Guild Wars 2

Not sure if this has already been mentioned or not but it always feels wrong for me when holding weapons as they’re in the wrong hands. One handed weapons are the worst for me and especially sword or axe, if I look at my chars too much then it makes my hands feel weak and my skin itch. Strange I know but I can’t help it.

I don’t imagine I’m alone in this (though my physical reaction might be) so my question is, if we raised enough support do you think Anet would introduce left handed character options? I have no idea how easy or hard it would be to implement but I do know I’d throw chunks of cash at my monitor if the upgrade went on sale in the TP.

It’s been asked for before, the problem is it’s not easy at all.

You basically have to take every animation in the game and mirror it, but that could either be relatively easy or extremely difficult depending on various factors (what animation program they used, does the animation file it produces allow for batch editing, how centered is the parent on the xyz axis, etc.).

You also have to mirror all animations for the weapons (both drawn and stowed), which have the same problem as character animations.

Then you have to make changes to the UI to include a button to toggle handedness.

Then you have to go through every action in the game that makes an animation call and change it so it will call the correct animation for the current handedness setting. This could either be accomplished by manually adding a conditional statement on every animation call or somehow make the toggle automatically modify all animation calls to reference the correct files (which might not even be possible, depending on the scripting language).

Honestly, it’s just too much work for too little.

Thanks for your response and kitten , it sounds like quite a large job. Wish Anet had made all chars left handed to start with then I’d be happy but a lot of other people wouldn’t.

dont let them feed you crap, it is easy if anything like kitten we use to make in UDK [unreal] not that hard to mirror things, just anet could not care about left hand people, as most mmos just dont see just reason to add it

Um honestly when I equipt a weapon in the “Right hand” I expect the weapon to be there….I dont get all ichi but I get annoyed that its not where I put it, I often have to remind myself that GW2 isnt hat its cracked up to be.

Reviera.5183:

Um honestly when I equipt a weapon in the “Right hand” I expect the weapon to be there….I dont get all ichi but I get annoyed that its not where I put it, I often have to remind myself that GW2 isnt hat its cracked up to be.

Wat.

Chuck Norris.4519:

dont let them feed you crap, it is easy if anything like kitten we use to make in UDK [unreal] not that hard to mirror things, just anet could not care about left hand people, as most mmos just dont see just reason to add it

and you think Anet, a licensed company, is paying Unreal millions and using it?

And to be honest I’m left handed, but my characters never ever bothered me. It seems like a quality of life issue that bother a very small percentage of players.

maybe, if they could actually render a mirror-img of a normall right handed character it would all be done with just reversing 1 of 3 axes…., and confusing… P/D or D/P? A/M or M/A? I do not see any other problems…

It probably wouldn’t be that hard, but clearly the difficulty is beyond what it’s worth to ANet to do it, which is pretty much nothing, since they would make no money on it.

I’d be happy to buy a left handed char option from the gem store just like any other item for sale. With 10% of the population being left handed there is a definite market which Anet could tap into for additional income.

Chars welding one handed weapons have the off hand weapon and arm forwards so it would be easy to tell which is which.

Actually the market would’t be just left handed players, it would be left handed players with some scale of OCD

Jokes a part, this change seems to be more work than it is worth.
About the mirror the animation, that part is probably not that hard, what would make that task not so simple is the armor skins, many of them was crafted for the current animations and very likely wouldn’t work with mirrored animations since we have plenty of asymmetrical skins, also some weapon skins doesn’t work when mirrored, try to preview an ascendant LB, since in the preview all weapons goes to the right hand but in action the LB is used in the left hand you see that the “guard” of the weapon clip into the arm of the character, so that is yet another layer of changes that would need to be included.

I’m okay with all the characters being right handed. I just wish the keyboard layout was more lefty-friendly.

I’m also a lefty, and sometimes the weapon thing would bug me. But I’ve gotten used to it, luckily.

I would prefer character being randomly left handed when you create them. It would add a new layer of “real life likeness” to the experience, it would be great.

I’m right handed BTW. I simply think sharing the experiences of other people is more fun and important than plainly fitting everything within my comfort zone.

Cakemeister.5792:

I’m okay with all the characters being right handed. I just wish the keyboard layout was more lefty-friendly.

You can change the hotkeys in the options panel, default key: f11.

Spirited Was Eceni.3869:

I’d be happy to buy a left handed char option from the gem store just like any other item for sale. With 10% of the population being left handed there is a definite market which Anet could tap into for additional income.

Chars welding one handed weapons have the off hand weapon and arm forwards so it would be easy to tell which is which.

question 1:
how many from 10% is playing Guild Wars 2?
question 2:
how many of that % then are actually bugged by this?

I’m also left-handed, but the ‘irkness’ of playing a right handed character has slowly numbed over time… (except that one Legend of Zelda game….seriously!! Link is supposed to remain a lefty!!! -hisssss- )

Anyhow.

I’m not bothered too much by it, since my skillbar shows the mainhand weapon on the left side, and the offhand weapon on the right side. If you duel wield with the same weapon, you can…pretend there’s no difference.

I often wonder if right-handed players are bothered by this…

I’m left handed and i couldn’t care less what hand my char holds her weapons in, doesn’t bother me in game Defo would not buy a gemstore item to make a leftie char

They could and should.

I also want to wield weapons on my feet instead of hands and backstab people with a dagger in my mouth. :x

>.>

Spirited Was Eceni.3869:

Not sure if this has already been mentioned or not but it always feels wrong for me when holding weapons as they’re in the wrong hands. One handed weapons are the worst for me and especially sword or axe, if I look at my chars too much then it makes my hands feel weak and my skin itch. Strange I know but I can’t help it.

I don’t imagine I’m alone in this (though my physical reaction might be) so my question is, if we raised enough support do you think Anet would introduce left handed character options? I have no idea how easy or hard it would be to implement but I do know I’d throw chunks of cash at my monitor if the upgrade went on sale in the TP.

Weird. Do you also get this physical reaction when watching a movie with a right handed character on it?

I am left handed and never felt anything similar. Though now that you mention it, it would feel really weird to hold a sword with the right hand. But the only time i ever got a physical reaction like this was upon seeing jimmy hendrix play his guitar (he played a right handed strat like he was left handed, meaning the guitar was upside down….you would think he could afford a leftie strat….)

Aenesthesia.1697:

Spirited Was Eceni.3869:

Not sure if this has already been mentioned or not but it always feels wrong for me when holding weapons as they’re in the wrong hands. One handed weapons are the worst for me and especially sword or axe, if I look at my chars too much then it makes my hands feel weak and my skin itch. Strange I know but I can’t help it.

I don’t imagine I’m alone in this (though my physical reaction might be) so my question is, if we raised enough support do you think Anet would introduce left handed character options? I have no idea how easy or hard it would be to implement but I do know I’d throw chunks of cash at my monitor if the upgrade went on sale in the TP.

Weird. Do you also get this physical reaction when watching a movie with a right handed character on it?

I am left handed and never felt anything similar. Though now that you mention it, it would feel really weird to hold a sword with the right hand. But the only time i ever got a physical reaction like this was upon seeing jimmy hendrix play his guitar (he played a right handed strat like he was left handed, meaning the guitar was upside down….you would think he could afford a leftie strat….)

I remember reading before that Jimi’s father held the (sadly common until the past 30 years) belief that left handedness was a sign of evil. So, Jimi learned to play right-handed and used a right-handed guitar for when his father would be around to see him play. He’d simply re-string it to play it lefty. I have no idea how true it is, though.

Aenesthesia.1697:

But the only time i ever got a physical reaction like this was upon seeing jimmy hendrix play his guitar (he played a right handed strat like he was left handed, meaning the guitar was upside down….you would think he could afford a leftie strat….)

Umm, he was left handed? And back then people were still forced to pretend they were right handed that was actually until some 20 years ago, so nothing in the world was for left handed people as officially no one was.
Unless you were joking as you knew it and I didn’t get it…

Arikyali.5804:

(except that one Legend of Zelda game….seriously!! Link is supposed to remain a lefty!!! -hisssss- )

I’m a righty and this annoyed the crap out of me…

I sure hope everyone understands this is NOT a Lefty issue….at all.

While I sympathize with the OP, Anet cannot be expected to re-write the game because your OC disorder is triggered by it. Play first person if it’s that big a deal to you.

Hendrix was left handed and the story about his father is pure BS…..he used right handed guitars strung backwards because they were easy to get and he got used to tuning them reverse (so he kept doing so when he could obviously get Left handed ones).

Maybe Anet was just going off historical weapon use. If you were in any of the ancient or medieval armies you wielded your shield in your left hand and your weapon in your right hand. If you were a samurai you wielded your katana in your right hand. Now there were historical accounts of warriors using weapons in there left hand, but this was very, very rare.

mazzy.5389:

Maybe Anet was just going off historical weapon use. If you were in any of the ancient or medieval armies you wielded your shield in your left hand and your weapon in your right hand. If you were a samurai you wielded your katana in your right hand. Now there were historical accounts of warriors using weapons in there left hand, but this was very, very rare.

lol that would then be the only thing they took from historic accounts (besides the actual weapon categories)

I’m left-handed and whenever possible my main character is too. Sometimes without even thinking about it. For example I play Skyrim on the Xbox and only just realised the other day I’ve made my character left handed because I use a sword and dagger and always equip the sword first and hit the left trigger first. I do it deliberately in ESO though.

But it doesn’t bother me if I can’t play a left-handed character. If it was offered, even as a gem store upgrade, I’d buy it, but if not I’ll live without it.

The exception, as other people have said, is Zelda games. Right-handed Link looks wrong (even though in early games he was apparently ambidextrous, because back then flipping the animations was actually easier than drawing different ones). It’s especially annoying because they supposedly did it so the controls would be easier for most people, but I hold the Wii controls left handed and I have no problems controlling right-handed Link (well, none beyond the usual problems with the Wii controls). So I’m sure everyone else could have coped with controlling a right-handed character.

Cakemeister.5792:

I’m okay with all the characters being right handed. I just wish the keyboard layout was more lefty-friendly.

Try shifting your skills, and other buttons you use in combat, to the number pad. That’s what I do and it works really well, especially since I can use my thumb on the arrow keys to move. I’ve heard other left-handed players say it works too.

Aenesthesia.1697:

I am left handed and never felt anything similar. Though now that you mention it, it would feel really weird to hold a sword with the right hand. But the only time i ever got a physical reaction like this was upon seeing jimmy hendrix play his guitar (he played a right handed strat like he was left handed, meaning the guitar was upside down….you would think he could afford a leftie strat….)

I’m not entirely sure but I think that’s because left-handed guitars were either extremely rare or completely non-existent back then. They were still pretty hard to come by in the 90’s which resulted in Kurt Cobain doing the same thing. (Although that was also because he frequently destroyed his guitars, intentionally or otherwise, so tracking down and buying left-handed ones wasn’t really worth the effort.)

Brother Grimm.5176:

I sure hope everyone understands this is NOT a Lefty issue….at all.

While I sympathize with the OP, Anet cannot be expected to re-write the game because your OC disorder is triggered by it. Play first person if it’s that big a deal to you.

I’m left-handed and not OCD and agree with the OP. I don’t expect it to change, but would greatly appreciate it and Anet if they added this.

Im left handed altho in the 90s when I learned to use the computer my neigbor said use it as a right handed nothing is made for you being a lefty learn to use it the right way.

DaShi.1368:

Brother Grimm.5176:

I sure hope everyone understands this is NOT a Lefty issue….at all.

While I sympathize with the OP, Anet cannot be expected to re-write the game because your OC disorder is triggered by it. Play first person if it’s that big a deal to you.

I’m left-handed and not OCD and agree with the OP. I don’t expect it to change, but would greatly appreciate it and Anet if they added this.

It’s not about being OCD, it’s about how different people’s brains perceive things. I’m left-handed and mildly dyslexic (possibly same physiological root cause, if not causally connected otherwise). It’s very hard for me to go the correct direction when someone says ‘right’ or ‘left’ — I have to give it some thought in the best of circumstances. Video games are more difficult for me because the visual clues are all backwards for me.

So it’s not a ‘preference’ that there be a left-handed option for some people any more than colorblind people think it’s a preference for the game to use colors they can distinguish. I’m lucky that I have managed to find workarounds for dealing with left-handedness and my type of dyslexia; not everyone has.

That said, of the 30% of people who have some left-handedness (of whom, maybe 1/3 or 10% of the population is left-handed for 99% of their actions), I doubt this matters significantly to all that many individuals. And it’s not as if ANet is an outlier in this regard: very few games of software of any sort makes any sort of accommodation for left-handedness.

So, while I think it would be great if ANet offered the option, I don’t expect them to.

I am left handed and I think the devs have much better things to do than this.

Linken.6345:

Im left handed altho in the 90s when I learned to use the computer my neigbor said use it as a right handed nothing is made for you being a lefty learn to use it the right way.

to be honest I’m using the regular keyboard and my mouse on the right. Playing video games is a 2 hand effort. I find it that I need more precision in my movement and skills, hence I use my dominant hand on the keyboard. I can understand people that go for an opposite set up, but in my opinion keyboard-mouse is very much a two hand effort, both mouse and keyboard controls requiring equal amount of precision, meaning that how you use it will be controlled more by preference rather than by which hand is your dominant hand.

If the OP has some sort of physical / psychological reaction to viewing the screen with weapons in the wrong hands, there is SOME sort of OCD issue going on there….I dare say most people have some sort of OCD type reactions to lots of minor things all around us (I think the term “pet peeve” is applicable).

All the lefties that have posted here NOT having this issue kind of make my point.

Thanks for all your responses guys. Posting via my mobile while at work so can’t link previous posts very easily. Just to clarify a couple of points:-

I’m fine with looking at other people/avatars being right handed. The problem is my avatar being right handed.

Never considered myself as having any form of OCD but I may need to rethink that after reading your responses!

I also use a simple mouse in my right hand and use my more precise hand for hitting keyboard buttons for skills etc.

When I mentioned my hands feel weak and my skin itches I meant my palms itch. The closest analogy I can think of is to imagine trying to write using one of your feet, before long you would probably become agitated. This is how it is for me watching my avatar.

I have keybound the ’\’ key to draw/sheath weapons so I can keep sheathed as much as possible which is a nice improvement.

Thanks again for your comments.

I’m left-handed and I don’t get this. I really don’t see how playing a left handed giant-horned-cat-monster would vastly improve my experience

I’m lefty…I never really cared for my character being left or right handed (eventhough Link is the coolest, when he’s a lefty), but I think in PVP it would be perhaps funny if strikes of your lefthand melee weapon could “out dance” the block of the other Player if they expected a blocking a right hand strike.
I was watching a medieval stage combat team training for a few months the last year and they had one lefty in the group that could land several surprise hits, because his opponent blocked on the wrong side in reflex.
Would be cool, but probably wouldn’t work for GW2.

Oreithyia.3064:

I was watching a medieval stage combat team training for a few months the last year and they had one lefty in the group that could land several surprise hits, because his opponent blocked on the wrong side in reflex.

Yeah that and spiral staircases.
http://www.rightleftrightwrong.com/issues_combat.html

lefties are always in minority ..

I for one would just like to move buttons around (maybe you can but i can’t figure it out) I am forever hitting the wrong (dirty word added here) ability at the right time (thinking especially of ele’s backward dodge with staff as it gets me in a lot of trouble) ..

BUT then this is only an opinion of someone who seems to try to commit character suicide all the time

shaman.1938:

lefties are always in minority ..

I for one would just like to move buttons around (maybe you can but i can’t figure it out) I am forever hitting the wrong (dirty word added here) ability at the right time (thinking especially of ele’s backward dodge with staff as it gets me in a lot of trouble) ..

BUT then this is only an opinion of someone who seems to try to commit character suicide all the time

Someone said it in this thread already; you can set all keys in the options (quicklink F11)
I for one got a gaming mouse as I’m right handed and can’t control that many keys with my clumsy left hand – but also can’t control a mouse with my left hand. And a friend of mine plays with an xbox controller.

kk tyvm I need to try that before I roll out of combat again