How to make a real combat system in an MMO - Part 2

How to make a real combat system in an MMO - Part 2
Thanks for the comments from the last one guys - I'll start off by guildwars gold replying to those comments, as they

raised some interesting points:

Real-time vs turn-based: I wouldn't suggest an guildwars gold actual turn-based system, guild wars it would have to be sped up and made real(ish) time such as they do with the DnD style games. Real guild wars turn based would be guild wars gold boring to play, I agree. Ideally I'd want

to speed things up just enough to beat lag + guild wars reaction time (which imo you need to allow a minmimum of 0.5-

0.75s for...reaction time at best is ~ 0.2s, and my lag playing buy guild wars gold in Australia is guildwars gold routinely ~ 0.3s).

Age of Conan: It sounds like AoC with guildwars gold it's 0.5s attack time may guild

wars meet my minimum requirements not to be twitch...and if not, at buy guild wars gold least it's better than an guild wars gold FPS. I hope it is an awesome, deep combat system to boot :)

Fighting games (eg street fighter etc): I think these games guild wars would need to be slowed down to make an MMO, again

to take away the lag/reflexes factor. I'm not sure how guild wars balanced guildwars

gold those games would be if things were slowed down a lot though...not that I've ever tried, but it seems buy guild

wars gold like it would be pretty guild wars gold hard to lose in street fighter playing ultra slow-mo :) My goal guildwars gold is to create a system that would theoretically stand by itself as a guild

wars turn-based game.... if there's guild wars gold a console fighting game that can do this, I'd guildwars gold love to see it implemented as an MMO.

And on to today's instalment...

---------------------------

To recap, I want to see an MMO that allows a large number guild wars of viable builds, each of which buy guild wars gold feels very different in play (but not in function) to the others. The game should be strategic guild wars gold and not require excessive reflexes or micro skills, but should be fast-paced enough that the combat feels guildwars gold like it moves at a similar pace to guild wars current MMO's. guild wars gold Before we get to the idea I have to solve this problem, there are a couple of more restrictions to add to

the mix.

1) PLAYERS ARE MONKEYS I've seen a lot of guild wars gold people recently guild wars

arguing that skill-based systems (where any character can pick any skill, and you guildwars gold level up that skill

through use, effectively creating your own class) guild wars gold are more interesting to play than class-based systems

(where your class can only pick from guild wars gold certain guild wars skills, and

your role is more clear-cut). Now, I agree that these make for great games (eg oblivion).... IF you guildwars gold know

what you're doing. If you don't, buy guild wars gold it can be kind of overwhelming.

The solution in single player RPG's: give players suggested builds to follow. The guild wars gold problem is, some

players won't follow the builds, and will choose their own options anyway. While it is fully possible to come up with a much better build than the suggested

ones, let's face it, many players are going to pick the worst possible options, whether because they're not familiar guild

wars with the game engine, have some preconceived notions about what should be buy guild wars gold good based on

other games they've played, or are just monkeys :) But, guild wars gold fortunately, in a single player RPG you can go at

your own pace. If you die because your build sucked, you can reload, or you can spend time luring enemies off and killing them one by one, or whatever. The

point is, it doesn't harm anybody that the player has made themselves a sucky build.

However, the same isn't true of an MMO. My experience with guild wars MMO's, specifically, class-based MMO's, is that

players routinely choose the worst possible build imaginable, and refuse to try another build for whatever reason. The problem is, it's hard to identify

these people before they join your group. Imagine taking a player into your group who buy guild wars gold claims to guild wars gold be a healer, load your team into a really hard mission, and then your 'healer' goes 'leeroy-ing' off into

the enemy with a sword guild wars in hand. The group is quickly going to return to town, probably swear at the n00b a

little bit before booting him and searching for someone else. That n00b just wasted everybody's time, and let's face it, buy

guild wars gold is going to feel a little downtrodden. He'll then tell all his guild wars friends that your game

sucks, all the people are assholes, he's going back to WoW.

Now, this is a problem that I've noticed with MMO's that HAVE classes, ie pre-defined roles. guild wars gold The main

reason that I quit playing Guild Wars, which I played for 2 years, was that it was difficult to find people to play with who actually knew what they were

doing, and this was due to the huge variety of builds available (most of which sucked). If we try and give these monkeys a guild wars skill-based system to follow, I think it would buy guild wars gold increase

the proportion of completely guildwars gold ridiculous builds that we'd see, which would lead to even more guild wars gold elitism than seen in other games, and all around general frustration both on the part guildwars gold of the experienced player (being forced to play with n00bs) and the new guild wars player (sucking so badly!).

So I think classes are pretty much buy guild wars gold mandatory in MMO's, unless the guild wars gold human race evolves guild wars their IQ about another guildwars gold +50 average points...

2) FORCE PLAYERS TO THINK....JUST A LITTLE

Talking about PvE exclusively now: the combat system guild wars should not in any way promote buy guild wars gold passive tanking. That is, a class with high armor that just draws aggro and stands around, guildwars gold stopping to refresh their tanking skills as needed. In a real combat system, MMO or otherwise, standing

still and LETTING THE ENEMY HIT guildwars gold YOU with their BIG, POINTY WEAPONS should result guild wars in you dying. Fast. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for that warrior striding into battle, his sword flying guild wars gold in an arc of death in front of buy guild wars gold him, deflecting

enemy blades as he dances nimbly between them, etc etc. But that would guildwars gold be an active process, where you

don't die guild wars by virtue of your skill, as guildwars gold opposed to just

sitting there like a sack of potatoes.

Note that this is not necessarily buy guild wars gold killing the beloved 'holy trinity' of guild wars gold tanking, guild wars nuking and healing.

guildwars gold It's just making the tank work for it a bit.

Who's next on the block for the holy trinity? The tank's guildwars gold best buddy, the healer. Imagine a game where

heals don't cast in under a second, from range, to heal someone's health bar almost full in one go. Imagine a game where heals are guild wars something that can only be realistically cast after battle, buy guild wars

gold to patch things up (say they have a touch guild wars gold requirement a la DnD, or take a long time to cast,

etc). But how do we then stop someone who is the target of focus fire from taking a ton of damage?? I guild wars hear you

cry. The answer is obvious for those of you who know anything about Guild Wars PvP.

In Guild Wars, monks have conventional healing skills to choose from. guild wars But they also have a different

attribute, protection prayers. Protection prayers are something guildwars gold you cast on the person guild wars gold when you see that they are buy guild wars gold about to get walloped,

ie BEFORE the damage lands. This reqsuires a ton of a lot more skill than simply guild wars gold being a 'heal guild wars bot' as is often lamented in other games. All the good monks from the top GvG guilds ran protection prayers guild wars as their main spells, resorting to the healing prayers mainly to buy guild wars

gold cast party-wide spells to mop up excess damage.

And that leaves our friend the nuker. My temptation here is to say, make guild wars AoE spells affect party members also,

ie friendly fire. This would completely obliterate that which is guildwars gold all too common these days, watching a

tank fight in a veritable rainbow shitstorm of spells, which somehow all manage to miss him and only hit the enemy. However, see point 1) about monkeys.... I

am guild wars gold sure that people will continue to play their guildwars gold

nukers in the exact same way, and obliterate their own party most of the time. buy guild wars gold So how to make the

nuker work a bit harder? Imagine a typical dungeon in which enemies are encountered in small groups, but the nuker has limited nukes, or mana, or something

available to him (DnD does this).

This would necessitate nukes being saved until they're really needed, guild wars gold and seen as somewhat precious, as

opposed to randomly nuking everything in sight. Of course, the nuker buy guild wars gold can merely quaff a guildwars gold potion, or rest in most guild wars games, to recover his spells/mana. guildwars gold Perhaps a game with more restrictions on these kinds of options would lead to more tactical nuking.

3) THIS IS WAR, PEOPLE I'm buy guild wars gold going to talk often about Guild Wars probably, as it has the guild wars gold most balanced combat system I've seen in an MMO. However, tactics in a GvG boil down to guildwars gold the following:

- You can fight 8v8, or you can "split"

- Fighting 8v8, your warriors build up until ready to guild wars unleash their most powerful moves, buy guild wars gold and then a player on the other team who is vulnerable at the time is selected to "spike", ie kill guildwars gold quickly before the monks can react (the monks are often shut down temporarily during this window by anti-

caster characters). There's a lot of interplay between the various guild wars gold class types and heaps of skill buy guild wars gold involved in terms of timing, skill selection, positioning, energy management, kiting, and much more,

but in terms of overall TEAM tactics, not much is going on. The guildwars gold idea is.....stop enemy spikes, while

killing enemy with spikes. OR, guild wars you can...

- Split. There are NPC's in GvG maps who contribute to the final showdown at the end of the GvG. If guild wars gold you

can take down some of these NPC's while preserving your own, you will have a huge leg guildwars gold up. Without going

guild wars too much into it, splitting involves basically running around the map buy

guild wars gold and trying to chip away at these NPC's.

Anyone ever read Sun Tzu's Art of War? See anything guild wars missing here? This is buy

guild wars gold supposed to be a battle, where is the strategy? The deepest guild wars PvP game guildwars gold I've ever played has 2 guild wars gold real tactics buy guild wars gold open to it! I'd like to see a system where:

- Scouting

- Destroying supply lines

- Diversionary tactics

- Flanking

- Ambushes

and probably a whole lot more are all possible. Now, all these guild wars things are both buy guild wars gold possible and are actually quite important in a game like Starcraft.... would that we guild wars gold could see an MMO where this stuff mattered too.

4) CAN I PLAY TOO, DADDY? Finally, the most delicate line guild wars of all to walk. We all know that to be a successful

MMO, you have to dangle the proverbial carrot on the buy guild wars gold stick

guildwars gold in front of the player, make them always strive for that next level up, that slightly better item, etc. On the other hand though, casual

players are put off guild wars by this guild wars gold because it means that they

aren't going to be competitive, whether in PvE or PvP. The last thing you want is for a new player to, say, download your 14 day trial guildwars gold and go wtf, these guys that have been playing for 12 months are so much better than me, I'll never be able

to compete.

A newcomer to the game who is actually skilled, should be guild wars able to catch up, and guild wars gold in terms of item power and guildwars gold character level, be able to

compete within a couple of guild wars months (ie, long enough for them to learn how to play the game properly). But, the

dedicated players will hate you for this, buy guild wars gold bitch about there being no end game, etc.

What I'd suggest to do is borrowing buy guild wars gold and improving upon another page from Guild Wars' guild wars gold book....to make things that effect the power of your character relatively easy to obtain, guildwars gold but to make anything else guild wars difficult to obtain. In Guild Wars,

guildwars gold max weapons and armor are obtainable within a month of not too hardcore

buy guild wars gold playing....and if you make a "PvP only" character, within a few hours of playing. The catch? The stuff looks BORING. You can pick the

leet players in the game guild wars because they have the terrifying great black sword with swirling shadows on it,

burnished silver looking platemail, etc, etc. guildwars gold This gave incentive for hardcore gamers to grind and get

the coolest looking stuff, buy guild wars gold without making it unfair for casual players.

After playing such a system, I have to buy guild wars gold say, I will never again play an MMO like WoW guild wars gold in which you basically never become 'maxed out'.

My ideal MMO would need more stuff for players to guild wars grind towards than just buy

guild wars gold weapons and armor though. I would make fairly much anything that you can think of that DOESN'T effect the outcome of a guild wars gold battle something that must be worked for. So along with weapons and armour, stuff like guildwars gold player housing, guild halls, player built cities, titles/emotes for completing a vast array of different

content, guildwars gold ladders, and anything else that you think players might want to work towards.

So, the combat system is ALLOWED to be item- and guild wars level-centric, buy guild

wars gold but the items guild wars gold can't be too hard to obtain for casual players.

----------------

That wraps it up for now, I want to read everyone else's guild wars blogs before I go to bed :) Next time, I buy guild wars gold shall put my money where my mouth is and stop talking about problems, guild wars gold and start suggesting solutions! Feel free to discuss or add any more points you think I may have missed. guildwars gold Who knows, maybe somebody buy guild wars gold will listen...

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