6-Month Demo!

For a system as controversial and speculated upon as the combat system in Shroud of the Avatar, it really surprises me they release a "first look" at it like this. One can hope that they will devote a segment detaling the mechanics, and soon. Throwing in my hat with the "Not impressed at all" crowd.

Otherwise, looked great!

 

PvP isnt a series of patterns, if you take UO as an example which imo has the best basis behind PvP. It is about anticipating, countering, preventing/disturbing driven by your own knowledge of the game mechanics and from general experience. Every person you fight is different, they have different skillsets in game and different personal skill/tactics in character movement and timing. The player actually becomes one with the character like a driver of a car becomes one with the vehicle.

Its all about control and choice.

 

I resonate the sentiment that it would have been nice to see it here (or founder/dev+ sections) first. I'd like to offer some praise and contructive criticism though.

Likes:
Crafting table interaction
Community crafting area
City layout
Wildlife
Housing potential
Conversation system
Overall graphic quality

Dislikes:
Lack of 1st person point of view*
Flashing in the skill bar (maybe greyout skills instead of disappearing from bar)
Lack of skill reliability (randomness)
Lack of UI (I like seeing my character's health and stats)
Graphic choppiness (maybe it was just the video coming from ign, but several locations seemed to suffer from low frame rates)

*I think with 1st person point of view, a minimalist UI would shine. In 1st person, you are the avatar. A minimalist UI would add to that realism. In third person, I feel so far removed from the avatar, I might as well have a UI with numerous controls at my fingertips.

Overall, I think it looks really good for 6 months.

 

If alpha is this done I'll be happy. Also, will I be able to tame the ghost chicken seen at 9:40?

 

No. There aren't patterns at all. That's PvE. PvP is the opposite. It's all dynamic. That's why people like it.
This real issue for PvP (or even PvE if you're trying to solo something hard) is that dps is secondary to avoidence and cc. So I want access to some dodge, block, cc, etc. all the time. Maybe not the best one. And can't necessarly spam so I have to anticipate and rotate a bit, but most of the fight really is defensive. It's also about bluffing you're opponent so that you get him to use some big skill, avoid it, and counter.

Honstly it doesn't bother me if I have the card for lighting and really want fire. The problem is the fights just need to be much more about active defence. Even PvE, I want to slow, strafe, dodge, etc. Not just tank the mob with my face hitting random skills.

 

Thank you, nailed UO¨s combat perfectly. Wish they would just copy/paste it.

 

I've never played UO, but I"ve watched a lot of it since following SotA so forgive me, but... It seems like combat in UO is nothing but pressing a play button on a macro program called razor. So forgive me if I think you are all blowing UO way out of proportion here.

 

I agree. It's very good progress for pre-alpha.

 

I'll remind you to remember that Game Creation is like Sausage Making. You are seeing what equates to a baby right after it's birth... sticky, squashed head, covered in goo... Far from what it will grow up into. As someone who has worked in games, I have seen "prototype" builds a LOT less polished then even the combat UI you are seeing here... and it ISN'T even DONE yet. Remember, we're letting you look behind the curtains before most companies will even let you know they are even in development. Enjoy the process and keep an open mind. We still have a long way to go and look at how much we've already accomplished!

 

Amen.

Exactly what I've been saying since June.

This video is an example that could have been shown to the backers in the DEV+ area a week in advance.

They could then have given feedback on what may/may not be looking too well, so Port. could polish it to have a better package to sell.

That is:

a) Zero cost to Port == not more developer time
b) They would not be required to implement anything we say, but feedback only helps
c) an actual plan of attack for marketing and growing the community in a positive way (both existing and new memberships)
d) goes a long way to prevent shot foot/egg on face internetz nerd rage

I grant that my original thread threw a lot of people off with the title (Where is the developer back and forth) but, frankly, it was speaking to exactly these kinds of things that cost zero to Port, to get honest feedback from the supporters of those levels++

 

I appreciate the responses and I think I see my problem understanding PvP. My experience has always been on the receiving side of being PKd

Makes me want to maybe try true PvP (haven't done that since my DAoC days)...

Thanks for the replies, EWHART and PrimeRib!

 

I caught that too when it walked through the crafting table...

 

If they had posted the video on the dev+ forum first, the following would have happened:

1. This thread on dev+ forum
2. Someone would leak it before it was tweaked anyway

Who cares, you all have now seen the video, build a bridge.

 

That's all well and good for us, but what about the people on IGN who are seeing this and thinking that combat is total crap?

 

Razor was/is an enhanced version of UO Assist (legal) that enabled you to loop macros. The general use behind this was actually for skill gain so people could GM (level) their skills afk. Razor like EasyUO was a banned 3rd party program.

EasyUO was exploited to some level in PvP mainly for players who were not actually that skilled in controlling their characters. The main use was auto potting and badaging etc.

I don't really think you can compare a the poor system that is being implemented on SoTA to a great system that was implemented 15+ years ago just because a few people found a way to run a 3rd party script program in an attempt to compete with some of the best skilled PvPers on the shards.

 

Now, if only they would give us NDAs to sign, we might get more interesting information......

 

First off I'd like to say that I agree that it was unwise to post this exclusive video to IGN, their community is made up of some REALLY vicious gamers who only care about the next Call of Honor Zombie Duty Warfare game. This video should have been posted here or dev+ (which I'm not a member of but really should get my act in gear and become a part of) first and then filtered to IGN accordingly.

On to the video itself:

Good:

Housing
Decorating
Basements
Content
NPC interactions
Conversations

Bad:

Scale (in particular with Female Avatar)
Female animations (legs and butt looked like a horse animation)

As for combat, it's early so I'm still very reserved with my opinion and I'll wait and see what this Card based system turns up. I was more upset about how the video was posted and why IGN was chosen, I realize it has a MASSIVE audience but it should be a VERY steamlined demo before posting there.

Just my 5 cents...

 

I can forgive all the other glitches, but if combat wasn't ready for the general public, it should not have been posted on IGN in this fashion, in my opinion.
Having said that, the combat UI is exactly what I expected, being exactly what was described. I guess we're on rails until Alpha. :|

 

Will i be able to move objects in dungeons like i do in my house?

 

Yes, if you mean your basement. Dungeons might be similar, but not as open to placement.