1. #1
    Mechagnome Grahamington's Avatar
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    Weapons...What are they for?!

    I'm sure this has been brought up before in the past, But...whatever, I don't see it so I'm asking..

    Why do people who use staffs and wands not get the benefit of seeing their weapon in action like melee classes do?
    I know we casters don't actually "use" them like the melee does, but if that's the reason, why do casters even have weapons in the first place?
    Couldn't blizzard add something like this or remove it to give us a weapon that we would use for our abilities?

    Thoughts?
    Selling myself out below


  2. #2
    Magnets, how do they work?

    I'd make weapons part of the casting animation. Like in cartoons and stuff - the orb on the staff starts glowing, the spark jumps over to the other hand and the caster throws a Lightning Bolt, or they slam the staff into the ground to create an Earthquake, or the weapon emits a magic shield around the caster and stuff

  3. #3
    Mechagnome Grahamington's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pull My Finger View Post
    Magnets, how do they work?

    I'd make weapons part of the casting animation. Like in cartoons and stuff - the orb on the staff starts glowing, the spark jumps over to the other hand and the caster throws a Lightning Bolt, or they slam the staff into the ground to create an Earthquake, or the weapon emits a magic shield around the caster and stuff
    I like the way you think.
    The smashing the ground would be great for spells such as Arcane Explosion or Blast wave
    Selling myself out below


  4. #4
    I agree it'd be cool, but personally I don't sit there staring at my character while fighting things, so it doesn't matter much to me either way.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Grahamington View Post
    I'm sure this has been brought up before in the past, But...whatever, I don't see it so I'm asking..

    Why do people who use staffs and wands not get the benefit of seeing their weapon in action like melee classes do?
    I know we casters don't actually "use" them like the melee does, but if that's the reason, why do casters even have weapons in the first place?
    Couldn't blizzard add something like this or remove it to give us a weapon that we would use for our abilities?

    Thoughts?
    It would cost a raid tier.

    Seriously, I'd love it if my lock or boom kin or mage held their staff over their head in a dramatic pose, and the glow on it increased as my (insert power up here) got stronger, using the other hand for the cast animation, and then use both hands to point the staff and release (insert huge Recount numbers ability here).

    But, like rogues and warriors and everyone else, it's the same animation over and over and over. Oh, and a flood of sparkly fire and bolts and whatever filling up the screen so you can't see what's going on.

    I really wish they'd scale FX - make the small, filler spells do small FX, and then have the big stuff do the flashy FX. When you get a fight like the Shamans in SoO, it just gets so cluttered it's stupid.

  6. #6
    They're actually used in Rift and Final Fantasy XIV, possibly Tera too but it's been too long for me to remember. I'd like to see it in WoW but I don't expect it.

    Here's a random video to show some of the staff animations in Rift(I just used google for these) : https://vimeo.com/20143727

  7. #7
    Mechagnome Grahamington's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheFuse View Post
    They're actually used in Rift and Final Fantasy XIV, possibly Tera too but it's been too long for me to remember. I'd like to see it in WoW but I don't expect it.

    Here's a random video to show some of the staff animations in Rift(I just used google for these) : https://vimeo.com/20143727
    Yeah I play rift and tera. I like what they do there.
    Selling myself out below


  8. #8
    Unfortunately if they implemented this, people would riot due to missing the old hand-casting animations.
    It'd be a lot of animation work investment for little reward.

  9. #9
    I'd like an invisible weapon glyph or transmog. I figure if my mage isn't going to use her weapon, I figure there's no reason to have it look like I'm carrying it around for no reason.

  10. #10
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    Wands used to be actually used, but then Blizsign happened.

  11. #11
    Mechagnome Grahamington's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by urieliszcze View Post
    Wands used to be actually used, but then Blizsign happened.
    Yeah I remember when I had to use wands. Like on General Vezax(spell check) 2nd to last boss of Ulduar
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  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Grahamington View Post
    I'm sure this has been brought up before in the past, But...whatever, I don't see it so I'm asking..

    Why do people who use staffs and wands not get the benefit of seeing their weapon in action like melee classes do?
    I know we casters don't actually "use" them like the melee does, but if that's the reason, why do casters even have weapons in the first place?
    Couldn't blizzard add something like this or remove it to give us a weapon that we would use for our abilities?

    Thoughts?
    Most caster (lorewise) use their staffs and wands as a arcane focus, but yeah... i agree i would really like to see these weapons added in the casting animations (i think Blizzard actually said that these is something they want to do)

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Imnick View Post
    Unfortunately if they implemented this, people would riot due to missing the old hand-casting animations.
    It'd be a lot of animation work investment for little reward.
    Make it an option

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Grahamington View Post
    I'm sure this has been brought up before in the past, But...whatever, I don't see it so I'm asking..

    Why do people who use staffs and wands not get the benefit of seeing their weapon in action like melee classes do?
    I know we casters don't actually "use" them like the melee does, but if that's the reason, why do casters even have weapons in the first place?
    Couldn't blizzard add something like this or remove it to give us a weapon that we would use for our abilities?

    Thoughts?
    Never really though about it. But if you think about it, what sort of animations would work? Point it like a pistol, (wand), a rifle (staff)? The problem is partly there is no reference, no surprise here. I personally did not feel the pointing of a wand and lightnings spew out is that great. It actually look and sound rather boring.

  14. #14
    The question becomes does it really matter? I mean WoWs been out for 10years now and plenty have been fine without said animations. Think of your weapon as more of a focusing crystal/attunement. It is used for the stats and that's about it. There are some animations, such as wands do have a firing mechanism but of course it does minimal damage so you to casts instead. You can thump bad guys over the head with your staff too. Yes it would be awesome if there was some casting motion including the weapon or maybe it charged up and then you cast the energy through your hands or the weapon but it is really just more of a vanity thing. I mean hunters fire their gun/bow but do you ever see them reload said weapon.... where's that animation. Or how about melee users having to sharpen their weapon or do some reforging patchwork. I mean swinging a big 2h axe around all day should have them huffing and puffing or at least having to sharpen the weapon as it gets dull from making so much contact with armor, alas we don't see any of that either.

  15. #15
    Herald of the Titans Chain Chungus's Avatar
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    All staves should behave like wands and auto-cast bolts of white damage from range.

  16. #16
    Because they'd have to make animations for that, and art and animations are the main bottlenecks for Blizzard to produce just about anything in the game, so they generally avoid adding anything to that that isn't strictly necessary.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by huth View Post
    Because they'd have to make animations for that, and art and animations are the main bottlenecks for Blizzard to produce just about anything in the game, so they generally avoid adding anything to that that isn't strictly necessary.
    Yeah, right now it probably would literally cost a raid tier, especially because that animation is one of the most complex and costly parts of the 3D process.

    That said, they did say that they restructured their processes to allow more outsourcing and, thus, more throughput, in their art and model group -- which was their current bottleneck -- in an interview a couple of months ago. So who knows what the future holds. They generally sounded like they thought this would be a cool change, but not necessarily that much a quality of life improvement that people would notice. (on the gripping hand, monk attacks...)

  18. #18
    Immortal Stormspark's Avatar
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    Stat sticks.

  19. #19
    Mechagnome
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    Money, now google the global arms trade, it'll take ya 5 seconds and 1/10 of you will actually bother
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