Guild Wars 2

The biggest thing you have to consider is can you perform these new animations while moving? Any of the attacks that force you to plant your feet would logically root you in place.

I see most of the mockups do have some form of movement Incorporated into the animation itself, and that’s good. But you also have to consider the attacks being used while strafing, while advancing, while retreating, being cancelled into a dodge roll, etc. Ranger’s mainhand sword has a lot of flourish and flaire, but in exchange for that flaire, the weapon is heavily animation locked and most everyone hates that.

Anet took the easy way out and reused animations from hammer, which was already usable while moving. I love the idea, and these look good. However, I can’t see much happening this close to the wire, unfortunately.

I understand that fluid movement is a thing to take into consideration, which is Why i believe the artist that made these made multiple variations. Obviously the staff 4 spinning dust strike would be able to be preformed while moving easily..there are many animations in game that deal with this same type of thing (revenant auto chain 3 for instance). As for staff 2, his variation called whirling backspin would serve the most realistically as the animation can be pulled off in a charging spin flow movement without a stopping point. Honestly for his staff 3 recommendation, either of his drawings would work. as the skill stands now, it is simply one attack into a back roll. if anything, the animation would actually become even more fluid looking with his corkscrew uppercut variation as it could easily be preformed just the same as it does now just look 100 times better. I know it is cutting it close to the wire now.. but how did they ever expect us to be happy with what was given? I hate to say it but it just seems like they don’t care..either that or it truly was just to close to release, in which case i wish they held it back another few months or hell even a year because I would rather play something i genuinely enjoy than the half made version.

those are all pretty good.

Anet… Please look at this. These are beautiful lol

this.

this is what I want.

this is what I need.

it’s just… it’s so right.

Thief uses Staff in a primitive fighting style no different than picking up a random stick and whipping it around. The OP’s illustration looks like an artistic fighting style that was developed for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Since the staff fighting is not something that was introduced in GW1 where it would have been developed for 250 years come GW2…it looks stupid.

That is my in-game lore assessment why Staff fighting looks ridiculous, awkward, and stupid.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Thief uses Staff in a primitive fighting style no different than picking up a random stick and whipping it around. The OP’s illustration looks like an artistic fighting style that was developed for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Since the staff fighting is not something that was introduced in GW1 where it would have been developed for 250 years come GW2…it looks stupid.

That is my in-game lore assessment why Staff fighting looks ridiculous, awkward, and stupid.

I have the straightest face right now but your sarcasm is just so polished I could smile.

So much this!!!!!!

Wow, I’m flattered! Thanks for the acknowledgement and feedback! For those that are curious about my opinions regarding the current animations we’ve got, here’s what I had to say about skills 2-5 in another thread.

Seabreeze.8437:

Skill #2 – Weakening Charge: Simply put, I don’t know what this is supposed to be. From what I looked at, your character grabs the staff at the head and sort of does a spinning… punch? Meanwhile his legs show no indication of lunging, so you just kind of slide across the floor like a chess piece. Visually, it’s all around bad, like your character has absolutely no clue how to fight with a bo staff.

Skill #3 – Debilitating Arc: This ranks with skill #2 for the worst animations the staff has to offer. It honestly looks more like your character is glitching out. Everything happens way too fast and it’s extremely jerky and choppy. Very obvious cut-and-paste and it doesn’t work well at all for an animation.

Skill #4 – Dust Strike: Obvious use of the hammer, which makes the staff look very weighty and heavy, and the technique looks sloppy because of it.

Skill #5 – Vault: One of the very few new animations, yet this is the skill I have the most to talk about. Firstly, as the name implies, the character should plant his staff into the ground and actually vault from it. That would be much more visually exciting than the instantaneous take-off leap they currently do. Secondly, I feel that the crazy backwards corkscrew triple flip is a little too awkward and doesn’t feel right for a move where you typically propel yourself forward. One or two front flips would give the move a better feel in my opinion.
Finally, the landing. Currently, your character drops straight down, bringing his staff down with the power of Thor, slamming it into the ground with such force that the resulting earth-cracking shock wave damages foes. I feel this completely detracts from the theme of the daredevil. For a spec that’s supposed to be nimble and swift, a brutish slam like what we currently have just feels out of place and more suitable for warriors and guardians. Instead, I propose that the character whirls the staff above his head as he’s falling, following up with a sweeping radial strike the moment he lands.

I included both versions of my vault concepts to show how I feel the skill should look.

I’m most likely going to be sketching up some more concepts, as I had a lot of fun making my first batch. I understand that there’s a lot of work that goes into making new animations, but I feel that, given this is a brand new fighting style, there shouldn’t be any shortcuts taken. Just look at the animations for the Monkey King tonic. I would love for that kind of attention to detail on DD staff.

Also,

WindGodGirl.6405:

The biggest thing you have to consider is can you perform these new animations while moving? Any of the attacks that force you to plant your feet would logically root you in place.

I understand your point, and I did consider this in making up these sketches, but when you think about it, there are only two skills that you can perform while moving (Auto-Attack and Dust Strike). Weakening Charge propels you forward, Debilitating Arc propels you backward, and Vault propels you wherever you set your ground target. This is why I got a little creative with some concepts for skills like staff #2 because—while you aren’t rooted—you are forced to move in a particular path. The functionality of these types of moves and whether or not they are good for the daredevil is a topic being discussed in other threads. I’m mainly focusing on the animations right now, because after playing the BWE#2, I found them to be quite… lacking, to be honest.

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Thief uses Staff in a primitive fighting style no different than picking up a random stick and whipping it around. The OP’s illustration looks like an artistic fighting style that was developed for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Since the staff fighting is not something that was introduced in GW1 where it would have been developed for 250 years come GW2…it looks stupid.

That is my in-game lore assessment why Staff fighting looks ridiculous, awkward, and stupid.

Well frankly allot of us don’t give a kitten about lore when it comes to altering our main profession for the worst.. Aside from that apparently you never played a thief/ daredevil. Because no.. They don’t fight primitively. The 5 skill on staff sends them flying pulling off a corkscrew front flip then smashing the staff down. You go and pick up a stick outside for me and send us all a video of you doing this “primitive” move then ok? Meanwhile I’m going to continue petitioning these animations until hopefully Anet notices and makes all of them look fitting and not just one skill.. It was a bad move on their part and there’s no getting around it with lore as a poor excuse to reuse 3 year old animations.

I’d like to add that the asura leaping animations with staff are really terrible. It’s like someone in the dev team said ‘just spin them around ten times like a pin wheel because asura are wacky!’ No…

Arctarius.2649:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Thief uses Staff in a primitive fighting style no different than picking up a random stick and whipping it around. The OP’s illustration looks like an artistic fighting style that was developed for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Since the staff fighting is not something that was introduced in GW1 where it would have been developed for 250 years come GW2…it looks stupid.

That is my in-game lore assessment why Staff fighting looks ridiculous, awkward, and stupid.

Well frankly allot of us don’t give a kitten about lore when it comes to altering our main profession for the worst.. Aside from that apparently you never played a thief/ daredevil. Because no.. They don’t fight primitively. The 5 skill on staff sends them flying pulling off a corkscrew front flip then smashing the staff down. You go and pick up a stick outside for me and send us all a video of you doing this “primitive” move then ok? Meanwhile I’m going to continue petitioning these animations until hopefully Anet notices and makes all of them look fitting and not just one skill.. It was a bad move on their part and there’s no getting around it with lore as a poor excuse to reuse 3 year old animations.

(waving a hand over my head)

Amen to this. Especially the #2 should replace #5.

Arctarius.2649:

Sir Vincent III.1286:

Thief uses Staff in a primitive fighting style no different than picking up a random stick and whipping it around. The OP’s illustration looks like an artistic fighting style that was developed for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Since the staff fighting is not something that was introduced in GW1 where it would have been developed for 250 years come GW2…it looks stupid.

That is my in-game lore assessment why Staff fighting looks ridiculous, awkward, and stupid.

Well frankly allot of us don’t give a kitten about lore when it comes to altering our main profession for the worst.. Aside from that apparently you never played a thief/ daredevil. Because no.. They don’t fight primitively. The 5 skill on staff sends them flying pulling off a corkscrew front flip then smashing the staff down. You go and pick up a stick outside for me and send us all a video of you doing this “primitive” move then ok? Meanwhile I’m going to continue petitioning these animations until hopefully Anet notices and makes all of them look fitting and not just one skill.. It was a bad move on their part and there’s no getting around it with lore as a poor excuse to reuse 3 year old animations.

thwip

Wuhwuzat?!

Seabreeze.8437:

Skill #5 – Vault: One of the very few new animations, yet this is the skill I have the most to talk about. Firstly, as the name implies, the character should plant his staff into the ground and actually vault from it. That would be much more visually exciting than the instantaneous take-off leap they currently do. Secondly, I feel that the crazy backwards corkscrew triple flip is a little too awkward and doesn’t feel right for a move where you typically propel yourself forward. One or two front flips would give the move a better feel in my opinion.
Finally, the landing. Currently, your character drops straight down, bringing his staff down with the power of Thor, slamming it into the ground with such force that the resulting earth-cracking shock wave damages foes. I feel this completely detracts from the theme of the daredevil. For a spec that’s supposed to be nimble and swift, a brutish slam like what we currently have just feels out of place and more suitable for warriors and guardians. Instead, I propose that the character whirls the staff above his head as he’s falling, following up with a sweeping radial strike the moment he lands.

I’m glad Seabreeze reposted the vault skill in this thread because I personally think his concepts are what the vault should look like. As it stands, the character doesn’t even vault with the staff. He just kinda takes off in the air suddenly doing crazy flips. And then that “HULK SMASH” type of landing is way unfitting for a thief. They shouldn’t feel heavy like that, they should feel light and agile since they are… you know, thieves. And because the impact is an AoE, a radial sweep would be much more suitable as a finish.

Fantastic work, Seabreeze! I really hope this draws the right kind of attention from Anet.

I hate to do this but this panda knows how to use a staff…

Sir Vincent III.1286:

I hate to do this but this panda knows how to use a staff…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvYXoyxLv64

Ha ha! I don’t care how much of a blatant Kung F-u Panda rip off this is, I love that trailer!

Sigh, but yeah. Even Blizzard knows how to make a staff look cool. And even though this panda is big, round, and presumably heavy, they still make him move swiftly in a totally believable manner.

I feel like Anet should be reacting like the orc and human in this gif here when they see what a person who actually knows how to use a staff looks like in combat, lol…

Also :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ghgg_fukbvU

Haha even though the pandas are lame, i must admit his staff moves are epic. i want this…

i would love to see these changes, it would look and feel so much better having the staff move around the character more. it would make the daredevil look much more agile

timpey.5437:

i would love to see these changes, it would look and feel so much better having the staff move around the character more. it would make the daredevil look much more agile

Yeah I agree, it would be amazing to see some of the skills look more like this guys rendition, anet is such a creative company.. It just shocks me at how little effort they put into a class. I mean… They have to realize we play this game usually contributing all out time into one character, meaning that one character is the entire purpose of the game in that respect. So why would they put no work into making it unique?? If I was the animations team I would have went all out for each of these. I get there is more content to produce animations for.. But hell, make mordremoth the one with reused animations I don’t give a kitten , he’s gunna die anyway.

I have to say, I really enjoyed flipping around as a daredevil. But that WoW trailer is so awesome. I really hope they smooth out some of the animations for thief.

One thing I want to point out, is I don’t like some peoples suggestion to make skill 2 on staff stop at the target. I like that it turns you, I like that it moves me through my target. It feels like an awesome fluid move that combos well with skill 3. It spins you behind your target, and then evades and leaps a short distance behind your target, when you combine these skills. Very nice.

Tringsh.2380:

I’d like to add that the asura leaping animations with staff are really terrible. It’s like someone in the dev team said ‘just spin them around ten times like a pin wheel because asura are wacky!’ No…

Asura have an unique dodge animation – while other races make a roll Asura have a rollover which is really cool.
I would be sad if thias was lost.

New DD animations data mined:

These are beautiful and make a lot of sense, if they can be managed with other movement (run/strafe/etc). Basically just typing to meet the word limit. Love it.

so every animation feedback thread had been read but were ignored. all in vain?

By the way, if we can’t have the monkey king stance animation, can we at least have the NORMAL staff stance back instead ?
It feels WAY more natural than the hammer-like stance.

You guys knows vault’s animation is different for each race right? Norn already some the spinning staff mid air for flare with it. I agree the rest of the recycled bland animations could use the pick me ups though.

the animations remind me of classic Wushu

I suppose we can only wait and see. Would be nice for them to come up with some better animations.

But lets not forget the Revenant staff pretty much has nearly the same thing.

The biggest animation that bugs me on both thief staff and Rev is the spinning in mid air using force powers. Just seems silly….

Zakka.2153:

The biggest animation that bugs me on both thief staff and Rev is the spinning in mid air using force powers. Just seems silly….

actually, considering that Revenants are magic-users, it makes sense for them.

thieves however…

Gray.9041:

Zakka.2153:

The biggest animation that bugs me on both thief staff and Rev is the spinning in mid air using force powers. Just seems silly….

actually, considering that Revenants are magic-users, it makes sense for them.

thieves however…

Sure, but it says to me lazy design and animation.

Have to admit, the Daedevil animations were pretty bad. Not martial art flavored at all, really bizarre “floating spinning staff” auto attacks that made zero sense..

DarksunG.9537:

Have to admit, the Daedevil animations were pretty bad. Not martial art flavored at all, really bizarre “floating spinning staff” auto attacks that made zero sense..

this game, since launch has been super light on animations. What is the animation team working on? I highly doubt there are even a 1/10th the number of animations in HoT as the base game even though it's being made in 1/5th the time... No new emotes, very few class animations, we've seen a tiny handful of new mobs.. it's microscopic..

Making the environment look pretty and immerse whilst coming up with marketing plans to hype things.

:/ Maybe all their pro-animators quit after release.

Oh god, I was trying to find the picture of asura holding the staff in a cool way, came across this gem: Search “daredevil gw2 idle” on google and go to images, there’s one picture that stands out… xD and it’s from the BWE3 thread… lol…

Also found this:

And ofc the picture I was looking for:

Tabootrinket.2631:

Also :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ghgg_fukbvU

You know how much QQ it would bring if we could wield a staff while biting our toe nails and whooping as*…

Zero Day.2594:

Tabootrinket.2631:

Also :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ghgg_fukbvU

You know how much QQ it would bring if we could wield a staff while biting our toe nails and whooping as*…

I was literally just more impressed in the skills of this black bear weilding a stick
than I was in my " staff master" daredevil… please Anet… Surely you can design better looking skills in a fantasy game than a fat bear can preform in real life.

Seabreeze.8437:

Skill #5 – Vault: One of the very few new animations, yet this is the skill I have the most to talk about. Firstly, as the name implies, the character should plant his staff into the ground and actually vault from it. That would be much more visually exciting than the instantaneous take-off leap they currently do. Secondly, I feel that the crazy backwards corkscrew triple flip is a little too awkward and doesn’t feel right for a move where you typically propel yourself forward. One or two front flips would give the move a better feel in my opinion.
Finally, the landing. Currently, your character drops straight down, bringing his staff down with the power of Thor, slamming it into the ground with such force that the resulting earth-cracking shock wave damages foes. I feel this completely detracts from the theme of the daredevil. For a spec that’s supposed to be nimble and swift, a brutish slam like what we currently have just feels out of place and more suitable for warriors and guardians. Instead, I propose that the character whirls the staff above his head as he’s falling, following up with a sweeping radial strike the moment he lands.

All of this should really apply to the leaping dodge as well.
I’d love to have it finish with a broad sword sweep with a nice thick weapon trail.

sorry if ppl get mad for bumping an old thread, but given the fact that ppl are still talking about the abysmal animations for staff thieves, i would hope that a thread like this will hopefully get anet to consider doing some much needed reworks in the animation department. it’d be a shame if we were stuck with those ugly recycled animations, you know?

and seabreeze’s concept ideas are so beautifully done, too. i hope anet has at least looked at them.