Guild Wars 2

I might have missed this in a developer interview or something, but why is there such a big delay between weapon swaps?
Having to wait 4-5 seconds as a timer cools off seems a little silly. I know comparisons to GW1 might not be valid, but the ability to instantly switch between 4 weapon sets added a whole new level of skill and timing and making sure to cast on the right set and so on.
Was the idea to stop players from being really good at timing skills from two different weapon sets? Seems like it frustrates new players and is a silly imposition on micro-oriented players.

A lot of traits and sigils activate on weapon swap would be why if I had to guess.

Traits and sigils, but also unlike GW1 we don’t have energy (cept the thief). So they put cooldowns on everything. It’s not really all that different, waitin on cooldowns vs managing your energy pool.

Ah good point about the traits and sigils activating on switch, I didn’t think of that. It’d be nice if they just put the cap on those (like “can only fire every 5s”) so that people trying to spam them for damage weren’t rewarded, but players who just wanted to quickly switch sets for different tactical situations still could.
I just find it awkward switching to a Greatsword for an up close finishing kill, and then trying to quickly switch back to a Rifle to attack the next enemy, but being stuck waiting 5 seconds. It doesn’t feel fluid or smooth or natural.

I don’t see a lot “smooth or natural” about instantly switching weapon-sets, but I see your point.

Let me put it this way – if it were unlimited switching, you could start chanelling an attack and immediate switch back to your sword & mace, having the defense of the shield and ability to teleport with the sword, misleading your opponent about your abilities, able to spam 2-5 on two diff weapon sets super-fast (or all the kits for an engi).

I think you’re supposed to find it awkward having to wait to switch back to rifle, so there’s some tradeoffs. It’s why there’s only 2 weapon sets instead of 4, too.

I would support opening the thief to 3 weapon sets and/or rapid switching of sets, since they’re limited by initiate rather than cooldowns.

I guess I see it as super trained warriors who can instantly draw or sheathe whatever the situation calls for. They could even have the 5s switching timer reduce as you level up to represent this, for extra immersion.
The case you described sounds exactly what I’d like to see. Extra micro managing beyond just skill cooldowns and positioning. An advanced element of play that can be powerful if used, but isn’t required. I think if a player can confidently switch between (and effectively use) a bunch of different weapons, more power to them. The current implementation seems like an artificial restriction, and that’s frustrating.

Have you ever tried swapping weapons in real life? Not just dropping them and picking up another.

Try swapping from a great sword to a sword and shield and then back without just dropping them and bending down to pick them up. Takes a awhile.

I personally don’t mind the delay, I guess it encourages a bit more strategy through careful switching perhaps? I don’t know, to be fair I need to play weapon switching characters more.

@Reevac
If OP were an engineer in real life he probably wouldn’t be able to swap weapons, so go easy on the guy.