Combat

[lostprophet]

I\'ve seen many a mmorpg put in really innovative ideas but still use the click-and-wait style of combat (e.g. neverwinter nights, run?scape). What\'s the combat going to be like in PS?

[Wedge]

http://www.planeshift.it/player_combat.html
That\'s old but the only official thing I\'ve ever seen.

Basically it seems fairly automated except you can issue a fighting style for your character to take.

I\'d really like to know what KotOR\'s fighting is like, if anyone has played that, and if it would be any good here.  Stupid thing don\'t come out on PC till\' November...

[Drilixer]

Originally posted by Wedge
http://www.planeshift.it/player_combat.html
That\'s old but the only official thing I\'ve ever seen.

Basically it seems fairly automated except you can issue a fighting style for your character to take.

I\'d really like to know what KotOR\'s fighting is like, if anyone has played that, and if it would be any good here.  Stupid thing don\'t come out on PC till\' November...

what is KotOR?

[deos]

Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic.

I have the version for XBOX. The combat is simple. Target, click, wait, repeat...etc.... yawn

[Wedge]

Jee they sure make it sound like more... oh well Vagrant Story has fun combat, but I don\'t think that would work  in a MMO... hmmm lesee... Valkrie Profile\'s rules... no that wouldn\'t work... maybe something like Grandia\'s combat would work.  All the partcipants in combat run on a single timer you can see, and if someone is charging a spell or about to attack, if you hit them hard enough it would cancel their turn.  And it took place in a real-time envronment, so a character actually has to move within range of the enemy to hit them, and vice-versa.  Yeah that\'s the best one I can think of right now.

[Drilixer]

don\'t yal think the devs have already discussed the combat system?  I\'m sure they will have already cemented whatever idea they want to use and are currently in the process of hammering it out... although they probably have alot of hammering to do...

[lostprophet]

I thought of one goes a little something like this...

Each person has 5 attack and 5 defense slots. There would be a turn every 7 seconds or so. Each slot could be filled at any time.
You click on an attack slot and choose an attack, there would be four basic attacks; high, medium, low, magic. There would be sub attacks that could be learnt or whatever.
You click on a defense slot to choose a kind of defense corresponding to the attacks; duck, parry, jump or magic defense. This way, you can try and predict what they\'re going to use, and the other player can\'t win by using one really powerful move all the time.

I reckon this adds some skill to the combat, because I pesonally find automated combat boring, because people who play 15 hours a day become unbeatable, and combat is essentially boiled down to numbers.

Comments please?

[Drilixer]

and skill depends on something that many people who play games dont have - skill/luck/coordination... making a \'skill\' based system would turn this game into a FPS and that is generally harmfull for roleplaying... that is why most mmorpgs use automated combat

[lostprophet]

FPS? I\'m not saying that we all get our plasma crossbows out, I\'m just saying I\'m personally bored of auto combat. It gives long-time players too much of an advantage, because all they need to do is click and wait. What\'s the fun in killing a dragon if all you have to do is click on it, go make a cuppa and come back?

[Xordan]

LOL, yuh. The only way that u\'d need to be at u\'r pc is if there is pk\'ing. U wouldnt want to be ripped apart while u were making  that cuppa lol.

[Drilixer]

Originally posted by lostprophet
FPS? I\'m not saying that we all get our plasma crossbows out, I\'m just saying I\'m personally bored of auto combat. It gives long-time players too much of an advantage, because all they need to do is click and wait. What\'s the fun in killing a dragon if all you have to do is click on it, go make a cuppa and come back?

hehe... thats why the devs have to make sure that monsters for all players (and especially the high end players) dont fight mindlessly and have unique traits and abilities... I\'m sure whatever system is used will require some thought on the players part and cooperation amongst party members... even if you still click and wait... you might not be waiting as long as you think before you have to change \'clicks\'

[deos]

This is just my opinion but I think the reason why there are only automated combat systems is to compensate for lag. I dont think the server would be able to keep up with every single bullet, sword slash and so forth coming from 100+ people at once. Even if the server could keep up that would leave lagging players for dead. Now, PlanetSide is advertised as a MMOFPS, I\'m curious as to how well that plays. I think it would be great to take an RPG and turn it into an FPS. Granted there would be no need for many of the stats involved with automated combat but other elements could be added to promote the idea of gaining experience and encouraging people to level up. Just as an example, you could learn some nifty lightening magic that would knock down Mr. Hack N Slash before he even gets within 20 feet of you. But wait, learn the ways of the ninja and learn a chameleon technique and the mage would never have time to react to a knife in the back. There\'s a whole slew of ideas I have about making the game more than just a hacknslash fest but I\'ll post those else where.

[Drilixer]

hehe well not to be rude but the devs arnt going to just drop everything they\'ve done to turn this game towards FPS status... that would not only require them to rewrite the coding and conceptual stuff, but also to find a new fan-base since most of the people here are RPG fanatics

[lostprophet]

I\'ve played an mmofps called project entropia, the only lag i found there was client side due to my crappy specs. I\'m not suggesting real-time combat, just something to keep you busy, like switching styles or choosing attacks or whatever.

[derwoodly]

Generally I find enought stuff to do while in Combat.  If your in a group the monsters drop fast enought that you don\'t have time to switch combat styles.  

Shadowbane combact is very fast.  When your in a group of ten players, you will have to be content with getting one hit/attack per every other monster.  

EQ is slower, but you can use the time to actually chat with your group members.  Everyone complains of auto attack being boring, but making online friends is a big part of the game.