Age of Conan

At low levels I don't mind the system as the combos are on key combos.  However I'm really not looking forward to having multikey combos.  At lvl 20 I remember in pvp beta many of the combos were 2 key.   Other then making combat difficult to execute with multiple key strokes being required for an ability I don't see any depth to the combat system and find it clearly inferiour to games like Wow and Vanguard.  I'm not sure I'd even say it was on par with EQ2 which is a combat system I'm not very fond of either.

The only thing interesting are the directional attacks and the shielding.  This does make combat a bit more fun esp as it interacts with special attacks.  But in summary

1. combat sees rather shallow in abilities and depth

2. combat is difficult to do because it requires hitting combos to use skills

3. combat system forces you to focus on the UI more then the game.

4. the only real skill will be mastering hitting the keyboard keys to play out the combos successfully.

Originally posted by ethion

and find it clearly inferiour to games like Wow and Vanguard.

Ah come on. To me this fighting system is finally an attempt to make something a least a little different from the same old we have seen over and over and over again. It's a breath of fresh air.

All of these fantasy mmos are the same old. No innovation, nothing. And the companies are scared to try something new because its easier and safer to stay with what people are used to. The many people complaining on these forums just prove this. Look at all the whining around, people are bashing the game because it doesn't play like, or things are different from the game they like.

Open up guys, this is finally something a little different from the same old, but not too much so it still feels like home.

I myself find this fighting system superior to those other game, where the only thing you have to do is bland button bashing  ... 1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2. Whereas, in AoC you can still play 1-2-1-2-1-2 if you like, and only use basic single key combos. Nobody is forcing you, you can still play it like wow or VG. But you also have the choice to invest yourself a little in the fight to hit with more power, meaning you have to concentrate on what you are doing to slash your sword in the right direction with several hits.

I am not saying the AoC system is better, but it's superior. It's not better because easy fighting to relax as in the other games is fun too, but it's superior as you have a choice of how to play : same old or concentrated with more power. Same goes for pvp, if you invest yourself and concentrate you can be better than your opponent; that's a big and welcome plus.

Personally I like the challenge. I have never died in an mmo as much as I have died in AoC (one example is when I got thrown into prison in tortage at lvl17, btw this is also around the time when the 1st story hook happens, the 2nd one happening at lvl20, this is when the game really started to open up for me). This made me think and I had to adapt and learn. I love it.

Originally posted by BigMango

 

@ Lobotomist & Elikal,

You guys are making it way too complicated. I can understand why you don't enjoy the fighting, I would be frustrated too by doing it in the same way. As you say you can't manage 12 keys, you are staring only at the key board.

This is how I do it:

1. I move by pressing my right+left mouse buttons

2. My 3 left hand fingers are on button 1,2 and 3 to slash my sword (these are the ONLY keys needed). No other  keys are needed. You can then also dodge with double hitting a,s,d,w,s while fighting, but mainly the hand is always on 1,2,3 with asdw near by.

3. My combos are on the skill bars, I start them by clicking on them with the mouse... then follows 1,2 or 3 as required.

This way combat feels great to me, I really enjoy it. Putting your char in frenzy of defensive stances is another plus.

That is also how I played.  So long as you continue doing normal swings it works great, but the moment you try a combo you become a sitting duck.

Ya i didn t like it at all. It wasn t "revolutionary" at all and just didn t do it for me.

I personally enjoyed the combat system. It seemed innovative and much more involving than most. Granted, there is not much variation in the first few levels... but we haven't seen much of the game yet.

Maybe its just me, but literally every massive I have played has royally sucked during the first few levels. Every class lacks the abilities during this time that truly make the class enjoyable. It is only after getting to about level 20 that the unique style of each class truly becomes apparent and enough skills are opened up to get a real feel for the character.

I don't think any of us (except for the closed beta players) have seen enough of the combat system as it evolves to truly judge it at this point. None of us can really say how the higher levels are without experiencing them. Based upon the first few levels though, I think the higher level combat system might be very fun.

That's my take anyway... Maybe I am giving Funcom too much credit, but I am part of the dying breed of gamers that fully test and give games the benefit of the doubt before deciding whether or not I like them. Call me old fashioned...

Originally posted by Anubisan

I personally enjoyed the combat system. It seemed innovative and much more involving than most. Granted, there is not much variation in the first few levels... but we haven't seen much of the game yet.

Maybe its just me, but literally every massive I have played has royally sucked during the first few levels. Every class lacks the abilities during this time that truly make the class enjoyable. It is only after getting to about level 20 that the unique style of each class truly becomes apparent and enough skills are opened up to get a real feel for the character.

I don't think any of us (except for the closed beta players) have seen enough of the combat system as it evolves to truly judge it at this point. None of us can really say how the higher levels are without experiencing them. Based upon the first few levels though, I think the higher level combat system might be very fun.

That's my take anyway... Maybe I am giving Funcom too much credit, but I am part of the dying breed of gamers that fully test and give games the benefit of the doubt before deciding whether or not I like them. Call me old fashioned...

Originally posted by Dagon13

Originally posted by BigMango

 

@ Lobotomist & Elikal,

You guys are making it way too complicated. I can understand why you don't enjoy the fighting, I would be frustrated too by doing it in the same way. As you say you can't manage 12 keys, you are staring only at the key board.

This is how I do it:

1. I move by pressing my right+left mouse buttons

2. My 3 left hand fingers are on button 1,2 and 3 to slash my sword (these are the ONLY keys needed). No other  keys are needed. You can then also dodge with double hitting a,s,d,w,s while fighting, but mainly the hand is always on 1,2,3 with asdw near by.

3. My combos are on the skill bars, I start them by clicking on them with the mouse... then follows 1,2 or 3 as required.

This way combat feels great to me, I really enjoy it. Putting your char in frenzy of defensive stances is another plus.

That is also how I played.  So long as you continue doing normal swings it works great, but the moment you try a combo you become a sitting duck.

Haha, "a sitting duck", that's a good one

What do you mean ? Because I don't see anything more than what I said. With the right hand click on the combo with the mouse and with the left hand (you have the 3 middle fingers on buttons 1-2-3) you press the buttons in the right order to complete the combo. This way you don't even need to watch your keyboard.

And if you need it without moving the left hand you can still access adws with the 3 fingers to dodge if you want.

You can't do more than that as you don't need to be faster anyway, it takes time to slash with your sword to complete the combo (buttons 1-2-3), so there's no need to press the keys to start the combos; you won't be faster or anything. And if you do however want to press the keys to start the combos it gets way to complicated and messy, I don't see this being a better way.

link to me an mmo that has had the success AOC has even b4 they launch... that has active directional attacking/blocking

...this thread fails

Originally posted by _Sye_

It is a lot more involved than any MMO out there, and combined with what I personally believe to be excellent combat animations make the whole combat part of AoC a delight.

Tabula Rasa has twitch combat too, same deal. Potbs as well, or last i had played that one anyway.  Currently messing with TR until this comes out, and its pretty involving compared to your typical auto-attack based mmos. 

I am glad the various dev teams out there are working to break out of the old standard combat system.. although I suspect WAR will be the same old so dunno.