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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Poor Combat Animation's
So I've been watching very close to the development of AoS. I haven't invested yet, because current combat looks... well kind of awful. Combat seems slow and extremely clunky. The combat animations are lack luster.
So will combat animations and style be improved? Poor combat animation and systems are a deal breaker for me. I want this game so f**king much... So please someone tell me combat's going to get a huge upgrade into the 21st century.
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Comments
Thank God!
its WAY too early to start worrying about these things this early in development.
Right now they are still in the stage of lets get this to work reliably and make sure it doesn't randomly drop me through the floor. Once mechanics, damage calculations, and so on are solid then they can worry about making the fireball casting look beautiful
This is by no means an exuse not to be critical, however, it is certainly not a red flag.
The break-neck speed at which these crowdfunded MMOs are charging forward is astounding.
Why should they leave one of the key elements to a successful game till "much much later in development"?
Combat system should be one of the first things addressed and perfected. Doesn't make sense to leave a crucial element of the game till the last minute..
As OP stated, poor combat systems are a deal breaker for many, myself included. (Even though I already invested :P)
So if they continue like that i feel like it can become alot more better even
There is a natural order to things in everything in life. In a house you build the frame, then you pull the electrical into the rooms, pull any plumbing you need through the rooms, then insulate, put up drywall, cut in fixtures, paint, install fixtures, install carpet, install baseboards and window trim, etc. You don't install the carpet first and then paint, because that's just an accident waiting to happen.
The same thing here. The looks of an MMO can always be fixed closer to the end, but horrible systems, mechanics, etc stay horrible.
As my TI used to say "you can spend all day shining a pile of shit, but at the end of the day all you have is shiny shit"
I'd rather have solid gold that is polished at the end, then a shiny turd.
Yeah, you have a nice dream house now, but you will spend every day loathing those damn doors and dealing with the frustration they bring until you finally just sell the damn house and look for another.
That's the difference between Alpha and Release.
My overall point was that the OP was right to be worried about the state of combat. Many, although not all, games that have been given high praises for their incredible combat mechanics typically had them in place well before any art assets were added and even before they were revealed to the public. Think Destiny, Halo, Overwatch, Bayonetta/DMC, Dark Souls, etc. These games have incredibly designed combat and controls that were in place well before anything was shown to the public.
I know AoC is an MMO that went to KS to get stretch funding, but the initial development funding is supposed to have been in place well before KS as has been stated by Steven several times. KS was meant to add features and stretch goals to the game not core mechanics. I think that is at least warranted to have an open discussion about combat before we get too far along the development process.
Also remember, we are all here this early in the development of this game because we all want it to succeed.
Those kind of details go on a snagging list between the contractor and the client. They are addressed before hand over, after the rest of the building is done. Survey is 1st, then structural, then architectural/mechanical/electrical. And quite often that architectural detail has to change if the mechanical and electrical services wont work and cant be routed. Function before beauty.
That said. There is nothing wrong with Intrepid showing 'proof of concept' or demos to allay fears of capability. So they have gone out of their way to show proof of concept work as part of their milestones and 'open development' philosophy. They are more than capable of creating top notch animations and they can also be done retrospectively if need be, without any issue to game functionality.
Be thankful all this is not done behind closed doors as any other developer does.
The point I was making, and the OP, isn't that the animations are the problem, but that the combat doesn't look exciting. I believe this is where the disconnect between discussions in this thread are coming up. This mostly comes from the lack of abilities shown so far, and the fact that they don't interact with each other at all. We have yet to see what buffs and debuffs abilities will give. Does the mage get bonus damage for chaining fire spells, or do they lose bonus damage for changing elements? Does the cleric do increased damage the lower in health they become, or do they heal more the lower in health their target is? What is the rhythm of each class' abilities? Things like that are what is missing from the combat right now. It gets to the heart of the issue I know I have with the combat so far.
AoC doesn't have to have crazy fight animations like BDO, and it can use classic tab targeting for everything if they wanted to. The real depth of combat comes from ability interactions and resource management. So far, we have only seen the now hidden "timing bar", and I have to say that I'm completely glad they are rethinking the timing bar because that never looked engaging or practical in my opinion.
Everyone wants more meat on the bone regarding combat mechanics. Hell any meat on the bone would be good
It will come. They appear to be getting fundamental systems up and tested at the moment. The rest is just place holders and video streams of overall intent.
I know patience is hard....but you will have to suffer with the rest of us for now.
Just because other games took the time to polish the system before they released it to the public doesn't mean they were never at the same stage Ashes is at the moment.
Just because the funding was in place does not mean the system was ready to go. They wanted to secure stretch funds first to know what all they needed to focus on for release.
I would like to give IS more credit than not being able to tell something is *shit* before they release. Sure, everyone can think of failed counterexamples with other games but that's always true. Hating all dogs because one has previously bitten you is a little excessive, imo.
Everyone is free to voice their concerns, everyone is free to challenge them...