I have not seen the stream you mentioned yet. But iirc from EQ, there was no automatic swing animation for every "attempt" to use the weapon, it only showed the left hand being used when there was a successful dual wield hit. So different weapon speeds had no(t much) effect on the animation there. Maybe they will do things similarly here?
I was just imagining this was the animation for a specific ability or technique. I'll have to rewatch, I didn't even notice the names of the animations were on the screen, haha.
Edit: Just watched, I don't understand the naming system. They were called "Sword - One Handed Auto-Attack 01/02/03 Offhand" By the name I would have guessed this was an animation for an off hand sword attack. But the animation looks like an attack with both weapons, it doesn't emphasize the off hand. I think they look cool, but I am confused :) hehe
Edit again: hmmm, watching it more I think I do understand. "These are 3 different animations of what auto attack looks like when you're holding two swords." (like Goofy said). So yes, good question, why does each auto attack use both weapons when you're holding two weapons. Does this imply anything about attack speed and having two weapons with different delay (maybe they take the average?)? What will that look like with different style weapons in each hand? I know this is just the beginning and just an example with two swords, excited to see more with other weapons.
When I consider how big a deal animations have seemed to be - whenever new ones are released - I have to think that the amount of time & effort involved means that there is no way we'll see a multitude of slight variations on the various animations, each correstponding to a different ratio of weapon delay between the main & offhand weapon.
Apart from that, I share Goofy's 'spirit of inquiry' about how different weapon delays will affect the outcome of attacks when dual wielding dissimilar weapons :)
Ranarius said: I'll have to rewatch, I didn't even notice the names of the animations were on the screen, haha.
Right there with ya. I was surprised to see the labels at the top of the screen when re-watching today, I had been so intent on the motions when I saw it live.
I'm fairly confident that the auto attack animations will not match weapon attack speeds at all (with the exception of overall swing animations being faster or slower in general). I'm not terribly worried about individual auto weapon swings as much as I'm hoping that the activated abilities match attack animations and "feel" visceral.
Ranarius said:Why wouldn't attack animations match attack speeds? They do in pretty much every other game I've ever played (don't they?...or am I imagining things?)
Games like WoW did a great job in matching attack animations relatively closely (but still not 1 for 1). PRotF is looking more like EQ style combat animations. Attack speeds will "generally" get faster or slower based on attack speed, but the rate of actual attacks eventually increases to a point where a player is "hitting" 3+ times per animation swing... and in EQ monks were hitting 6 to 8 times per second (even though their animation showed 2 to 3 punches or a single kick per second).
I'm not too concerned with the dual weapon animation speed but I am bothered by the 1 handed sword attack animation. I don't understand why the character is standing with the weapon behind him and standing with the legs reversed. With one weapon fighting, you want the weapon forward and the weapon leg to be your lead leg. Having your weapon behind you makes it harder to parry and it forces you to get in much closer to hit. Also, there is no real let movement (no advancing, retreating, lunging). I'm a fencer so I have experience here, and while this fighting style is nothing like fencing, actual fighting is going to have a lot more moving around. Most tab target MMOs have dull, fake-looking melee combat because it looks like two static characters standing next to each other, taking turnes to attack (without changing distance), but never moving, doging, or blocking. I do like the fluid look of the blade swings and am excited to see more animiations, I just hope to see the weapon in front and more movement.