Modest Graphics Improvement Suggestion

[Caervas]

Just a tiny little improvement that I would enjoy alot:

Make sheathed weapons appear on the characters backs, or in their belts.

At times I get really annoyed that my character runs around town with that huge greatsword in his hand, swinging it around like it was made of cardboard. It just doesnt look natural.
Sure, when you are in the middle of an adventure, blood pumping and high on adrenaline, you might want to keep the weapon in hand, ready for use. In town however, keeping ones weapon(s) drawn at all times seems both impractical and strangely aggressive.

When my character retires to the rusty nail after an adventure, for a pint and some relaxation, I really think it looks "off" that the character runs around with that magical sword drawn, -throbbing with divine righteous energy. It looks like he is either bragging, or just paranoid. Especially with the clipping issues that happens so frequently; the bloody poker sticks right through the bar and into the bartenders leg!

Easy fix: Its already been done in the character creation screen; if you made it just like it is there, things would look alot more natural. And do take away the hefty fiery graphics when the weapons are sheathed, as far as I can tell, the DMG still describes that weapons with "flaming" and similar enchantments will start to burn when they are drawn (or is issued a command word).

Added benefit: looks cool when the weapons arent always drawn, but even cooler when you actually draw them before battle! Its an important flavour-improvement!

Possible problems: the animation for the character drawing the weapon takes up time, possbily slowing down casters that sheathe and draw every other second. An easy solution would be that the weapons are automatically drawn when entering an adventure (or any area where battle takes place), and stay drawn until returning to Stormreach.

Note, this is not intended to make the Quick Draw feat more valuable, rather an improvement purely for the looks of the game.

Definetly been suggested before, but it deserves attention. Yeah, yeah, I know there are several other more critical changes that need to be made. We mustn't forget the small issues however. Maybe one of the programmers get bored making new animations for 9th level spells, and would like a small fix to tamper with on the side.
I just finished the Dragon Age game, and it showed how easy and effective such a change could be.

Are the community members engaged in wanting such an improvement?

-C

[Akael]

You do know there's already a /sheathe command, right? Admittedly, your weapons just completely disappear into the ether rather than hang from a belt or whatever; but at least you aren't accidentally chain-murdering bartenders.

[Ashiel_Dragmire]

You do know there's already a /sheathe command, right? Admittedly, your weapons just completely disappear into the ether rather than hang from a belt or whatever; but at least you aren't accidentally chain-murdering bartenders.

That made me giggle a bit.

Anyway, I'd like to see actual sheathes, but if it's a choice between sheathes and cloaks, I want Cloak animations first (provided they can be turn on and off like helmets).

[Myrddinman]

Just a tiny little improvement that I would enjoy alot:

Make sheathed weapons appear on the characters backs, or in their belts.

At times I get really annoyed that my character runs around town with that huge greatsword in his hand, swinging it around like it was made of cardboard. It just doesnt look natural.
Sure, when you are in the middle of an adventure, blood pumping and high on adrenaline, you might want to keep the weapon in hand, ready for use. In town however, keeping ones weapon(s) drawn at all times seems both impractical and strangely aggressive.

When my character retires to the rusty nail after an adventure, for a pint and some relaxation, I really think it looks "off" that the character runs around with that magical sword drawn, -throbbing with divine righteous energy. It looks like he is either bragging, or just paranoid. Especially with the clipping issues that happens so frequently; the bloody poker sticks right through the bar and into the bartenders leg!

Easy fix: Its already been done in the character creation screen; if you made it just like it is there, things would look alot more natural. And do take away the hefty fiery graphics when the weapons are sheathed, as far as I can tell, the DMG still describes that weapons with "flaming" and similar enchantments will start to burn when they are drawn (or is issued a command word).

Added benefit: looks cool when the weapons arent always drawn, but even cooler when you actually draw them before battle! Its an important flavour-improvement!

Possible problems: the animation for the character drawing the weapon takes up time, possbily slowing down casters that sheathe and draw every other second. An easy solution would be that the weapons are automatically drawn when entering an adventure (or any area where battle takes place), and stay drawn until returning to Stormreach.

Note, this is not intended to make the Quick Draw feat more valuable, rather an improvement purely for the looks of the game.

Definetly been suggested before, but it deserves attention. Yeah, yeah, I know there are several other more critical changes that need to be made. We mustn't forget the small issues however. Maybe one of the programmers get bored making new animations for 9th level spells, and would like a small fix to tamper with on the side.
I just finished the Dragon Age game, and it showed how easy and effective such a change could be.

Are the community members engaged in wanting such an improvement?

-C

This has been discussed for several years now. There have been some lengthy discussions as well. Here is one of the better ones:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php...light=sheathe*

[Caervas]

You do know there's already a /sheathe command, right? Admittedly, your weapons just completely disappear into the ether rather than hang from a belt or whatever; but at least you aren't accidentally chain-murdering bartenders.

I know the command, yes. It was one of those revelations similar to the 'showhelmet off' command, hiding those fruity numbers you sometimes find on dead ogres and such.

I don't find the command very satisfying tho, not only is it hard to keep the weapons sheathed (He whips it out whenever he's got a chance, -yes I know how it sounds), but the whole point is to look good with the weapons sheathed. Additionally, you dont really want to know where the weapons go when using this command, its really rather ominous. Ever wonder where Gordon Freeman (in Half-Life) keeps all those guns you aren't using? Well, thats another one of those puzzles you don't want solved.

On a more serious note however, the cloak animations would really be a major upgrade. It would be a rather big challenge though, -adding physics to hanging cloth (like when you are swimming, falling etc.)

I'll go read that former suggestion thread now.

-C