R22 Auto Attack

Hey guys,
I finally had a chance to test out some combat tonight and wanted to give y'all my personal commentary on auto attack for this release. I really want to enjoy combat; it's such an integral part of the game. I just don't find it enjoyable at the moment. With just ~10 enemies killed this release, I find I already need to stop.

Unfiltered feedback incoming:

• I have auto attack enabled in my options yet I have to additionally press "t" to turn it on for each encounter. I just don't understand the logic behind this. Why the extra step to also press "t"? It's like when I delete a file and I am asked "are you sure you want to delete this file?".
• When I have auto attack turned on, he just stands there unless the enemy is directly in his line of sight. I'm spending my entire time rotating the screen or moving back and forth to adjust where my avatar is looking. This really is not my idea of enjoyable combat. I'd rather have my avatar be able to attack the enemy if I am in range without having to constantly adjust the direction he is facing.
• Attacking bandits in blood river was painful. I was constantly chasing them - they hardly ever stop. As soon as I was in range of an archer, auto attack would fail to hit because I was just a hair past the enemy. Along with that, having chased the enemy using the WASD keys, in order to use a skill I have to move my fingers off the WASD keys to the numbers. By this time, the archer was already on the move again. If I landed one hit, I was lucky.

I don't want to be constantly chasing my enemy all over the map to land a few blows. I don't want to have to constantly rotate my camera to be able to land auto attack swings. That's just not a style of game play I'm into. I still find the combat of EQ to be some of the most enjoyable I've experienced. It was challenging in many stages of the game, death hurt so bad and yet I continually wanted to take risks, and auto attack meant auto attack.

I sincerely tip my hat to you all. In the end, you have a very difficult job trying to please thousands of gamers. I am but one voice pleading his case on auto attack. I wish you the best of luck trying to please as many of us as possible.

-K

 

Well, in regards to auto attack and facing.
You need some kind of direction/facing rule, otherwise you would just hit mobs 360 degree arround you and that would just look stupid.
I have played EQ as well, and even there was some form of facing rule. Not really exact and limited like in SotA, but if you had a mob behind you, you weren't swinging anymore.
In SotA it makes sense, since you can hit multiple mobs at once with your melee auto attacks, depending in what direction you are facing.
Dunno why the "t" key is needed, but it doesn't bother me much.

Yes, ranged mobs still run too much, it was even worse a couple of patches ago.
It's not perfect yet, we know it and the A.I. Dude knows it.

Anyways, combat and A.I. still needs some work, no doubt.

 

EQ had a facing mechanic but it wasn't really restrictive. It felt more finished in 1999 than this one does in 2015.

Where is the fun in SoTA's targeting? Why haven't they implemented something that makes it OBVIOUS what you're attacking? Sure there is some kind of highlight that's 1/2 a shade different than what I'm mousing over but it's not immediately clear if there's a pile of mobs or players. I can go on and on but it's all been said before...

 

Couple tips:
- Double clicking a target is the same thing as the T key. Use it to select a target you want to attack and then just run into range.

- You can hold left and right mouse buttons down to move... so when you take fingers off the WASD keys to attack, you can still chase the target.

- Pick up a ranged attack ASAP and the root spell (Earth tree) to battle the pesky runners. I know that won't help in the tutorial but will later on when you reach a trainer.

 

If you are melee, Body Slam so far works best against the runners.

 

Thanks Koldar that pretty much sums up my experience as well...

Himmelweiss, just let people give their feedback who cares what it "looks like" the goal is having fun we're using our imagination ALOT anyways.

You sound like a disgruntled adolescent who "won't wear the shirt my grandma knitted for me cause it looks silly"...

You know what looks silly ? a powerful magical avatar which looks at empty space cause you haven't pressed the WASD properly. In fact I feel my avatar is so dumb I'm shy to take him out in public, especially with this knitted shirt

 

I'm ok with accepting the silly cloud/latency issues because we used a pre-made Unity model pack that we're too lazy to change, but with this very despicable decisions I expected a bit of AI to compensate, my avatar isn't stupid enough to let himself being hit in the back because I fell off my IRL chair...

 

Everything ok with you Ahuaeynjgkxs?

I just gave my feedback as well. So no idea what problem you seem to have with me.
I never said that people should give no feedback, so *shrugs*.

And btw. Why is your Forumname so complicated? :/

 

Critical difference: both buttons don't let you move, they let you run forward. If you're a hair past your target, it doesn't help at all.

This, like the Body Slam hint, irks me the wrong way.

Melee survivability should not be only linked to a SPECIFIC skill/spell from a SPECIFIC magic/armor tree.

 

The mouse move tip was meant for when you are chasing a fleeing mob, not for adjusting your position. It was directed specifically towards an issue for @Koldar where he said he had to use the WASD keys in order to chase and that made it difficult to use number keys to attack at the same time. My tip helps with that issue.

And I noted that picking up a root was for later on. Fleeing mobs don't end after the tutorial, in fact it gets worse in higher areas. Having that skill would be a huge asset for both melee and casters to learn... so not sure how that was a bad suggestion.

 

Of course not. I was just giving an example.
There are more ways, but none are really "great" in the current state of development.

 

Cause I'm very complexz ?

Seeing you didn't catch my humorous tone is really all the explanation that is needed about my "problem" which dosen't strike me as particularly serious

It's just that you seem to try to tone down a harsh feedback with I dunno how to describe it ; the tone that makes other people not want to say whats on their heart cause they start to rationalize first world problems. Felt like a politician thats all... not saying its inherently bad it just "irks me the wrong way too" to quote Mrs. *$(*$slap over here

And btw, your name isn't necessarly easier for someone who isn't german hehehe just sayin... at least *I* made an effort by abridging *sp* my Xorinite name...

 

I do really like all the suggestions. I remember in EQ, someone who could root was a valuable asset to any group. I think that skill will also become a large part of my strategy going forward with how the enemies are currently implemented.

I'm sure I'd eventually get used to hitting the "t" every time I engage an enemy, I just don't understand why that isn't the default action when auto attack is already enable under options.

The bottom line for me is that I think the narrow field of vision for auto attack needs to be given another consideration and possibly expanded a bit.

 

Wait a minute. You have to press 't' to enter auto attack. That explains a lot now. I was relying on the cards to kill things. I probably wouldn't have died as much.

 

So I'm reading along to see how others feel about the current state of melee, and I come across this:

And as I let out a little chuckle, I looked to see what your Forumname was, and I'm like - dewd!

 

Atleast it's a name in german and not a random mix of letters

 

My experience is completly different from your's, as I use the mouse to move my chr, turn camera and click to rotate my chr without moving or to take 1 step forwards or backwards (right mouse combo w/S key) and to even chase down those pesky runners while using the 1, 2, 3 keys at the same time without moving my hands... I am using Polearms and do strike them while running behind them, they do eventually stop and take a stand, before running again, but using the mouse to move my chr is a Great thing...

Your point about having to press "t" is wrong, you do not have to press "t" to engage auto attack, dbl clicking in front of you will engage auto attack of the critter that's attacking you, then next target until they're all dead, the cone of view is very wide and unless they're out of that cone, you do not have to move at all... If you do need to move your chr, simply rotate the camera w/ right mouse and left click, then your chr rotates quickly wo/ moving, to face a target, but if that target isn't attacking you, you will need to dbl click them to engage them as the new target... But beware, that means the last target to attack you is now behind you, still attacking and you have zero armor rating there, so I use right mouse and "s" to back out so that all the targets approach me from front. If they're all archers, then you will just have to take them out 1 by 1 and heal in between, but the warriors will never hit you if you're running after the archers....

I know it's not fun in the beginning until you develop your chr, but after that it's a breeze and totally fun... I think part of the key to play is going out of combat mode, so your HP regenerate faster (after everything is dead, why not)... Your focus seems to regenerate no matter what you're doing... A hybrid chr is my choice for heals and light and life drain, which have saved me in many battles, to the point I'm nearly dead, when my life drain saved me long enough to take them down...

This game is a Blast, once you stop using that KB to move... I do use some of the "rolls" to get out of trouble too...

 

There you go again with the condescending, you don't know how random I can be now do you ?

 

Yeah strange names are the worst......

edit: I can't pronounce my own name

 

Good post smoker, I also am familiar with other games with similar principles, I use the hints you describe but its still not very fluid, if we're going to use predictive actions then let the avatar have some spacial intelligence... they too often look like a dummy.