COMBO's - Next evolution for skills - Loot + Faction + Quests

@Chris

The current combo system is probably used by a very small procentage of players , i know as a player the whole drag to combine ..especially during heat of the battle ...its just not there for me ...

I think the combo system is another great opportunity to enrich the game with more loot , more meaningfull quests and something for when the faction system comes up.

Combo's should to be the next evolution for skills ... Any skilled player should aim towards developing a deck of combos . ... but instead of just giving them ... make us work for them .

Create another skill tree for combos only , where players can see available ones ...

- To unlock a combo would require 3 ingredients 1 from a quest ( first skill card ) , 1 obtainable from a faction store ( second skill card) , and 1 obtainable from loot ( can be 100 essences or whatever ) . Once a player aquires all 3 ingredients he can go to a crafting table and combine the 2 skill cards with the special essences to create a combo card then all he has to do is right click the apropiate combo in the tree and UNLOCK .

He will now have 1 combo card he can add to the deck . His next target would be to upgrade that combo ...each level would allow him to add another card to his battle deck for up to a maximum of 6 cards . Each upgrade level could cost exponentially more ( more cards , essences so on) and could have other small benefits maybe less focus cost or a bit more damage . For the faction system these would be a great addition , chaotic combo's so on ....

- the card obtainable from quest -could be a repeatable quest (once a day) - how many card skills are in current combos ? 10-20 ? Thats 20 quests players can do everyday just to get skill cards .

- the card obtainable from faction could be - kill 100 archers in rise to get 100 blood drops to turn in for this type of card...unlimited


Example - to unlock the shock arrow glyph ..youll need to obtain the aimed shot card from a quest , the discharge card from the factions store..to combine them and obtain the combo glyph youll also need x amount of essences/reagents found as loot only .



- Would certainly push players from the everyday xp grind to questing or other activities in order to get their cards or essences...
- Would allow you to create more powerfull combo's from more then just 2 skills , without forcing players to load up their deck with lots of glyphs just so they can access 1 combo.
- No more dragging , dropping ... or things need it to be fixed ( moving bar...) as mentioned below by Rinaldi
- Some decent loot for questing ( not saying deco rewards arnt fun ) but more diversity ...

Overall a system like this would enrich the game ...and the more combo's you will add over time the possibilities for loot ( different essences for different combos or cards) become endless . ..and its a great way for players to loot something that can change/improve their fighting styles.

 

Great ideas

I want to add some ideas:

1. May be it could start with a quest at the Combo-Master-Trainer (Episode 2 lands?) and also ends there to receive the non-teachable, non-tradeable recipe.

2. It should cost a higher amount of Gold or Crowns to learn it
It would be more interesting and it would mean more to accomplish that goal.

3. It should be impossible to combine opposing skills (like fire - water ...)

4. Elemental combos would be interesting, too.

This would provide another complexity - also for PvP.

 

If they want to mix loot with skills, the other suggestion is better

Gems, runes call them whatever you want that add +number to specific skill


If they want to do combo's would be better off based on specialization

Archer/Fire gives arrows a dot

Archer / Death makes arrows leechs life

etc


Before considering more advanced mechanics, it would probably be better to fix other things first

like basic targetting

lol

 

Some nice ideas in the posts above

There are 2 other issues with the current implementation of combo's...

First Issue
As long as Chris is looking into "useless skills"...he should look into combo skills.
The combo's I have used (blades) seem to offer no advantage (costing more focus per point of damage inflicted than just using the two skills individually).

Second Issue
I do not use combo's because the "lock glyph in combat bar" issue is STILL present, and the "fixes" that have been attempted have all been inadequate. I have suggested a solution to this problem many times in the past, including the latest time in this post.
This issue has been repeatedly raised in the forums and the live stream, but it has remained completely unaddressed.

The following comments mainly apply to those who use the mouse-click to activate glyphs.
Before the latest "fix", all glyphs could be accidentally dragged off the combat hotbar, including "locked" or "unlocked" glyphs (unlocked glyphs being those that are cycled into the slot).
After the latest attempted "fix":

1. When "press CTRL to drag" is activated, it prevents the dragging of all glyphs on the combat hotbar. This is a problem for those who want to combine glyphs during combat (by dragging one glyph onto another). The way this option should be implemented: "Require Control key to drag locked glyphs from the combat hotbar". This would allow me to combine unlocked glyphs, but prevent me from dragging the locked glyphs (so the locked glyphs are actually locked into the slot and can't be shuffled or moved!). For those who want to prevent movement of all glyphs (i.e. they will not be combining glyphs with the mouse), then make another option to "Require Control key to drag unlocked glyphs from the combat hotbar" (when both options are checked, then dragging of both locked and unlocked glyphs will require CTRL to be pressed).
   
2. The glyphs on the utility bar can still be dragged. Add the option "Require Control key to drag glyphs from the utility hotbar".

Alternatively, as suggested in the post above, a combo could be its own glyph that can be inserted into a deck (instead having to stack other skills to make the combo glyph). This would eliminate the need to drag glytphs altogether, and would obviate the second issue discussed above.

Other issues with the bar/glyph system

1. The issue of the hotbar accidentally being dragged around during combat. This issue occurs when the entire hotbar GUI is dragged from its current screen position because the sword or shovel icon is accidentally clicked and dragged. The entire hotbar GUI must be capable of being locked to a certain screen location.
2. When "CTRL to drag glyph" is activated, it also prevents you from moving glyphs in the edit-deck window. When i have the edit deck window open, I should be able to edit the deck freely, which includes being able to drag the glyphs around. There is no need to prevent dragging of glyphs in this window. Again, the way this option should be implemented: "Require Control key to drag locked glyphs from the combat hotbar".
   It should not prevent dragging of glyphs in the edit-deck window.

 

That's the easiest way to do it but then what is the point of the combo. Just another skill that could have been placed in the skill trees.


All the dragging, hotbar / tons of other issues should be the first thing resolved.

Nevermind mixing drawn, locked, charged.

Pick one and design the game around it. The sooner the better.


There's other ways to do the combo's as well

Using skills based on effects currently on a target.

Give a target a debuff that turns em blue. If they get hit with a water spell while blue

they are frozen (stunned) for x seconds.

Makes combat more engaging and forces ppl to focus and react to whats happening on the battlefield.

 

sounds excessive, id think a simple 'tales of' style unlock for the combo skill would be better for everyone(less work for devs mainly), either by hitting 80 with both or gming both... and removing juxtapose summons(since only one is locked by quest, lich/phoenix dont count)