Unfortunately we never managed to get these implemented. They were a really cool idea, but a pretty huge amount of work. The one we showed of the siegebreaker was a scripted sequence we set up specifically for that video. It was never implemented, and never actually worked without someone sitting there typing in a bunch of commands to get it all to fire off properly. It's still something we'd like to do, though.
All things considered there are just higher priority tasks sometimes. We'd love, for example, to have the monk display his weapons during all of his skill animations. But it's an enormous animation and effects investment to get it done, and we have to weigh all of these things against other features and polish. A lot of the skills we could improve have multiple animation sets, multiplied twice for each gender, and then multiplied by each weapon type he can equip. That can be 40 or more unique animations, and then there's a full FX pass, approvals, QA testing, etc. etc. and that'd just be for 1 skill.
We have our wish lists, but it's a balancing act of resources. Ideally our choices when balancing go toward setting realistic limitations, and producing the best game possible.
After reading this I would like to call upon anyone with a Blizzard account and can post on the forums to speak out about this. Not rage but just bring to their attention that a quick/easy/good fix would be that turning on/off the weapon sprites would solve this problem.
I'd rather not have weapon sprites if they're going to disappear anyways
Even the Assassin in D2 could use various weapons in their skill animation. Such as charge up skills where you charge up with any weapon you are holding and then release the charges again with that same weapon. And you could do that with ANY weapon.
I think the main reason that I'm ok with this is because I usually don't end up looking at my character very often. I know it would be a nice bit of polish for them to add to the game, but it's just another thing that would delay its release and I'm fine with it being cut.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My place really was here. I was too foolish and stubborn to notice. But, what I truly hoped for then was here. Why do I always realize it When I've already lost it.
I'm fine with it being removed. Ideally I guess it'd be cool to see all of these different things but I imagine it's quite a bit of work with 3D models and animation combined with the pretty decent amount of weapons a monk can use, then double all those for the male/female variants. Some of it just wouldn't fit lore or logic anyways. Like using Exploding Palm on someone with your sword.
I think the point they were going for was the weapons are good, but the monks themselves ARE weapons. Most of their techniques are based on bare handed fighting. Incorporating a weapon into it is just icing on the cake.
I guess I don't understand much then. The staff (or it's called something else in the game I think) is exclusively a Monk item, isn't it? So just thought they'd at least include that class of weapons into the animation. So I'm not even saying to make all handheld weapons be shown in the sequence of a skill, but why not at least the staff? I'm shown running with the staff in my hands. They took the time to animate that didn't they? The animation for the skill doesn't have to change. Just the motions of my character from punching with their hands to swinging a staff. The shockwaves shown my Deadly Reach could still be exactly the same.
I can imagine how it'd work in my mind. Deadly reach could have like staff jabs. For whatever reason though it didn't make it.
The barbarian doesn't even use his weapons for all of his attacks. I think hammer of the ancients is a good example and making it a "magic hammer" was their way of saying "this shockwave attack would look stupid with a dagger". I suppose there are a couple skills that would work with the monk using weapons and I can't positively say why they don't.
See I get that with the Barb using all those other weapons. Even though if the user really wanted to use a dagger to summon magic hammer. Why not? The Paladin did it. He didn't strap his weapon to his back just to summon the blessed hammer. He'd hold up whatever weapon was in his hand.
But with the Monk at any rate, I mean they kind of made the staff seem like a big deal with him. Either you were a claw Monk or a staff Monk. But I really think it's quite silly that the staff wouldn't be swung about. I could argue it's just as stupid to carry it around in my arms unless I'm gonna swing it. Otherwise it's just dead weight. Even if equipping the staff adds that damage to my attacks, conceptually it's stupid to carry it and put it away when doing an attack spell.
If a Monk invested in carrying his staff, you think he'd learn his skills with his staff like they were an extension of his hands. And since they are making basic attack so useless we can't even appreciate the staff purely from a melee standpoint.
I was more talking about they couldn't get the visual look of hammer of the ancients to work without adding in a magic hammer. If it had just been the barbarian slamming a dagger into the ground and causing a huge shockwave that wouldn't have really fit. It's sort of the same as how the monk doesn't use his staff when doing things like exploding palm or lashing tail kick. Now why they don't incorporate it in things like serenity or... wave of light, I don't know.
I'm not sure why it has irked me so much lately. I was just playing beta last night and normally I've done everything with claws but I tried for the first time investing in using a staff only to realize later that it was utterly pointless....Yet the staff seems a Monk exclusive weapon so I wondered why it's even there.
It just seems kind of pathetic that the only reason to use it is because you want its added effects but that you don't actually use the staff.
I'm not sure why it has irked me so much lately. I was just playing beta last night and normally I've done everything with claws but I tried for the first time investing in using a staff only to realize later that it was utterly pointless....Yet the staff seems a Monk exclusive weapon so I wondered why it's even there.
It just seems kind of pathetic that the only reason to use it is because you want its added effects but that you don't actually use the staff.
I agree, if find the staff is stupid, at least in the limited gameplay of the beta. Sure, it does more damage then fist weapons, but since you attack slower, you generate less spirit, and it just feels...wrong. For me there is just something boring with trying to use the staff as a spirit generator attack.
Hey, maybe Blizz's solution would be to use the weapon for certain attacks, but not others, maybe only the third strike of each attack, cutting down the animations greatly (as generally attacks one and two have unique animations).
I just got the beta from the build contest (woot!) and Monk was my first hero choice by far. I actually really like the animations for the skills but it certainly feels weird running around with your weapons drawn and then having them suddenly sheathed when you go to punch something in the face. And it feels even weirder with a staff because you just punch slower... makes no sense.
To be honest, the skills wouldn't even make sense with a weapon. All of the skills are based off your hands or feet anyway. Exploding Palm/Lashing Tail Kick would just feel weird if you were swinging a weapon while using them. I'd totally like them just to have the weapons permasheathed and maybe just have the Monk use them as a "focus" for his powers or something.
I bet that it would only take blizzard a couple of days to make weapon animations for a monk, if they were in 2D.
There is no magical pencil that makes animations. Especially in a big gaming company there's several layers of approval to be done in anything new that gets put in to a game. As stated above in the blue post, it is possible for them to do it, but their priorities lies elsewhere.
Um, obviously I get that it's not a priority. I'm saying I wish it was.
Blizzard seems to know what this game needs more than we do. Surprisingly.
Do you believe this to ultimately be true? Why then do they engage with the community so much and seek their feedback? Do you think none of the fans' feedback has been incorporated into their game design? And yes, of course Blizzard in the end decides for themselves what they will do. But I like how you say "Surprisingly" as if I'm suggesting they NEVER seem to know what the game needs more. You've busted my sarcasm detector. I demand a new one.
1. If there would just be animations for "Monk Items", I'm pretty sure you would be here complaining about why there's no animation for every item.
But people already complain about it anyway. But I get your slippery slope argument. In other words, if Blizzard succumbed to this demand, then they'd have to give in to ALL our demands. How's that for inferring a false meaning in someone else's words?
2. What do you mean "The animation doesn't have to change"? You just want to put a staff in there that is synched with the movement of the monks hands? Don't you know that everyone who's working on this game is amazing at what they do? Do you know why they are amazing? Because they have pride in their work. Because they want to make things perfect, or not at all.
This part you totally misunderstood me. And try, try to get off your high horse for just a moment and pay closer attention. By animation, I mean the animation of the monk using a basic attack for swinging the staff. There is already an animation from that. And from the staff being swung, the animation for Deadly Swing (those shockwaves) would be the same. But you probably think that would look to hamfisted in there and I can respect that. I won't even talk down on you for feeling that way. I totally promise!
That's why there's no animations for staves, or "simple paste & cut" methods, because Blizzard does something Great, or not at all.
I agree with that philosophy. I'm a Art Director who do 3D, Motion and Graphic design.
Thanks for verifying that. I was seriously thinking all this time, "Who the fuck is this guy to give his opinion? He better at least be an art director of some kind otherwise he has NO right, NONE whatsoever to have an opinion about this. Because anyone else couldn't possibly have a valid opinion on such matters unless they have complete technical knowledge of such things...."
Like okay, I'll totally admit that I don't know what goes into 3D animation. My point, however, was mostly that I found it unfortunate that the Monk couldn't swing his staff to produce the same spell effects. I'm totally flexible on why they CAN'T do it, however. Fair enough?
It's easy to complain when you don't understand.
That's all I have to say.
Actually it wasn't easy to complain at all. As I talked about in my first post, I almost never bring this kind of stuff up. I seldom get hung on these little details. I was merely looking for some piece of mind. And I was even happy to understand the likely reasons of why they didn't animate the Monk swinging his staff for Deadly Reach which many, including you, explained to me, and I'm satisfied with the reasons even though I still find the end result kind of disappointing. But that's okay, isn't it? I can feel disappointed in this, right? Or should I understand more thoroughly the technicalities before even bringing it up? Let's all pretend we know everything about the technical process of making a game, lest we not complain (or even just question why) ever again.
I always thought the staff (Daibo I think?) was awesome and I will still try to use one even if I find slightly better dual wield alternatives. I too was disappointed with the lack of, at least staff animations but I can understand it. I wish we could remove the weapons from the player model though so that it makes more sense and in a way more badass to fight with fists only...but of course Diablo is a loot game so it'd go against that whole division of philosophy.
We can always hope for future expansions somewhere down the line.
Its pissing me off in general that Monk seems like its the least polished hero in the arsenal.
Least skills, least passives, least animations in the game, and least overwhelming when it comes to "feel".
I think its utterly ridicules that a hero won't have animations to his SPECIAL WEAPON that ONLY HE CAN WIELD. Its not fitting the lore nor the gameplay, and has no "flow" to it.
While in a perfect world every gender of every class would have unique animations for every skill with every weapon,
but it's completely ludicrous to think that they would put so many resources to such an ultimately trivial issue.
That said, I agree and option to have the staff on your back sheathed permanently for the monk would be a nice aesthetic option since the instant disappearing of the weapon in your hands is clunky looking and could use some polish
I am bothered by the Monk's animations too. But I have a more practical question, whcih I hope and assume the answer is yes. If the monk is using a skill in which the weapon disapears, does he still get ALL the effects of the weapon? IF a weapon has life steal per hit does that still count?
That's why they've emphasized the Monk as a martial artist that uses his fist as a means of attack! But this is still unfortunate, I've played a Monk in the beta and I was disappointed when I saw this, after reading this blue post as well it wounded me even more. I hope blizzard gets around to it!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Just quit and wait for GW2"
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Unfortunately we never managed to get these implemented. They were a really cool idea, but a pretty huge amount of work. The one we showed of the siegebreaker was a scripted sequence we set up specifically for that video. It was never implemented, and never actually worked without someone sitting there typing in a bunch of commands to get it all to fire off properly. It's still something we'd like to do, though.
All things considered there are just higher priority tasks sometimes. We'd love, for example, to have the monk display his weapons during all of his skill animations. But it's an enormous animation and effects investment to get it done, and we have to weigh all of these things against other features and polish. A lot of the skills we could improve have multiple animation sets, multiplied twice for each gender, and then multiplied by each weapon type he can equip. That can be 40 or more unique animations, and then there's a full FX pass, approvals, QA testing, etc. etc. and that'd just be for 1 skill.
We have our wish lists, but it's a balancing act of resources. Ideally our choices when balancing go toward setting realistic limitations, and producing the best game possible.
After reading this I would like to call upon anyone with a Blizzard account and can post on the forums to speak out about this. Not rage but just bring to their attention that a quick/easy/good fix would be that turning on/off the weapon sprites would solve this problem.
I'd rather not have weapon sprites if they're going to disappear anyways
Discuss
Even the Assassin in D2 could use various weapons in their skill animation. Such as charge up skills where you charge up with any weapon you are holding and then release the charges again with that same weapon. And you could do that with ANY weapon.
Siaynoq's Playthroughs
Siaynoq's Playthroughs
Siaynoq's Playthroughs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ghMYPEXOwQ
I think the point they were going for was the weapons are good, but the monks themselves ARE weapons. Most of their techniques are based on bare handed fighting. Incorporating a weapon into it is just icing on the cake.
Siaynoq's Playthroughs
The barbarian doesn't even use his weapons for all of his attacks. I think hammer of the ancients is a good example and making it a "magic hammer" was their way of saying "this shockwave attack would look stupid with a dagger". I suppose there are a couple skills that would work with the monk using weapons and I can't positively say why they don't.
But with the Monk at any rate, I mean they kind of made the staff seem like a big deal with him. Either you were a claw Monk or a staff Monk. But I really think it's quite silly that the staff wouldn't be swung about. I could argue it's just as stupid to carry it around in my arms unless I'm gonna swing it. Otherwise it's just dead weight. Even if equipping the staff adds that damage to my attacks, conceptually it's stupid to carry it and put it away when doing an attack spell.
If a Monk invested in carrying his staff, you think he'd learn his skills with his staff like they were an extension of his hands. And since they are making basic attack so useless we can't even appreciate the staff purely from a melee standpoint.
Siaynoq's Playthroughs
It just seems kind of pathetic that the only reason to use it is because you want its added effects but that you don't actually use the staff.
Siaynoq's Playthroughs
I agree, if find the staff is stupid, at least in the limited gameplay of the beta. Sure, it does more damage then fist weapons, but since you attack slower, you generate less spirit, and it just feels...wrong. For me there is just something boring with trying to use the staff as a spirit generator attack.
Hey, maybe Blizz's solution would be to use the weapon for certain attacks, but not others, maybe only the third strike of each attack, cutting down the animations greatly (as generally attacks one and two have unique animations).
To be honest, the skills wouldn't even make sense with a weapon. All of the skills are based off your hands or feet anyway. Exploding Palm/Lashing Tail Kick would just feel weird if you were swinging a weapon while using them. I'd totally like them just to have the weapons permasheathed and maybe just have the Monk use them as a "focus" for his powers or something.
Do you believe this to ultimately be true? Why then do they engage with the community so much and seek their feedback? Do you think none of the fans' feedback has been incorporated into their game design? And yes, of course Blizzard in the end decides for themselves what they will do. But I like how you say "Surprisingly" as if I'm suggesting they NEVER seem to know what the game needs more. You've busted my sarcasm detector. I demand a new one.
But people already complain about it anyway. But I get your slippery slope argument. In other words, if Blizzard succumbed to this demand, then they'd have to give in to ALL our demands. How's that for inferring a false meaning in someone else's words?
This part you totally misunderstood me. And try, try to get off your high horse for just a moment and pay closer attention. By animation, I mean the animation of the monk using a basic attack for swinging the staff. There is already an animation from that. And from the staff being swung, the animation for Deadly Swing (those shockwaves) would be the same. But you probably think that would look to hamfisted in there and I can respect that. I won't even talk down on you for feeling that way. I totally promise!
Thanks for verifying that. I was seriously thinking all this time, "Who the fuck is this guy to give his opinion? He better at least be an art director of some kind otherwise he has NO right, NONE whatsoever to have an opinion about this. Because anyone else couldn't possibly have a valid opinion on such matters unless they have complete technical knowledge of such things...."
Like okay, I'll totally admit that I don't know what goes into 3D animation. My point, however, was mostly that I found it unfortunate that the Monk couldn't swing his staff to produce the same spell effects. I'm totally flexible on why they CAN'T do it, however. Fair enough?
Actually it wasn't easy to complain at all. As I talked about in my first post, I almost never bring this kind of stuff up. I seldom get hung on these little details. I was merely looking for some piece of mind. And I was even happy to understand the likely reasons of why they didn't animate the Monk swinging his staff for Deadly Reach which many, including you, explained to me, and I'm satisfied with the reasons even though I still find the end result kind of disappointing. But that's okay, isn't it? I can feel disappointed in this, right? Or should I understand more thoroughly the technicalities before even bringing it up? Let's all pretend we know everything about the technical process of making a game, lest we not complain (or even just question why) ever again.
Siaynoq's Playthroughs
We can always hope for future expansions somewhere down the line.
Least skills, least passives, least animations in the game, and least overwhelming when it comes to "feel".
I think its utterly ridicules that a hero won't have animations to his SPECIAL WEAPON that ONLY HE CAN WIELD. Its not fitting the lore nor the gameplay, and has no "flow" to it.
but it's completely ludicrous to think that they would put so many resources to such an ultimately trivial issue.
That said, I agree and option to have the staff on your back sheathed permanently for the monk would be a nice aesthetic option since the instant disappearing of the weapon in your hands is clunky looking and could use some polish