Having a piece of software doing the QTE for you, whilst probably illegal, will not be too difficult. It looks to me like a way to make the "Auto attack" replacement a little more engaging. I would love to try it out for myself, it'll make it easier to come up with a different solution.
The combat looked trash over all. Extremely disappointed was very hyped along with alot of my friends we didn't know for sure about the tab targeting rumors being true till the PAX. Every discord and community Im in is saying RIP AoC. the slider bar thing isnt a big deal but if you are basing your combat around doing a skill and waiting that's boring and slow. Just copy BDO, BDO is easy to play just dont be lazy and put a little practice into it. The way I see the combat turning out in AoC is little gimmicks to disguise as skilled play while the combat is boring and slow with a lot of quick time events every time you want to do a skill.
ya, if certain pixels switch color from red to yellow (or whatever the combobar color may be at that point) autoclick 1. Ez hack. Maybe remap combo attack to f2 so theres no downside for mistake triggers, even if the particular color switch is unlikely in other situations.
So you would want to be skilled at it? Or have good hand-eye reflexes to nail it?
QTEs aren't a measure of skill. They are a measure of ping (i.e. how close to the server do you live), framerate (i.e. how much did you spend on your computer), and twitch reflexes (i.e. how old are you). By its very nature, you can't get better at the QTE through effort. I can't understand why people would want something like that as the foundation for combat.
For two reasons from my view. 1. Making macros extremely difficult. 2. You can add a risk vs reward mechanism to the whack a mole system. You can get higher outbound damage skills...but they come with a higher inbound damage risk. I would also use a button release system rather than a click system to help. This has some neutralising effect for players that dont/cant have fast reflexes through age or ability.
I dont mind people having a higher power opportunity as long as it comes with higher risk. Everyone wins.
Pre-alpha footage/play released Game still hasn't entered family/friends testing Over a year away from Alpha 1 testing RIP Ashes
lol at fanbois who would defend it no matter what. But in fact this combat system is 100% garbage. It not only have mirror issues, it not only needs some small tweaking... what it needs is complete wipe and rework from 0. Which have very small chance to actually happen. Also anyone who though that this style of combat is ok, clearly have zero clue about how a mmo combat should work, and there are very low chance that he will ever design a viable one.
However combat is critical. They already choice the most unplayer friendly moneymaking model. They also choice a very bad time for release(many other mmo release in that time frame, and most before this game). If they fail with the combat too, then it's doesn't matter how fancy will be the graphic(well, the characters looks very ugly anyway), or the world itself, this game will be simply not competitive in the market.
So in tl.dr you can pretend that it's not problem, you can just repeat that it's just apha/beta/not whatever, if it doesn't going to get changed then it's pretty much rip, even if you don't want to admit it...
QTE is not a skill? Okay, so anyone that sits down to play will always make the combo work to maximum effect, not even a skill so probably don't even have to watch bar to execute combo, what's the problem?
ping/framerate/lag all things that adversely effect you in combat anyways? Unless these things don't make combat unreliable without the implementation of QTE.
Honestly I understand the ping/framerate/lag issue, we have all (likely) experienced it for one reason or another and it sucks, it really sucks. I am not arguing that connection speeds and anything else outside the players control won't effect the game.
I am just stating that mastering a QTE takes skill. It might not be mastering Chess or becoming an NBA star, but that does not make it not a skill.
Twitch reflexes and age? Okay, I suppose if you are older (and I am) that you might not be able to move as fast as a younger player, but to me that is true for all combat against other players not just QTE's.
From that video of combat, one thing stands out to me right away. At 4:54 the "Tank" makes contact with the cleric with his sword and is immediately followed by a GIANT Korean style over the top explosion/ graphic....oh god no. Do we really need 7 million over the top graphical markers for basic attacks?? Ultimately making every move not that cool. Nothing is special when attacks happens because all the attacks graphics are all dialed up to 11. This combined with everyone else graphical hits being at 11, makes for a giant visual cluster F. I think programmers/ artist when they work on these types of graphics look at it from a singular point of view. As in from the point of view of the character the're working on. From that single point of view im sure it seems cool. But as soon as you add 6-8 enemies and 5 players its a mess. Remember the days when only critical hits did a special action and it was cool when it happened? I got to say from all the interviews I watched and all the articles I read mixed with a small amount of videos so far (yes i know its ancient alpha phase) the game looks and feels to me like a cross between Albion Online and the average over the top Korean MMO. I hope im wrong because the MMO world for the past several years sucks. Been playing MMO's since the days of UO.
QTE is not a skill? Okay, so anyone that sits down to play will always make the combo work to maximum effect, not even a skill so probably don't even have to watch bar to execute combo, what's the problem?
ping/framerate/lag all things that adversely effect you in combat anyways? Unless these things don't make combat unreliable without the implementation of QTE.
Honestly I understand the ping/framerate/lag issue, we have all (likely) experienced it for one reason or another and it sucks, it really sucks. I am not arguing that connection speeds and anything else outside the players control won't effect the game.
I am just stating that mastering a QTE takes skill. It might not be mastering Chess or becoming an NBA star, but that does not make it not a skill.
Twitch reflexes and age? Okay, I suppose if you are older (and I am) that you might not be able to move as fast as a younger player, but to me that is true for all combat against other players not just QTE's.
Chess is actually 100% skillbased if you remove the Human "Mistake" Element.
"A game of skill is a game where the outcome is determined mainly by mental or physical skill, rather than by chance. Some commonly played games of skill include: chess, poker, collectible card games, contract bridge, backgammon, and mahjong.
However, most games of skill also involve a degree of chance, due to natural aspects of the environment, a randomizing device (such as dice, playing cards or a coin flip) or guessing due to incomplete information. Some games of skill such as poker may involve bluffing and other forms of psychological warfare."
My point was not that a QTE was a "game of skill," just a skill. I never claimed skill game and specifically pointed out that Chess and Basketball are also skills.
Is your point QTE's require no skill?
If they require no skill why are some of the posters worried about watching the bar instead of combat? If there was no skill required you would not have to watch the meter regardless of where it was placed.
Typing is a skill, it's not a game of skill. Some people "hunt and peck" others don't look at the keyboard. Their skills are not equal. Someone that has to watch the bar to time their attack correctly is less skilled than someone who does not have to watch the bar. By the definition you posted a QTE is a game of skill, unless you are just randomly trying to succeed and not using any mental or physical coordination to try and succeed.
Heard Jeffrey answering questions off of Twitch say that it was just added for PAX as an indicator so people could see the mechanic. That over the course of development, while the idea behind the system will NOT change, the way it is displayed on the UI WOULD change and be tweaked in the future.
I am not convinced the UI specific element to the anti-auto attack focus system generator is worthy of a subscription.
I would rather hone my skill fighting against a worthy opponent than an RNG timing action bar.
If this is core* mechanic expects to keep me engaged for +1year let alone 1 hr then Intrepid are fooling themselves.
Detached combat mechanics are just a poor excuse for complexity, in a lackluster core combat engagement.
If this alleged 20% of the current combat system then i would rather the other 80% goes back to the the drawing board before they over invest into this UI system.
I would prefer to accumulate Focus when i hit my actual target without counter.
While I don't want to totally make up my mind until I can actually try it out, so far my only issue is with the graphical UI, which has already been confirmed something that will change. Personally, I'd like if the combo skill were linked to the impact or other animation in a class specific way, such as triggering when the mage's missiles explode, or the moment the ranger looses the arrow. That's usually how combos work in games already, where you hit the attack button the moment your last attack hits.
I'm actually surprised at all the people complaining about it looking slow. Just about every other mmo out there is a mad dash of skill spam with more button mashing than a toddler in an elevator. If that's the kind of combat you like, you don't NEED to kickstart an mmo, you already have your taste catered too.
I miss slow combat, back when you had to actually think about what you were going to use because you had to consider casting time and cooldowns instead of just bashing the number keys in a cycle until the things are dead. I also hate auto-attacks. They are worthless and serve no function. The idea of turning the auto-attack into a weapon skill is great, and I look forward to more info on the weapon skill trees in the future. My first mmo was actually City of Heroes, and there wasn't even that, you had your skills, and they all cost endurance, and if you ran out you just would stand there like an idiot getting punched to death. It made combat slow, yes, but it also made your endurance feel important, especially since you could burn through it real quick if you tried to spam skills. I like that kind of combat, and I miss having to worry about resources and casting times in the heat of battle instead of just mashing every skill that comes off cooldown like the crap the industry has been churning out.
I don't know, I just feel like I'm taking crazy pills or something. I thought the combo UI looked like crap too, but beyond that the combat looks great. Personally, I thought that for the number of skills the characters had, they all seemed to have too much mana/stamina, although I'd personally like to see more skills in play before making that judgment, but I want to need to worry about my mana level during combat. I never saw anyone in the footage released come anywhere close to low mana, although I accept that the current state of things isn't even close to balanced.
My point was not that a QTE was a "game of skill," just a skill. I never claimed skill game and specifically pointed out that Chess and Basketball are also skills.
Is your point QTE's require no skill?
If they require no skill why are some of the posters worried about watching the bar instead of combat? If there was no skill required you would not have to watch the meter regardless of where it was placed.
Typing is a skill, it's not a game of skill. Some people "hunt and peck" others don't look at the keyboard. Their skills are not equal. Someone that has to watch the bar to time their attack correctly is less skilled than someone who does not have to watch the bar. By the definition you posted a QTE is a game of skill, unless you are just randomly trying to succeed and not using any mental or physical coordination to try and succeed.
Actually my point is if u read the previous posts is there is no strategy or tactics with the QTE system. Its succeed or fail and failure isnt really an option which means your only real choice is to succeed. Unlike say chess where you have ample amounts of both and more.
So people want combat to be faster and have better tactics? Button mashing skills is no more a strategy or tactic that waiting for the QTE bar. Constantly attacking without having to worry about defense is not much of a strategy. Two avatars meet, they both constantly attack until one goes down, exciting!
Also, you can take the strategy and tactics away and still have to use hand eye coordination and develop the skill to pull off the combo. If your goal is to be able to pull off the combo without looking at the QTE indicator (changed or not as long as they use it) then that skill needs to be developed.
However, I didn't mind the way everything looked. I have read all the post in this thread and all the arguments for more strategy and tactics, faster combat speed, lower ping being unfair, framerate and so forth. Most of these arguments seem fair and most of the suggestions to IS are good.
Someone that has to watch the bar to time their attack correctly is less skilled than someone who does not have to watch the bar.
Perhaps we should define our terms. Google tells me that skill is defined as "the ability to do something well; expertise."
There is no expertise in QTEs. The only way to get better at hitting a random sweet spot is to get a
better connection, get a better computer, or be younger. There is no one that will be able to not watch the bar, because the sweet spot is random. You can't get better at the QTE, you can only get better at multitasking. Multitasking (i.e. appropriately splitting your attention between the bar and everything else) is a skill, but its also one they are going to minimize with a better interface for the QTE.
So people want combat to be faster and have better tactics?
There should be fast and there should be slow depending on the player's favor, like if I play PVE, I'd like to choose AOE skills if I'd like to play PVP, then I want to choose fast launching skills. I understand mage being slow, but I think Archer should be faster, his skills were slow in the PAX videos. It takes more a second for an arrow to reach target in a 10meters away. It was like a fairy magic attack, instead of arrows.
The way that Intrepid was a bitrealistic, to be honest, it wasn't like Asian MMORPGS where attacks happen in extereme speed like in animes. But I think that much of slowness takes away the whole adrenalin.
It's waaaaaaaay to early to comment on this kind of stuff That bar, for example, represents the intention that there's going to be a secondary skill action system, and it can take any form going forward. It's a building block which iteration spawns from.
What will that mean in the future? Intrepid doesn't even know for sure yet.
I think it's valid feedback to say it feels to gamey to have a secondary mini-game as part of combat. But specific feedback on improvement I think is premature because "this isn't even it's final form!"
This is the BEST time to comment on this stuff. When its early and still being shaped. Not when its already been decided upon by Intrepid and then we critique their decisions. The whole reason they are releasing combat video now is so that they can get our feedback. Why else?
A universally accessible game has to be player and hardware agnostic at the end of the day. Rapid response times....arent hardware or player agnostic. No one wants to be standing around scratching their arse all day though.
Pressing the 1 key every 1 second won't get you very far since the timing of the bar itself is random.
People will get better at the QTE with practice; not effort. Also, the QTE is easier with different weapons - for instance, the longsword QTE is easier than the bow QTE.
The QTE isn't really the foundation of combat. The foundation of combat is your basic weapon attack in addition to your class abilities.
The devs want the speed of attacks to be faster than WoW and slower than BDO, so if you want the attacks to be as fast as BDO, yes, you will be disappointed.
People will get better at the QTE with practice; not effort.
Wait, what? How do you practice without effort? And how do you practice hitting a random timing? At best, you can work on giving less attention to the bar, but that's improving your multitasking, not your QTE.
The QTE isn't really the foundation of combat. The foundation of combat is your basic weapon attack in addition to your class abilities.
The QTE is built in to the weapon attack, and is necessary to get the focus for your archetype's ultimate. How do you figure that the weapon attack and class abilities are foundational but not the integrated and necessary QTE?
Edit: Before we knew about the QTE, combat was described as a mix of three aspects: action, tab-targetting, and a third, unnamed one. The QTE is the third aspect. You don't get more foundational that that.
@mycroft, Google also says a particular ability. So, I would still say the QTE is skill related but the skill would be Hand-Eye coordination.
Improved hand eye coordination will be the key. However, saying you have great hand-eye coordination in Basketball might not help you with the QTE. So, the QTE would be a Hand-Eye coordination skill that would need improving. Improving so you could respond quicker to the random spot on the bar.
Age will play into that good or bad, but that can be said about PvP with someone 10-20 years younger than you, they will be faster according to "the age" argument.
I still agree that ping/framerate/etc. are mostly out of player's control in game, and in that aspect I think the QTE is not the best choice. I still like it. I like a lot of things that I wouldn't consider the "best."
You can call it multi-tasking if you want. I'll agree, watching the bar while trying to time your attacks and trying to watch the battlefield are two separate task. Paying attention to an attacks cool down before being able to use the attack while watching the battlefield is also multi-tasking. The difference is the QTE would be more random, so you couldn't count it off in your head or use muscle memory.
@Dolphin, I like your point of view. The strategy and tactics would come from how you design your skill bar, or hot keys, based on what you are doing.
People will get better at the QTE with practice; not effort.
Wait, what? How do you practice without effort? And how do you practice hitting a random timing? At best, you can work on giving less attention to the bar, but that's improving your multitasking, not your QTE.
The QTE isn't really the foundation of combat. The foundation of combat is your basic weapon attack in addition to your class abilities.
The QTE is built in to the weapon attack, and is necessary to get the focus for your archetype's ultimate. How do you figure that the weapon attack and class abilities are foundational but not the integrated and necessary QTE?
Edit: Before we knew about the QTE, combat was described as a mix of three aspects: action, tab-targetting, and a third, unnamed one. The QTE is the third aspect. You don't get more foundational that that.
Practice is about repetition and familiarity - it doesn't necessarily involve effort.
The QTE is built into the weapon attack and is necessary to build up Focus to pull off the Ultimate - most likely the weapon's Ultimate rather than the archetype's "Ultimate".
The basic weapon attack and the class abilities are foundational. Weapon combos and Focus build on top of that foundation.
Combat being action/tab-target is really a different aspect of combat. Fundamental more than foundational.
So, I would still say the QTE is skill related but the skill would be Hand-Eye coordination.
"Eye–hand coordination (also known as hand–eye coordination) is the coordinated control of eye movement with hand movement, and the processing of visual input to guide reaching and grasping along with the use of proprioception of the hands to guide the eyes." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye–hand_coordination
You're not using visual information to direct the movement of your hand in space, you are responding to a visual cue by pressing a button that is already underneath your finger. It might technically be Hand-Eye coordination, but its at the lowest level possible.
You're not using visual information to direct the movement of your hand in space, you are responding to a visual cue by pressing a button that is already underneath your finger. It might technically be Hand-Eye coordination, but its at the lowest level possible.
Hmmmn. Not sure what the "lowest level possible" means.
The real visual cue is actually fairly random.
If we want to get super nit-picky, it's technically finger-eye coordination - moving the finger down on the key with the proper timing to successfully hit the "sweet-spot" on the bar - which appears at a different location on the QTE bar each time the QTE is triggered.
Action/tab-target is a fundamental element of the combat mechanic itself. Foundational weapon combat is merely using the weapon's basic attack.
Adding in weapon combos by successfully completing the QTE is advanced weapon combat - not foundational weapon combat.
Comments
1. Making macros extremely difficult.
2. You can add a risk vs reward mechanism to the whack a mole system. You can get higher outbound damage skills...but they come with a higher inbound damage risk. I would also use a button release system rather than a click system to help. This has some neutralising effect for players that dont/cant have fast reflexes through age or ability.
I dont mind people having a higher power opportunity as long as it comes with higher risk.
Everyone wins.
lol at fanbois who would defend it no matter what.
But in fact this combat system is 100% garbage. It not only have mirror issues, it not only needs some small tweaking... what it needs is complete wipe and rework from 0.
Which have very small chance to actually happen. Also anyone who though that this style of combat is ok, clearly have zero clue about how a mmo combat should work, and there are very low chance that he will ever design a viable one.
However combat is critical. They already choice the most unplayer friendly moneymaking model. They also choice a very bad time for release(many other mmo release in that time frame, and most before this game). If they fail with the combat too, then it's doesn't matter how fancy will be the graphic(well, the characters looks very ugly anyway), or the world itself, this game will be simply not competitive in the market.
So in tl.dr you can pretend that it's not problem, you can just repeat that it's just apha/beta/not whatever, if it doesn't going to get changed then it's pretty much rip, even if you don't want to admit it...
ping/framerate/lag all things that adversely effect you in combat anyways? Unless these things don't make combat unreliable without the implementation of QTE.
Honestly I understand the ping/framerate/lag issue, we have all (likely) experienced it for one reason or another and it sucks, it really sucks. I am not arguing that connection speeds and anything else outside the players control won't effect the game.
I am just stating that mastering a QTE takes skill. It might not be mastering Chess or becoming an NBA star, but that does not make it not a skill.
Twitch reflexes and age? Okay, I suppose if you are older (and I am) that you might not be able to move as fast as a younger player, but to me that is true for all combat against other players not just QTE's.
I think programmers/ artist when they work on these types of graphics look at it from a singular point of view. As in from the point of view of the character the're working on. From that single point of view im sure it seems cool. But as soon as you add 6-8 enemies and 5 players its a mess. Remember the days when only critical hits did a special action and it was cool when it happened?
I got to say from all the interviews I watched and all the articles I read mixed with a small amount of videos so far (yes i know its ancient alpha phase) the game looks and feels to me like a cross between Albion Online and the average over the top Korean MMO. I hope im wrong because the MMO world for the past several years sucks. Been playing MMO's since the days of UO.
Is your point QTE's require no skill?
If they require no skill why are some of the posters worried about watching the bar instead of combat? If there was no skill required you would not have to watch the meter regardless of where it was placed.
Typing is a skill, it's not a game of skill. Some people "hunt and peck" others don't look at the keyboard. Their skills are not equal. Someone that has to watch the bar to time their attack correctly is less skilled than someone who does not have to watch the bar.
By the definition you posted a QTE is a game of skill, unless you are just randomly trying to succeed and not using any mental or physical coordination to try and succeed.
I would rather hone my skill fighting against a worthy opponent than an RNG timing action bar.
If this is core* mechanic expects to keep me engaged for +1year let alone 1 hr then Intrepid are fooling themselves.
Detached combat mechanics are just a poor excuse for complexity, in a lackluster core combat engagement.
If this alleged 20% of the current combat system then i would rather the other 80% goes back to the the drawing board before they over invest into this UI system.
I would prefer to accumulate Focus when i hit my actual target without counter.
I'm actually surprised at all the people complaining about it looking slow. Just about every other mmo out there is a mad dash of skill spam with more button mashing than a toddler in an elevator. If that's the kind of combat you like, you don't NEED to kickstart an mmo, you already have your taste catered too.
I miss slow combat, back when you had to actually think about what you were going to use because you had to consider casting time and cooldowns instead of just bashing the number keys in a cycle until the things are dead. I also hate auto-attacks. They are worthless and serve no function. The idea of turning the auto-attack into a weapon skill is great, and I look forward to more info on the weapon skill trees in the future. My first mmo was actually City of Heroes, and there wasn't even that, you had your skills, and they all cost endurance, and if you ran out you just would stand there like an idiot getting punched to death. It made combat slow, yes, but it also made your endurance feel important, especially since you could burn through it real quick if you tried to spam skills. I like that kind of combat, and I miss having to worry about resources and casting times in the heat of battle instead of just mashing every skill that comes off cooldown like the crap the industry has been churning out.
I don't know, I just feel like I'm taking crazy pills or something. I thought the combo UI looked like crap too, but beyond that the combat looks great. Personally, I thought that for the number of skills the characters had, they all seemed to have too much mana/stamina, although I'd personally like to see more skills in play before making that judgment, but I want to need to worry about my mana level during combat. I never saw anyone in the footage released come anywhere close to low mana, although I accept that the current state of things isn't even close to balanced.
Button mashing skills is no more a strategy or tactic that waiting for the QTE bar. Constantly attacking without having to worry about defense is not much of a strategy. Two avatars meet, they both constantly attack until one goes down, exciting!
Also, you can take the strategy and tactics away and still have to use hand eye coordination and develop the skill to pull off the combo. If your goal is to be able to pull off the combo without looking at the QTE indicator (changed or not as long as they use it) then that skill needs to be developed.
However, I didn't mind the way everything looked. I have read all the post in this thread and all the arguments for more strategy and tactics, faster combat speed, lower ping being unfair, framerate and so forth. Most of these arguments seem fair and most of the suggestions to IS are good.
My only point is that a QTE is skill related.
The way that Intrepid was a bitrealistic, to be honest, it wasn't like Asian MMORPGS where attacks happen in extereme speed like in animes. But I think that much of slowness takes away the whole adrenalin.
- QTE system is for single player games.
- Its more about reflex than skill.
- QTE system combined with tab targeting feels like it will be MEH at most.
- Will it be balanced between melees and ranged?
- Makes AoEs problematic, when breaking combos or killing QTE focused players.
- Tab targeting is aged and boring system.
- Ping and latency will harm combos.
- Focus on bar, not at battlefield and environment.
- Not much strategy and tactic in QTE.
- Still time to make major changes.
PROSRapid response times....arent hardware or player agnostic.
No one wants to be standing around scratching their arse all day though.
Could make dungeon runs.......interesting.
Wait, I thought a prerequisite for dungeon runs was booze...
People will get better at the QTE with practice; not effort.
Also, the QTE is easier with different weapons - for instance, the longsword QTE is easier than the bow QTE.
The QTE isn't really the foundation of combat.
The foundation of combat is your basic weapon attack in addition to your class abilities.
The devs want the speed of attacks to be faster than WoW and slower than BDO, so if you want the attacks to be as fast as BDO, yes, you will be disappointed.
The QTE is built in to the weapon attack, and is necessary to get the focus for your archetype's ultimate. How do you figure that the weapon attack and class abilities are foundational but not the integrated and necessary QTE?
Edit: Before we knew about the QTE, combat was described as a mix of three aspects: action, tab-targetting, and a third, unnamed one. The QTE is the third aspect. You don't get more foundational that that.
Improved hand eye coordination will be the key. However, saying you have great hand-eye coordination in Basketball might not help you with the QTE. So, the QTE would be a Hand-Eye coordination skill that would need improving. Improving so you could respond quicker to the random spot on the bar.
Age will play into that good or bad, but that can be said about PvP with someone 10-20 years younger than you, they will be faster according to "the age" argument.
I still agree that ping/framerate/etc. are mostly out of player's control in game, and in that aspect I think the QTE is not the best choice. I still like it. I like a lot of things that I wouldn't consider the "best."
You can call it multi-tasking if you want. I'll agree, watching the bar while trying to time your attacks and trying to watch the battlefield are two separate task. Paying attention to an attacks cool down before being able to use the attack while watching the battlefield is also multi-tasking. The difference is the QTE would be more random, so you couldn't count it off in your head or use muscle memory.
@Dolphin, I like your point of view. The strategy and tactics would come from how you design your skill bar, or hot keys, based on what you are doing.
The QTE is built into the weapon attack and is necessary to build up Focus to pull off the Ultimate - most likely the weapon's Ultimate rather than the archetype's "Ultimate".
The basic weapon attack and the class abilities are foundational.
Weapon combos and Focus build on top of that foundation.
Combat being action/tab-target is really a different aspect of combat.
Fundamental more than foundational.
You're not using visual information to direct the movement of your hand in space, you are responding to a visual cue by pressing a button that is already underneath your finger. It might technically be Hand-Eye coordination, but its at the lowest level possible.
If you have a point beyond semantics then feel free to get to it.
For the lols, Google's definition of foundational: "denoting an underlying basis or principle; fundamental."
The real visual cue is actually fairly random.
If we want to get super nit-picky, it's technically finger-eye coordination - moving the finger down on the key with the proper timing to successfully hit the "sweet-spot" on the bar - which appears at a different location on the QTE bar each time the QTE is triggered.
Action/tab-target is a fundamental element of the combat mechanic itself.
Foundational weapon combat is merely using the weapon's basic attack.
Adding in weapon combos by successfully completing the QTE is advanced weapon combat - not foundational weapon combat.