Some Basics for Combat
Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2016 2:59 am
I've seen some questions come up while on the server, and would like to be sure my memory is intact and we are kind of on the same page.
Firstly, just the combat state itself. For example, there is an orb mob in Greystone that does no damage, and can be killed by any damage--its only purpose is to be annoying by placing you in combat. This should 1) put the character into a bouncy animation and 2) reduce your regen and prevent the ability to use items such as food (but not druid berries). When grouped, and a group member enters combat, you should as well--unless you are out of range. I do not know the range? So those orbs are a good thing to test what combat "is" without really doing anything else.
Getting out of combat would usually be a matter of running out, however, with using sprint (or other speed bonuses) it looks like the mobs match your speed and keep hitting. Note that running so they can't hit you, has nothing to do with their leash distance, which is variable.
Auto-attack. This seemed to be the source of most of the questions. *Any* melee ability should start auto-attack, as well as the tilde (`) key (really a toggle). On a druid, there are no melee abilities, so only the tilde could start it. A dread knight has spells, but these should not do it. During auto-attack, every ability used should reset the swing timer; so that, if the druid equipped a slow staff with 2.5 seconds swing time, if I wait 2 seconds, and then cast an instant, it should still start over and not swing the staff for 2.5 more seconds--so 4.5 seconds between those attacks. I am not sure if the use of inventory items or clickys should reset it, but all abilities should, even melee abilities which mostly would behave like instant spells. Vanguard intended to get rid of auto-attack entirely, but never did. DoTs should not show the character casting them repeatedly, although showing the effect pulse on the target is fine.
No global cooldown: every class has a couple of abilities which may have their own cooldown, but do not trigger a global, and this gives the class a lot of its flavor. Shamans can change stances without incurring a cooldown on other stances, which is unique.
ESC and target clearing: I should be able to click on the ground and clear target; this currently is not implemented. ESC should, in descending order of priority: cancel ability, clear target, close windows, open menu. Currently, if I ESC from target, most of the time it re-appears as an off-target in the group encounter list. Clearing the target should not inherently stop an auto-attack on it, and I should be able to Tab through any targets without affecting auto-attack. For some reason, I usually have to hit ESC twice to clear anything I've been in combat with (even a corpse).
Aggro radius looks like 11 units which seems fine for a baseline, but should be adjustable. One of my favorite early memories was in Blighted Lands, going near the Nexus portal and getting one-shotted at 25--over and over again, until I figured out to drag the tombstone. This may be level-dependent? Vanguard tended to ignore aggro at a ten-level difference, e. g. at 21, a level 10 mob will ignore me unless I hit it. I have a feeling the standard on live was aggro at 15 units, but that one is a little fuzzy to remember. It will have a *lot* to do with the aspect of the game in dealing with pathers, most of those distances seemed to be set pretty specifically. Distance and positioning was pretty important; I should be able to back out to a range of 5 without the mob moving. Currently 5 seems out of range.
Tab, I think, should target the next closest thing moreso than the next thing in the forwards direction. One very weird thing I found on live about the targeting, was one of the PotA trials, I forget which, but it was one that spawned oodles of adds. Guilds told me to make a targeting macro, and, whatever the mob's name was, it was similar to something about 800 units away. The macro constantly targeted the one 800 away until putting the mob's full name in quotes. Weird.
Well, just throwing this stuff out there and, if I am wrong, correct it. Seems important to get the basic behaviors down before attempting to balance or tweak damages, resistances, etc, or the "aggro through walls" thing.
Firstly, just the combat state itself. For example, there is an orb mob in Greystone that does no damage, and can be killed by any damage--its only purpose is to be annoying by placing you in combat. This should 1) put the character into a bouncy animation and 2) reduce your regen and prevent the ability to use items such as food (but not druid berries). When grouped, and a group member enters combat, you should as well--unless you are out of range. I do not know the range? So those orbs are a good thing to test what combat "is" without really doing anything else.
Getting out of combat would usually be a matter of running out, however, with using sprint (or other speed bonuses) it looks like the mobs match your speed and keep hitting. Note that running so they can't hit you, has nothing to do with their leash distance, which is variable.
Auto-attack. This seemed to be the source of most of the questions. *Any* melee ability should start auto-attack, as well as the tilde (`) key (really a toggle). On a druid, there are no melee abilities, so only the tilde could start it. A dread knight has spells, but these should not do it. During auto-attack, every ability used should reset the swing timer; so that, if the druid equipped a slow staff with 2.5 seconds swing time, if I wait 2 seconds, and then cast an instant, it should still start over and not swing the staff for 2.5 more seconds--so 4.5 seconds between those attacks. I am not sure if the use of inventory items or clickys should reset it, but all abilities should, even melee abilities which mostly would behave like instant spells. Vanguard intended to get rid of auto-attack entirely, but never did. DoTs should not show the character casting them repeatedly, although showing the effect pulse on the target is fine.
No global cooldown: every class has a couple of abilities which may have their own cooldown, but do not trigger a global, and this gives the class a lot of its flavor. Shamans can change stances without incurring a cooldown on other stances, which is unique.
ESC and target clearing: I should be able to click on the ground and clear target; this currently is not implemented. ESC should, in descending order of priority: cancel ability, clear target, close windows, open menu. Currently, if I ESC from target, most of the time it re-appears as an off-target in the group encounter list. Clearing the target should not inherently stop an auto-attack on it, and I should be able to Tab through any targets without affecting auto-attack. For some reason, I usually have to hit ESC twice to clear anything I've been in combat with (even a corpse).
Aggro radius looks like 11 units which seems fine for a baseline, but should be adjustable. One of my favorite early memories was in Blighted Lands, going near the Nexus portal and getting one-shotted at 25--over and over again, until I figured out to drag the tombstone. This may be level-dependent? Vanguard tended to ignore aggro at a ten-level difference, e. g. at 21, a level 10 mob will ignore me unless I hit it. I have a feeling the standard on live was aggro at 15 units, but that one is a little fuzzy to remember. It will have a *lot* to do with the aspect of the game in dealing with pathers, most of those distances seemed to be set pretty specifically. Distance and positioning was pretty important; I should be able to back out to a range of 5 without the mob moving. Currently 5 seems out of range.
Tab, I think, should target the next closest thing moreso than the next thing in the forwards direction. One very weird thing I found on live about the targeting, was one of the PotA trials, I forget which, but it was one that spawned oodles of adds. Guilds told me to make a targeting macro, and, whatever the mob's name was, it was similar to something about 800 units away. The macro constantly targeted the one 800 away until putting the mob's full name in quotes. Weird.
Well, just throwing this stuff out there and, if I am wrong, correct it. Seems important to get the basic behaviors down before attempting to balance or tweak damages, resistances, etc, or the "aggro through walls" thing.