Question: Transition between melee & range weapons

CROW3

Now that we’ve seen a where the direction for bow basic attacks (and some active abilities) are headed. I’m curious about where folks land on versatility for range classes - particularly for bows which have a minimum distance.

Brass tax question: do you want a quicker or slower transition time to move between a ranged and melee weapon?

More important qualification: why?

I have my own opinions on this cadence, but I’m super-curious how others feel about the tempo.

ok… back to mojitos.

Ludullu

If they won't change the animation of same-type weapon switching too much from the one we saw in this stream (that being around 1-1.5sec), I'd probably go with a 2 second switch between range and melee weapons.

As for why, I think it just flows better and lets the animation play out properly. Even the switch from long to short bow from the stream looked a bit janky, so I'd like it to slow down a bit.

Sathrago

Im more for fluidity than animation clarity on this one. The last thing I want is to have something like new world where I hit the button to swap weapons and it is delayed, so i hit it a few more times, and by the time it registers that it needs to swap its suddenly wanting to queue the input so now im juggling my weapon like a jackass doing no damage and unable to use any abilities.

Azherae

Fourteen Frames.

Because that's just what I'm used to, it feels right, it's noticeable without being troublesome, and I'm used to the attacks themselves having their own individual startup.

To me it's the equivalent of a 'stance change'. I want people to be able to do it quickly, telegraphing their STATE and probable next attack set, but not to lock them down so long into it that I get a real benefit out of attempting to move in that moment to counter their choice.

Dolyem

I feel like the swap itself should be pretty quick, but I also believe that swapping should have a short cooldown to add some weight to the decision of switching to that weapon. It wouldnt have to be more than like a 5 or 10 second cooldown, just enough to make it where you want to make sure you know its time to swap for whatever reason you need to.

SongRune

[I misread the quoted post]

CROW3

Sathrago wrote: »

Im more for fluidity than animation clarity on this one. The last thing I want is to have something like new world where I hit the button to swap weapons and it is delayed, so i hit it a few more times, and by the time it registers that it needs to swap its suddenly wanting to queue the input so now im juggling my weapon like a jackass doing no damage and unable to use any abilities.

That sounds like an awful player experience, @Sathrago. That could spell death in Ashes PvX. I’ve been playing through EQ2 again and it has that queue function for casted abilities (ala SWG). Super annoying by today’s standards.

Sathrago

CROW3 wrote: »

Sathrago wrote: »

Im more for fluidity than animation clarity on this one. The last thing I want is to have something like new world where I hit the button to swap weapons and it is delayed, so i hit it a few more times, and by the time it registers that it needs to swap its suddenly wanting to queue the input so now im juggling my weapon like a jackass doing no damage and unable to use any abilities.

That sounds like an awful player experience, @Sathrago. That could spell death in Ashes PvX. I’ve been playing through EQ2 again and it has that queue function for casted abilities (ala SWG). Super annoying by today’s standards.

yeah, it made me want them to give us an option for expertise in weapons so that I would not have to swap weapons.

CROW3

Dolyem wrote: »

I feel like the swap itself should be pretty quick, but I also believe that swapping should have a short cooldown to add some weight to the decision of switching to that weapon. It wouldnt have to be more than like a 5 or 10 second cooldown, just enough to make it where you want to make sure you know its time to swap for whatever reason you need to.

@Dolyem Good idea - I’m trying to remember what game had this cd built in. WoW, NWO, GW2 all had no cd on swaps, but I know there were some games that had a delay. Do you remember an example?

Dolyem

CROW3 wrote: »

Dolyem wrote: »

I feel like the swap itself should be pretty quick, but I also believe that swapping should have a short cooldown to add some weight to the decision of switching to that weapon. It wouldnt have to be more than like a 5 or 10 second cooldown, just enough to make it where you want to make sure you know its time to swap for whatever reason you need to.

@Dolyem Good idea - I’m trying to remember what game had this cd built in. WoW, NWO, GW2 all had no cd on swaps, but I know there were some games that had a delay. Do you remember an example?

Honestly I can't think of any. It just sounds like a good mechanic to have.

CROW3

Dolyem wrote: »

Honestly I can't think of any. It just sounds like a good mechanic to have.

Yeah - it makes sense. I wonder if something around 3s would work? There are just going to be times where your finger slips amidst combat and you have to adjust as quickly as possible until the cd is complete.

Azherae

CROW3 wrote: »

Dolyem wrote: »

Honestly I can't think of any. It just sounds like a good mechanic to have.

Yeah - it makes sense. I wonder if something around 3s would work? There are just going to be times where your finger slips amidst combat and you have to adjust as quickly as possible until the cd is complete.

All the ones I'm familiar with handle it differently. You have a gauge or meter of some kind that is important to your performance, and swapping weapon sets that gauge to zero, to make you consider when you should swap it.

This also added some additional meaning to 'disarm' mechanics, causing your weapon to be unequipped. You could instantly re-equip it, but all your 'power gauge' was lost.

Dolyem

CROW3 wrote: »

Dolyem wrote: »

Honestly I can't think of any. It just sounds like a good mechanic to have.

Yeah - it makes sense. I wonder if something around 3s would work? There are just going to be times where your finger slips amidst combat and you have to adjust as quickly as possible until the cd is complete.

Logged into GW2 for the first time in years. It has a quick switch that you can freely do out of combat over and over. Once in combat it has a cooldown to switch the weapon. Its a 10 second cooldown and it feels pretty solid set at that timing in terms of making a swap matter.

Xenotor

Why not do something more unique?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12KjhJbHfUA

CROW3

Xenotor wrote: »

Why not do something more unique?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12KjhJbHfUA

🤣👊