Made a guardian and unless you can master the convoluted combat controls it is and exercise in futility.  Combos are extremely awkward to execute unless you have the dexterity of a pianist.  This game needs a serious readjustment of how melee combat is executed.  Someone had their head up their butt when they designed it.

If you want to have fun in this game choose a caster, far easier to play.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

I'm the exact opposite, when it went F2P I came back and started a demonologist, having played mostly a dark templar at release (melee), got to level 20 and found it a bit boring (basically spam the same spells over and over), restarted as a barbarian (melee, so it also uses the same combo system) and it's been loads of fun since then, currently he's level 52.

Originally posted by L0C0Man

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

I'm the exact opposite, when it went F2P I came back and started a demonologist, having played mostly a dark templar at release (melee), got to level 20 and found it a bit boring (basically spam the same spells over and over), restarted as a barbarian (melee, so it also uses the same combo system) and it's been loads of fun since then, currently he's level 52.

Same here. When I played AoC the part that immediately grabbed me was the melee combat. I played a barb till 80 and loved the way the combos worked. It made you pay attention to what you were doing. In contrast playing a caster bored the hell out of me. I always thought casters in AoC should have had a different combat system. Something similar to melee. Ranger is the only class I enjoyed at ranged because of the use of the combo system.

I don't see the pull of the combat, it's still button smashing like wow but you just press some extra directional buttons in addition to a skill. It definitely hurts your hands after a while. 

Add the fact that most of the skills are essentially the same it makes for a dull experience. 

Well i beg to disagree with the OP,i found Guardian combat very intuitive infact it was the only thing i liked about AOC and those fatalities were awesome must admit a tad repetive after your 1000th kill,but still lots of fun all the same.It pretty much is a simplified simon says system with just the player learning the right sequence of moves and useing the right combo set to gain maximum carnage 

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Made a guardian and unless you can master the convoluted combat controls it is and exercise in futility.  Combos are extremely awkward to execute unless you have the dexterity of a pianist.  This game needs a serious readjustment of how melee combat is executed.  Someone had their head up their butt when they designed it.

If you want to have fun in this game choose a caster, far easier to play.

Yeah agree..its one of the many reasons my collectors edition aoc was only used for a couple days when the game came out and never more...

wow combat=best mmorpg combat there is period.

If it works..dont change it, aoc devs changed it and crashed hard.

lol

you thought that was bad, you shouldve experienced beta 5 step moves plus trying to adjust the combat shields with melee on the fly against other players in pvp. 

and then tack that on while playing the bear shaman or conq class around beta.

i dare say youd need a quad core processor for your hand to pull all that off.

but ya really, it is definitely understandable,  getting arthritis at the mid ages of 20 is not fun at all.

Originally posted by Pocahinha

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Made a guardian and unless you can master the convoluted combat controls it is and exercise in futility.  Combos are extremely awkward to execute unless you have the dexterity of a pianist.  This game needs a serious readjustment of how melee combat is executed.  Someone had their head up their butt when they designed it.

If you want to have fun in this game choose a caster, far easier to play.

Yeah agree..its one of the many reasons my collectors edition aoc was only used for a couple days when the game came out and never more...

 

wow combat=best mmorpg combat there is period.

If it works..dont change it, aoc devs changed it and crashed hard.

LOL, speaking as an absolute there, eh?

Originally posted by Aconsar

LOL, speaking as an absolute there, eh?

I agree with him, which makes it true.

The PvP may not have been the best, but the combat was far and above better than any other combat system out there in an MMOG, and it still is.

It can definitely be improved upon (less abilities for the same depth), but what makes it amazing is how responsive it is. When I press a button, my character performs the action. When I strafe left, my character strafes left. It is all immediate, the animations are fluid, the effects are clear and crisp. Even the abilities have synergy, which is sorely lacking in other MMOGs.

Originally posted by grawss

Originally posted by Aconsar

LOL, speaking as an absolute there, eh?

I agree with him, which makes it true.

The PvP may not have been the best, but the combat was far and above better than any other combat system out there in an MMOG, and it still is.

It can definitely be improved upon (less abilities for the same depth), but what makes it amazing is how responsive it is. When I press a button, my character performs the action. When I strafe left, my character strafes left. It is all immediate, the animations are fluid, the effects are clear and crisp. Even the abilities have synergy, which is sorely lacking in other MMOGs.

 

I agree that AoC has the best combat of any other in an mmog (unless you count Vindictus, which is my preference). AoC also easily has the best animations of any mmo out there.

To the OP, sorry you feel that way. I feel the opposite. After playing AoC's melee combat I have a hard time playing any other mmo (combat wise). Everything else feels so dull in comparison.

Originally posted by DJJazzy

Originally posted by grawss

Originally posted by Aconsar

LOL, speaking as an absolute there, eh?

I agree with him, which makes it true.

The PvP may not have been the best, but the combat was far and above better than any other combat system out there in an MMOG, and it still is.

It can definitely be improved upon (less abilities for the same depth), but what makes it amazing is how responsive it is. When I press a button, my character performs the action. When I strafe left, my character strafes left. It is all immediate, the animations are fluid, the effects are clear and crisp. Even the abilities have synergy, which is sorely lacking in other MMOGs.

 

I agree that AoC has the best combat of any other in an mmog (unless you count Vindictus, which is my preference). AoC also easily has the best animations of any mmo out there.

To the OP, sorry you feel that way. I feel the opposite. After playing AoC's melee combat I have a hard time playing any other mmo (combat wise). Everything else feels so dull in comparison.

I'm not sure who you're agreeing with, because that's not what I said at all. :/

AoC's combat is awful. It's definitely a few thousand points better than it was in beta, but it's still awful. The combo system is just a way to make the system more complex without adding any combat depth.

there is only one thing you need to know about AoC melee combat:

G13 gamepad.

until you get one and try it out you will have no idea how incredibly easier it is to play this game with it. simple enough to say that you can make a macro on the actual G13  pad( and other game pads like it) that will run you through a whole 4+ hit combo with the press of only 1 button. that's how easy it is, and it's perfectly allowed.

just press 1 button and the macro goes through the whole combo sequence as fast as allowed without any errors, and all you have to do is remain within range of your opponent.

there are many other things you can also macro which help a ton in this game like buffs, shields, knockdowns, potions, double taps, etc, etc.

that's how the pros do it anyways.

Originally posted by grawss

Originally posted by DJJazzy

Originally posted by grawss

Originally posted by Aconsar

LOL, speaking as an absolute there, eh?

I agree with him, which makes it true.

The PvP may not have been the best, but the combat was far and above better than any other combat system out there in an MMOG, and it still is.

It can definitely be improved upon (less abilities for the same depth), but what makes it amazing is how responsive it is. When I press a button, my character performs the action. When I strafe left, my character strafes left. It is all immediate, the animations are fluid, the effects are clear and crisp. Even the abilities have synergy, which is sorely lacking in other MMOGs.

 

I agree that AoC has the best combat of any other in an mmog (unless you count Vindictus, which is my preference). AoC also easily has the best animations of any mmo out there.

To the OP, sorry you feel that way. I feel the opposite. After playing AoC's melee combat I have a hard time playing any other mmo (combat wise). Everything else feels so dull in comparison.

I'm not sure who you're agreeing with, because that's not what I said at all. :/

AoC's combat is awful. It's definitely a few thousand points better than it was in beta, but it's still awful. The combo system is just a way to make the system more complex without adding any combat depth.

opinions and all of that. I really enjoy the combat in AoC. While in a game like WoW the combat just puts me to sleep it's so boring.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Made a guardian and unless you can master the convoluted combat controls it is and exercise in futility.  Combos are extremely awkward to execute unless you have the dexterity of a pianist.  This game needs a serious readjustment of how melee combat is executed.  Someone had their head up their butt when they designed it.

If you want to have fun in this game choose a caster, far easier to play.

LOL I have an 80 guardian and combos are not awkward at all. You obviously don't have the right set up or you just aren't giving it enough time. Melee combat is fine.  Let me ask you this, what level did you even get to? I am guessing you are just F2P and didn't get off Tortage. All melee work in the same respect.

Oh, I'm surprised Razer Naga hasn't been mentioned yet.

It made a world of difference for me in melee combat :)

Originally posted by Jakdstripper

there is only one thing you need to know about AoC melee combat:

G13 gamepad.

 

until you get one and try it out you will have no idea how incredibly easier it is to play this game with it. simple enough to say that you can make a macro on the actual G13  pad( and other game pads like it) that will run you through a whole 4+ hit combo with the press of only 1 button. that's how easy it is, and it's perfectly allowed.

just press 1 button and the macro goes through the whole combo sequence as fast as allowed without any errors, and all you have to do is remain within range of your opponent.

there are many other things you can also macro which help a ton in this game like buffs, shields, knockdowns, potions, double taps, etc, etc.

 

that's how the pros do it anyways.

I call it autohotkey, and my version is free.

I do feel sorry for the people that can't handle more complex game dynamics. Some people have physical and mental disabilities that stop them from acheiving more difficult skills. These people should not be laughed at or teased, it's really not their fault. They should gently be coaxed into playing consoles or whatever easier game keeps them happy.

I don't however want all games to end up being basic and easy to play. I like the complexity that allows people with greater dexterity and mental acuity to prosper. I applaud AoC for attempting to improve combat mechanics, and I look forward to games that continue to try and bring player skill back into MMO combat.

Originally posted by eyelolled

I do feel sorry for the people that can't handle more complex game dynamics. Some people have physical and mental disabilities that stop them from acheiving more difficult skills. These people should not be laughed at or teased, it's really not their fault. They should gently be coaxed into playing consoles or whatever easier game keeps them happy.

 

I don't however want all games to end up being basic and easy to play. I like the complexity that allows people with greater dexterity and mental acuity to prosper. I applaud AoC for attempting to improve combat mechanics, and I look forward to games that continue to try and bring player skill back into MMO combat.

"Complex" and "depth" are two different things. AoC's combat system is more complex than WoW, but not as deep.

Regular system: Press button, get result.

AoC's system: Press button, press another button, press another button, press another button, get result.

One is complex, but to what end? The benefit of complexity is to have more options, not to just make easy things hard.

I don't want games to be too easy either, but taking "punch" and turning it into "close your first," "real back your arm," "punch" is not the way to go. I feel sorry for those who aren't creative enough to see that.

Hey, you have to give some credit here, in Guild Wars 2 the combat is very similar to WoW except you have to dodge...

This is coming from a HUGE fan of Guild Wars 2 - my gaming rig the desktop scrolls every 30 seconds to another piece of GW2 art - no joke.

AoC melee combat was annoying in closed beta no thanks.

 AoC melee combat is allowing you to direct your blows. There is nothing crippling about the complexity at all. It is very straight forward and simple to figure out. Each direction or blow of your weapon has a key assigned to it. If you want to strike overhead use W, upper left is Q, upper right E. Swinging from the lower left is A, lower right is D. Combos require that you successfully hit a series of 2, or at most 3, keys to pull off. There is a slight learning curve, but it is not a difficult system at all.

The reason you want to direct blows in the first place is so you can strike the area where your opponent is most vunerable. For instance, if you notice your target is shielded from overhead attacks you can use one of the side attacks instead. Over the course of the engagement the opponents shields of defense will constantly change, so you have to pay attention and strike where he is most vunerable.

You cannot slip into auto pilot and be successful in melee combat, you have to pay attention. If that is too much to ask, then AoC is not your kind of MMO.