Guardian needs an animation update/makeover

Classes Druid
1

It’s honestly the most boring tank to look at.

Even Elunes Chosen is pretty meh. We see all those same animations with moonkin. Guardian needs something of its own, just a unique theme.

All the other tanks have something cool.

Paladins are running around like captain america, with burst of holy light and consecrating the ground

Blood death knights are running around with bone shields, bursting blood from their enemies and calling enchanted weapons to fight by their side.

Monks are rolling across the map throwing kegs and breathing fire

Warriors get to leap and thunderclap everything while tossing out shockwaves.

Guardian gets to use recycled feral and balance animations…. Except thrash :neutral_face: It’s kinda boring to look at.

11 Likes
2

What about our totaly druidic orbital strike special beam cannon defense array

2 Likes
3

It’s cool, but Balance had it first. Guardian doesn’t have any unique animations that are all its own. Except for thrash I believe.

And with the changes to Raze and it now replacing Maul, we lost the maul animation too

1 Like
4

So keep in mind, Feral + Guardian used to be a singular entity up until MoP. Thats when Feral and Guardian became their own separate specializations.

So its going to make sense that Guardian and Feral overlap on animations

5

They don’t need to though. Blizzard could make both specs look entirely unique if they wanted to.

2 Likes
6

But would it make sense. Bears and cats of prey have rather similar thrashing and mauling movements

7

Sure they’re similar but that doesn’t mean they need to share 99% of their animations with each other.

Other classes don’t have this problem. Rogue specs are all similar, but they all have unique animations and themes. Assassination has poisons themes, sub has shadows and almost a magic theme, and outlaw has guns and grapple hook.

Guardian has 1 animation that’s somewhat unique in Thrash, and even that is just a slightly bigger version of swipe, which feral has too. Even iron fur which is unique to guardian, is mostly invisible because it’s usually inside the bear form model and not really seen.

Guardian is visually bland, and it doesn’t need to be. It honestly shouldn’t be. No spec should. Every spec imo should have some kind of unique flash or flare to them. Something that’s visually striking.

We also just recently lost a unique animation with Raze and Maul being combined. So we’re even more bland, and it’s just frustrating to me that Bear doesn’t have anything that’s flashy or cool to look at.

1 Like
8

But a bear mauling and thrashing and swiping is all the exact same motions of a panther.

Theres also only so much one can do with swiping and thrashing animations.

They do. Spell effects are different, but casting animations are the same. Monks also deal with this issue

You get stand out appearances. Werebear, Bonebear, Glowy bear.

9

So why can’t they be different for guardian?

And other classes get transmog. This comparison isn’t the same. I’m talking about the spells you use, not how your model looks

10

Because theyre the same thing.
Bear swipes
Panther swipes
Identical movements

And im saying you can look at it as a trade off.

Paladin DK and Warrior can all look identical. And tmog can get lost in a throng of mobs. But kitty and bear forms stand out

11

Paladins swing a sword and Death Knights swing a sword, yet they look entirely different. Not just slightly

Just because the base attack is the same does not mean they both need to look the same.

Honestly even something like making thrash purple for Chosen of Elune would go a really long way toward making guardian look better.

I don’t know that I’d consider it a trade off for transmog when we only get new forms every 2-3 expansions if we’re lucky. Maybe if cat and bear form got the moonkin treatment it would feel like a better trade off. Then they could add things more easily and often. Like the fire chicken options

1 Like
12

Nope. My plate wearers share the same mog. Ret Pally and DK look identical swinging their 2H weapons

Doesnt fix pre 80 Guardian nor DoTC though.

Its not meant as a trade off for tmog, but for the abilities being the same.

13

Would give a lot to the fantasy to make DoC and Elun’s thrashes unique recolors. Leaning more into class skins while still letting hero talents shift game play.

14

Magic, same magic that turns you into a bear. Druid is a magic class with some specs larping as physical.

15

And there is a giant magic bear orbiting our planet launching magical precision strikes out of his mouth.

16

I’m talking about their spells…. Not their mogs.

Even if they wear the same exact mog, you know what class they are the moment they attack because all their abilities get unique animations.

It’s a start. Just because it doesn’t fix everything doesn’t mean it can’t or shouldn’t be done. Blizzard is usually rather slow with aesthetic upgrades. It’s very rare they give us entire cosmetic overhauls on things

Problem with this is we’re stuck with forms for 2-3 expansions at a time. Abilities look the same, and your model can’t change to anything new for 4-6 years. What an awful trade off lol

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17

You cant tell the difference between a bear and a cat because they share attack animations?

It doesnt need done though is the issue. Especially with Hero talents leaning in to one another and specs SHARING the same spells/animations

There isnt a problem

1 Like
18

Long since believed that wow would start selling ability skins. Surprised it hasn’t happened yet. Druid feels like a good experimental case since we don’t get much customization.

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19

I cant remember how logn it took before werebearform got dance and sleep emotes…

And last time they added anything to cat/bear it was making all attacks sounds like tearing paper.

I doubt much effort will be put into this

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20

It’s not an issue of function but of appeal. We could play this game if our characters were a cube, a sphere, and cylinder. But many of us would be less invested in it if they were reduced in this way.

Blizzard recognizes this and has said they want to better support the fantasy in which the game play is embedded. Improving animations and skins would be one way to make the fantasy more engaging and immersive.

Make lunar bear appear more lunar. Make the guardian of the claw appear more fierce.
Do it by embellishing our skins and animations accordingly. Help us engage not just with the mechanics of play, but the fantasy of a different world in which we play.

2 Likes