# Poll: How do you feel about the new Explore Animations?

**URL:** <https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/poll-how-do-you-feel-about-the-new-explore-animations/89978>\
**Category:** Feature Requests and Game feedback\
**Created:** [July 17, 2026, 3:36am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/poll-how-do-you-feel-about-the-new-explore-animations/89978 "2026-07-17T03:36:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 26

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**Author:** ![Jeto](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/jeto/32/101682_2.png) [@Jeto](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Jeto)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2026, 12:59am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/poll-how-do-you-feel-about-the-new-explore-animations/89978/26 "2026-10-06T00:59:18Z")

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Rather than sharing in the patch notes for 9.4, just going to post this in here.  
I did previously have a discussion with Sirrian around animations, especially around when the Explore update was being released, so I poked at them again today about it… _Because I couldn’t find my talk with them through all the messages I have sent about Explore and animations generally_

Sharing this with the stipulation and understanding of, I don’t think this is going to change anyones opinions on animations, the reasons “behind” them being implemented etc, I just wanted to get something from Sirrian directly to share.

> - Using the PUZZLE BOARD as an example:
> - In general - a lot of the really weird bugs you see in battle are because of 4x speed mode and animation skipping.
> - We’ll never take 4x animation speed away - obviously - but the lesson we learned from that is to put in animations and let them play out - allow skips on longer ones, never shorter ones.
> 
> - The nature of modern game engines is that you get some fairly complex time-related issues - something as simple as a match-3 game can be more complex than an FPS here, because of the strictly sequential nature of things - order of resolution becomes extremely important
> - This gets exacerbated by three things:
> - All the different spec/performance devices we need to operate on - some of which cause all sorts of timing issues
> - 12 years of content and updates that get exponentially more difficult to test with each other and give the possibility of bad timing interactions
> - The particular server model of GoW can be a bit sensitive to skipping ahead past server calls [again, a 12 year old game system]
> 
> - Our solution:
> - Use unskippable animations to hide server calls
> - Use animations sparingly to allow things to resolve in the background
> - Allow skips where we can (e.g. reward lists, because these happen after an animation call)
> 
> - Just to reiterate  
> Animations are never added maliciously to slow anyone’s enjoyment
> - They ARE added to improve stability and player experience - and they are always kept to a minimum
> - Skipping is added wherever we can do so without the risk of more problems

**Again** , I don’t think this is going to change anyone’s opinions or theories, but I wanted to get a direct quote to share.  
Also, this was after I specifically mentioned Explore, in case anyone reads this and assumes this whole comment is **only** about battle animations

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