The whole point of something like a polearm is to have that extra reach, which is why most polearms in the game are pretty long. A lot of them are held all the way up at the blade though rather than further down towards the middle or end of the polearm which makes no sense and also looks bad since you have this massive weapon but don’t use 90% of it.
A good example of how bad this can be is the Awak’mani, Grimtotems Legacy polearm. It’s pretty long, but when you attack with it you hold it all the way up at the blade which looks pretty bad and doesn’t make sense for a polearm.
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some polearms look comically long from the front when sat on the characters back
when i played surv my friend and i could only laugh as they went shooting off the preview pane
polearm seems a neglected weap category mog wise
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Bumping this.
And yeah polearms are definitely a bit neglected mog wise. The fact the entire point of a polearm over a sword or axe is longer reach (in realistic terms) but due to how they are held they end up being shorter than an axe or sword most of the time is kinda crazy lol.
It also just looks bad when you have this giant weapon and hold it all the way up at the blade. Looks really bad. Awak’mani, Grimtotems Legacy has still been the best example I’ve found where you just don’t use 90% of the weapon, they could move the grip towards the bottom or middle of the polearm (and other polearms) at least.
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https://imgur.com/w9g9qc7
Wanted to add a visual example of how bad this is. A lot of polearms become shorter than most 1 handed swords, and some 1h axes/maces when you swing with it, despite the fact it is designed to be longer than 2h swords/axes/maces usually. Visually its very bad, but thematically it does the opposite of what a polearm is supposed to do.
Thats not to mention the long part of the polearm is what sticks up over the characters shoulder when its sheated, and yet you hold it by the part of the weapon you wouldn’t even be able to reach. Really hope some polearms can just be updated.
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Really hope to see some fixes for these in a future patch or next expansion. I’ve gone through more and most of them are just bad looking due to how much of the handle space is wasted.
Again, somehow polearms are supposed to be one of the longer reach weapons in the game as they are all made long/big yet they end up being shorter than a lot of 1 handed weapons and certainly shorter than 2h swords and most 2h axes. Looks pretty bad.
It’s definitely not just polearms that have this problem – a lot of 2H maces, axes, and staves are also held very high up on the handle. 2H swords seem to be the only 2-handers exempt from stupid grip positions.
They updated a decent chunk of weapons from Shadowlands to be held further down the handle at some point during DF season 1 or 2, but they still have their work cut out for them. It doesn’t look like they’ve really learned their lesson from this either, as you have newer weapons like Rashon (the polearm from Fyrakk), Gorehowl (from Dawn), and even the legendary axe that are clearly held too high up on the weapon.
I get that it might make sense to hold the weapon further up when idle, but apparently that’s at the cost of it looking poor while in combat and while in motion (plus, I don’t even think being held up that high improves their idle anyway). I’d definitely prefer the grip of 2-handers to be adjusted further down by default – the left hand should be held near or at the end of the haft/handle.
Those bad grip positions are also responsible for them being poorly placed on the back while sheathed (sticking high up past the shoulder), as proven by 1) 2H swords not having this issue, and 2) the aforementioned adjusted weapons now having much better back placement than before.
Take a look at the Dragonbane Lance for a good example of a polearm from this expansion that has both very long reach and is held in a sensible position.
a little off topic but 1h maces are also COMICALLY large on some races. im having trouble mogging my velf because she is using a mace atm and some of them are as large as she is? which i guess would be kinda cool on a paladin but doesnt fit what i want a priest to look like
That is what I find weird about most of this situation. There are polearms added this expansion that have the same grip problem as previous polearms they said they wanted to go back and fix. The polearm mentioned in the main post from Vault of the Incarnates is a fantastic example, but the polearms from the Emerald Dream zone (Overgrown Freyan Pike for example) have the exact same issue.
I am really not sure how a Polearm, which is intended to be longer than a sword/axe because it is made similar to a Lance (hence why lances are under polearms) which is meant for longer range, ends up shorter than almost every weapon type in the game when you use it to attack.
When you attack with a polearm, it should be a long weapon. Holding it up at the handle just goes against the point of a Polearm. That portion of the weapon that isn’t used also looks terrible because your weapon is usually longer in the back than the front lol.
I also want to say, 2h swords and axes face with the blade portion downwards. Most Polearms also do this, but not all of them. I think just about every polearm should be facing upwards, like High Warlord’s Pig Sticker which would make Polearms a lot more unique. I’d settle for the grip on Polearms being fixed though.
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I think part of it as well is that many polearms aren’t given long enough handles, so it’s probably hard to adjust the grip very much for a decent chunk of them. That’s a criticism of polearms in the game in general – not really to any specific expansion. Grip positions really are a mixed bag, and it’s annoying how inconsistent they are.
Yeah I think all Polearms should have long handles since thats the entire point, but I’d settle for grip on the ones that are long already getting fixed and the smaller ones can keep the grip they have since it makes more sense for those.
Having a polearm labeled lance/spear just for us to hold it all the way up at the tip of the spear is ridiculous, but all of the Polearms from this expansion suffer from this really bad grip positioning making them smaller than most weapons when you melee.
Please fix how polearms are held! Move the grip down towards the middle or end of the Polearm rather than at the very top by the blade. Doesn’t look good or make sense for the grip to be that high.
Winter Forager’s Spire, Awak’mani Grimtotems Legacy, Suffused Halberd, Impaler of Raging Tempests are all fantastic examples of this.