So - what happened to capes?

[Harper.4173]

For those of you not in the loop - GW2's prequel - GW1 had something unique and wonderful which you could add to your character in order to customize -capes.Despite being requested multiple times - GW2 has never had capes - for a variety of "supposed" reasons.

One of the reasons I remember (Although I can't find the post) was posted by Gaile Gray - saying something along the lines of "we want you to have an unobstructed view of your character in order to better identify with it. Well - with the addition of massively oversized and bloated backpieces I think we can declare this reason obsolete.I mean - there's so many backpieces that make it impossible to see anything (to name just one - WvW legendary Warbringer - or some of the crafting ones where you carry around a piece of furniture on your back) that this reason cannot possibly be considered valid today.

Another reason was the "lack of technical means" but given that one backpiece in PoF is almost a cape that can't be it either can it?http://dulfy.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/gw2-banner-of-ancient-elona_thumb.jpg

So - what is it? What's the reason for not having capes in GW2?

[Zoltreez.6435]

Cape looking Back pieces would be cool.....

Even tough im a more of a Hood/robe Big armor guy.......

[TEKnowledgy.1760]

Time happened I guess. i to miss the ol capes. To be honest though, most of the base armors gowns and trench coats would look even worse with capes considering anet lets clothing clip happen.I just recently well within past year or so got turn cape back on for my ranger in gw1 when i switched from the ancient set to the vabbi armor set because the way clipping happened just kinda killed it for me vabbi set isnt a tench coat lol.

[Issildia.1289]

Gosh I miss capes too! They were pretty cool in the first game. Also we did have the choice in GW 1 to display our cape or hide it. We could be given a similar choice here. However I do know that clipping would be a major issue due to Charr and Asuran character models. Maybe the solution would be to have different guild emblem items that you could display based on your race. Char and Asurans could have tabards or sashes. Humans, Norn and Sylvari could have capes. But maybe it's too much work to be worth it to Anet. :anguished:

[Endless Soul.5178]

Unique: Yes.Wonderful: No.Choking hazard: Definitely.

[Danikat.8537]

I love that you know better than Anet what their reasons for not adding capes are.

Have you previewed the banner of ancient Elona in-game? It hovers a noticeable distance behind your character, and still clips into them every time it moves. (Even just rotating your character in the preview window does it.) A cape which should be much closer fitting and conform to the shape of your characters body instead of hanging from a frame would be a thousand times worse.

Let me guess...they could fix that by "just" making it solid so it doesn't clip right? Nice idea...except solid objects in games (and other 3D animation) are solid. They don't bend and move around each other - it'd be like a sheet of cardboard attached to your character. That worked in GW1 because the rest of the animations were on a similar level but it'd look absurd in GW2.

The alternative is to manually animate it and then have the physics engine running in the background constantly calculate what should happen and running the proper animations. That's what they do when good cape physics is unavoidable - the obvious example being the Batman Arkham games. There was no way they could make those without including a cape, and it needed to be well animated. So they had someone spend 2 years working on nothing else to get it right. And even then there's issues with clipping and weird animations.

It's not a coincidence at all that most modern 3D games, except those that can't avoid it, don't include capes. It's just not worth it when the developers could spend that time and processing power building something that more players will actually appreciate.

[Ayakaru.6583]

The new elonian backpacks ruin any 2H weapon, what would a cape do?

[Omar Aschi Popp.7496]

@Danikat.8537 said:I love that you know better than Anet what their reasons for not adding capes are.

Have you previewed the banner of ancient Elona in-game? It hovers a noticeable distance behind your character, and still clips into them every time it moves. (Even just rotating your character in the preview window does it.) A cape which should be much closer fitting and conform to the shape of your characters body instead of hanging from a frame would be a thousand times worse.

Let me guess...they could fix that by "just" making it solid so it doesn't clip right? Nice idea...except solid objects in games (and other 3D animation) are solid. They don't bend and move around each other - it'd be like a sheet of cardboard attached to your character. That worked in GW1 because the rest of the animations were on a similar level but it'd look absurd in GW2.

The alternative is to manually animate it and then have the physics engine running in the background constantly calculate what should happen and running the proper animations. That's what they do when good cape physics is unavoidable - the obvious example being the Batman Arkham games. There was no way they could make those without including a cape, and it needed to be well animated. So they had someone spend 2 years working on nothing else to get it right. And even then there's issues with clipping and weird animations.

It's not a coincidence at all that most modern 3D games, except those that can't avoid it, don't include capes. It's just not worth it when the developers could spend that time and processing power building something that more players will actually appreciate.

So how did they do it in gw1?

[silvermember.8941]

@Omar Aschi Popp.7496 said:

@Danikat.8537 said:I love that you know better than Anet what their reasons for not adding capes are.

Have you previewed the banner of ancient Elona in-game? It hovers a noticeable distance behind your character, and still clips into them every time it moves. (Even just rotating your character in the preview window does it.) A cape which should be much closer fitting and conform to the shape of your characters body instead of hanging from a frame would be a thousand times worse.

Let me guess...they could fix that by "just" making it solid so it doesn't clip right? Nice idea...except solid objects in games (and other 3D animation) are

solid

. They don't bend and move around each other - it'd be like a sheet of cardboard attached to your character. That worked in GW1 because the rest of the animations were on a similar level but it'd look absurd in GW2.

The alternative is to manually animate it and then have the physics engine running in the background constantly calculate what should happen and running the proper animations. That's what they do when good cape physics is unavoidable - the obvious example being the Batman Arkham games. There was no way they could make those without including a cape, and it needed to be well animated.

So they had someone spend

2

years

working on nothing else to get it right

. And even then there's issues with clipping and weird animations.

It's not a coincidence at all that most modern 3D games, except those that can't avoid it, don't include capes. It's just not worth it when the developers could spend that time and processing power building something that more players will actually appreciate.

So how did they do it in gw1?

Are you serious? Reread the post again.

[Omar Aschi Popp.7496]

@silvermember.8941 said:

@Omar Aschi Popp.7496 said:

@Danikat.8537 said:I love that you know better than Anet what their reasons for not adding capes are.

Have you previewed the banner of ancient Elona in-game? It hovers a noticeable distance behind your character, and still clips into them every time it moves. (Even just rotating your character in the preview window does it.) A cape which should be much closer fitting and conform to the shape of your characters body instead of hanging from a frame would be a thousand times worse.

Let me guess...they could fix that by "just" making it solid so it doesn't clip right? Nice idea...except solid objects in games (and other 3D animation) are

solid

. They don't bend and move around each other - it'd be like a sheet of cardboard attached to your character. That worked in GW1 because the rest of the animations were on a similar level but it'd look absurd in GW2.

The alternative is to manually animate it and then have the physics engine running in the background constantly calculate what should happen and running the proper animations. That's what they do when good cape physics is unavoidable - the obvious example being the Batman Arkham games. There was no way they could make those without including a cape, and it needed to be well animated.

So they had someone spend

2

years

working on nothing else to get it right

. And even then there's issues with clipping and weird animations.

It's not a coincidence at all that most modern 3D games, except those that can't avoid it, don't include capes. It's just not worth it when the developers could spend that time and processing power building something that more players will actually appreciate.

So how did they do it in gw1?

Are you serious? Reread the post again.

Yeah if I want realistic physics. I don't think people will cry if their capes aren't PIXAR quality. They just want capes.

For the record I dont care about capes. But I see this as a small cop out. It worked in gw1 because "animation was similar"? What does that MEAN?

In actuality. I am not knowledgeable in 3d animation like you.

[Ardent Heretic.8216]

@Harper.4173 said:So - what is it? What's the reason for not having capes in GW2?

Can you imagine if we all wore something that was only fashionable over 250 years ago? Please. :tongue:

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/9Ybgz

[Dante.1763]

@Omar Aschi Popp.7496 said:

@silvermember.8941 said:

@Omar Aschi Popp.7496 said:

@Danikat.8537 said:I love that you know better than Anet what their reasons for not adding capes are.

Have you previewed the banner of ancient Elona in-game? It hovers a noticeable distance behind your character, and still clips into them every time it moves. (Even just rotating your character in the preview window does it.) A cape which should be much closer fitting and conform to the shape of your characters body instead of hanging from a frame would be a thousand times worse.

Let me guess...they could fix that by "just" making it solid so it doesn't clip right? Nice idea...except solid objects in games (and other 3D animation) are

solid

. They don't bend and move around each other - it'd be like a sheet of cardboard attached to your character. That worked in GW1 because the rest of the animations were on a similar level but it'd look absurd in GW2.

The alternative is to manually animate it and then have the physics engine running in the background constantly calculate what should happen and running the proper animations. That's what they do when good cape physics is unavoidable - the obvious example being the Batman Arkham games. There was no way they could make those without including a cape, and it needed to be well animated.

So they had someone spend

2

years

working on nothing else to get it right

. And even then there's issues with clipping and weird animations.

It's not a coincidence at all that most modern 3D games, except those that can't avoid it, don't include capes. It's just not worth it when the developers could spend that time and processing power building something that more players will actually appreciate.

So how did they do it in gw1?

Are you serious? Reread the post again.

Yeah if I want realistic physics. I don't think people will cry if their capes aren't PIXAR quality. They just want capes.

For the record I dont care about capes. But I see this as a small cop out. It worked in gw1 because "animation was similar"? What does that MEAN?

In actuality. I am not knowledgeable in 3d animation like you.

The animations where stiff as hell and didnt really move with your character. The cape acted more like a pair of jeans that had been covered in paint and left to dry.

[Omar Aschi Popp.7496]

@Dante.1763 said:

@Omar Aschi Popp.7496 said:

@silvermember.8941 said:

@Omar Aschi Popp.7496 said:

@Danikat.8537 said:I love that you know better than Anet what their reasons for not adding capes are.

Have you previewed the banner of ancient Elona in-game? It hovers a noticeable distance behind your character, and still clips into them every time it moves. (Even just rotating your character in the preview window does it.) A cape which should be much closer fitting and conform to the shape of your characters body instead of hanging from a frame would be a thousand times worse.

Let me guess...they could fix that by "just" making it solid so it doesn't clip right? Nice idea...except solid objects in games (and other 3D animation) are

solid

. They don't bend and move around each other - it'd be like a sheet of cardboard attached to your character. That worked in GW1 because the rest of the animations were on a similar level but it'd look absurd in GW2.

The alternative is to manually animate it and then have the physics engine running in the background constantly calculate what should happen and running the proper animations. That's what they do when good cape physics is unavoidable - the obvious example being the Batman Arkham games. There was no way they could make those without including a cape, and it needed to be well animated.

So they had someone spend

2

years

working on nothing else to get it right

. And even then there's issues with clipping and weird animations.

It's not a coincidence at all that most modern 3D games, except those that can't avoid it, don't include capes. It's just not worth it when the developers could spend that time and processing power building something that more players will actually appreciate.

So how did they do it in gw1?

Are you serious? Reread the post again.

Yeah if I want realistic physics. I don't think people will cry if their capes aren't PIXAR quality. They just want capes.

For the record I dont care about capes. But I see this as a small cop out. It worked in gw1 because "animation was similar"? What does that MEAN?

In actuality. I am not knowledgeable in 3d animation like you.

The animations where stiff as hell and didnt really move with your character. The cape acted more like a pair of jeans that had been covered in paint and left to dry.

And yet people were super happy.I don't think it's a stretch at this point to assume the capers will be thankful for a napkin tucked into their collar.

[Dante.1763]

@Omar Aschi Popp.7496 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Omar Aschi Popp.7496 said:

@silvermember.8941 said:

@Omar Aschi Popp.7496 said:

@Danikat.8537 said:I love that you know better than Anet what their reasons for not adding capes are.

Have you previewed the banner of ancient Elona in-game? It hovers a noticeable distance behind your character, and still clips into them every time it moves. (Even just rotating your character in the preview window does it.) A cape which should be much closer fitting and conform to the shape of your characters body instead of hanging from a frame would be a thousand times worse.

Let me guess...they could fix that by "just" making it solid so it doesn't clip right? Nice idea...except solid objects in games (and other 3D animation) are

solid

. They don't bend and move around each other - it'd be like a sheet of cardboard attached to your character. That worked in GW1 because the rest of the animations were on a similar level but it'd look absurd in GW2.

The alternative is to manually animate it and then have the physics engine running in the background constantly calculate what should happen and running the proper animations. That's what they do when good cape physics is unavoidable - the obvious example being the Batman Arkham games. There was no way they could make those without including a cape, and it needed to be well animated.

So they had someone spend

2

years

working on nothing else to get it right

. And even then there's issues with clipping and weird animations.

It's not a coincidence at all that most modern 3D games, except those that can't avoid it, don't include capes. It's just not worth it when the developers could spend that time and processing power building something that more players will actually appreciate.

So how did they do it in gw1?

Are you serious? Reread the post again.

Yeah if I want realistic physics. I don't think people will cry if their capes aren't PIXAR quality. They just want capes.

For the record I dont care about capes. But I see this as a small cop out. It worked in gw1 because "animation was similar"? What does that MEAN?

In actuality. I am not knowledgeable in 3d animation like you.

The animations where stiff as hell and didnt really move with your character. The cape acted more like a pair of jeans that had been covered in paint and left to dry.

And yet people were super happy.I don't think it's a stretch at this point to assume the capers will be thankful for a napkin tucked into their collar.

And yet..people werent at the same time.

[GrubySzymek.1362]

I don't care about clipping. I would wear capes if we had them. Just like new backitems mentioned, they clip just like old GW1 capes and I don't care about this. I would use these new backpacks but they are hovering too far from my back. But it gives me hope they are working on capes.

[Dawdler.8521]

I can just imagine how it went in the Anet meeting room:

Anet producer: "Alright guys and girls, we need capes! Good designs, flashy, physics, ideas?"Anet designer: "You want skirts?"Anet producer: "No I said capes!"Anet designer: "Yeah I got some great ideas for skirts here, look at this Asuran male heavy armor!"Anet coder: "I already did the skirt physics coding, this is gonna be awesome!"...Anet producer: "Fine, skirts it is."

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@Omar Aschi Popp.7496 said:

@Dante.1763 said:The animations where stiff as hell and didnt really move with your character. The cape acted more like a pair of jeans that had been covered in paint and left to dry.

And yet people were super happy.

Um, no. I never liked capes in GW1. The animations looked awkward to me, hid other parts of animation, and were horrid to match to the rest of my gear.

@Omar Aschi Popp.7496 said:I don't think it's a stretch at this point to assume the capers will be thankful for a napkin tucked into their collar.Sure, some people will be satisfied with anything. But most people wouldn't be. And, once capes were added at all, people would clamor for improvements.

Regardless, just adding capes in even napkin form is a fair bit of work.

In short, as with most things, ArenaNet will always do things right or not bother (we might disagree with them about how well they actually did, but there's rarely any legit question that they aimed high to start with).

[AegisRunestone.8672]

I would love capes; especially for my Cecil Harvey (Paladin) cosplay since he wears a cape. I think we could use basic swaying animations to avoid clipping. Like the cape doesn't need to flow in the wind, it doesn't need to past through our character.

Also, Anet could look at "The Capes of Skyrim" mod for Skyrim and see how the animations were done there and apply a similar concept. Skyrim was released a year before GW2, if players can make very good looking capes and cloaks for Skyrim, professional designers for GW2 can too. I don't see any reason why not. YES, Skyrim is mostly first-person, but I've ran around third person with some caped armor and I have seen no issues at all.

Heck, the Nightingale Armor in Skyrim kinda has a cape, and its animations are fine, and never clip on my character. Not to mention it looks GREAT. And the animations are some simple swaying and flowing, nothing drastic or dynamic. I'm guessing it was made simple so it would not cause any clipping problems.

[kharmin.7683]

We already have plenty of capes ... butt-capes. /s

[Witch of Doom.5739]

I liked the old capes, so was thrilled to see the new Sunspear banner which looks a bit like a cape. Too bad you can't dye it, though.

[Omar Aschi Popp.7496]

@Dante.1763 said:

@Omar Aschi Popp.7496 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Omar Aschi Popp.7496 said:

@silvermember.8941 said:

@Omar Aschi Popp.7496 said:

@Danikat.8537 said:I love that you know better than Anet what their reasons for not adding capes are.

Have you previewed the banner of ancient Elona in-game? It hovers a noticeable distance behind your character, and still clips into them every time it moves. (Even just rotating your character in the preview window does it.) A cape which should be much closer fitting and conform to the shape of your characters body instead of hanging from a frame would be a thousand times worse.

Let me guess...they could fix that by "just" making it solid so it doesn't clip right? Nice idea...except solid objects in games (and other 3D animation) are

solid

. They don't bend and move around each other - it'd be like a sheet of cardboard attached to your character. That worked in GW1 because the rest of the animations were on a similar level but it'd look absurd in GW2.

The alternative is to manually animate it and then have the physics engine running in the background constantly calculate what should happen and running the proper animations. That's what they do when good cape physics is unavoidable - the obvious example being the Batman Arkham games. There was no way they could make those without including a cape, and it needed to be well animated.

So they had someone spend

2

years

working on nothing else to get it right

. And even then there's issues with clipping and weird animations.

It's not a coincidence at all that most modern 3D games, except those that can't avoid it, don't include capes. It's just not worth it when the developers could spend that time and processing power building something that more players will actually appreciate.

So how did they do it in gw1?

Are you serious? Reread the post again.

Yeah if I want realistic physics. I don't think people will cry if their capes aren't PIXAR quality. They just want capes.

For the record I dont care about capes. But I see this as a small cop out. It worked in gw1 because "animation was similar"? What does that MEAN?

In actuality. I am not knowledgeable in 3d animation like you.

The animations where stiff as hell and didnt really move with your character. The cape acted more like a pair of jeans that had been covered in paint and left to dry.

And yet people were super happy.I don't think it's a stretch at this point to assume the capers will be thankful for a napkin tucked into their collar.

And yet..people werent at the same time.

I think is reasonable to say that the capers are numerically similar if not more vocal than mounters.

And we got mounts.

[GrubySzymek.1362]

anet has nothing to lose adding capes and they can earn money from skin sales, just like with waypoint unlocks

[Dante.1763]

@Omar Aschi Popp.7496 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Omar Aschi Popp.7496 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Omar Aschi Popp.7496 said:

@silvermember.8941 said:

@Omar Aschi Popp.7496 said:

@Danikat.8537 said:I love that you know better than Anet what their reasons for not adding capes are.

Have you previewed the banner of ancient Elona in-game? It hovers a noticeable distance behind your character, and still clips into them every time it moves. (Even just rotating your character in the preview window does it.) A cape which should be much closer fitting and conform to the shape of your characters body instead of hanging from a frame would be a thousand times worse.

Let me guess...they could fix that by "just" making it solid so it doesn't clip right? Nice idea...except solid objects in games (and other 3D animation) are

solid

. They don't bend and move around each other - it'd be like a sheet of cardboard attached to your character. That worked in GW1 because the rest of the animations were on a similar level but it'd look absurd in GW2.

The alternative is to manually animate it and then have the physics engine running in the background constantly calculate what should happen and running the proper animations. That's what they do when good cape physics is unavoidable - the obvious example being the Batman Arkham games. There was no way they could make those without including a cape, and it needed to be well animated.

So they had someone spend

2

years

working on nothing else to get it right

. And even then there's issues with clipping and weird animations.

It's not a coincidence at all that most modern 3D games, except those that can't avoid it, don't include capes. It's just not worth it when the developers could spend that time and processing power building something that more players will actually appreciate.

So how did they do it in gw1?

Are you serious? Reread the post again.

Yeah if I want realistic physics. I don't think people will cry if their capes aren't PIXAR quality. They just want capes.

For the record I dont care about capes. But I see this as a small cop out. It worked in gw1 because "animation was similar"? What does that MEAN?

In actuality. I am not knowledgeable in 3d animation like you.

The animations where stiff as hell and didnt really move with your character. The cape acted more like a pair of jeans that had been covered in paint and left to dry.

And yet people were super happy.I don't think it's a stretch at this point to assume the capers will be thankful for a napkin tucked into their collar.

And yet..people werent at the same time.

I think is reasonable to say that the capers are numerically similar if not more vocal than mounters.

And we got mounts.

We got mounts because theyve been in the works for a /long/ time. Maybe they already are with capes, who knows, but the amount of work they would need to do to make them functional and make players /not/ complain may be /alot/ more than people think, on top of that, players constantly complain about butt capes, i dont see how real capes would add anything but more complaints.

[Doctor Hide.6345]

You know what. You can get your capes, but when the the capes do come, A-net is introducing new bosses that look like giant fans. See if you like your precious capes after fighting that boss.

[Theocraft.6053]

The standard capes will look stupid on charrs and... that's it. Don't know why they bothers, most things look stupid on charrs anyway (but when it doesn't look stupid, then it looks badass - there is no in-between imo)