I got to play both beta weekends and try all the skills. That experience only confirmed to me what was evident from the trailers: the moment to moment gameplay in D4 is great. The feel of power, impact and sheer fun that I got from using the skills was exemplary, as was the attention to detail in the effects and animations - both player and enemy.
At least that was my opinion until I tried Whirlwind… The animation made me feel like I was playing D2 again, in a bad way. I wouldn’t even call it an animation - it’s literally the static player model spinning around on the spot like a spinning top. No foot, arms or head movement, nothing. It feels very unimpactful. If not for the damage numbers, I wouldn’t know anything was happening. But most importantly, it frankly looks stupid, which is especially jarring in a game where every other animation looks very cool and detailed.
I can understand that maybe it needs to be simple because the types of weapons used can vary, but I’m sure there’s a middle ground between no animation at all and a different animation for every possible weapon type (and that argument becomes a bit moot if you consider that Blizzard did bother to implement different animations for different weapon types for other abilities, like Lunging Strike). Maybe it’s because of varied movement and attack speeds? But even if it’s that, it surely could be improved…
Look at how Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla did it:
I’m certain I’ll get flamed for sounding entitled or because (hurr durr) it’s a game with demons and magic, so that of course also means it can’t have any semblance of real world physics, but I just want D4 to be the best it can be. In my case, this silly animation sapped all the joy out of what could be an awesome skill.
Just in case you didn’t know, you don’t have to use skills that you don’t like. Barb has a few other core skills that are pretty cool. Upheaval was my personal favorite.
Of course, but I don’t want to skip an ability just because I can’t stand the way it looks and feels, especially one as iconic as Whirlwind. I’d simply like it to be brought up to par to everything else.
What a strange self depreciating sentence to put in, to say that anyone that doesnt share your views is (hurr durr). Strange stuff buddy. Good luck out there.
That sounds like a you problem.
Also; why are you comparing a top-down ARPG to AC: Valhalla, in terms of animation? “Hey! Look at this game that used motion capture! Why is Diablo’s animations not that good?”
WW never looked good because it’s one of the most stupid skills to beginn with ^^. On top of it why isn’t the toon puking all over the place after spinning 24/7? Wouldn’t take me a minute to paint my surroundings.
Go back and look at the developer update where they showcased the animations of WW and how it was synced to the weapon damage animations. You might have a better appreciation of the work under the hood of the skill.
So you’re saying anyone that has any criticism of the game should just shut up because it’s a “them problem”? If not, then on what basis do you make the distinction?
I’m not comparing D4 to AC:V animations. I just gave it as an example of what a whirlwind-like skill could look like if it was to better convey impact and power.
Whirlwind’s animation isn’t the best, but I think you’re exaggerating how bad it is. But improving animations is never a bad thing so I hope it improves for you.
Hey OP.
There’s a bit of a problem having an irregular and delayed animation for WW in D4:
If you check the dev blogs you will find the skill animation post which shows that WW needs an even spread, equidistant and 0 acceleration for properly distributing damage instances with the near-exact position of the weapon, to match the visual fidelity for the player.
It has to come out instantaneously too.
They may be able to tweak the animation slightly, but they can’t really replicate the AC version.
What else do you have in mind that can match D4’s logic within those constraints?
I realise it always looked bad. But why do we even bother to make next instalments of games then? Why didn’t we just stop at Diablo 1 animations and called it a day? There are plenty of “legacy” skills in D4 that have seen vast improvements. In fact, if the rest of the game wasn’t so darn good, I’d probably not even bother mentioning this.
Improvement, yes. But you are asking to change the iconography of the skill. Silly WW is part of what makes Diablo what it is, that’s why it looks that way.
Also, Valhalla is a garbage game with garbage combat; a complete downgrade from Origins and Odyssey. I know you used it primarily as an example of animations, but… it’s a bad example.
I think that given how stupid the skill is, its fine for the animation to also be stupid lol. Especially since you mentioned it being iconic a couple times, the goofy animation is part of that. Many people enjoy it for whatever reason.
But yeah posting your feedback is fine. Its a fair indicator of whether many people agree or not. My guess is for most people, the current WW is exactly what they expect from it and have no issue with it.
This is basically what I was mulling over when I said it might have something to do with movement speed and attack speed. AC:V’s animation was used as an extreme example - I realise it wouldn’t work for D4 the way it’s implemented there.
However, there are things that you could do to improve matters. For example, implementing footwork, rather than having the character’s feet completely stuck in place, as if she’s glued to an invisible Lazy Susan. Having the character actually swing the weapon (I know it’s not as easy as it seems), instead of her just holding it in place (made worse by the very slow WW attack speed in D4), would also do wonders to convey power. An animation like that is doable within all the constraints you listed. It might just require upping WW’s attack speed and decreasing its damage to compensate.
I had the same thought when I first used it. It took some time to adjust.
With more attack speed and movement speed at level 25 it already felt better. Add in the visual changes from additional skill points and legendary items and it’ll be pretty sweet to grow it into an awesome skill.
Hm, just wanted to underline the outlandishness of the next statement, to prevent the conversation going this way. English isn’t my first language, so I figured “hurr durr” would be sufficient - I even googled it, to make sure I used it correctly. After a bit more googling though, I can see what you mean and I agree I could’ve phrased it better. I won’t lie that I don’t find the idea I presented stupid, but it was never my intention to make people feel mocked and I would never make generalized assumptions about someone trying to argue it.
People seem to be fixating on this, so I probably should’ve been clearer that I do not want D4’s WW looking like what they did with it in AC:V. It was only used to show how that movement would look like if a person tried to perform it to deal any damage (silly as it is).
Agreed on the points regarding Valhalla (and I’d add graphics to the list), but I’m not sure how that makes the example bad.
