Physics of jumping, or: Don't trust your instinct

[Leo.3428]

Seeing how I and others are struggling through the jumping puzzles, I asked my Asura warrior -- who is from the College of Dynamics, invented a weather'matic that almost works, and is supposed to know a thing or two about objects in motion -- how inertia works in Tyria's universe. All I got was a long blank stare followed by a snarky defensive remark, and it dawned on me: There is no inertia in Tyria; or more accurately, no horizontal inertia. You get from zero to full speed instantly, from full speed to stop instantly, weapon dynamics is just a geometry thing.

I proceeded to subjecting my reluctant Asura to a battery of experiments to unravel the mystery. The first consequence of having no inertia is that there is no building speed before leaping; no need to run across a slab to reach further across a gap, something I thoroughly did on the hardest points. I also observed that every character is equipped with a push'matic in the belly which allows it to move in all horizontal directions when in the air, something so baffling that I played with it for a while to believe my eyes. For example, when jumping off the edge of a cliff, if you press the "move backward" key before you reach the highest point of the trajectory, you will fall back to where you started and save your life.

I still have to perform a few more experiments when my Asura stops grumbling, such as determining whether the horizontal speed is identical whether you run on a flat ground or climbing a 45 degree slope or running down the same slope, which would mean that gravity has no effect on you. If anyone has notes on the mysterious physics of the planet, please share them!

TLDR: In a nutshell: If you are used to trekking on rocky mountain paths, forget everything you know and embrace the power of magic.

[joneirikb.7506]

My drunken Norn has often reported to me that he can jump and turn around in the air, up until now I thought he was just as overly generous with boasting as with his ale.

[Cyninja.2954]

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Movement_Speed

[Steve The Cynic.3217]

@Leo.3428 It's clearly visible that mounts have inertia, notably the Skimmer (cue complaints about Fishie being in the air), but even the Raptor takes a moment to reach full speed and to stop.

[Leo.3428]

@joneirikb.7506 said:My drunken Norn has often reported to me that he can jump and turn around in the air, up until now I thought he was just as overly generous with boasting as with his ale.LOL. Honestly it does make one feel drunk to first watch this...

@"Cyninja.2954" said:https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Movement_SpeedOh! Thank you! I had no luck searching for jump physics, but this page clears up speed on a slope. Next experiment: Walking on a ceiling ^^

@Steve The Cynic.3217 said:@Leo.3428 It's clearly visible that mounts have inertia, notably the Skimmer (cue complaints about Fishie being in the air), but even the Raptor takes a moment to reach full speed and to stop.Good news! I don't have mounts yet but when I do I'll watch them with interest.

[joneirikb.7506]

@Steve The Cynic.3217 said:@Leo.3428 It's clearly visible that mounts have inertia, notably the Skimmer (cue complaints about Fishie being in the air), but even the Raptor takes a moment to reach full speed and to stop.

Feels like this only applies to mounts then? Characters certainly doesn't seem to be affected much by this, we can move any direction at max speed, and lots of skills puts us faster than that from standing position. So Inertia is an un-documented PoF feature?

[Steve The Cynic.3217]

@joneirikb.7506 said:

@Steve The Cynic.3217 said:@Leo.3428 It's clearly visible that mounts have inertia, notably the Skimmer (cue complaints about Fishie being in the air), but even the Raptor takes a moment to reach full speed and to stop.

Feels like this only applies to mounts then? Characters certainly doesn't seem to be affected much by this, we can move any direction at max speed, and lots of skills puts us faster than that from standing position. So Inertia is an un-documented PoF feature?

You're not wrong, but bear in mind that it's like that for player characters in every MMORPG I've played, and in most of them, it affects mounts as well. (About the only exception I can think of - apart from GW2 - is the cars in ArcheAge.)

[crepuscular.9047]

this is something i picked up and became a habit while doing 'Not So Secret' every day, totally probably over hundreds of times perhaps, when i was trying to get blade shards as quickly as possible to craft the 3 ascended blade shard backpacks

my tip with jumping across a gap is point your camera downwards so you can see the actual distance, releasing forward key (W) just right before the edge will ensure you do not overshoot the jump; if you see that you are going to overshoot, quickly release forward key and quick taps on the back key

[Khisanth.2948]

@joneirikb.7506 said:

@Steve The Cynic.3217 said:@Leo.3428 It's clearly visible that mounts have inertia, notably the Skimmer (cue complaints about Fishie being in the air), but even the Raptor takes a moment to reach full speed and to stop.

Feels like this only applies to mounts then? Characters certainly doesn't seem to be affected much by this, we can move any direction at max speed, and lots of skills puts us faster than that from standing position. So Inertia is an un-documented PoF feature?

Yes ... this is also why mount feels like driving a tractor trailer.

Not really undocumented since it is part the mounts' design.

[mauried.5608]

Theres also no gravity, or gravity as we know it in GW2.If you jump off a cliff, you fall at a constant speed which is interesting in itself, but the amount of damage you take from falling is proportional to how far you fall, so it cant be the speed at which you hit the ground thats killing you.The strange gravity if indeed there is any also affects how your character moves.If you run on the flat , or up a hill or down a hill, you run at the same speed, and the speed doesnt change regardless of how much junk you are carrying in your inventory.As a silly example you could have maxed out your bag slots with 10 bags , lets assume 20 slot bags which gives you 200 slots and filled every one with 250 iron ingots giving you a total of 50K iron ingots.I have no clue how much an iron ingot in GW2 weighs , but as tiny Asuras can carry them as fast Norns can they must weigh about as much as a feather.Might explain why tiny Asuras can wield huge swords which are bigger than they are .

[Leo.3428]

More than once have I wanted to try and do a "realistic" drawing of my Asura warrior with blades spiking all around and metal chests plowing the ground. Someone probably did already.

Thank you all for the physics and tips! Strange world indeed :P

[joneirikb.7506]

Reminds me of someone making a joke comic on warhammer40k, some of (most of) the armors and gear there defines any logic or reason, especially the Dark Eldar armors that tends to be so full of blades and spikes as to make a hedgehog look cuddly.

Yeah there are some stereotypes/tropes I really don't care for, but the whole "silly physics" is mostly just fun :)

[Turkeyspit.3965]

The people of Tyria have only been capable of jumping for the past 250 years, give or take, so it's still relatively new for some folk.

[Leo.3428]

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:The people of Tyria have only been capable of jumping for the past 250 years, give or take, so it's still relatively new for some folk.

Hilarious! :lol:

We must thank this mutation that developed the leapatory muscle in all species.

(To those who don't know about the mechanics of Guild Wars first of the name, characters had to go around any logs or small rocks in the way.)