Combat

Comments

• Jatar Member UncommonPosts: 348

  March 2008

  Originally posted by Hexxeity
  
  
  I don't see anything in the Combat section of the FAQ about positional and area attacks.
  For me, these add far more interactivity to combat than some abstract Block and Parry mechanism that is usually only represented by a floating word or maybe a sound effect.
  Combat in general needs to have actions and moves with very visible, very understandable results.  If I can't watch combat on the screen, in the game world itself, and tell exactly what's going on, then your combat system is a failure.
  If I have to read the chat window spam to figure out what just happened, I will not be playing your game for more than a week.
  But back to positional and area attacks.  Abilities that require you to move your character around, or to choose the best ability for the position you happen to currently be in, add just the right amount of player interactivity to keep the battle interesting without straying too far into the Kingdom of Twitch.
  In my opinion, City of Heroes has the best combat in any MMOG.  (It is, in fact, one of only two things the game does well.)  If you haven't played it, you are shooting yourselves in the foot as developers.
  EDIT:  Auras and AOE toggle buffs/debuffs would also fall into this category!
  

  I read your post over several times, and I have to say, I agree completely.  Fortunately, we have considered ALL of your points and believe we have designed a system that handles these issues.  It isn't easy, and we will be tweaking this system continuously to find that 'sweet spot' between standing and hacking an opponent, and 'twitchy' moving around too much. 

  Most of all we're seeking to bring as many strategic choices as possible to the combat system.  However, these strategic choices are optional, and though they will enhance your ability to do well in combat, players who don't take adventage can still play the game. 

  Example: Your opponents might keep three archers in the back, taking cover.  And have a wizard causing havoc from another position.  You can recognize their tactics and devise a way to take out those archers and that wizard before mopping up the toe-to-toe guys up front.  However... if you don't, you might take a lot more damage while if you just fight the infantry guys first and then ranged attacks.    This is just one simple example. 

  An example of movement to help your tactics might be as simple as charging the archers with a warrior.  Once he gets into melee range they cannot continue to use their bows effectively (at least in our game).

  Alternately, you could use an fire AOE attack on the archers to get them out in the open and not firing their bows while you take on the infantry hand to hand.

  Anyway, just wanted you to know that we consider the combat system crucial to the play of the game and are spending a lot of time working on the design and will spend equal amounts of time in testing and tweaking it before release. 

  I'll explain a lot more about the combat system in future articles when the time is right (and we've tested to the point where we feel it is a good working system).

  Jatar

  Citadel of Sorcery dev team member