Originally posted by matrium

Hm, looks like i got carried away. This is how i would explain the differences.
GW2-combat: While GW2 introduces some new fun stuff (like dodge-roll) to make combat more fun and agile, in core it is the same as in most MMO's (which is not a bad thing!): You target something and can expect spells to hit it unless it moves behind an obstacle, get's out of range or uses dodge-roll (PvP). If you like combat in WoW&Co you will LOVE combat in GW2.

You can be close in range of that target and use spells but every single on of them might miss the target. For instance, warrior might smash his sword and while he's doing that whoever isn't targeted but is close enough to get hit, will get hit. So you don't have to tab target someone, you can simply walk close enough and smash your spell buttons.

Combat in WoW isn't really what GW2 has, it can be compared but it's not the same since you can cast your spells when you don't have anyone targeted, you can move while casting and dodge. There's also enviromental weapons (like rocks, torches, and stuff like that which adds a whole new set of spells in your weapons bar). :)

Also, I played games which had targeting done like TERA has and it's nothing special, gets really tedious really fast.

EDIT: also, dodge roll can be used as a defense against mobs as well and it's an important mechanic if you want to survive when fighting 2 mobs or even 1. Depends on the situation and the mob.

I would say the combat mechanics is closer to Rift with the ability to customize your skillbar better, and change builds on the fly, which makes it much better than WoW.  However which the exclusion of dodge mechanic which is more of a defensive cooldown and not an actual dodge due to how targeting works, GW2's combat looks eerily familiar.  If you did like the style of WoW and Rift PvP you'll definitely like GW2 more than Tera as Tera's combat is completely different from all other MMOs.

Don't really know much about Tera's combat, but GW2's is vastly different from WoW and the WoW-clones. Targetting is optional for many skills, and even if you've targetted one target assorted skills will hit many regardless. Combat is fast and almost chaotic, until you start to realize you can't play it like WoW at all. Instead of burning your skills when a cooldown is over you need to watch your foe, look for tells in their casting and react accordingly. There's a recent mesmer video where one of the devs is playing the mesmer... it's hugely different from watching the press beta folks. You see him, for example, creating some clones and attacking, then when the mob starts to wind up an attack he detonates the clones to interrupt it. Other times the mob will be about to nail him so he'll shatter with F4 to give himself a few seconds of distortion to avoid taking the hits.

Position and positioning is critical to a more successful gameplay. Some skills give bonus damage or effects when used from a flank or behind. Others will be stopped by obstacles, will miss if the target changes direction on you, etc. You can cast any non-channeled ability while moving as well, adding to the whole effect.

Ah, can't forget weapon swapping! With a quick tap of the ` key (left of 1) you swap primary and secondary weapons, giving you new skillbars on the fly to add greater versatility in combat. A ranger may, for example, have dual axes equipped for his ranged weapons of choice and decide to go with a greatsword for close in action. Another may choose a longbow for long distance powerful attacks and a shortbow for closer quicker ranged attacks and rely on his movement to keep him out of danger. Both rangers will play dramatically differently.

Of course we're also familiar with cross-profession combos I assume? Many skills/spells are considered "initializers", others are "finishers". An elementalist may, for example, drop down a firewall between the foes and himself. Our bow equipped ranger might see this, adjust his position to put the firewall (an initializer) between himself and his enemy and fire through the firewall, adding fire damage to his attacks (finishers). There are a huge amount of possible combos in game, and it's being left to the players to experiment and find them all.

Another major difference that directly affects combat is the lack of player roles in GW2. Gone are the days of tank/healer/dps differenciation. Now you have basically three aspects of combat: damage, control and support. It's the skills you take and the traits you equip that will give each character a blend of all these aspects at his disposal at the same time. A mesmer with a greatsword will have basic damage on skill one for example (the purple laser), a controlling damage on 2 (jam your sword in the ground, a sword appears from under the ground and impales the foe from beneath), etc. You may have your phantasms traited to provide a regeneration bonus when allies are near them, adding support to the group. You'll have knockbacks for more control and damage, etc. In addition to and reinforcing the "all-in-one" player is the fact that you cannot target and cast on allies, rendering the "I'll heal you massively" idea defunct. No one can target and heal an ally through damage. The best you can do is AoE splash healing and providing boons (buffs) to your allies to help them along. Everyone is ultimately responsibile for their own health, and everyone has their healing skill on slot 6. By being mostly self-reliant on self-healing, it emphasizes the need to move, avoid damage, etc.

Ultimately you wind up with a fast-paced responsive combat system that has taken your eyes off the UI and put them back to watching the combat where they belong. Read and react. Move. Position. Dodge. It's an extremely fun and engaging system that will be easy to pick up (once you stop trying to play like the MMOs you're used to) but will be challenging to master.

Someone with knowledge of Tera will need to provide a synopsis of that system, I have no experience with it. But it should be clear my personal favorite. See you in Tyria.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE FORUMZ!!!!

17 days since initial post, and the video is STILL private!

So... how's work or school been going for you guys out there?

Originally posted by matrium

After reading all posts of this thread, i have seen a lot of misinformation on tera combat. So i would like to clarify a few things:
First i want to say that EVERY class has at least one escape tool similar to the GW2-roll. All ranged classes get "backstep", which let's you jump backwards a short way (usually enough to escape a dangerous attack). All melee classes have a roll/flip on low CD, which can be used to escape in any direction. Later most classes get even stronger escape tools like teleport or glacial retreat (do aoe-damage+slow+jump backwards). The cooldown depends on the class, but is really low for most escape skills (between 4 and 10 seconds).
Second i would like to pick up the problems you have with animations blocking your movement: That really depends. Every class has some quick or instant skills. It is true that some abilities might lock you into place but:
a) there are abilities that can be used to snap out of an animation if you realize you made a mistake.
b) you can't look on a skill on his own! Some skills quicken up other skills if used after one another (or have glyphs for that). You can do combos which make the animation of some big-hitters a lot faster (and i mean A LOT). If you mindless smash your buttons, you wont be too happy, as some skills are painful slow on their own. But if you know what your doing this is much less of an issue!
c) You need to realize that this is not a "gameplay-flaw", it's intentional! You mostly can't just hit a player with your super-overpowered-killer-skill while running full speed. Strong skills might require you to "charge them up" a few seconds, others need you to stand still and cast. As a rule of thumb you can say that stronger abilities are harder to hit and it's more obvious to the enemy that you are using them. Seems pretty fair, doesn't it? Fighting in Tera is often about weigthing up the risk of starting your strongest ability against the safety of using quicker skills or running.

I don't mean to offend anyone, but if you have a problem with beeing caught in animations too much you probably didn't understand tera's combat system (like combos) at all. Some slow attacks are also great if timed ofter a stun or something similar.

In my opinion Tera has the best combat system of all MMOs i have ever played or seen (including GW2). As mentioned above it's highly tactical, you have to decide which skills to use and when. Also it is really fast and dynamic. If you have good movement skills you can dodge 95% of the skills. There are some "lock on" skills, but locking on you requires the players attention as well (it's not like tab-targetting in WoW. It's just not that hard to aim as your normal abilities) and that skills are usually not very strong. You can move around like crazy (change directions, bunny-jump, use your escape skills) . You can do that in other MMOs as well.. still doesn't change the fact that the enemy will still hit you, no matter how much you dance around. Only exclusion is that in some MMOs (like WoW) you can't shoot in your back. Still you can jump like crazy and it just won't help you 99% of the time. I played WoW and other MMOs for a long time, but that part always bothered me.

Hm, looks like i got carried away. This is how i would explain the differences.
GW2-combat: While GW2 introduces some new fun stuff (like dodge-roll) to make combat more fun and agile, in core it is the same as in most MMO's (which is not a bad thing!): You target something and can expect spells to hit it unless it moves behind an obstacle, get's out of range or uses dodge-roll (PvP). If you like combat in WoW&Co you will LOVE combat in GW2.

Tera-Combat: You have a crosshair and need to aim. If you aim bad or the enemy is too fast, you will miss, exactly as you would miss in a shooter (altough the engine is more forgiving.. you need to aim pretty good, but not as good as in a shooter-game).

Guess it's a matter of flavor what you like more, for me Tera combat is much more interesting, and as combat is an important part of the game for me, i would pick Tera anyday.

No reason too eat me up for that though .-)

I really can't understand all that rage going on here. In my opinion both games will be awesome. GW2 will be absolutely great (and even no monthly fee) and will hit the mmo market like a truck. Tera, while not having too much innvovation elsewhere has an really outstanding combat-system.

I don't know if anyone is interested, but in case you didn't notice: you can test Tera yourself (only?) this weekend at the Open-Beta-Test.

http://tera.enmasse.com/news/posts/open-beta-test

The problem with TERA is that as soon as a Lancer is in your group, the fight pretty much devolves into your standard MMO tank and spank with gimmicks.    When you're soloing/2-manning BAMs is when the game is at its best.   You need to know every nuance of every move and know exactly what move to use in response to each move the boss uses.   You also have to adjust your options on the fly based on your cooldown usage and MP.    However, if a Lancer is there to grab all the aggro you can just wail on the boss without any regard to any of that, which completely kills the game for me.

TERA's combat is irrelevant since virtually nobody outside of Korea will end up playing it.

GW2 wins by default.

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Originally posted by BilboDoggins
TERA's combat is irrelevant since virtually nobody outside of Korea will end up playing it.
 
GW2 wins by default.

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exactly, its a Korean MMO made by Koreans for Koreans.

Get a clue, stay the F away from it.

Also GW2 is pretty meh just for reference, its the most face roll combat iv ever seen..atleast in pvp...PVE requires a little more thinking sometimes.