The combat system

Hello all, this is another Combat feedback. I hope you can stand another one. If not...too bad!

After testing the combat system extensively i've come to the conclusion that some things are better of being changed. This is my opinion and not of anyone else! Now let me explain how i came to this conclusion.

Here are the topics of what i will be covering in random order.

-Glyph stacking
-Diminishing return
-Slugs (Not armor slugs)
-Focus and Tactics skill tree

What i will NOT be covering.

-Reagents
-Separate skills (with a few exceptions)
-Anything that's not implemented yet
-Immersion
-Fizzle

I've been testing the combat system since it was implemented during..r8? I think? My first thought after getting used to it was. "Wow, this is refreshing." I thought that it had potential, which it still has. Just not in it's current form. With each release it feels as if it's becoming more broken. "But Ath, the system isn't balanced yet!" Let me tell you now that this is NOT a balance issue!

Let me start with the newest addition to the combat system, Diminishing return. I'll keep this one short since this topic has been covered a lot lately. Talk about contradicting oneself....first we get ..progression. You.. let's call it "level up" to gain skill points. Then when you want to spend those skill points to get the skill you like you will have to spend those skill points on useless skills that you will never use! Where is my progression?
Don't give me those skill points if you do not want me to spend them on the skills i want! Wouldn't it be easier to just give us less skill points?

Next up, Focus and Tactics skill trees. Tactics first. Stances....love the idea. I will never use them though. Why would anyone? The idea behind stances should be that once you get into one, you'll keep using it until you a) switch stances or stop combat or b) You die! I really do not wish to fill up my deck with different stances. Can't they be made into a toggle buff or something? Like swapping decks....swap stances in the midst of battle.

The str, dex and int innates. Limit them. You can upgrade them to 50 now. A bit much, no?

Not sure if offhand combat should even be in the tactics tree. A skill tree of it's own would make more sense in my eyes.

Focus. The skill tree that breaks combat. Partially at least. 2 skills in there really "cringe" worthy. Mindlock and Mindwipe.

Mindlock, i have to ask....is this your way of combat preparation? If so...it utterly fails. Sorry about that, but it had to be said. Why create a random deck system when you plan to put in a skill like this? One can just stack all skills and then keep using the same skills over and over, since hey..the other skills that you DO NOT WANT to use stay stacked for a indefinite period of time!

Mindwipe. Same thing only the other way around. A full deck of cards in just one second. If i have a empty glyph bar and the first card i recieve is mindwipe it'll mean i have a full bar in less time then it would normally take!

With these skills the focus tree...why would anyone need to use Concentration or Mental reflex?

Moving on..Slugs in your deck from not having enough cards. Useless in my eyes. I have a solution for that which i will explain once i have done all points.

Now the nightmare of a lot of people. Stacking glyphs. Yes....stacking cards... It must be one of the most disliked things in this combat system by far. It's also ridiculously overpowered if done correctly. Let me make a example. I will be using the fire arrow skill for this. The focus cost of one fire arrow is 5,7 focus. Now if i drag another fire arrow glyph over another it suddenly costs...practically 0 focus. Without any explanation why.
This just isn't making any sense at all. You can easily fix focus cost by other less distracting means. Yes, distracting. Try watching the battle when you're constantly stacking your cards. Stacking cards isn't really a fun way to do combat. I do not mind doing it for the occasional combo, but not the whole time.


Guess that covers everything for now. Now i'll share my idea for solving most of those things. Give us skills that we can "level up" by using. You can still give us skill points, but have us use those on innates and things like that. No need for Diminishing returns or card slugs. No need for stacking since we can level up the skills we're using to reduce focus cost. Most Focus and Tactics skills could be seen as innates as well. Some skills should just be scrapped though.

Edit:For clarification. This system will still retain the feature of "random" glyphs. You just don't need to put 5 fire arrows in anymore. At the moment i'm not sure how to handle combos.

This is just a rudimentary fix, still needs a lot of fine tuning. But i wanted to get this out there to see what other people think about it.

If you have some ideas or comments, feel free to share them. Let's stick to the points i made.. I did not this post to have it degrade into a reagents, Yes!, NO! post. Please keep things civil, so no attacking other people.

Cheers, Ath.

Ps: I might have forgotten to put some things in so there's a possibility for edits!








XXX

 

Still much better than a boring WoW combat system.

 

Totally agree.

Totally agree.

Totally agree.

Totally agree.

I agree, but the idea behind stacking cards is a good one, it's just implemented poorly. It's supposed to work like a normal deck of cards (which has 52 cards and not 25). It's also supposed to have more combinations, for straights, pairs, a flush, etc... So there's already a balanced framework behind what's happening. The problem is, we're not following that framework. We're just using stacking as a form of extra damage that really only requires a small bit of waiting. In competitive card games like Poker, you don't get ALL of your cards, you only get a few from the deck and that's what you have to use to "fight" with. So again, the idea is solid, but the implementation is crap.


Good post.

 

Being forced to have more slugs due to lack of glyphs actually stops me from wanting to level, but there is more glyphs yet to be released that may fix that. Stacking glyphs i like and use for pvp and pve, i combo constantly with quad slash... would be sad if that was removed. The only way i defeat some opponents is due to the fact that i stack and they don't, leading to me having full focus when they run low. Mind wipe i do not use, preferring to use the points for rapid dealing/slow discard. I don't think the 50 cap on stat increase is too much, it kind of forces people to make some tough decisions. Stances... i don't like them or use them for exactly the reasons Anthanil posted.

 

Chris already said Slugs would be removed for R14.

 

I did not know that... but am now happy.

 

Chris:

I guess he actually said "for armor" so I don't know how deep this goes. Maybe slugs for level are still there?

 

That's what i am thinking. Would be nice if they got rid of all of them though.

 

It is always nice to see criticism without threats and orders. Well done and well written.

 

My first thought on the combat system was "wow, this is the dumbest idea since Sonic The Werehog"...