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Mortal Online Guide: Combat Overview
MMORPG.com Correspondent Phil Penman takes us on a tour of combat in Star Vault's Mortal Online.
By Phil Penman on June 09, 2009
Mercy? Surely such a romantic notion has no place on the battlefield?
In Star Vault’s Mortal Online they’ve handed that decision, to you.
The combat system for this hotly anticipated title is still in development and no doubt some changes will be made, however let’s have a closer look at what we know is proposed, step by step.
;)
Targeting
Whether attacking or defending, targeting is achieved by hovering your targeting cursor over your intended target and pressing the target button.
Don’t expect a raft of info when you do this – there won’t be statistics displayed for target health, endurance or mana as with many other MMORPGs, you’ll get a target box but no numbers. The “target list” itself will contain some basic information on the targets you’ve added, their status (criminal/murderer/friendly etc.) but little else. Star Vault seem to be going for essential information only, possibly due to an attempt to keep the player’s interest on the combat, rather than on statistical nonsense. So what happens once you get inside melee range?
;)
Incoming!
Switching to the Combat Stance, leaves you with two options – attack or be attacked.
The left mouse button (LMB) when pressed charges your attack, holding the button down will allow you to delay the attack, releasing it will instantly unleash your fury. This rather neat change from minding clicking allows the player some control over timing, which frankly, is rather sweet!
Here’s the downside, after making an attack, your open for a counter attack for a short time, so be careful as you can’t parry or block during this vulnerable period.
Mortal Online seems to be encouraging the berserker in us all, at least a little, maybe just a tiny bit, OK I’m looking for an excuse. I can see me using their charge attack a lot, whilst running into combat if you attack you’ll unleash the “power stike” with the LMB. This drains a huge amount of your stamina, but I bet it’s a lot of fun!
The action of charging strikes before attacking, negates any benefit from button mashing, it pushes players to think tactics during combat, Do I try to take him down now and risk a counter? Or wait until he attacks, block and cut his balls off with a counter of my own? Reading your opponent will be key and this will only come with experience, probably of dying a lot but we’ll cover that gory detail later.
;)
Shield wall! Shield wall!
So we’ve covered the basics of melee attacks in Mortal Online, how about some defense?
Blocking in MMOs has always been a tricky element to incorporate for many reasons, lag being one of the main ones. To side step this Star Vault are trying a new approach, which at least on paper looks very promising. Earlier we mentioned the left mouse button (LMB), blocking uses the right mouse button (RMB).
There will be a tiny chance that you’re character will auto-block without any intervention by you, however this is going to be rare and unlike other MMOs it’s not intended to be relied upon. If you want to stay alive you have to get involved and get block attacks yourself.
There’s a delay in both entering and leaving the “blocking state”, it’s a tiny delay but it’s there partly to prevent RMB spamming and also to make combat more open and as with attacking, focus player attention on tactics and timing.
To block you simply hold the RMB, your character will raise his shield or weapon and attempt to block. Stamina will be drained whilst you’re in the “blocking state” and each time you manage to block an attack you’re stamina will take a hit, but at least you’ll lose less health.
Whilst you’re trying to block and have the RMB held down, you can attempt a shield bash by clicking the LMB – again this uses up stamina, but at least you still deal some pain to your attacker.
Blocking an attack doesn’t mean you’ve negated all incoming damage, but it will reduce the damage and keep you on your feet and breathing.
Any attacks that are aimed at your back cannot be blocked, but blocking frontal or side attacks will reduce the damage you receive. A “perfect block” will give the defender an opportunity to launch a special counter attack, however you’re timing will have to be spot on – Mortal Online again rewards those who are paying attention.
Kal Vas Flam?
There will of course be non-melee fighting, it’d be rather boring if there wasn’t. At the moment official details are a tad sketchy, but here’s what’s been confirmed, at least in Alpha:
- Twenty or so battle spells, no more. Essentially it’s Ultima Online time, make the most of what you have – hey it worked back then!
- Very few damage reduction, debuffs or resistance spells.
- Even fewer damage buff spells.
There’s currently two types of casting that are being tested, it could be either of these that makes it into beta and perhaps even a combination (dependent on spell type) which makes it into the final game. I won’t go into depth on these as yet, as I have a feeling they’ll be changing it once they’ve had some beta feedback. One essentially uses your targeting list mentioned earlier, the other relies more heavily on you targeting manually, much more like a FPS style shooter.
Twang!
Any real detail on combat using bows, slings and other ranged missile weapons is currently elusive. At the moment all we know is that they’re still working on it and are trying to get trajectories and arcs into the game. I think we can be quite confident that Star Vault will only include a method which makes sense alongside melee and magical combat.
;)
Mounted combat
This could be interesting, essentially your controls stay the same, however as you’re on horseback your damage output per attack and the chance of knocking your opponent down are higher the faster you’re mount is moving. However anyone attacking you can also take a shot at your horse, the video footage that’s been released so far shows someone being dismounted – it looks like there will be a few seconds where the dismounted player will be very vulnerable, in which case this could be fairly balanced.
Famous last words!
Mercy?
If you’re lucky, when you’re at zero hit points you’ll slip into a semi-conscious state and only be able to speak, at which point you can beg for mercy from your opponent. I’ve a feeling mercy won’t be a frequent outcome of such discussions and that a spectacular finishing move will be far too tempting for most players caught up in blood lust.
I also have a feeling that I’ll be the one begging a lot as a pale skinned teenager covers his monitor screen in spittle whilst screaming “Die!”
What a glorious way to go!
Hold up. What is this based on? Alpha? Beta (that i don't think has started yet) or that forum post a bit ago.
Well, im pumped! Lets just hope everything goes as planned!
Pretty vague overview, but then again it's just based on the combat alpha. Still sounds interesting though!
They are in closed beta now.
http://www.mortalonline.com/news/june-05-06-09
The closed Combat Beta is going as planned, we’ve been inviting players from the community each week since beta started. If you haven’t got an invitation yet please be patient, so far we are doing this in a relatively small scale.
The test phases have been great for Mortal Online; we are getting a lot of good feedback on combat, movement, crafting, balancing, latency and stability. We are very happy with the stability of the server and the clients.
Even though our movement prediction system is not yet in place we have also got very good test results from US players on our EU server. We didn’t expect US players to actually be able to compete in our real time combat system, but they have shown it’s very possible, so far.
We’ve had some great testing sessions, and it’s been lots of fun for us to see what kind of crazy gears/weapons people come up with on the battleground. We’ve also had our a* kicked by some real skilful players. Here’s some screenshots from the beta.
Within the next few weeks we are going to switch to our release build, which is the next step in our testing phase. As this build contains the complete prediction system we will soon have some information about what kind of ping players will need to be able to compete at the same terms as the rest in our real time combat.
The information for the article looks like it comes directly from the alpha combat thread; wich I think is a MUCH better write up. It's much more indepth.
http://www.mortalonline.com/forums/3579-alpha-combat-system-short.html
It gives a lot of great information about how combat works.
If it translates from papter to code well, it sounds as if it could be a very good combat system requiring a lot of player strategy and skill.
I'm hoping they go for an FPS manual aiming system for combat magic.
I just think it's nice to see a full FP style MMO that's taking the genre back to its roots but at the same time making it next gen. Good luck SV i hope this game works out becase it sounds great on paper. I'll be getting my pre-order in and then into beta to see what it's going to be like and if it's going to live up to the hype.
/fingers crossed
Crap point and click... I had hoped they wouldnt go this route, but more the darkfall route of full player control combat system.
Or twitch... Ill have to rethink even getting this now.. bummer.
And yes if i have to click on a target its nothing more then point and click. As for ping, darkfall servers ping around 150ms -200ms for me in North America and we do realtime twitch based fps type combat just fine.
If the talent darkfalls Devs produced can do it im sure these Mortals devs could.
If they do they, will get a subscriber, if not then they wont.
I cant go back to the old point and target system, ive played the next best thing in a mmog setting. Its like riding a uber roller coaster, then riding some small thing... it just doesnt have the thrill anymore.
it will be LMB hitting whats in front of you, you do not have to target something first to hit it.
you DO NOT have to target someone to hit him theres a target list but swinging your weapon will hit those in front of it like a FPS.
the target list is only to see targets health but its not required to kill someone.
where did you get your info?
"Whether attacking or defending, targeting is achieved by hovering your targeting cursor over your intended target and pressing the target button."
I'm pretty sure that what you're trying to write here is "and pressing the attack button".
Thanks KeKe, yea thats where i get my info.
The rest,
Targeting
Whether attacking or defending, targeting is achieved by hovering your targeting cursor over your intended target and pressing the target button.
Don’t expect a raft of info when you do this – there won’t be statistics displayed for target health, endurance or mana as with many other MMORPGs, you’ll get a target box but no numbers. The “target list” itself will contain some basic information on the targets you’ve added, their status (criminal/murderer/friendly etc.) but little else. Star Vault seem to be going for essential information only, possibly due to an attempt to keep the player’s interest on the combat, rather than on statistical nonsense. So what happens once you get inside melee range?
Incoming!
Switching to the Combat Stance, leaves you with two options – attack or be attacked.
The left mouse button (LMB) when pressed charges your attack, holding the button down will allow you to delay the attack, releasing it will instantly unleash your fury. This rather neat change from minding clicking allows the player some control over timing, which frankly, is rather sweet!
Here’s the downside, after making an attack, your open for a counter attack for a short time, so be careful as you can’t parry or block during this vulnerable period.
Mortal Online seems to be encouraging the berserker in us all, at least a little, maybe just a tiny bit, OK I’m looking for an excuse. I can see me using their charge attack a lot, whilst running into combat if you attack you’ll unleash the “power stike” with the LMB. This drains a huge amount of your stamina, but I bet it’s a lot of fun!
The action of charging strikes before attacking, negates any benefit from button mashing, it pushes players to think tactics during combat, Do I try to take him down now and risk a counter? Or wait until he attacks, block and cut his balls off with a counter of my own? Reading your opponent will be key and this will only come with experience, probably of dying a lot but we’ll cover that gory detail later.
What more do you need. Read the damn thing. Thats where i get my info.
The damn thing isn't very clear though. Is the "targeting cursor" a reticule or the mouse pointer? But notice he talks about targeting and then about being within melee range where you then go into a combat stance. I know I've seen some games where when you go into combat the mouse pointer disappears. Also, if you can charge an attack, or ability, by holding down the LMB, I don't see how you could then point and click to target. This, and my impression from following the game, makes me think it isn't point and click, that it is similar to AOC.
Combat is FPS based.
You have to manualy aim, but have a targets reticle so you can see who you're engaged with.
Imagine it like DFO but instead of the info box going blank after a second or two you can lock the info in instead.
The only part of combat that hasn't been determined is if combat magic will be manually aimed or if it will be autoaimed or a mix of both. It's possible that some spells may be manual while others will be auto. That's the impression I got from the official write up.
The actual combat write up on the official site, the one I linked to, has a much better description of what combat will be like. They also have entire forum sections dedicated two answers that devs have given to player questions. Kind of like a more indepth FAQ if you will.
It's sounds like strategic FPS with less emphasis on twitch and more on strategy and tactic. At least as far as melee goes.
How dull can someone be to misinterpret this in any other possible way?
Combat will be Mount and Blade style which Darkfall tried to copy from. Targeting Cursor will be the same as the reticule you get in game like Call of Duty and Battlefield.
In a way this is point and click because you are pointing with the mouse and clicking to attack, exactly like any other game that has ever been done.
As others have said already, it is not a point and click target system. When you click on a player or mob, you add it to your UI enemy list. You can have a number of different enemies on the list. It tells you the basics about your enemies. The "targeting" has nothing to do with actual combat. Combat will be like DFO with the freedom to swing, move and block in any direction, at anything and anyone. This target list is just a list of enemies and nothing more. There are also different combat stances for different types of swings.
It should be obvious with the fact that you have to hold down the LMB for a minimum of 0.5 sec to swing the weapon. The longer you hold down the LMB, the harder you swing and the more stam you use up. You can move freely and swing and block freely, no target clicking necessary. You do have to aim at a hitbox though. You aim at the left arm, and you hit the left arm, if you are good enough. The blocking has to be aimed as well to get a perfect block. If you see the swing at your left arm, you need to move the shield or weapon in that direction to get a better block. It will be much more tactical than any MMO out there if it works.
Beta has started... a while ago! You can preorder on the 29th
Sounds very good.
It would be excelent if it was like Mount&Blade
Sounds promising, hopefully devs won't screw it up someway
Nice article, its largely copy pasted from matts but thats good because it means its polly more accurate.
only thing I don't like about announced system is the auto block, I know its rare, but that just reinforces the fact thats its a pointless addition and a step backwards interms of a realistic, imersive combat system.
Aye, targeting is only for, say, buffs and debuffs or to see enemy's status. It will be fpsy.
And it's already been confirmed that true trajectories are in for arrows.
How can people claim to be "bummed" by the FPS style combat system with MO? That is how its been planned from the get go.
-That was great-
I also have a feeling that I’ll be the one begging a lot as a pale skinned teenager covers his monitor screen in spittle whilst screaming “Die!”
What a glorious way to go!
The combat system seems cool enough, to be sure.
But is it going to end up like the run and swing thing that Darkfall is? Combat footage from that game just looks silly. Everyone is just running circles around each other the whole time. The idea of swinging or shooting or casting spells while running is an immersion killer for me. I can see a limited application during some kind of "charging into the fray" move, but that's it.
Agree.
but thats how FPS combat works, and the whole point of First Person view in Mortal Online is to simulate that. Seem like you would be best suited to "auto-target" games where charcter movement is not part of the combat equation.
but thats how FPS combat works, and the whole point of First Person view in Mortal Online is to simulate that. Seem like you would be best suited to "auto-target" games where charcter movement is not part of the combat equation.
So. Mortal Online is simulating a silly combat simulation?
I see your point, but that doesn't make the application any less silly-looking. It's a general truth that doing two things at once means both will be done half-assed. One has a better chance of hitting a target if one is standing still, lying in a supported-prone position is even better, hence the use of bipods and tripods. Moving and shooting, even at a slow, deliberate walk, is a tough skill to master.
Attacking with a melee weapon while moving laterally is even more difficult. In fact, most melee attacks involve moving towards one's target, maybe even stepping through. The vulnerable exposure and level of commitment required to make an attack successful is one of the dynamics of combat.
I like the idea of this game's combat system. I like the idea of having to aim my attacks. I like the idea that my two-hander has an area of effect and that I have to watch out for hitting friendlies. I do not like the "click on the target and swing away" mechanics of many games. It irks me to see the whole group standing on top of each other attacking the target with no regard for the actual space required to use their weapons.
These games are supposed to simulate fighting, lethal struggles, but most seemed designed by mathmeticians. Two rules I wish they could accept: "Anybody can kill anybody" and "slow is smooth, smooth is fast."
I am not looking for a game that necessarily causes Post Traumatic Stress Disorder when it's played. But it would be nice if these games could find something more than choosing between "click and kill" or "strafe and twitch." Or at least show both as less effective than the Wyatt Earp technique.
Great stuff!