Would this combat idea work?

Ok, I've been vocal about not liking the combat system... but as much as I didn't want to come off as a whiner without any constructive ideas, I couldn't come up with a suggested solution. However, after plenty of thought I have a suggestion.

One of my complaints is I hate not being able to eventually learn which skill is on what key. I want to be able to watch the enemy and the fight and not my fingers and the deck, so want muscle memory to take over eventually. So my biggest whine was having different skills in different places on the bar.

I also felt the static deck was slow and boring, as well as took too big of a penalty to use effectively.

I don't really mind skills coming up somewhat randomly too much, as long as we can "stack the deck" to deal our favorite ones more often. In traditional MMOs the coold-owns did this to a degree anyway and the rotations are somewhat fun.

So here is my thought... PLEASE think these through as how they would play before posting a kneejerk response. I hope I can explain this well.

I have two ways to deliver a similar experience;

#1 - Random Skills, 2 hotbars.

I could see us having two bars at the bottom instead of the one. Obviously this would take a bit more screen space, so I would suggest that either both bars be made shorter, like half of the current height so NO more room would be taken up, or the top skill bar be made shorter and the bottom be left the same.

So imagine two rows at the bottom of the screen, one above the other. (keep that open mind, yo!)

The TOP bar is where the skills appear, similar to what we have now in a custom deck. However, this top, higher bar is NOT clickable. It is simply where the available skills are SHOWN, randomly, and disappear. There can be slugs, skills, etc.., almost exactly the same as the bar we now use.

The BOTTOM, lower bar is clickable and is assigned to hotkeys 1-10/etc. based on skill choice, just like now.

However, this bar is STATIC. It is setup like the current static bar, so each tab has an assigned skill/spell, set by you. The difference is the only skills that we can USE are the ones that are shown in the moving hotkeys in the upper bar. When a skills is shown in the top bar and able to be used, the corresponding tab in the bottom bar lights up, and can be clicked.

So when fighting, the top bar shows the skills available, the same as now when using the random setup, but the BOTTOM bar is what is clicked on by the player. This way Tab 1 can always activate the same skill, as can tab 2, tab 3, etc..

It combines the random skill availability and delivery of the custom/random deck, and the functional activation of the skills the way the static deck works... it pleases both fans.

If there are multiples of the same skills being shown on the TOP bar, the bottom corresponding tab can be clicked two or three times in a row to use the skill more than once. Combos can be executed by clicking two bottom keys at once, or by hitting 2 keys in succession or something similar.

#2 - 1 hotbar, the top tab in the example above is hidden and not seen;

This model is the same as what I wrote above, but the skill availability choices happen in the background and the top tab is hidden.

So the randomness, slugs and the same system of skill availability we now use with a custom deck is used, but we don't see the available skills like we do in my example above, all we see is the bottom row of static tabs, each assigned to one specific skill as described above.

When the game randomly chooses "fire arrow" for example, the hotkey for "fire arrow" lights up and is available. If two skills are randomly available, those 2 skills light up in the single static hotkey bar, and you can choose to activate either. If you don't use a skill in a certain period of time, it becomes unavailable, just like now.

I said the tabs should "light up", but they can go up and down as well... as long as they go up and down in STATIC places.

So it's the same as a custom deck now... we still choose multiples of the same skill if we want that to come up more often, etc.. However, rather than have them come up in different places each time they're available like now, they are ALWAYS linked to the same key/spot.

So when fighting, we'd still be "sent" skills and slugs randomly like we are now, but since the actual keys are STATIC, we would assign certain spells and skills to specific keys to activate. I would know that "fire arrow" is ALWAYS tab 1 or my #1 key, "shield slam" is always tab 2 and activated by my #2 key, etc etc..

Again, this can please both the people who like to "create a deck" as well as those who want static activation keys. The custom deck is created by the player, but the same tab/key is always used to activate it.

I guess the easiest way to explain it, is instead of the skills/spells randomly coming up from left to right like they do now, tab 1 to tab 7, they'd still come randomly, but come into slots pre-assigned to that specific skill/spell by us.

So they may drop in this or any order... tab 2, tab 6, tab 5, tab 2, tab 1, etc., as random as now based on your deck choices, but each tab would always activate the same skill, letting us have a static bar with random skills filling it.

Thoughts?

 

First off, I commend that you're taking something you're not happy about and responding by offering constructive criticism. However, I either don't fully understand your suggestion or I disagree with it.

As I understand it, you're saying the static deck is slow and has a penalty, but you want the glyph system to operate like the static deck where they are locked to a certain spot.

I don't see that there is a penalty to the static bar so much as an advantage to the random glyphs to offset the increased difficulty of not knowing where something is going to pop up.

You can still play with a locked bar and use muscle memory to hit certain keybinds for skills. If you buy a skill multiple times, the focus cost is reduced on the static/locked bar. You can spend points on skills to reduce focus costs on locked bars, and increasing your focus pool. You have the advantage of an easier system that you can even macro if you wanted.

The glyph system is optional. The global cool down is slower in this game than others I've played. And with experience you can learn to both watch the screen and your hotbar. In playing games like WOW and SWTOR, people learn to have situational awareness of everything happening on their screen, other players and their hotbars. It is a learned skill.

 

In my and many others opinion the static desk is terribly slow... with or without the penalty it's boring. "Wake me up when the mob dies". Yeah I'm being a bit tongue in cheek. Just a bit. The static deck DOES get penalized as it is now. The penalty (among others) is it's not FUN to use.

However there are just as many objections about the custom deck idea. If I had a buck for each time I saw someone call it "whack-a-mole" I could buy a city. From what I gather, the random PLACEMENT of how we activate the skills is more objected to than the random access TO the skills.

Here is a line just posted by another user:

So when I have to focus on staring at the random cards, it fails. Instantly, without recourse. When I get nerfed for locking my bar so that I cannot move while fighting, the system fails, instantly.

The idea above combines the two... it allows us to use a bar with static skill placement, yet still create the custom decks we prefer. It speeds up the gameplay for the static skill activation lovers, while removing the "whack-a-mole" aspect of the custom deck users. In my opinion, leaving the best of both worlds. It gives us a static hotbar while still randomizing the skills and letting us each build our preferred decks.

 

Sui Generis



I've always liked the look and explaination of how combat works in Sui Generis. We have a ways to go on the animations and sound of it.
Thank you Barnabas also for the thought and time you put into this. I have not argued much for or against the deck/glyph system as I have been in the wait and see and watch what other say place on it.
I for the life of me have not been able to find an example that will give an example that I want to add to the combat system we have to make it more fun and special feeling. I know that graphically it should
improve over time with the sounds effects coming in and animations improved, so that is my excuse for the wait and see, but I do understand your concern at this point. I want it to be more visually pleasing and
and our interaction with the system to feel right. It will have to do with how it feels and the sound made corresponding when I connect my axe at impact is important .
We might or might not be on the right road, I don't believe we are there yet.

 

And yet there are others creating threads saying SotA is a FPS game because the global cool down is so fast.

In my experience, the cool down in SotA is slower than other games. I'd like to see abilities to increase the speed.

 

LOL... I don't know how anyone can feel the cooldown is fast. I've never seen a MMO where the time between skills is this slow, and I've literally played every major release.