[Suggestion] PLEASE fix the sword-swing animation from horseback

[CtrlAltDe1337]

I just got done playing for about 10 mins on 2 different servers (one with my clan mates and one with a bunch of new people), and I had to quit in utter frustration over the horrible sword swinging animations from horseback.  A skilled archer is 100% invulnerable to a horseman if he knows what he is doing.  Got a lance?  He just holds block down.  Run him over?  No damage done.  Close in with swords?  He just dances around you and you can't touch him (all the while he is shooting your horse) because the SWORD ANIMATIONS ARE SO HORRIBLE.  I mean SERIOUSLY, why don't they attack DOWNWARD?  Why, oh WHY do they just swing aimlessly in the air???????????????????  Devs, PLEASE fix this!  It is the last big horse balance issue that needs to be addressed.  Playing horseman is pointless when up against an archer that knows how to shoot and dance around you.  There is no way you can touch him.  You have to rely on sneak attacks.  Just fix the animations to actually attack where you are aiming please (ie hit down).

 

[Mormacil]

Besides couch him twice animations don't have a thing to do with hitting something. Animation are just visual candy. The damage is calculated by hitboxes.

 

[Berserker Pride]

Besides couch him twice animations don't have a thing to do with hitting something. Animation are just visual candy. The damage is calculated by hitboxes.

No dude no!  This is not some hack and slash game with shoddy hit detection that autohits anything within a certain arc or range.  In m&b hit detection precisely follows the blade.  The current animation is excessively twirly.  Most of the animation is a waste of time and it kinda twirls downward. 

There should be two separate sword animations.  One when you swing while looking downward that doesn't spend nearly as much time doing a loop through the air. 

And a second animation for attacking other cav that kicks in while you are looking horizontally or up.
While we are at it the rider leaning into his blows more would just be cake.  Especially with the overhead swing.  It won't hit anyone unless your horse is standing on his foot.

 

[Mormacil]

Ehm yes dude yes. Just the hitbox is the same model as the blade then. I've done game development and never heard of another way to do it. Except making refined hitboxes and sticking it to the swing. In any case the animations suck visually and it is to hard to hit someone at the ground.

 

[Halcyon]

Ctrl it would be nice if they did this only if Cav did not have like 30+ reach with their damn swing.

 

[Jack_Merchantson]

I have no problems with it.

Of course, I use 1st person, so I don't have to deal with that weird camera position on horseback that forces you to aim just under your character's own armpit to hit a standing man on the ground

 

[Faranox]

Ctrl it would be nice if they did this only if Cav did not have like 30+ reach with their damn swing.

Seriously. Hardcore invisireach and swing arc issues.

 

[Berserker Pride]

Of course, I use 1st person, so I don't have to deal with that weird camera position on horseback that forces you to aim just under your character's own armpit to hit a standing man on the ground

This is the main problem right here.  Your camera position has to be odd to hit someone from third person view.

And another reason I want the animations to have more lean is to fix the invisireach.

I do have a theory though.  My ping is fairly high but not crazy high.  It often seems to me that the horse and rider hitbox projects ahead of the actual model while the horse is moving forward.  Because I swear I get bumped by the horse before it physically contacts my character.

Perhaps the sword projects forwards as well?  Not only that but at times when I cut in front of cavalry as a mounted swordsman at times I swing what would seem to be very early at my opponents horse's nose.  Even though he isn't that close to me the blow lands.

Do any of you people with lower ping ever get the same feeling that the horse and rider hitboxes project forwards of the actual model?

 

[johncage]

basically, cavalry swings need to be adjusted so you don't have to look right at the ground to hit someone standing.

 

[Lucan946]

I never have any problems with it.

 

[darkhorse]

Me neither

 

[CtrlAltDe1337]

Ctrl it would be nice if they did this only if Cav did not have like 30+ reach with their damn swing.

I agree.  In some cases, you can't hit anything.  But if you aim it just right, you have a gigantic arc.  Its really dumb and needs to be fixed.  There needs to be just a simple swing down animation, closer to what is in M&B.

 

[baronvonshober]

It's quirky to be sure. But that hasn't stopped me from lopping a few heads from horseback, or from being knocked onto my medieval butt by a horseman.  It's all in the timing, chum.

 

[Tibertus]

Wait, does this thread mean that the devs changed it so swords swing through the center of your screen?

 

[Vornne]

The hitbox seeming to be in front of the model is just a result of higher ping time; the collision detection definitely seems to be done server side, so you need to aim at where the character or horse will be by the time your attack message reaches the server. In any case doing the calculation locally would have many problems, since the result would differ on each client, and swapping that responsibility around to keep things fair would not feel consistent to anyone. This issue makes cavalry much less playable than the other classes for me at 100+ ping; because of the combination of needing to guess correctly where my enemy will be to hit them, and the horse "rubber banding" around the place much more violently than when on foot because of the higher movement speeds.

I tried connecting to a dedicated server running on the same computer, and fighting against bots: the difference was obvious; I could actually aim at the horsemen rather than at empty air to hit them, and my manual blocking success increased considerably compared to fighting the same bots at 100 ping (I used the fastest combat speed as well, the remote servers were at normal speed).

The main issue people have with horseback slashes seeming worse than the previous release version is that you can now aim and choose the direction of your slash with the new system. In the old system you could only choose the attack stance (with only one side slash direction for each side of the horse) and the height of the swing; in the new system you can freely aim any stance in any direction all around the horse, with the restriction that you can't swing through the horse (mostly); this means that you have more options available with the new system, but you need to use more skill and timing to perform an effective attack. This is the same sort of thing as the change to the couching system, where in the old one the lance was practically fixed to the side of your horse, and always lowered, but in the new one you must commit to an attack and aim it manually. For those wanting to go back to the old system, if I recall correctly Armagan himself basically said "not going to happen". The new system has taken me a bit of getting used to, but it seems some players are able to use it quite effectively.

 

[Phallas]

Bump slash sucks balls, not to mension the slow Double bump slash.

The horsemans sword came from being useless to UBER, as is the way with things in Warband, it will be nerfed and thus balanced soon i hope.

 

[Berserker Pride]

The lance is superior to the sword.  Provided your ping is normal you simply outrange them unless they have a pike.