Guild Wars 2

Until we hear something official from ANet, I am planning on reporting it as a bug. It may be that a simple operator input is incorrect and it thinks that all females are now males where running is concerned.

Or, it may be one of their “stealth” changes that we have yet to hear official confirmation about.

Either way, I feel for you, but it’s not as big an issue for me. I know a lot of females in real life who run like men are “supposed to” run.

Yeah, i noticed it today, looks weird and unnatural now. It was kinda perfect before, why fix what was not broken… If it’s not a bug then someone in AN have too much free time on his/her hands. xP

I kinda like it, actually. But I wouldn’t object to them reverting it, either, I’d even encourage it. And is it just me, or did they alter their 1hand running animation as well?

In a small way, it gives me hope that they’ll do changes to the Charr animations!

Smith.1826:

In a small way, it gives me hope that they’ll do changes to the Charr animations!

My charr seems to always run sideways, with upright running. It does look slightly odd, but i’ve gotten used to it.

Welcome to the WTF train. Meet the unsatisfied Charr, since when their in-combat-with-weapons-sheathed running animations were changed to look less “comical” ! (And yep, none of them were in patch notes.)
I’d recommend start getting used to it. The chances they’ll get reverted is extremely low.

Actually, i think, this was a bug fix. Before this change, when i was running with my Female Thief, the right Weapon was getting into the Armor. Everyone got this problem before. Reported this bug long time ago and now they fixed it and i am really happy about it.
Edit: I don’t like the new running animation to. I just like that the Weapon isn’t getting into the Armor while running.
Here is a picture so u can take a look at it:

Good thing I only play male characters xD

Nice “bug fix”. Now she runs like a cyborg or some pumped up dude on his morning run and weapons stick out on the sides like i don’t know what. Looks kinda horrible if you ask me.

I notice the change too but the question is, is this intended change? or is it a bug?
shoulder movement looks very unnatural and it seems to me male’s running animation somehow got mixed up with female’s.

I agree with the running. Its different somehow. The only good thing about it is that the Weapons doesn’t get into the Armor anymore. They should fix the running and don’t bug that the Weapon get into the Armor while running. But atleast this isn’t a major “bug” if we can call it a bug.

also get a GS out and then complete a full jump running fowars, it will make your greatsword perform a 360 spin

Codata.2019:

Actually this was a bug fix. Before this change when i was running with my Female Thief the right Weapons was getting into the Armor. Everyone got this problem before. Reported this bug long time ago and now they fixed it and i am really happy about it.
Here is a picture so u can take a look at it:

I’m not opposed to fixing clipping issues, just not at the expense of making the character look unusual. If I had a choice between a weapon clipping and a character looking more natural, I’d choose the latter.

Thank you for the side by side pictures, it does illustrate nicely what is wrong with her arms being too far out.

But, it will be what it is. Just like the swimming plush griffon some of us paid $6.50 for last Christmas. I think the phrase used was ‘immersion breaking’.

So we got that going for us, running immersively, which is nice.

this is what complaining about clipping brings, the truth is, running with overly large weapons and various other odd shapped items would require you to run in weird ways, so you can choose loook cool running or not clipping, yall complained and got not clipping, now you cant look cool.

also, i wish the devs had spent animation money/time on new skill animations (charachter movements) way too many skills use same movements, like bluured frenzy hundred blades pistol whip etc. Or you could just make totally new animations for new weapons/skill swaps…

phys.7689:

this is what complaining about clipping brings, the truth is, running with overly large weapons and various other odd shapped items would require you to run in weird ways, so you can choose loook cool running or not clipping, yall complained and got not clipping, now you cant look cool.

also, i wish the devs had spent animation money/time on new skill animations (charachter movements) way too many skills use same movements, like bluured frenzy hundred blades pistol whip etc. Or you could just make totally new animations for new weapons/skill swaps…

Honestly, I’ve never understood the obsession with clipping. I mean, there are degrees, of course, and ‘bad’ clipping is terrible. But whatever it was before that made them change the running? What, swords in my clothes, or something? That has never bothered me.

I mean, when I put my staff away, it hovers behind my back. To me, most of that is a level of suspension of disbelief.

But the character itself has always been one of the most sacred things to me.

So I guess it’s a matter of perspective, with winners and losers.

The animation had been changed several times since launch- I actually prefer the latest one since it seems much more natural that the strange boxy arms/ wierd hop my females had previously- looks much more normal imo

notebene.3190:

phys.7689:

this is what complaining about clipping brings, the truth is, running with overly large weapons and various other odd shapped items would require you to run in weird ways, so you can choose loook cool running or not clipping, yall complained and got not clipping, now you cant look cool.

also, i wish the devs had spent animation money/time on new skill animations (charachter movements) way too many skills use same movements, like bluured frenzy hundred blades pistol whip etc. Or you could just make totally new animations for new weapons/skill swaps…

Honestly, I’ve never understood the obsession with clipping. I mean, there are degrees, of course, and ‘bad’ clipping is terrible. But whatever it was before that made them change the running? What, swords in my clothes, or something? That has never bothered me.

I mean, when I put my staff away, it hovers behind my back. To me, most of that is a level of suspension of disbelief.

But the character itself has always been one of the most sacred things to me.

So I guess it’s a matter of perspective, with winners and losers.

^
I don’t get it either. It’s an MMO with hundreds of different looks to every character: armor skins, weapon skins, hair, race, gender, combat animations, etc… I don’t understand how some fabric overlap can ruin the experience for someone. How can anyone not expect clipping to be present in a game like this? It’s normal. /sigh

Can’t say I’ve noticed the difference, to be honest . . . I main a female mesmer.

The implication that women can’t run in exactly the same way as men does make me laugh, though. Being female doesn’t magically give you limp flailing limbs or a delicate stride or anything.

Faowri.4159:

Can’t say I’ve noticed the difference, to be honest . . . I main a female mesmer.

The implication that women can’t run in exactly the same way as men does make me laugh, though. Being female doesn’t magically give you limp flailing limbs or a delicate stride or anything.

no make a jump while your GS is sheathed, if you do the bounce animation your sword will do a full 360 xD

Noticed this, too. I hate it. It looks masculine. I want my old run back, it’s not very nice to ninja-change something like this on peoples characters they’ve been playing for over a year

100% of my toons are female humans, I really don’t notice the difference except the weapons don’t clip anymore when sheathed…

Then you are obviously not using 2 handed weapons, because they clip really hard right now and do freaking rotations when jumping. See this thread for some videos on this:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/2handed-wepons-clipping-characters

I hate the new animation. It’s awful

Speaking of new animations.. I’m glad that Anet are improving hair physics, but can we have it so out fringe doesn’t clip into our forehead? It drives me insane when I’m running and use look behind.

Columbo.5924:

Then you are obviously not using 2 handed weapons, because they clip really hard right now and do freaking rotations when jumping. See this thread for some videos on this:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/2handed-wepons-clipping-characters

I was wondering what was making my greatsword do weird cartwheels while it was on my warrior’s back after a jump…

Video

This is a great example of what we used to look like running with a sheathed weapon.

Granted, this is a Norn, but the same was true for Humans:

1) Our arms were down more naturally closer to our sides, not swinging around out to the side like we were speed walking or something.

2) Even ‘more’ of an annoyance to me is the effect the staff now has of swinging back and forth on the bottom so much. That movement is rather annoying. The video shows how it used to be, very little movement, and the bottom never crossed in front of the body.

I like it. Seems a tad more natural.

The same discussion going on at guild wars guru here (short spoiler: the thread creator wasnt happy with the change either).

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/87410-new-female-human-running-animation/

I could even accept the running animation if it wasnt for the fact that every 2handed weapon bugs out now.

I love the new running animation. It’s way more realistic. The whole stereotypical girly stuff is kinda annoying, as far as running is concerned.

It’s still a sad fact that every time they change something they break something that wasn’t broken before (in this case: clipping and weird rotations around the neck of 2 handed weapons – just check the tread on the bug forum). Given A-Nets bad record it is even hard to tell if the animation change was intentionally changed or just another bug. It is also nothing the playerbase has requested (at least not to my knowledge).

Blackmoon.6837:

I love the new running animation. It’s way more realistic. The whole stereotypical girly stuff is kinda annoying, as far as running is concerned.

And I liked it the way that it was (including fixing this broken staff swinging).

So what was it that made it change? Do you think it was really that there was a force at the company or in the community for a less ‘stereotypical girly’ run, as you put it? If that was the driving force behind the change, or if it was something else, I would really appreciate an official response. In the spirit of collaboration.

Does anyone have an actual video of what the animation was before for female humans? ?? Would be infinitely more helpful than just expressing dissatisfaction.

Edit:
Tested further and find myself agreeing with those who don’t like this change. Makes the running a lot more squared and stiff feeling. It may be appropriate for some characters (strong warriors with lots of muscle mass) but perhaps not for the more scholarly that use more brain than brawn?

Recommendation: Would be awesome if Anet let us be able to choose our stride as it’s very much connected to character customization and how you want to present your character in the world. Some may want a stronger character while others would like to portray a more physically weak one. I could see this have a larger impact on the RP community.

Here’s a little bit, which was found for me from some other helpful players. I was specifically looking for running animation that showed the problem with the sheathed staff (and ‘after’ posted above your link).

I’m not sure if there’s enough there to get an idea concentrating specifically on the run itself, however.

notebene.3190:

Here’s a little bit, which was found for me from some other helpful players. I was specifically looking for running animation that showed the problem with the sheathed staff (and ‘after’ posted above your link).

I’m not sure if there’s enough there to get an idea concentrating specifically on the run itself, however.

Thanks for the video. I’ve seen this from the post above in this thread but it is for norn. Upon testing I don’t notice much difference with my own norn but the human animation does seem substantially different vs. before the change.

Edit: somebody was way faster than me on this one. Regarding the video posted before: Although the video showed a female norn, the human animation looked the same. The staff was way more static and didn’t swing like a pendulum. I seriously don’t know why they changed this.

Personally, I don’t really care, see no difference.
Come on people.

They should update the breast physic instead.
People would be happy and wouldn’t complain.

I can see the difference really well. I made a few screenshots that i already posted in the bugs section. I hope you will agree with me that there is some clipping now:

Renny.6571:

Speaking of new animations.. I’m glad that Anet are improving hair physics, but can we have it so out fringe doesn’t clip into our forehead? It drives me insane when I’m running and use look behind.

I feel you ._.

Exosferatu.2961:

One-handed weapons are clipping through forearms by just standing still. By the way, I like the new animation.

I prefer the old animation, especially with respect to the other issues it seems to have caused.

What is missing is understanding what was wrong with (aside from anecdotal evidence) it that they felt the need to assign money, a modeler (modelers?) and time to changing it, causing other graphics issues in the process? Was there performance issues? Is it the cause of the lag some people experience in big events? Was it impacting the economy somehow?

I would think in the spirit of collaboration, they would have a forum somewhere indicating possible changes, why they are thinking of making them (the why, always missing is the why with them), and give us a chance to weigh in. If I end up being in a 10% losing bracket, I would concede, and take my money elsewhere.

Which, I guess is on me. I should have been more wary about spending $20 on two armor skin packs to outfit a new character I created, supporting the company’s efforts to provide more skins through the gem store, knowing that at any moment, they would make a drastic change to how a character model that was wearing that clothing looked when wearing it.

I don’t know, it makes me sad. I don’t enjoy spending time in the world with my characters at all, they feel broken and look odd to me. Hopefully my $20 goes to something useful, I guess.

The thing is, we don’t even know yet if this was an intentional change. If it isn’t – it is a bug. If it was an intentional change they caused 2 handed weapons to clip and do weird rotations around the neck, so that is a bug as well. No matter how you put it – it is bugged. So why do they tinker with stuff that wasn’t broken when the chance is so high to get it wrong? It is not like it was simply neglected and broken since launch. Somebody actively changed something there (and not for the better if you ask me). So, I want to know as well if this was intentional and it is going to stay or if it will be fixed in the next patch.

Exosferatu.2961:

notebene.3190:

Exosferatu.2961:

One-handed weapons are clipping through forearms by just standing still. By the way, I like the new animation.

I prefer the old animation, especially with respect to the other issues it seems to have caused.

What is missing is understanding what was wrong with (aside from anecdotal evidence) it that they felt the need to assign money, a modeler (modelers?) and time to changing it, causing other graphics issues in the process? Was there performance issues? Is it the cause of the lag some people experience in big events? Was it impacting the economy somehow?

I would think in the spirit of collaboration, they would have a forum somewhere indicating possible changes, why they are thinking of making them (the why, always missing is the why with them), and give us a chance to weigh in. If I end up being in a 10% losing bracket, I would concede, and take my money elsewhere.

Which, I guess is on me. I should have been more wary about spending $20 on two armor skin packs to outfit a new character I created, supporting the company’s efforts to provide more skins through the gem store, knowing that at any moment, they would make a drastic change to how a character model that was wearing that clothing looked when wearing it.

I don’t know, it makes me sad. I don’t enjoy spending time in the world with my characters at all, they feel broken and look odd to me. Hopefully my $20 goes to something useful, I guess.

I don’t know, I like being tomboyish. I’m tired of the girly animation like female norns, no offense.

You might like being tomboyish, but what about everyone else? I certainly didn’t make my character with the intent on her running like a man. I get what you’re saying, but the bottom line is that most people made their characters over a year ago, and like the way they felt, preferences on being feminine or a tomboy aside. It’s a shame that we cannot toggle different running styles, but honestly my female human mesmer looks ridiculous in her mesmer dress & running like this and I’m willing to bet a majority of people made female humans because they liked the feminine-ness of them compared to the other races which are overwhelmingly “tomboyish” already.

Assigning gender to these running animations and arguing over it isn’t productive. The human female running cycle was simply bio-mechanically flawed. It still is quite off but, it’s better.

I do agree the more they give us creative choices the better. Because for my human females, I’d choose the female Norn run cycle for them in an instant.

I love it. The old animation really bugged me and I didn’t like playing my human partly for it :/ Way too dainty for my taste. So glad they changed it. An adventurer’s run should be tomboyish, not dainty. Looks more like a heroine to me.
Even if a girl is running in a dress doesn’t mean should should run dainty (and I believe it was impossible for human women IRL to run the way they did because it was so awkward). You don’t run efficiently when you do that. This current run is more efficient.

Lorelei.7809:

I love it. The old animation really bugged me and I didn’t like playing my human partly for it :/ Way too dainty for my taste. So glad they changed it. An adventurer’s run should be tomboyish, not dainty. Looks more like a heroine to me.
Even if a girl is running in a dress doesn’t mean should should run dainty (and I believe it was impossible for human women IRL to run the way they did because it was so awkward). You don’t run efficiently when you do that. This current run is more efficient.

Some people like the new way. Some people like the old way.

The part I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around is this.

If we’re every divided on it, and clearly there are people that favor both, why not take the entire thing to another level and make the running animation a character option, just your hair style or color, skin tone, etc? Would that happen over night? No, but it could happen, if they put their mind to it.

Their approach is to strip something away from a group of people that enjoyed it, with no game or economic impact, for over a year. Since inception. Perhaps we made specific choices based on how it was, and enjoyed it. To completely change that without giving any sort of reasoning behind it, is just awful to those that enjoyed it.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand that there are some people that like the change, as they now have new options. Perhaps you specifically didn’t create a human female because of it, and now you can! More options, that’s great!

But what about me? 5 of my 6 characters, 3 of them level 80, were just drastically changed. I enjoyed how they were before, now I don’t. Is that fair to me?

I’m trying to stay away from what I feel this might really be about, because it hasn’t been offered as a corporate stance yet, so until that time, I’m not going to entertain it, but it’s getting difficult for me to not draw that conclusion.

I’d love a company statement on it, I really would. This is the way it was, this is what we’re trying to change it to (and we will/won’t be fixing the sheathed 2-handed weapon animation effected by it, and here’s why), and this is precisely and honestly why we did it.

That way, there is no speculation. There’s an honest answer from them about their stance and what they are trying to achieve and which audience they were trying to address. At that point, I can make any decisions, with clear information, about how I want to proceed and whether that philosophy fits with my own.

Of course, having said all that, my only ‘real’ problem personally is the 2-handed weapon animation. The new run is fine, and honestly, that part of it I didn’t notice so much. What brought me here and what I did notice was my staff swinging around behind me wildly, it’s annoying and distracting.

I’m much more upset about collaborative development, and their seemingly child-like predisposition to want to take permanent markers to bedroom walls. I child doesn’t know any better.

But I pray (beg?) that at the very least, they change the 2-handed sheathed weapon animation that goes with it back to how weapons behaved with the previous running.

That would be a nice consolation prize.

LoBo.1724:

Call me crazy, but the old female running animation reminded me more of a adventurous disney princess running in a dress, than a mighty & armored warrior heroine.

The “new” animation is better if only because it removes the (what some posters in this thread call) ""feminine"" flailing arms.

It’s a shame that it introduces clipping errors though.

Calling you crazy. Not all of use play Heavy armor classes:) Light Armor classes should have more movement because we don’t have massive armor weight to deal with.

Good call on this one btw. What is worse is that this change is a “stealth change”. If ArenaNet wishes to do something then that is what patch notes are there: It shows once again Anet cannot be trusted…

Indeed it is so…

The Master.2893:

Good call on this one btw. What is worse is that this change is a “stealth change”. If ArenaNet wishes to do something then that is what patch notes are there: It shows once again Anet cannot be trusted…

Indeed it is so…

At the very least, it’s not terribly collaborative. More akin to Greedo shooting first and walkie-talkies in E.T.

More importantly, a missed business opportunity.

I posted a suggestion on how they could have made lemonade with it, assuming it was intentional. All three parties would have won.

notebene.3190:

But what about me? 5 of my 6 characters, 3 of them level 80, were just drastically changed. I enjoyed how they were before, now I don’t. Is that fair to me?

You’re 100% right. Stealth changes that affect character aesthetic after so long (or arguably ever) are never okay, whether for good or for ill.

That said, I really do look forward to the day when MMOs stop basing completely irrelevant character aesthetics on the character’s gender and do take that step further in giving us full choice in the matter. It will be great when the way your character moves and looks and feels is an entirely open choice, and not something that developers and artists are dictating as the standard for your gender.

The main problem that brought me here is also less the animation itself. Although it does look misplaced on a light armor elementalist or mesmer in a ballet dress I could even get used to it. My main concern is the problem is the very buggy staff animation when out of combat (as I have posted earlier) and the 2 hand sword whirl after jumping.

If they change animations (and it was certainly a change that nobody was asking for) they need to make sure that this does not introduce other bugs. But what they are doing is just change something, leave it in a half made, sorry state and then move on. You can’t even be sure that you can still do what you could do yesterday. I am beginning to become afraid of every next patch. Who knows what is going to be broken then? If they would just focus on living story and some pvp matchmaking issues I could be at least rather sure that they don’t break anything that was working before. Just look at stuff like the etherblade jumping puzzle, why is it broken now? Why did they change something there? Who asked for that?

Something that makes me even more sad is that they will likely just leave it at this broken state and move on. Just look at the bug forums how many bugs have been introduced with previous patches that were never fixed. There are even tons of bugs that were never fixed since release.