The evolution of 2handed swords

[unholytestament]

I'd rather be a knight-berserker wielding a claymore than Cloud wielding a Buster Sword.

It like that we now have a choice.

And because we have that choice I say we need more small two-handers so those who like them have more options.

[Pandragon]

Not all 2 handed swords from Vanilla and BC were super huge

http://www.wowhead.com/item=12592
http://www.wowhead.com/item=12782#.

For example.

And for the Quel'delar Blade. It's a lore thing, the sword remains the same size for all the different weapon types. It's not gonna magically get bigger because it's a 2 handed.

Something like Lerah's Ribsmasher doesn't look at all like a 2h sword.

That's because it's a mace.....

[Totle]

not epic but its stiller pretty large http://www.wowhead.com/item=81577

Doesn't count, that's an older model.

Looking at the 2h from Cata and from MoP, with the exception of Gurth, most of them were a little stubby.

[Seref]

I use the original Vanilla Zin'Rokh for Transmogrification.
*Puts on Hipster Shades*

[Drilnos]

Actual swords aren't very big, even two handers. For reference, one of the bigger swords to ever go into actual use was the Zweihander, literally "two-hander" because it flat-out required two hands due to its size and weight. It was used for getting past pikes. It weighed between 2 and 4 kilograms, with anything bigger than that not being a practical weapon. That's 4.4 - 8.8 lbs. Look at all these so-called one handed swords in WoW. Every player and npc man, woman and child in this entire game has Titan's Grip as a hidden passive.

Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, considering it's a fantasy universe, but at some point disbelief stops being suspended when a player is attacking a mob and you're not sure whether he's swinging the sword or he's orbiting it. They crossed this event horizon in Vanilla with classics such as the Zin'rokh. There's nowhere to go but down after you reach Zin'rokh critical mass. Anything bigger than that just looks silly. Hell, anything that size looks silly. They had to dial it back.

[Deleted]

Don't you know? Anything that doesn't fit player expectations on how it should be, is "Blizzard being lazy again"?

Even such a thing as there not being both a 1h AND 2h Strength weapon of both Axe, Mace AND Sword types at endgame, that's Blizzard Being Lazy, because there's always one race that won't get a tiny bit of an advantage with Expertise. In this tier, no Maces for PVE. That's OMG LAZINESS right there, if the Dwarves ever find out...

OT, I do agree there should be a clear visible difference between 1h and 2h weapons. Quel'Delar is actually a fine example of that. They could easily have scaled the 2h versions up a bit. Something like Lerah's Ribsmasher doesn't look at all like a 2h sword.

That would propably be because it's a mace. Not a sword.

[Drilnos]

Actual swords aren't very big, even two handers. For reference, one of the bigger swords to ever go into actual use was the Zweihander, literally "two-hander" because it flat-out required two hands due to its size and weight. It was used for getting past pikes. It weighed between 2 and 4 kilograms, with anything bigger than that not being a practical weapon. That's 4.4 - 8.8 lbs. Look at all these so-called one handed swords in WoW. Every player and npc man, woman and child in this entire game has Titan's Grip as a hidden passive.

Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, considering it's a fantasy universe, but at some point disbelief stops being suspended when a player is attacking a mob and you're not sure whether he's swinging the sword or he's orbiting it. They crossed this event horizon in Vanilla with classics such as the Zin'rokh. There's nowhere to go but down after you reach Zin'rokh critical mass. Anything bigger than that just looks silly. Hell, anything that size looks silly. I mean, look at the first picture in the OP. Really look at it. Assuming the guy is 5'10", that is an eight foot long sword. He sheathes it on his back and half the blade clips into the ground. You can't keep that up forever. They had to dial it back.

[crakerjack]

One word, transmog... it was invented for one purpose and it serves one side... blizzard. transmog was never invented for the playerbase, how do i know? Because blizzard said in an interview that they would never add that feature to the game... but a couple pathces prior to that, there was quite a bit of hate on the tier sets/webs... blizzard came to a conclusion that with so much gear already out there, it's harder and harder to create original gear... so by adding transmog, w/e they receive hate for the way gear looks... they can simply say "Well that's why you have transmog, if you don't like it, change it to something you do like." It shouldn't be this way, because it allows blizzard to use this as a scapegoat whenever the players dislike the way gear looks.

[unholytestament]

Because blizzard said in an interview that they would never add that feature to the game...

Blizzard never says never. Post your source.

[videotape]

As an actual game developer I can tell you with certainty that the first image shows the sword that took the least amount of effort to create out of the 3 unique sword models posted.

But carry on, I guess.

---------- Post added 2012-10-04 at 02:18 PM ----------

I mean do you honestly believe that bigger polygons means more work? Or what?

[Drilnos]

One word, transmog... it was invented for one purpose and it serves one side... blizzard. transmog was never invented for the playerbase, how do i know? Because blizzard said in an interview that they would never add that feature to the game... but a couple pathces prior to that, there was quite a bit of hate on the tier sets/webs... blizzard came to a conclusion that with so much gear already out there, it's harder and harder to create original gear... so by adding transmog, w/e they receive hate for the way gear looks... they can simply say "Well that's why you have transmog, if you don't like it, change it to something you do like." It shouldn't be this way, because it allows blizzard to use this as a scapegoat whenever the players dislike the way gear looks.

"A couple patches prior to that?" People have been complaining about their tier sets since the "dead bird shoulders" of druid dungeon zero. This is not a new thing.

And how come while all weapon models have been used several times, the model for Armageddon is just one, never used again except for some mobs ?

Because Armageddon isn't a sword, it's a load bearing pillar with a hilt.

[Deleted]

I personally prefer medium sized weapons, I would never in a million years transmog to a grand marshals or armageddon.

[Synaxis]

As the player of a female blood elf arms warrior..

Yes, they can, in fact, be too big.

[EndikoTV]

A lot of the newer weapons still seem appealing to me, although in a different way than the early days. I don't necessarily think change is a bad thing.

[Kronik85]

Actual swords aren't very big, even two handers. For reference, one of the bigger swords to ever go into actual use was the Zweihander, literally "two-hander" because it flat-out required two hands due to its size and weight. It was used for getting past pikes. It weighed between 2 and 4 kilograms, with anything bigger than that not being a practical weapon. That's 4.4 - 8.8 lbs. Look at all these so-called one handed swords in WoW. Every player and npc man, woman and child in this entire game has Titan's Grip as a hidden passive.

Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, considering it's a fantasy universe, but at some point disbelief stops being suspended when a player is attacking a mob and you're not sure whether he's swinging the sword or he's orbiting it. They crossed this event horizon in Vanilla with classics such as the Zin'rokh. There's nowhere to go but down after you reach Zin'rokh critical mass. Anything bigger than that just looks silly. Hell, anything that size looks silly. They had to dial it back.

Maybe the denizens of Azeroth are physiologically stronger than what you would expect? The Burning Legion has been steam rolling worlds across the twisting nether for thousands of years and yet it's demons are fodder for any Azerothian hero. I honestly don't find it surprising or immersion breaking that our avatars can wield such massive weapons as if they were tooth picks tbh.

[Kalyyn]

not epic but its stiller pretty large http://www.wowhead.com/item=81577

I hate to support OP's point, but that's actually an old BC model that they just reused. Didn't even recolor it. Just copy-pasted the whole damn sword.

[Drilnos]

Maybe the denizens of Azeroth are physiologically stronger than what you would expect? The Burning Legion has been steam rolling worlds across the twisting nether for thousands of years and yet it's demons are fodder for any Azerothian hero. I honestly don't find it surprising or immersion breaking that our avatars can wield such massive weapons as if they were tooth picks tbh.

Which is why I said the upper limit is higher in a fantasy universe. But there is still a limit. A sword that is bigger than you are in both length and weight verges on parody. I can't take it seriously, I just can't.

[Theholypally]

I miss big one handed swords that sheathed on the back like skull forge reaver, indomitable will?, quickening blade of the prince, dragonscale encrusted longblade, etc etc

They need more swords that sheath on the back (especially healer swords in general so that we can xmog that sword TO another sword that sheathes on the back)

[Yig]

The size increase is probably because people mocked the game for years for having ridiculously large weapons. I really wish they didn't tone it down, but don't chalk it up to laziness. They still put out a few monster weapons with current gear. The only thing lazy is the thinking behind the process that is chalking this up to laziness.

[Deleted]

Blame titans grip making every weapon needing to be a 1h