsword behind their torso ridiculous. But, I guess someone at Anet thinks it looks cool…

Well, realism aside, it’s for emphasis.

If we were aiming for realistic animations, likely everyone would keep the handle close to their torso and out to guard…but users of realistic large swords likely have swords that weigh much less.

Personally, I like the animation of my human female ranger precisely because she makes the sword look heavy. Why would I want her to look like she’s swinging around a chunk of cardboard? It puts emphasis on the power of the blows if the weapon not only looks heavy, but the swing actually looks exaggerated. The stance at which she holds the sword is likely intentional; it’s suppose to look heavy. How you interpret the swings though is another story. I think some animations could use some work, but they are generally smooth except for perhaps the Warrior auto-attack and Hundred blades on certain races (also, Rush on Asura looks dumb). On my Ranger, my human female looks graceful despite the weapon’s apparent heavy weight and for Mesmer, it seems to carry weight until she needs to use it, then most attacks look like the weapon is weightless…it’s a different style but still…

I’m no expert on swordsmanship, but from the little that I do know, this was a valid stance in Medieval Europe, although it seems to have been favored more by Italians than by the German schools.

Further research reveals that it was known as the posta di coda longa, or tail guard, and was used as a deceptive and inviting stance, feigning defenselessness while still being capable of making strong cuts along several angles. The stance is also apparently occasionally referred to as/seen as synonymous with nebenhut, although the accuracy of this is disputed.

So in sum, I see nothing wrong with its use. In fact, it is a rather advanced guard, and its practical use as a ploy to invite attack is not entirely at odds with what one might imagine a female warrior/combatant to do in this kind of setting. Hope that helps some of you.

Finally, a more mundane reason for making most characters hold their swords behind them might be that it would simply look silly for everyone to run around holding their swords in front of or above them all the time. The most realistic option would probably be to have them hold the sword in only one hand as they run instead of remaining at their guard, but that would also look silly at times (e.g. if you ran four feet, stopped, ran four feet again, and so on, forcing the character to switch positions at a frenetic pace).

For further edification (last two links in Italian):

http://www.aemma.org/onlineResources/liberi/liberi11_body.htm
http://www.scrimipedia.it/mediawiki/index.php?title=Guardie_di_coda_lunga
http://www.scrimipedia.it/mediawiki/index.php?title=Coda_lunga_distesa

spikyblackhair.4951:

I’m no expert on swordsmanship, but from the little that I do know, this was a valid stance in Medieval Europe, although it seems to have been favored more by Italians than by the German schools.

Further research reveals that it was known as the posta di coda longa, or tail guard, and was used as a deceptive and inviting stance, feigning defenselessness while still being capable of making strong cuts along several angles. The stance is also apparently occasionally referred to as/seen as synonymous with nebenhut, although the accuracy of this is disputed.

So in sum, I see nothing wrong with its use. In fact, it is a rather advanced guard, and its practical use as a ploy to invite attack is not entirely at odds with what one might imagine a female warrior/combatant to do in this kind of setting. Hope that helps some of you.

For further edification (last two links in Italian):

http://www.aemma.org/onlineResources/liberi/liberi11_body.htm
http://www.scrimipedia.it/mediawiki/index.php?title=Guardie_di_coda_lunga
http://www.scrimipedia.it/mediawiki/index.php?title=Coda_lunga_distesa

Thank you, nice to learn new things.

Leo G.4501:

Thank you, nice to learn new things.

You are quite welcome!

I actually quite like the way my character holds her great sword… especially if I am moving backwards. I wouldn’t like to see it changed.

The only weapon thing I find a problem with is the torch on a mesmer… it illuminates the area but one of the key skills is invisibility… kind of defeats the point imho.

I like the animation. My suggestion is that if you wanna look strong roll a female norn, or even better a female norn with a staff. Nothing is more intimidating than that animation. Love it.

spikyblackhair.4951:

I’m no expert on swordsmanship, but from the little that I do know, this was a valid stance in Medieval Europe, although it seems to have been favored more by Italians than by the German schools.

Further research reveals that it was known as the posta di coda longa, or tail guard, and was used as a deceptive and inviting stance, feigning defenselessness while still being capable of making strong cuts along several angles. The stance is also apparently occasionally referred to as/seen as synonymous with nebenhut, although the accuracy of this is disputed.

So in sum, I see nothing wrong with its use. In fact, it is a rather advanced guard, and its practical use as a ploy to invite attack is not entirely at odds with what one might imagine a female warrior/combatant to do in this kind of setting. Hope that helps some of you.

Finally, a more mundane reason for making most characters hold their swords behind them might be that it would simply look silly for everyone to run around holding their swords in front of or above them all the time. The most realistic option would probably be to have them hold the sword in only one hand as they run instead of remaining at their guard, but that would also look silly at times (e.g. if you ran four feet, stopped, ran four feet again, and so on, forcing the character to switch positions at a frenetic pace).

For further edification (last two links in Italian):

http://www.aemma.org/onlineResources/liberi/liberi11_body.htm
http://www.scrimipedia.it/mediawiki/index.php?title=Guardie_di_coda_lunga
http://www.scrimipedia.it/mediawiki/index.php?title=Coda_lunga_distesa

Yes, this ^

I saw one of these threads a long time ago during the Beta Weekend Events, and somebody else thankfully said something similar to Spiky here. I dislike the hate on the stance, as it is certainly not “weak” or “improper”.

It seems the women in the game know how to hold their greatswords correctly folks. This isn’t some random “weak” animation, this is a legitimate stance that will help one make full use of their greatsword. It’s a good animation and I’m glad that Anet included something other than “hold sword in front of you” for a default stance.