A question about projectiles in GW2

[Rahzael]

I've read in several places that there is no "tracking" in GW2 when it comes to things like arrows, spells, or anything with a travel time(or so was my impression). I was wondering if anyone with any first hand knowledge might be able to confirm or deny that this is true, and if so, what exactly seems to be the idea behind this?

I'll expand on what my thoughts are here, since I'm likely being too vague: You can use dodge to avoid, say, a fireball. But if someone launches a fireball and you turn a corner, will the fireball impact on the wall? Do you have to aim your character in the direction that the enemy is at, or is it like WoW where you can be turned away 89 degrees and still launch an attack at your enemy because they're still in your 180 degree frontal cone? Is there a similar/smaller cone employed? I kind of feel like in order to make the gameplay enjoyable you would need the ranged attackers to have some form of tracking, or at least somewhat of an auto-aim, but how does that work out and in what ways does it engage the player?

[Balfire]

There is tracking of sorts. In GW2 you can manually aim spells or target and fire spells. The spell when targeted will attempt to hit the target by aiming where it predicts the target will be but if they do a turn at the right moment or dodge behind some objects the spell/arrow/bullet will fail to hit the target. Its not like WoW where if the spell is launched it will hit the target even if they try their best to get away, but its not completely manual and you still have a high chance to hit targets unless they are very aware and very skilled at dodging.

This mechanic was in GW1 as well. Arrows and spells were aimed where you were going to be by predicting your movement speed and direction. If at the last moment you simply stopped or did a 180 you could dodge the projectile, spells also were blocked by the environment. Arrows also would fire even if you were out of range and simply not hit because of this. But it took skill to notice arrows were flying at you and predicting when to do that quick turn.

[omlech]

You must turn your character in the direction you want to fire your skills in. There are a couple homing skills, but the majority must be aimed so to speak. As for someone rounding a corner and a skill hitting a wall it's really hard to say at this point.

[Balfire]

You must turn your character in the direction you want to fire your skills in. There are a couple homing skills, but the majority must be aimed so to speak. As for someone rounding a corner and a skill hitting a wall it's really hard to say at this point.

From the videos I've seen (outdated as they may be now since we have nothing since alpha) it depends on the object, walls and some environmental objects (hills boulders barrels) seem to block them while in one video i watched there where haystacks and arrows and bullets flew right through them to reach their target.

[Odeezee]

You must turn your character in the direction you want to fire your skills in. There are a couple homing skills, but the majority must be aimed so to speak. As for someone rounding a corner and a skill hitting a wall it's really hard to say at this point.

well you just have to have the target in your feild of view, you don't have to be directly facing them otherwise you could not strafe and fight. aoe skills for the most part have to be aimed by the player and most of your skills as well. the only skills i am aware of that are "homing" are skills without travel time and with an instant effect. if you go behind a building, tree, rock, player, then in the path to get to you the skill will hit the first thing in the path, so yes you can use the terrain to block incoming fire and these objects use collision detection.

[Squirrelbanes]

I personally love how "old school" this targeting feels. What you see in so many games recently in terms of targeting feels so artificial imo.
A step back in the right direction for me.

[Deleted]

I pray from the bottom of my heart, that you cannot dodge projectiles by just moving right before impact. Dodging is fine, but just pressing the opposite directional button before impact is simply too easy. LoS and dodge button should be the only avoidance of projectiles.

Might just be me though, but I figure being able to avoid arrows just by spinning 180, making the arrow miss because they predict your movement upon being fired, is a bit too much. Realistic, maybe, but not all that fun.

[Odeezee]

I pray from the bottom of my heart, that you cannot dodge projectiles by just moving right before impact. Dodging is fine, but just pressing the opposite directional button before impact is simply too easy. LoS and dodge button should be the only avoidance of projectiles.

Might just be me though, but I figure being able to avoid arrows just by spinning 180, making the arrow miss because they predict your movement upon being fired, is a bit too much. Realistic, maybe, but not all that fun.

it makes perfect sense to me though, what projectiles can actually track you irl? homing missiles? anything else? no, so basically the game is just correcting an unrealistic mechanic in games and this is where a player's skill will get honed; don't want to waste the dodge on this projectile then time a quick misdirection and you save your dodge for something more powerful. they are basically giving the players choices, there is nothing wrong with have to "think" on your feet in an MMO now is there?

[Deleted]

it makes perfect sense to me though, what projectiles can actually track you irl? homing missiles? anything else? no, so basically the game is just correcting an unrealistic mechanic in games and this is where a player's skill will get honed; don't want to waste the dodge on this projectile then time a quick misdirection and you save your dodge for something more powerful. they are basically giving the players choices, there is nothing wrong with have to "think" on your feet in an MMO now is there?

So in theory, one could just dance back and forth, and a ranger could be raging all day long, seeing as his arrows don't hit?
I'd rather not sacrifice playability and balance over realistic projectile pathing.
Dancing around avoiding everything is just too much with ranged in pvp. Dodging and LoS, in my opinion, maintains balance.
Why would anyone ever roll a ranged character knowing that regardless of their skill, you can and WILL be dodged by anyone who knows how the directional arrows and the right mouse button works.

[Deleted]

I pray from the bottom of my heart, that you cannot dodge projectiles by just moving right before impact. Dodging is fine, but just pressing the opposite directional button before impact is simply too easy. LoS and dodge button should be the only avoidance of projectiles.

Might just be me though, but I figure being able to avoid arrows just by spinning 180, making the arrow miss because they predict your movement upon being fired, is a bit too much. Realistic, maybe, but not all that fun.

Yeah, I agree. Does anyone have a source about this matter? I have seen quite some videos (scepter guardians, elementalists, necromancers) and I can't recall that I saw misses due to players moving though..

it makes perfect sense to me though, what projectiles can actually track you irl? homing missiles? anything else? no, so basically the game is just correcting an unrealistic mechanic in games and this is where a player's skill will get honed; don't want to waste the dodge on this projectile then time a quick misdirection and you save your dodge for something more powerful. they are basically giving the players choices, there is nothing wrong with have to "think" on your feet in an MMO now is there?

That would mean that, as a melee, I could just strafe all the time and the ranged class would miss everything until I'm in their face (or far gone).. I could imagine the rage..
And it is a game, I don't see people firing fireballs from their hands irl neither.

[Deleted]

Yeah, I agree. Does anyone have a source about this matter? I have seen quite some videos (scepter guardians, elementalists, necromancers) and I can't recall that I saw misses due to players moving though..

I think it works like this: If I shoot an arrow at you, and you decide to run behind let's say, a tree, it will result in my arrow hitting the tree rather than you. If you stood still however, instead of hiding behind the tree, but pressed dogde, you would automatically be granted a 100% miss chance while you're doing your barrel-roll. If you tried to dance around the bullet by just moving, it works as a homing, flying towards your face.

I think the projectiles will all home straight towards the player, so if the player moves, so does the projectile (like in wow), but unlike in wow, any non-player collision, like hitting trees and walls, will result in a miss. Which is fair, imo.

Also, I think "precise" aiming only comes into play when you do not have a target. Meaning any projectiles fired while not having a target will fire in a straight line ahead of your character. I think I saw someone destroy the windows in the clocktower by aiming their character towards it, where they missed before because their character was not facing towards the window.

That's my guess, on how it will work.

[Odeezee]

Yeah, I agree. Does anyone have a source about this matter? I have seen quite some videos (scepter guardians, elementalists, necromancers) and I can't recall that I saw misses due to players moving though..



That would mean that, as a melee, I could just strafe all the time and the ranged class would miss everything until I'm in their face (or far gone).. I could imagine the rage..
And it is a game, I don't see people firing fireballs from their hands irl neither.

actually if you re-read what i said the complete opposite would happen, if all you did was just circle strafe then if the cast when off when you were in the players 180 degree field of view you would get hit every time because the projectiles have a soft homing mechanic so they will move to where they think you will be given your current direction and speed. change either of those and it will miss, if you don't change then you will get hit.