Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Which MMO has the most robust combat mechanics?
Harmstrong
Member Posts: 2
Of every single MMO on the market or in beta, which has the most evolved combat mechanics. What I mean by this is what game has the largest set of functional combat mechanisms? What non-fps mmo would you describe as the most skill dependent? How many buttons and/or hotkeys does it take to implement the full set of features for any particular class?
Cheers,
Harmstrong
Comments
It is not about the set of hot keys. You don't have to have all the abilities available at all time. In fact, some restriction is good for the meta game of finding good skill builds.
However, if you talk abotu the sheer number of different abilities, i would say D3 (not a MMO though). You have abilities from transforming yourself, to forming a time bubble, to summoning dogs than blow them up. I have not seen an MMO with the diversity of the stuff you can do. Not even WOW.
So the OP asks for an MMO as an example and you bring up D3 anyways? Lots of help buddy!
World of Warcraft will always wil be a pinnacle for me. Combat there is so well done and fun, Ive played the game only for battlegrounds for few years without even looking at other content. It also takes alot of experience and skill to compete at high rated arenas.
Speaking of "hard to master" combat, I think Age of Wushu has alot of potential in it. From what Ive seen, we didnt even scratch a surface of what players can achieve
I've played a ton of MMO's, particularly within the past 2-3 years, and I honestly can't answer this question with 100 percent certainty.
For me I think TSW has one of the best combat mechanics. I love the amount of options and how you can mix and match. Some of the combos people have come up with are very creative. They have even added an extra slot for an extra weapon, when I last played I had unlocked the chainsaw. Was pretty cool for a bit. I am one of those guys who doesn't use google for all his games to find the best builds too.
I'd also put AoC up there too. I found it pretty fun, not super diverse, and unless things have changed you could get pretty creative with your skill combos too.
I'd say LOTRO is the most robust. Almost every class has to use all their skills, especially the Warden, Loremaster and Minstrel. Many skills are used to activate other skills.. many skills are based on things like block, evade, criticals to proc, which are also nescessary. Skills are used to activate other skills and layer effects (Captain, Champion and Minstrel). Combinations of skills are used to provide additional effects. Every class has it's place and has to use all their skills. The warden needs to learn skill combinations to get off certain effects. A Hunter has to constantly manage their aggro and power usage to be effective (can't just keep firing off all your skills, gotta know when and how to hold back a little), whilst utilising all their skills and using their combo points properly... and being good with their traps. The Rune-Keeper has to monitor between damage and support (healing) by controlling which runes are active otherwise they are useless. etc. etc. etc.
Definately the most in depth mechanics I've seen in an MMO. I'd go as far as saying that no class has any possible standard rotation they can use in dungeons/raids, except Hunter if the tank is especially good.
Put simply.. LOTRO players need to KNOW their class. That learning barrier is the reason I think it has a much more mature community compared to most other MMOs.
I'd have to say TSW. There are a good 20-25 different types of mechanics. Like ground target AoE, PointBlank AoE, Target AoE's etc..
OFT
But this is the reason people are confusing the meaning of a MMO around here.
OT
check out Elder Scrolls Online. Has tab target and aiming combat, but only 6 skills. but has main hand and off hand skills.
And also has lots of other factors to combat like classes, and weapon type and armor type.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
While I love TSW, I dont think it requires alot of personal skill to be good in combat. There are many terrible players who go Assault Rifle path, get good gear and AOE the crap out of everything from afar. All you need - spam few buttons randomly.
Not to mention you only limited to a handful of skills compared to 70+ unique abilities in WoW and almost as much in AoC
The most skill dependent non-fps combat system would be the one Guild Wars 1 uses. Your skillbar held 7 skills + 1 elite skill. You could dodge projectiles, body block, flank or backstab, and it had a very inspired skill design.
Its hard to make traditional MMO combat better than that. A testament to this is that it is one of the few and one of the first to have international e-sports tournaments in the genre.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
That's hard to say. In terms of combat envolving a group and PVE I would say LOTRO. The classes have a lot of synergy along with Fellowship maneuvers. For solo PVE then LOTRO ties with WOW in my opinion becuase the tab target and hotbar setup make combat go about the same. For PVP it's hard to beat the fuildity and responsiveness of WOW but if you want something that's more based on skill and not gear then either GW or GW2 (already wearing flame retardant suit). There might be some comparable Asian games but I tend to not play those becuase I can't stand their art style.
Yes of course these are based on opinion, yada yada.
"If I offended you, you needed it" -Corey Taylor
The hardest combat system for me to master was Guild Wars 1, christ playing melee was ridiculous in competitive play. Micro managing your swing timer so that you can maintain movement while attacking took so long for me to get down. Combine that with having to learn what each of the 400+ skills. . . it was the first and only game where I actually had to glue myself to a god damn wiki page.
However there are combat systems like Cabal that were so complex and required so much skill, that in pvp many skills were blacklisted simply because players could not function at that level. Where high level play came down to how good you were at using third party macro systems and your ability to hold a target when that target is forcing you to drop target every 0.4s!
-----
The person who is certain, and who claims divine warrant for his certainty, belongs now to the infancy of our species.
Why so many people consider GW1 hard to master? I remember when I started playing it, Ive made max level monk, put some skills on hotbar and after 2 hours of arena matches I was fairly confident in my healer/support abilities. Now try to heal with shaman or priest in WoW if you never played the game before.
I do see that often, however then when they hit Nightmare level they get carried because they think its their only job to sit and pew the boss.
Because i can.
I'm Hopeful For Every Game, Until the Fan Boys Attack My Games. Then the Knives Come Out.
Logic every gamers worst enemy.
Non-FPS? Best unique combat that is very fluid. Almost addicting becasue it requires real player skill? If you're skilled enough you can beat 24 man raid content solo?
Vindictus.
Nothing else comes close. To bad it is run by a company that just doesn't know how to run a game.
If you are interested in making a MMO maybe visit my page to get a free open source engine.
amazing was how many combos 8 skills in a bar can produce.
WoW has balanced skills but to me this style is click / key based and lag sensitive.
try before buy, even if it's a game to avoid bad surprises.
Worst surprises for me: Aion, GW2
I have to say Vindictus as well. I find most mmo combat dull for PVP and with Vindictus, I want to PVP.
I don't really find anything else as original or as good as Vindictus combat currently released. Most mmos have just made minor tweaks to the formula, they have not changed the standing around pressing hotkey formula. Or you have the "twitch" games where all you do is left click alot. They just don't stack up to picking up rocks, throwing stuff, dodging attacks, grappling, and using hooks to immobilize targets. However, Vindictus lags super bad right now.
Also Mabinogi has a good combat system that really requires thinking and timing.
Aside from that Pirate of the Burning Sea required a bit more skill then the common mmo because you had to think out how to attack with a ship.
Thanks for all of the input. I look forward to trying them out.
To me it just seems like their is a major disconnect between what consumers want and what most MMOs are producing. The interfaces and combat mechanics of many games are not nearly as good as vanilla WoW. I'd rather see something with a really evolved combat system, a few battlegrounds, and interesting lore rather than a giant set of maps with a tiny set of abilities and the same old germanic mythology.
Because a) D3 is close enough in terms of playstyle of a MMO (like those waiting in the city for their dungeon to pop, and b) the combat system is not specific to MMO.
Case in point, the same D3 type combat is used in Marvel Heroes, a MMO. There is nothing preventing a MMO to use a similar combat system.
Agreed - if they had kept the alpha test combo system for spellcasters and balanced the system better it would be the clear winner by a very long mile.
Someone should pick it up and run with a reworked version of it.
Which probably have some of the best mmo combat.
So thread is silly anyway, might as well add some non mmos like d3 into the mix.
PUZZLE PIRATES.
at least it takes skill
Another vote for GuildWars 1. Tons of depth and complexity.
Honorable mention to WoW for the need to setup rotations and manage cooldowns. Unfortunately the player element of combat was reduced by the macro system and FOTM builds.
Since this is clearly an opinion thread ill give mine. To me the most polished combat is in WoW. But the one i like the most is in Age of Conan. If TSW had AoC combat (mechanics and polishness) i would say TSW, but as of now its the worst combat mechanic IMO (both unpolished, clunky, and boring with the build build build, finish, rinse and repeat with every skill). I play it from time to time but combat is the only reason i dont log in more often to TSW.