Melee Weapons to be Used for Show!!

[Slickrock]

Right because whacking monsters with our bows when cornered at melee range is so much cooler.

Well, it's kinda like with mages, wands were always an odd mechanic.

I'll agree that bows at minimum range will feel a bit odd too. But the game mechanics make melee range an impediment, especially when it's not consistent. If we wanted to portray reality, hunters would be attacking from 100 yards, and not have to ever get closer except to loot, and we would also have a shorter no-cooldown disengage.

But let's be honest, given the on-the-back display mechanics, 2Hers were never that cool. Now dual-wield, that WAS cool, and displayed a lot better, but they killed that off with Cata. (I loved my two Lootship axes on my back....)

[Slickrock]

My personal preference would be getting to choose a quiver - and naturally, have lots more quiver options to choose from. Although hey, the epic one is green, so I'm kind of set.

They've never had ammo pouches that displayed, so not sure what they're gonna do there. I think guns on the back make the most sense. (Bows on the back will look odd, given the size of most of them now.)

[Worba]

Right because whacking monsters with our bows when cornered at melee range is so much cooler.

Well, it's kinda like with mages, wands were always an odd mechanic.

I'll agree that bows at minimum range will feel a bit odd too. But the game mechanics make melee range an impediment, especially when it's not consistent. If we wanted to portray reality, hunters would be attacking from 100 yards, and not have to ever get closer except to loot, and we would also have a shorter no-cooldown disengage.

But let's be honest, given the on-the-back display mechanics, 2Hers were never that cool. Now dual-wield, that WAS cool, and displayed a lot better, but they killed that off with Cata. (I loved my two Lootship axes on my back....)

That's just your opinion though - plenty of others feel differently (personally I think there are plenty of cool looking models of both kinds, 2H'ers are just more popular because they tend to give better stats, at least that's the reason I personally lean toward them).

Plus, if it became just a visual like Kalliope suggested, then you could mix it up, like:

Bow of Bowing Bowness ~ 2H Sword of Two Handedness
Bow of Curved Wood ~ Paired 1H Axes of Dual Chopping
Crossbow of the Bandit ~ Polearm of Long Reach
Gun of Banging ~ 2H Axe of Slicing

Etc.

So while you as a hunter would never need worry about competing for a melee weapon, you might seek out a particular bow or gun (over other ranged wpns with same stats) whose "melee visual" was most to your liking.

[Slickrock]

Right because whacking monsters with our bows when cornered at melee range is so much cooler.

Well, it's kinda like with mages, wands were always an odd mechanic.

I'll agree that bows at minimum range will feel a bit odd too. But the game mechanics make melee range an impediment, especially when it's not consistent. If we wanted to portray reality, hunters would be attacking from 100 yards, and not have to ever get closer except to loot, and we would also have a shorter no-cooldown disengage.

But let's be honest, given the on-the-back display mechanics, 2Hers were never that cool. Now dual-wield, that WAS cool, and displayed a lot better, but they killed that off with Cata. (I loved my two Lootship axes on my back....)

That's just your opinion though - plenty of others feel differently (personally I think there are plenty of cool looking models of both kinds, 2H'ers are just more popular because they tend to give better stats, at least that's the reason I personally lean toward them).

Plus, if it became just a visual like Kalliope suggested, then you could mix it up, like:

Bow of Bowing Bowness ~ 2H Sword of Two Handedness
Bow of Curved Wood ~ Paired 1H Axes of Dual Chopping
Crossbow of the Bandit ~ Polearm of Long Reach
Gun of Banging ~ 2H Axe of Slicing

Etc.

So while you as a hunter would never need worry about competing for a melee weapon, you might seek out a particular bow or gun (over other ranged wpns with same stats) whose "melee visual" was most to your liking.

Of course, that would almost make collecting melee weapons a requirement, as ranged will probably never display well.

That also doesn't solve the problem for those that wanted to still be able to equip melee weapons out of combat for RP reasons, or for machinima, but I wouldn't mind this solution.

Still displaying weapons that I'll never use seems odd to me.

[Worba]

Of course, that would almost make collecting melee weapons a requirement, as ranged will probably never display well.

That also doesn't solve the problem for those that wanted to still be able to equip melee weapons out of combat for RP reasons, or for machinima, but I wouldn't mind this solution.

Still displaying weapons that I'll never use seems odd to me.

So pessimistic... how do you know what melee models would be paired into ranged weapons (assuming, obviously, they actually did this in the first place)?

And as for pure RP purposes - just keep the ability to swap in an actual melee weapon if you really want to (with the provision hunters can never need on melee wpns and meleers can never need on ranged, which I believe someone already suggested).

I personally wouldn't go that route - if my ranged wpn had a melee wpn display for close range and non-combat but functioned exactly as is currently anticipated, that would be enough for me - but the option would be there for those who REALLY care about having the coolest looking melee wpn displaying on their toon.

[Slickrock]

- but the option would be there for those who REALLY care about having the coolest looking melee wpn displaying on their toon.

How about they make the ranged weapons so cool we forget about melee weapons?..

[Worba]

Because melee without melee weapons just looks weird - no getting around that basic fact.

Also many ranged weapons, while cool looking, are not really optimized for being worn across the back (for example try strapping the heirloom bow across your back and some of the spikes will be protruding through your chest).

[Slickrock]

Well, we won't be meleeing...

But yeah, many of the weapons just won't look right on the back. Of course, that applied to 2Hers as well. Floating polearms ftl.

I don't see them fixing it so ranged weapons sling on your shoulder like they really would.

[Worba]

Well, we won't be meleeing...

Bit of an evasion there Slick... you know we are talking about close range, right?

I mean, there's gotta be some reason they're removing the dead zone if we never get that close in the first place, eh?

[peanutbuttercup]

I guess I never read into this as much as everyone else has. I just wanted to be able to hold the swords and staffs I've collected over the years while idling in the city. Otherwise I figured I'd be running around in my raid gear, with ranged weapons, shooting things, just maybe a little closer than before.

[Worba]

That's understandable - for most, they have melee weapons now, they like the way they look on their toon, and they're happy to hear that there will be some means of displaying those melee weapons on their toon in 5.0, and they haven't really thought about it beyond that.

However it's worth considering, for those who haven't done so already, how it's going to look when hunters are fighting enemies at point blank once melee weapons have been removed. Sure, it's great to be able to wear your melee weapon for non-combat screenshots, but when you're in combat, you'll be clubbing the enemy with your bow.

Yeah. XD

They did something like this on a much smaller scale back when they axed monstrous bite, warpstalker teleport and the like as part of the pet dmg normalization, e.g. a good idea was rolled out before it was quite 100% ready, and we've been stuck with the rough edges ever since. But again, at least those rough edges were pretty few and far between. This one will be class-wide.

[Kalliope]

Wait....

They *are* removing the dead zone. That's tied in directly with us no longer having melee weapons.

We will not be clubbing people with our bows; we will be shooting them.

This has definitely been stated outright by the blues for 5.0.

And here's your handy-dandy link: http://us.battle.net/blizzcon/en/blog/3768753

[Worba]

Here we go again. So what will we be doing at point blank - repeatedly plinking arrows into something that's close enough for us to hug?

Awesome.

(And yes we're all on the same page about the dead zone being removed)

[Slickrock]

Wait....

They *are* removing the dead zone. That's tied in directly with us no longer having melee weapons.

We will not be clubbing people with our bows; we will be shooting them.

This has definitely been stated outright by the blues for 5.0.

^^^^

We WILL be shooting point blank.

[Worba]

Here we go again. So what will we be doing at point blank - repeatedly plinking arrows into something that's close enough for us to hug?

Awesome.

(And yes we're all on the same page about the dead zone being removed)

^^^^

[Kalliope]

So what will we be doing at point blank - repeatedly plinking arrows into something that's close enough for us to hug?

Yes. If you don't like that from an RP standpoint, transmog to a gun, where it makes more sense.

I personally prefer bows, so will be overlooking the possible logistics nightmare from a "realistic" standpoint. After all, this is not reality!

And hey, it was hard to tell if we were on the same page, since you were talking about "clubbing" people with bows. O_o

[Worba]

Of course the notion of transmogging bows to guns just to have a not-as-stupid-looking close range animation is quite silly.

Your suggestion for built-in melee model / ranged pairings made a good deal more sense, frankly.

[Slickrock]

Here we go again. So what will we be doing at point blank - repeatedly plinking arrows into something that's close enough for us to hug?

Awesome.

I agree, it makes more sense with a gun that a bow.

But you have to suspend belief there a little bit, and realize it's about allowing us to use our most damaging attacks without a minimum range. Or would you rather be gimped in melee range? Raptor strike doesn't do much on Baeleroc when you have to take a shard....

[Worba]

I agree, it makes more sense with a gun that a bow.

But you have to suspend belief there a little bit, and realize it's about allowing us to use our most damaging attacks without a minimum range. Or would you rather be gimped in melee range? Raptor strike doesn't do much on Baeleroc when you have to take a shard....

Guns look less stupid at point blank, so not much of a gain there - the fact remains ranged weapons look awkward at melee range.

And no you don't have to suspend belief there, if you think about it - once again if we go with Kalliope's suggestion for just having a melee weapon visual at melee range, problem is solved. All of your moves still work the same, it just switches to the cooler and more sensible hack / chop / stab animation when you're close enough to do so, even though you're using the same abilities that you would at 50 paces.

[Kalliope]

Which is why I kind of like that suggestion, since from one standpoint, it eliminates a few headaches (making ranged weapons not look stupid on various races' backs, not having to come up with new quiver looks, not dealing with ammo pouches), although it does create others (linking melee weaponry to ranged weapons is going to be time-consuming, what do you do for people who prefer staves/axes/dual wielding?, what do you do with pieces there's no match for?).

But yeah, I'm more curious as to what will happen than actually being concerned about it. I'm just happy for no minimum range. I already live for scatter shot, so I don't care about shooting at point blank range.