Guild Wars 2

I just wanted to say that while I think the spring update is pretty fantastic, there is one thing I was disappointed by: the new sword animation.

I play a charr ranger and so I don’t know if the animation looks different for other races or classes. However, sword has been my favorite weapon since I started playing, simply because I felt like a complete bad-* with the flurry of rapid jumping and movement. I’m almost embarrassed by the new animation – it makes my character look very spastic, as though he’s just sort of hacking away there. The old animation had a sense of refinement and extreme skill on the part of the sword wielder, while the new animation feels like someone who just picked up a pointy thing and started flailing around with it.

In game, the sword is a great weapon in terms of stats and skills, but for me, watching what is happening on the screen is a big part of my enjoyment. Watching my charr hack away with his newfound sword animations has me seriously considering switching to a different weapon and never looking back.

The human female swing looks like she’s doing some anatomically impossible move when the sword whips in a fun circle behind her back. It is as if her elbow or wrist is on a swivel. To understand what I’m saying, pick up any object in your hand and swing like the animation. You will find your wrist does not allow such a movement when the sword goes behind you, rather, it would slice you in half.

I agree, but I’ve been hesitant to post about it because I know it’s been done to fix a long-standing issue (which has frustrated me too).

I just wish they could have fixed the sticking issue without changing the animation, or at least without changing it so much. My (human) ranger has gone from looking like some kind of hyperactive ninja to looking like…well me, in real life, trying to use a sword. She looks like she’s just flailing it around and hoping the enemy happens to be in the way when she does.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy that we’re not stuck to our targets any more, I just wish it didn’t come with the trade-off of such a bland animation.

The old sword animation was fun and one of the best animations I’ve seen.

The new one looks like a blind person stabbing at a pinata. It is horribad.

I found as much positive in the old “stick to the target” as I did negative, honestly.

Plus, it appears we got a dps nerf for sword as well.

I have 8 rangers. I loved sword and dagger but… I’ll probably find another weapon. It is painful to watch them now.

Huh, I prefer the new.

Sorry you guys dont.

I also prefer the new over the old, simply because the old one made my norn look like a floppy-fish. However, I can agree that the new animation doesn’t feel as “expertly savage” as the old. I would like there to be some form of middle-ground.

I watched a video of all the old animations. Norn definitely had a really odd one prior to the patch, so I can see how Norn players might prefer the new one.

For all other races, though… the new one is a definite downgrade if you ask me. Too flaily, and in general they all seem to pull their arms way too far back before the hits. Its ironic that the skills are now named stuff like “Precision Strike” when there’s clearly no precision anywhere in the animation.

And yeah, the apparent DPS loss due to slower overall string speed sucks too, when Ranger DPS isn’t exactly amazing to begin with.

I wont miss sticking to things uncontrollably but I will miss jump kicking things. They shoulda kept a Chuck Norris rounhouse kick as part of the chain.

Guys I think my Rangers going to fall over soon if she keeps doing this. The animation is pretty bad compared to the old one in my opinion. I liked the old one due to how agile and active it was, it fit the Ranger better.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the fact that it no longer gets you stuck even if it was something I learned to work with. It just had one of my favorite animation chains so…y’know.

By the way, they forgot to add sound effects to swinging the sword in place w/o hitting anything. Unless it’s a new form of Ranger stealth. Silent Blade.

I play female sylvari ranger, and the first skill of the chain looks like it was ripped out of Asuras sword auto-attack, that of Warrior, Guardian and Thief.

Rest looks like a buffoon swinging around, thinking it looks good on others point of view.

I don’t really care if I bust into a disco and waive a goose feather as long as it will allow me to interrupt the animation and evade an attack. I totally quit using the sword because the animation was too slow to stop when you needed to move during an attack sequence.