Minimizing Redraw

I'd like to rekindle any thoughts on the whole weapon redraw bit that makes weapon based characters a pain to play.

Now, as far as I've heard, redraw USED to be baked into the animation time, but has since been taken out--meaning that whenever a character has to redraw her weapon, she must spend that extra second or so doing so, reducing her DPS accordingly. Knowing this, if you're someone that is particularly concerned with maximizing damage potential, you have to ensure that you build your toon away from anything that would cause redraw--perhaps choosing Body or Energy mastery rather than other epics (losing out on such powers as [Gloom], for instance), or making sure that you only pair weapon sets with toggle-based defense sets, such as Willpower ($Deity forbid you choose something click heavy like Regeneration).

But that's crazy! It almost makes one want to eschew any weapon sets entirely, because "Gosh, Titan Weapons may look awesome, but Fiery Melee doesn't have redraw." And that's a shame, because weapon based toons are cool, yo.

So, obviously, redraw's a problem, right? So let's fix it! Why don't we reduce the number of powers that force redraw by removing the sheathing effect? There're already a number of combinations that don't force it--look at [Taunt] on, say, a Battle Axe/Shield. Instead of unequipping the shield and doing the "come on" animation, the character points at the foe with his axe--no redraw required. Or on an Assault Rifle, [Throwing Knives] has him shift the weapon to one hand while the other throws the knives. Why not similar for [Web Grenade]? Heck, [Brawl] uses a kicking animation when a character's hands are full!

So what I'm saying is, why not reduce redraw by reducing sheathing? There are a lot of powers that use similar animations--[Build Up] and [Reconstruction] for instance. Exact same animation, but the latter unequips any weapons. Obviously, some combos would be relatively impossible to do this with (Assault Rifle/Trick Arrows, or perhaps using [Time Bomb] on a Beam Rifle toon), but other powers might have interesting options (using the weapon point animation from a Shield or Dual Blade [Taunt]/[Confront] for a power like [Gloom] or [Fire Blast]). And with Staff Fighting coming out soon...well, it might be nice to be able to give someone that much more incentive to purchase.

I agree with this..redraw, while being thematic, is a pain. Really, I totally get that we need to put our katana, rifle, axe, pistols, somewhere. BUT..considering there are zero costume options for a scabbard, sheath, holster, quiver, what is the point?

Oh I am a 'natural' hero, with a sword! It is SO natural, I keep it hidden..internally.

Me and a friend were talking about this a few days back. We both have fire melee scrappers and /Earth doms. Both sets are great fun, and part of this (especially fire being one of teh best for dps) is that they are weapon sets..that have ZERO redraw. You click the power, and your weapon appears, bang, right away. Even going between the 2 mallets, there is no dely at all.

Makes even less sense on say..my Kat/Sr scrapper. Oh look, I can dodge bullets..but I cant just..hold onto my sword while I do this little buff flex for my mez click? Same with many many other sets.

I think combining the animations would be cool. How about a longer duration for the 'combat stance' (that is, weapons out). Say a dp/rad corr..you drop both toggles on a mob, draw your pistols (instantly btw) fire a few times, reapply your toggles..WITH the pistols still in your hands. Seriously, if you can make radiation appear (or whatever) by waving your hand, why cant you wave said hand while holding a gun?

If such a big deal is going into powers when they are designed, in regard to their dps, animation time etc etc..then surely a combo like kat/sr in which there IS going to be redraw, the damage of the powers should go up to compensate? Same with every weapon set that has TIMED redraw, as opposed to the instant redraw in some sets.

Blame the original coders of the game?

If I recall some talk from Babs about redraw, it was that it involved stance changes embedded in the powers themselves. Different weapons call different stances that are then used for running, jumping and idle animations for your character. Without the stances, running, jumping, flying, idle stances and such would all look the same; as if you had nothing in your hand.

That explained, the stances are coded so deeply into the powers themselves, it breaks a lot of animations trying to get around stances which are in turn coded with drawing animations. To get around needing a unique stance, all one has to do is remove the need for alternate running, jumping, flying and idle stances and it'd be perfect. I believe, even though when you activate powers like Stone Mallet and Ice sword, you take a slightly different stance but that stance is canceled when you start moving or activate other powers. So those powers aren't true stance changes.

As for powers like the origin powers and brawl, BaBs mention that those were the most complex and difficult powers (animation wise) in the game because they are built and balanced with all stances built into them. To make all powers like that would be a monumental task.

For completeness sake, the only outlier in the game is Spines/Thorn Assault, which still have built in redraw to all their powers. I believe the reason being was because of power customization. Because of how those powers work, the spines/thorns aren't 'weapons' but they activate a stance anyway. And the only reason they aren't 'weapons' is because they could not be customized as weapons (you couldn't choose what they look like on a singular basis but only on a power-by-power basis). Since each power could technically be customized differently in those sets, redraw had to be kept in otherwise every power would cause redraw with every other power in the sets.

In conclusion, I'd love something to be done about redraw. But within the scope of how the game is coded, I don't think redraw will just disappear.

By the way I post, lots of people must think I'm a hardarse or negative, but I like to see negatives as an opportunity instead. Went to a fastfood restaurant (I rarely ever do that) and saw the supervisor walk out of the urinal stall as I walked in. I could have been grossed out and swear off of fast food again...but I talked with him, he explained they used other anti-bacterial soap in the back, I get a free milkshake and a soda, my money back and a free meal (which I gave to someone else...what? you thought I went there to get my own food? Pfft...) and reported the incident on their online survey. Hey, I'm happy, the resturant chain will be happy and I lost nothing from it.

If redraw is a problem, perhaps suggest additional perks for weapon sets outside of eliminating redraw. Or adding extra thematic effects to weapon sets as perks for using redraw. Anyway, just a thought

From your post..the last thing I would think is that you are a hardass, or negative. It is all very logical and makes sense. But..

Your little tangent about the fast food chain? You lost me there. You complained because the guy went..to the toilet? Wow, how dare he. I thought they were all robots. Sarcasm aside..I don't see the point. Or how it relates to you being/not being a hardass.

And as for perks for sets with redraw..sorry, but I dont have suggestions, other than..redraw is dumb. Coming up with nifty ideas for powers is their job, not mine. Besides, most changes would not be very balance, such as increasing damage a bit. That would just be giving more advantage to those combinations with no redraw, while the ones with it, still fall behind, simply due to the combination of powersets (rather than the powerset itself being at fault).