Holstered Weapons

[Garthilk]

It seems to me very few games has holstered weapons. And of the ones that do even less get the animations right for drawing them and or storing them. I wonder, is it even important? I like for weapons to be seen when not being used. Sure the extra work doing animations and art is more work, but I think it's worth the effort.

[Rayado]

I have seen some games that do some holstering but not full. Meaning I can have a LW on my back that shows but my shield doesn't. I kinda like show the hoster stuff. Drawing is ok, but not that important.

[spirit]

I wish a game would put drawing in properly, it irritates the crap out of me when a sword suddenly leaps to teh characters hand. They spend so much time making everything else look realistic, so why drop short on drawing?

[Sovereign]

Ah, gut this goes into the question on how much a character should be able to hold.

If you want realism, you should see everything. If you don't, then bring on the mystical D&D never-ending bags.

[Rabbitman]

I'm a vote for full realism on the bags, harnesses, scabbards, pouches, holsters, belts or whatever you use to carry your equipment, you should be able to see it. Same goes for drawing and equipping.

When a lvl 167 man dressed in rags and weilding a candlestick runs towards you, only to suddenly flicker into a fully armoured warrior weilding a full tower shield and master crafter sabre mid stride, you have to admit that it pisses you off.

Need I say more?

[Amelung]

I want also holsters and scabbards! Not much more to say; i agree to all above :)

[Kazek]

/sign

Give us proper holsters and scabbards!

[Gamut]

I'd like it to take time to equip different weapons in combat. In DAoC my assassin carried 8 weapons for different purposes and I could swap to any of them instantly.

[LeonHart]

HERE HERE! More places to hide... erm, store, things. :wink:

[Vegetta]

I like the holstered idea
I guess large 2 hand weapons would need to be carried if you planned on being able to use them quickly

I hope chararcters have some kind of realistic weight/encumberence

I know in WOW my shaman needs a golf bag for all of her weapons (3 daggers, 2 shields, a 2 hand mace and a 2 hand axe) Not to mention the complete extra set of armor she lugs around....

[JonesyMan]

Maybe, there could be some sort of storage system in the game, such as Guild Wars or EQ2(not necassarily houses). I agree that it isn't very realistic to carry around 3 suits of plate mail, 4 long swords, 2 axes, and a staff, but in todays market, I believe the majority of players like the ability to do that. It would be nice to also see drawing of weapons, which I hope at least makes it into WAR. This game is still a good ways away. I am sure the devs will take all this into consideration and will not disappoint.

[YheapCow]

I like the idea of scabbards, and other things to make the game look as real as possible. I think that developers could look a real life and take from history to see how people used to carry 2hder weapons and shields. Such as shield are carried on their backs.

[Denkim]

I want small scabbards. By that, I mean, just enough to attach the blade or axe to your back.
So, if this is your blade:
0==|========>

Then this would be your scabard
[]

And it would fit like so:

0==|[]========>

This way, you could still show off your weapons, but it would also make sense.
You should also be able to choose where to shealth your weapons. There should be at least four different areas to place them. Two on the belt and two on the back.

But... perhaps a person could buy different types of scabards? Such as: (ignore the periods)
........______________
0==|[______________}
........_____
0==|[_____]====>

And so on and so forth. And different colors to0!

[Gamut]

The scabard should probably match the weapon. You wouldn't want a rapier sheath for a longsword. Different ways of drawing the weapons mean that different equipment is needed. Knife belts are good for anything up to short swords though.

[Dan-the-Man]

i always loved seeing weapons hanging from my characters belt.. or on their back... only one thing bothered me... who in their right mind would carry his great sword on his back without protecting himself... i mean, you cant just toss those things on your back and not expect to get cut up.... i think scabbards would be completly brilliant... i can see an easy way to do as well... just replace the blade with a leather pattern... thus the scabbard would not be a different size/shape as the blade as mentioned before... put simply: scabbards for the win!

[Rosso6]

Yeah! ..and when I open my inventory my toon stops moving, takes off his pack and begins an animation of digging through it.

[Kaitos]

While not necessary, it would look amazing. Hopefully as the technology gets better for computers to handle such things, it will become more common. I would like some realism, if not full. I don't want to see a guy carrying five suits of armor, but allow him to carry a little more than a normal man can, perhaps. If such things were visible on the outside, it would make an interesting way of guessing the experience of the person in front of you and how well they will do against you.

[Gamut]

Hehe yeah, in DAoC (before SI) seeing someone with a glowing sword was pretty much a pointer to the fact they were an easy kill.

[Igfig]

I think that developers could look a real life and take from history to see how people used to carry 2hder weapons and shields.

I agree wholeheartedly. Especially about the two-handed weapons. A big, closed baldric on your back is actually impossible to draw a sword from quickly: your shoulderblade gets in the way. Most two-handed swords were carried in the hands all the time.

So, maybe sheathing a big weapon not only takes a while, but is impossible to do in combat. If you want to get your greatsword out, run away from battle to somewhere you can't be found for a bit.

So yes, a sheathing/unsheathing animation would be nice. And if there is ever a Nippon expansion (ten years from now?), such an animation might be vital for the iajitsu factor.

[Sir_Stabbalot]

I'd like to see this. After all, the devs don't need to draw all your armor, just the stuff you've got equipped. And having animations for drawing your weapon would just be badass! :twisted:

And I really like the root-through-the-bag idea. Why not have every player have a sack hanging over their sholder, with the size dependent on the amount of stuff in it?

[Thorrnz]

Yeah! ..and when I open my inventory my toon stops moving, takes off his pack and begins an animation of digging through it.

Best Idea Yet. I'm also a fan of Holstered Weapons. Drawing and Sheithing weapons is something I have seen done badly in many MMO's. Something I hope Mythic will rhemedy for me 8)

Also Scabards could be another Item Slot like Quivers. Increasing XXX stats ? Just my thoughts anyhow. If they were Item Slots then I guess you could choose different looks like :

Hip slung
Bandoleere ( sp? )
Back Mounted
Forearm Mounted
Inside Boot Mounted
Chest Slung

Anyhow this is probably alot of code involved inthis but it would definatly add to the individuality of each Toon.

[Schade]

I agree that hot swapping armor and weapons needs to be stopped in MMOs. It just encourages macroing based on matchup and is just silly IMO.

The problem is that these games are so item centric (people like to collect stuff) that it is difficult to get away from for the devs. Hopefully this game will be more skill focused and less item focused.

A little more on the direct topic at hand...

Kaitos hits it right on the head with past MMOs. It has always been a tek limitation. The devs only have so much bandwidth and processor to work with, particularly if they want the 56K audience. They can save a hell of a lot of polys and animations if they don't have 2000 models running around bristling with weapons and sacks. This usually ends up going towards the environment (more trees and houses vs a few sacks on everyones belt)

As the tek becomes more robust on the average PC, I hope we can see more realism as well. One of my favorite things about WFB is the minatures and their detail (sacks, weapons everywhere, skulls).

[Kazek]

Also Scabards could be another Item Slot like Quivers. Increasing XXX stats ?


Definately not.. Why on earth wouls scabbards increase any stat? This is not WoW, where everything is magic.. Better could grant a small bonus to how fast you can draw your weapons, or how easily you can move about (if the scabbard is perticulary good it doesnt hamper movement so much).. Nothing like "+3 intelligence" though..

[Zeli]

Great idea(s)! If it's on my paperdoll, then I want to see it! Cool idea about the character actually stopping and looking through a bag when you have your inventory screen open. That would be a nice lil signal to enemies too that you were not paying full attention to things around you. I don't know if I want to see every single bag I have on my character, but as long as there's a bank or a vault that players can use, I guess I can keep from getting too cumbersom looking.

[Gamut]

Some scabbards are better than others, and a low quality scabbard may hinder your attempts to draw your weapon quickly and safely. Just talking from personal experience, I don't think it's necessary to put it in game.

[Rabbitman]

Ok...

In that case, let's stop dreaming and cut right back to the basics. Lowest tech requirements and mostly gameplay based...

Death to the insta-equip or hotswap of anything.

If it takes time to sheath one weapon/item and equip the next, then an animation of that action needs to be implemeted, else we all stand around looking stupid while the change occurs, and poeple start calling the game 'laggy'.

From the basic animation, some bags, scabbards and holsters are required, so that the animation doesn't simply put the sword into thin air and draw the mace from the same spot without a trace of it's previous existence.

Actually, yeah, that would be the most basic version of what we want right there.

The next step, or luxury, is having 'realistic' actions, so that the action for sheathing a sword is different to the action for stashing a bow. The lowest tech version of this would be to simply categorise weapons and items, so that all two-handed or large weapons appear to be slung onto the shoulders, while single handed and small items are sheathed or holstered on the hip.

The more luxurious step again would be the implementation of visible storage.

Seeing that the man confronting you has a short rusty dagger in his hand but also seeing the battle-axe on his back and the longsword in his belt is a giant leap from the days of "oh no, what is he going to pull out now..." but it also means a vastly greater amount of work for the devs, as each item needs to fit a holster of some sort ,and each holster needs an animation and graphic to be properly rendered to fit the gameworld, just in case it was worn in this fashion under these lighting conditions and so on and so forth. As such, i doubt we will see this much attention to detial in-game.

The "searching bag" animation would be excellent, and once again helps cut down on the standing and staring into space moments where in some games, your toon would take the opportunity to scratch himself, kick a stone, drum his fingers or whatever else.

In short, where do you think we can expect the line to be drawn between realistic propositions and "yeah but nah..." suggestions?

[Gutrunner]

I've always fancied the idea of mules. I don't know much of the technical stuff and about what limitations the developers have to consider, but it should be doable - if not mules then bags on player mounts? Then again, might be hell of a drag bringing mules inside dark and misty dungeons. A bit offtopic perhaps…

Scabbards would be awesome. I love the way you can holster your weapons in Daoc - so far the best result I've seen in the genre - though it would be nice to have some sort of bow, shield etc. customization regarding this.