Okie dokie, so here's the deal.  I've been trying out Champions Online - and many parts of it are very good.  For example: character customization is phenomenal, the combat system and class system (or lack thereof) are great, the graphics style is new and refreshing, etc.  There are of course many things that aren't so good about it as well (I won't go into detail about this because the game has gotten enough bad rep already).  Anyways, to make a long story somewhat shorter, I got tired of it and am moving on.  This is where the trouble starts...

Almost all popular/well-done MMOs on the market right now have the same old lame click-and-watch-tv style of combat.  WoW does (hell, WoW pioneered it!), WAR does, Guild Wars does, I've heard that Aion does, Champions Online does not. 

Champions has been very sucessful in making a more involved and action-packed kind of combat style.  And I fear I can never go back after playing such a superior game (superior in that certain category, that is). 

My question is thus - what other (if any) games are there that employ a combat system similar to this.  Even if it is just a bit more involved than normal, I need to know.  For in my hunt for the next MMO, that is where I will begin - with the combat system.

Thanks in advance to all those who take the time to answer my question,

~Jack

I think you should try dungeons and dragons you may like it.

 I think you might like Age of Conan , the game offers a very unique combat that is very "Hands on" and the graphic are beautiful.  There is a video called: Perfect Insanity that shows AoC's combat in action.  D2D is having a super sale and AoC (along with Eve) is there to grab for just $5.

I hope this helps :)

Like he said...ddo...its free now, so thats a plus. Also if you can stomach a lobby based game in the same ilk as guild wars, Phantasy Star Universe has one of the most "active" combat setups ive seen. You chain base attacks by hitting the button repeatedly(extra damage for timing it right) as well as every weapon having 2-3 special moves associated with it that can be leveled up by use to include longer and more damaging moves. Downside being its an older game thats lobby based, but it still has a subscription.

CoX is also more of a hands on combat system. It has no autoattack or anything like that, so you need to actively press buttons to do anything. It is made by Cryptic, the same as Champions Online, and the game is getting a bit dated, but it might be worth a shot. However, the missions are repetative, and a bit boring, and the equipment is... Well there is none. You can upgrade your skills and all that, but it is just a strange feel. Some love it, some hate it.

Originally posted by Rallycart

CoX is also more of a hands on combat system. It has no autoattack or anything like that, so you need to actively press buttons to do anything. It is made by Cryptic, the same as Champions Online, and the game is getting a bit dated, but it might be worth a shot. However, the missions are repetative, and a bit boring, and the equipment is... Well there is none. You can upgrade your skills and all that, but it is just a strange feel. Some love it, some hate it.

Actually CoX has autoattack (you just have to set it up yourself).

To the OP:

As for Champions Online, to me it feels the same as all other major MMO out there, and  it plays a bit like a variabtion to WoW's Warrior + Rogue mechanic (you use some type of energy to attack and have a energy builder attack to gain energy for power attacks that uses energy without generate much back).  The combat speed is just a bit faster to give you that "super hero" feeling.

In general the combat mechanics are pretty much the same.  So when you say you want more "actiony", do you mean more involved in combat? more fluent combat?

Wasn't overly impressed with the Champions combat if I'm honest.

Limited options; my guy had one "energy builder" (i.e. autoattack) and only two other attacks after about 6 hours of play. It was nice and fast paced, and picking up cars and stuff was cool .. but it was rather repetitive.

Tabula Rasa had good combat, sort of halfway between MMO and FPS though there is a school of thought that the closer you get to true FPS style combat, the more you move away from the core element of an RPG; the emphasis on the character rather than the player.

Still, I'd love to see an MMO with action-RPG style combat like Mass Effect. I'm pretty confident that the technology is there to make it feasible now; we just need a developer to give it a go.

Originally posted by Forcan

Originally posted by Rallycart

CoX is also more of a hands on combat system. It has no autoattack or anything like that, so you need to actively press buttons to do anything. It is made by Cryptic, the same as Champions Online, and the game is getting a bit dated, but it might be worth a shot. However, the missions are repetative, and a bit boring, and the equipment is... Well there is none. You can upgrade your skills and all that, but it is just a strange feel. Some love it, some hate it.

 

Actually CoX has autoattack (you just have to set it up yourself).

 

Ok... Now you have piqued my interest. How is it that you set up auto attacks? I have not played in several months, but when I left, it was very much a "press a key for every action" kind of game. Is there something I missed over the entire time I played?

 Age of Conan has a good, action-paced combat system IMO.

Originally posted by Turntable

 Age of Conan has a good, action-paced combat system IMO.

and for $5 !!

Planetside.  If you think about it; the PvP and action - for an MMO - is far superior to any other game out there.

Originally posted by Rallycart

Originally posted by Forcan

Originally posted by Rallycart

CoX is also more of a hands on combat system. It has no autoattack or anything like that, so you need to actively press buttons to do anything. It is made by Cryptic, the same as Champions Online, and the game is getting a bit dated, but it might be worth a shot. However, the missions are repetative, and a bit boring, and the equipment is... Well there is none. You can upgrade your skills and all that, but it is just a strange feel. Some love it, some hate it.

 

Actually CoX has autoattack (you just have to set it up yourself).

 

Ok... Now you have piqued my interest. How is it that you set up auto attacks? I have not played in several months, but when I left, it was very much a "press a key for every action" kind of game. Is there something I missed over the entire time I played?

Yeh, it's being a few month since I last played, but ever since I began playing CoH (CoV wasn't out yet), you could either right click an attack and it will have a red border on the button, and that will be your auto attack (if you do not press any attack, that attack is automatically used).

Age of Conan is not point and click...  in fact playing this way will end up with a quick death. It uses combos which result in you needing to combine various keys to activate. The casters though are a bit point and click.

Other games include the space FPS fliers. (this does not include Eve) where you need to continually be controlling your craft to involve yourself. 

Originally posted by Ilvaldyr

Wasn't overly impressed with the Champions combat if I'm honest.

Limited options; my guy had one "energy builder" (i.e. autoattack) and only two other attacks after about 6 hours of play. It was nice and fast paced, and picking up cars and stuff was cool .. but it was rather repetitive.

Tabula Rasa had good combat, sort of halfway between MMO and FPS though there is a school of thought that the closer you get to true FPS style combat, the more you move away from the core element of an RPG; the emphasis on the character rather than the player.

Still, I'd love to see an MMO with action-RPG style combat like Mass Effect. I'm pretty confident that the technology is there to make it feasible now; we just need a developer to give it a go.

MastHead may try something like this with Earthrise.

Originally posted by Harabeck

Originally posted by Ilvaldyr

Wasn't overly impressed with the Champions combat if I'm honest.

Limited options; my guy had one "energy builder" (i.e. autoattack) and only two other attacks after about 6 hours of play. It was nice and fast paced, and picking up cars and stuff was cool .. but it was rather repetitive.

Tabula Rasa had good combat, sort of halfway between MMO and FPS though there is a school of thought that the closer you get to true FPS style combat, the more you move away from the core element of an RPG; the emphasis on the character rather than the player.

Still, I'd love to see an MMO with action-RPG style combat like Mass Effect. I'm pretty confident that the technology is there to make it feasible now; we just need a developer to give it a go.

MastHead may try something like this with Earthrise.

Earthrise is a game where you need to aim to fire, it is a unique system and i recommend watching the gameplay videos to get a better idea than listening to critics and fanboys like me.
 

Err... One fairly important thing I forgot to mention... I'm fourteen - so there is no way in hell my parents would let me play Age of Conan. 

And no I'm not one of those super-noob whiny 14-yr-olds you'd see in Orgrimmar spamming you with "gold plz" messages.  So don't even go there. 

Normally I'd agree with the Planetside suggestion, but I'm not real sure how many players remain.  It was an absolutely amazing game for its time though.

As for my Champions thoughts, I think it was a crippling mistake to do Advantages they way they did.  Basically they let you amp one skill up by ~40% damage early in the game, so your next ~15 levels become spamming a single ability (and a little energy building) which is just not fun at all.

Champions had so much potential.  If enemies had used a variety of abilities which required you to use certain counter abilities or lose the fight, it'd have been a much better game.  Active Block is exactly that type of ability, but it's a solitary thing.  Heck with one of my characters my attack was amped up so high I didn't even bother blocking against most of the villains.

D&D Online doesn't have the typical combat system (and is F2P now.)  Darkfall has a more actiony combat sytem too from what I've seen. 

Originally posted by Hardanger

Err... One fairly important thing I forgot to mention... I'm fourteen - so there is no way in hell my parents would let me play Age of Conan. 

And no I'm not one of those super-noob whiny 14-yr-olds you'd see in Orgrimmar spamming you with "gold plz" messages.  So don't even go there. 

Meh, just play responsibly, follow ESRB stuff, ect.

Games I would suggest are Dungeons & Dragons Online... F2P, so you can just give it a test drive and see if you like it or not.

Phantasy Star Universe would be worth a shot, played PSO for the dreamcast and xbox... it's right up the action/ORPG type.

I would say Hellgate:London or Tabula Rasa... but they both crashed and burned.

Originally posted by Lansid

I would say Hellgate:London or Tabula Rasa... but they both crashed and burned.

Tabula Rasa combat was truly awesome... and the seige battles were definitely fun.
 

op ,city olf heroes ,city of vilain is what you need made by ncsoft ,they just had an update last week i think

Originally posted by haratu

Originally posted by Harabeck

Originally posted by Ilvaldyr

Wasn't overly impressed with the Champions combat if I'm honest.

Limited options; my guy had one "energy builder" (i.e. autoattack) and only two other attacks after about 6 hours of play. It was nice and fast paced, and picking up cars and stuff was cool .. but it was rather repetitive.

Tabula Rasa had good combat, sort of halfway between MMO and FPS though there is a school of thought that the closer you get to true FPS style combat, the more you move away from the core element of an RPG; the emphasis on the character rather than the player.

Still, I'd love to see an MMO with action-RPG style combat like Mass Effect. I'm pretty confident that the technology is there to make it feasible now; we just need a developer to give it a go.

MastHead may try something like this with Earthrise.

Earthrise is a game where you need to aim to fire, it is a unique system and i recommend watching the gameplay videos to get a better idea than listening to critics and fanboys like me.
 

No, the videos are out of date now that they've changed the system.

Originally posted by Hardanger

Err... One fairly important thing I forgot to mention... I'm fourteen - so there is no way in hell my parents would let me play Age of Conan. 

And no I'm not one of those super-noob whiny 14-yr-olds you'd see in Orgrimmar spamming you with "gold plz" messages.  So don't even go there. 

Another vote here for DDO. The beauty is that it is f2p so you can try it out and see if you like it.

You can try The Chronicles of Spellborn. You have to actively aim your swings to hit your target. Very fun combat. And its free right now.

Originally posted by saivior

You can try The Chronicles of Spellborn. You have to actively aim your swings to hit your target. Very fun combat. And its free right now.

This man speaks the truth :)

You can still play hellgate london as single player I got it installed engineer ftw! :P