A few thoughts on skills, and combat in general(PVP or PVM)

So while I feel this post would benefit in the PVP category as well, I find it overall belongs here.

Skills:
Granted, I have faith LB and his team have desires to lead skills in a similar direction that have been present in UO, I must point out the beauty of it vs games today and for the last decade.
First, one of the things I miss MOST about my Ultima Online experience was the way skills worked. Once you reached a maximum, or near maximum skill level, it wasn't absolutely a necessity to continue until you were absolutely maxed. Tamers, for example, one of the most regarded mounts/hardest to tame pets were the Fire Steed, and White Wyrm. But you didn't HAVE to be absolutely maxed in taming to get one of these animals(or many other high end tamable's. Skill up-to and including max would offer better chances, and maybe better ability to bond with your pet, but you were still able to at least GET one. This coincides with the ability where other Tamers could transfer a pet to you, and the required level to "OWN" as opposed to "TAME" was slightly lesser. Beautiful aspect to let tamers get to know each other and have that bond and respect when a Master Tamer helps an Adventuring Tamer out. Where I am getting with this is, UO didn't make it so you had to be the absolute highest to attain the "fun and worthy" rewards, nor did they have to increase the caps of skills every expansion, increasing the distance from start to finish for any given skill. Again, I have faith LB knows exactly the discrepancies and struggles I've mentioned, but I found it best to post anyway for though and good measure.

In case anyone wants this in a different perspective so they don't feel I'm actually solely talking about taming. Magery is a good example as well, you didn't have to be 100 points in to be able to cast the highest spells, in fact 80% to max points would allow you to cast pretty much every spell in the book, but the chance of "Succesfully" casting that spell was increased, giving still a solid reason to continue Grand-mastering your skill!

Combat in general,
To maybe some this section up, because there are many different things to look at with combat, but one thing I feel is absolutely essential to having a unique, and successful to the point of industry recognition, is having a combat system that is not as slow as a snail, and is fast and fluid enough to immerse you into what you are doing. Trying to fight!
All these MMOs today keep coming out with this "NEW" and "Innovating" combat style that focuses on visual aspects rather than intuitive and real hands on(user input). What I mean is things like games are focusing on making the char look like he's really hitting the enemy(yeah, that's cool) or allowing you to choose where to hit(hey, that's cool too) but the time it takes to usually perform any combat moves can range from a full second, or even 8!(Let me go get a drink while I wait for my gate to finish casting).
I feel one of the strongest reasons why UO is regarded as having some of the best PVP and combat in general is because somebody understood that there is a whole new level of immersion to achieve when it comes to combat/user input(keyboard and mouse). When you have to hit keys often, and quickly, a user is going to get more immersed and focused on what they are doing. With World of Warcraft, it could take 2-5 seconds for a character to properly heal themselves with one heal spell. With UO, you had a quick heal that was probably close to 1/4 of a second, and a greater heal close to 1-2. The fantastic thing about the system was for PvM and everyday use, you didn't need to be super focused and hitting all kinds of buttons, nah, normal macros worked fine. But when you wanted to PvP or **** got hot, you could instantly be thrown and "immersed" into saving your ass, or someone else's.

- I just feel combat is just too damn slow today. There is no immersion and not enough hands on. Microsoft and Sony want both your hands on their controllers with nearly all your fingers moving for a reason!
- I don't believe any 3d non-isometric game will ever be as quick and detailed as UO [or even close], simply because 3d games can't seem to stand a chance at keeping up before lag insets, but surely they can do better than 3 seconds to cast a freaking healing spell.

Gods speed, development team!

- Your fan,
Skillz from Atlantic

 

Most games have some combination of the following options:
1) Active dodge. Often double tapping A or D.
2) Defend. Stand and "tank" the blow. This would include block, parry, cast shield or heal, etc.
3) CC/Interrupt. This generally stops the skill and adds some extra cc / cool down / immunity. e.g. If I land the interrupt while he's casting there's a 4s silence or immunity to that school of magic, etc.
4) Just hit the person with damage. To your point, this is generally the least effective strategy but better than nothing when you're out of options.