Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Charge-Up/Early Release Abilities
Dolyem
Member, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
So I loved the charge up/early release abilities showcased in the most recent dev discussion with the cleric. The gameplay aspect looked very fluid and overall had a great feel so far, and the whole concept of reactive options actually made me consider wanting to try out healing, and I HATE healing. Now I have a few questions for the community.
Feel free to answer these questions in a way to provide feedback for devs. And dont be afraid to add more.
-What is your opinion of charge up/early release abilities?
-Do you think these sorts of abilities should only be made for caster archetypes? Or do you enjoy physical/melee charge up's as well?
-What sort of "charge-up range" in regards of time-charged and power do you think abilities should have? Should there be a minimum time spent for an effect? For example, Is 1s-5s a good range? should you be able to go from 0 to 10s for miniscule to massive effects?
-Do you think these sorts of spells should generally require you to stay immobile while casting them?
-Should you be able to change targets while charging these abilities?
-Should you be able to cancel the charge up?
-I think these are an awesome ability mechanic that aren't nearly utilized enough in MMORPG's. They add a solid form of gameplay requiring players to consider how to use the ability, and allows them more control in tight combat situations.
-I do think these sorts of abilities would be better suited for caster types or even ranged types such as ranger, but I think there should be a few sprinkled in with the melee classes as well. Just imagine a rogue charging up their backstab for a coup de grace at the expense of their mobility and risking everything with their timing. You could even have other melee charge ups for defenses, knockbacks, etc.
-"Charge-up Range" to me depends on the ability itself, but generally, I believe most magical charge ups should have a minimum requirement of time before actually providing an effect. Generally .5 to 1 second minimum. And while I enjoy the idea of being able to power up like a super saiyan for 3 episodes straight, I feel like maybe 5 or 6 seconds should be the cap for charge up abilities. So generally maybe .5s-4s seconds for typical charge ups and 1s-6s for more heavy hitting ones, but this is still subjective to what the abilities do.
-I believe that almost anything that requires a charge up, a channel, or a cast time should make you immobile, or at the very least, barely move. My only exception would be that if you were to allow movement, it drastically reduces your casting/charging speed or breaks/reduces the channel time. Steven did mention there will be some spells you can cast on the move, some with movement reduction, and others that make you immobile, so I am not overly concerned about this.
-I do believe you should be able to switch targets with most spells mid charge, but with obvious exceptions such as if the spell has a requirement of the target to be cast, otherwise you may be able to start the charge on a qualified target and switch to one that doesn't have the prerequisites of the spell.
-As far as canceling a charge up goes, generally I believe you should be able to, it will likely just feel better for gameplay.
Feel free to answer these questions in a way to provide feedback for devs. And dont be afraid to add more.
-What is your opinion of charge up/early release abilities?
-Do you think these sorts of abilities should only be made for caster archetypes? Or do you enjoy physical/melee charge up's as well?
-What sort of "charge-up range" in regards of time-charged and power do you think abilities should have? Should there be a minimum time spent for an effect? For example, Is 1s-5s a good range? should you be able to go from 0 to 10s for miniscule to massive effects?
-Do you think these sorts of spells should generally require you to stay immobile while casting them?
-Should you be able to change targets while charging these abilities?
-Should you be able to cancel the charge up?
-I think these are an awesome ability mechanic that aren't nearly utilized enough in MMORPG's. They add a solid form of gameplay requiring players to consider how to use the ability, and allows them more control in tight combat situations.
-I do think these sorts of abilities would be better suited for caster types or even ranged types such as ranger, but I think there should be a few sprinkled in with the melee classes as well. Just imagine a rogue charging up their backstab for a coup de grace at the expense of their mobility and risking everything with their timing. You could even have other melee charge ups for defenses, knockbacks, etc.
-"Charge-up Range" to me depends on the ability itself, but generally, I believe most magical charge ups should have a minimum requirement of time before actually providing an effect. Generally .5 to 1 second minimum. And while I enjoy the idea of being able to power up like a super saiyan for 3 episodes straight, I feel like maybe 5 or 6 seconds should be the cap for charge up abilities. So generally maybe .5s-4s seconds for typical charge ups and 1s-6s for more heavy hitting ones, but this is still subjective to what the abilities do.
-I believe that almost anything that requires a charge up, a channel, or a cast time should make you immobile, or at the very least, barely move. My only exception would be that if you were to allow movement, it drastically reduces your casting/charging speed or breaks/reduces the channel time. Steven did mention there will be some spells you can cast on the move, some with movement reduction, and others that make you immobile, so I am not overly concerned about this.
-I do believe you should be able to switch targets with most spells mid charge, but with obvious exceptions such as if the spell has a requirement of the target to be cast, otherwise you may be able to start the charge on a qualified target and switch to one that doesn't have the prerequisites of the spell.
-As far as canceling a charge up goes, generally I believe you should be able to, it will likely just feel better for gameplay.
1
Comments
Healers always fall behind in game play because they are normally standing around topping people off even after the dps are done.
Not to mention safety being left out in the open.
Entirely game dependent. Within MMOs, still entirely game dependent.
-Do you think these sorts of abilities should only be made for caster archetypes? Or do you enjoy physical/melee charge up's as well?
Truecharged Slash. That is all.
-What sort of "charge-up range" in regards of time-charged and power do you think abilities should have?
See above answer.
Should there be a minimum time spent for an effect? For example, Is 1s-5s a good range? should you be able to go from 0 to 10s for miniscule to massive effects?
40 frames.
-Do you think these sorts of spells should generally require you to stay immobile while casting them?
Doesn't matter.
-Should you be able to change targets while charging these abilities?
Yes.
-Should you be able to cancel the charge up?
Yes.
i think its your groups fault if they move too far away from you, specially to chase someone
That's not fun gameplay in OWPVP, and it could be pushing a whole squad back, not just chasing.
Definitely would love to see these on all archetypes.
From "as short as an animation can be, while still looking nice" to 10s.
Generally no, but some definitely should.
Generally no, but considering that some of them should definitely be "action" abilities, I think some should.
Definitely.
Cool mechanic, but, unless the charging time is in the 5-10 seconds range, early release doesn't feel as important as the ability to hold at a full charge. Holding the full charge to time the release, even at reduce mobility, seems right.
Do you think these sorts of abilities should only be made for caster archetypes? Or do you enjoy physical/melee charge up's as well?
All archetypes could have one application or another of charge up abilities, we've already saw it was possible with bows to some capacity.
Do you think these sorts of spells should generally require you to stay immobile while casting them?
Maybe not completely immobile, probably in the same range of mobility we saw for the mages' spells.
Should you be able to change targets while charging these abilities?
Yes
Should you be able to cancel the charge up?
Yes. Although it raise the question of what happens when the ability is interrupted by an opponent. Does the effect auto-release to the caster target at the current level of charge or is it cancelled, fizzle out?
I'm a bit surprised there was no channelled ability, like a heal that tick for X amount every second for as long as you maintain it (up to a Y seconds max duration).
Melee probably won’t have a ton of abilities with a cast time but if they do I think having the ability to release it early would be nice. Melee I could see making use out of something similar but with typical like channel abilities.
Say you start channeling an ability that slashes with your sword. You can do the entire channel and at the end of the channel you do a big downward strike. At any point you can end the channel early but it will do a weaker version of the big end strike.
I think it could vary. Zero could just be an accidental hit where you begin the animation but don’t actually charge. I do think it would be cool to have some spells that you can charge up for some huge numbers over a longer time. Stuff like this I would support locked movement, and you may not get to that max point often, but when you do it feels satisfying to have achieved.
I think this should depend on the power of the spell. I am quite fond that even if you are very slowed you can still move.
Nothing is worse than starting a long cast time and having your toe dipped into a big telegraphed ability. In many cases I would prefer to be able to slightly readjust myself.
I think there could be some cool healing multitasking to be had with held abilities on a main target while casting flash cure on another target. I think it would be cool to have the option but I’m not quite sure if you could have both options and I don’t know what I would prefer.
With the charging up abilities my first thought is I think you should have to expend it. I’m not sure if this is just something I feel thematically better about though.
It makes sense to me that you are building up whatever energy while you are charging and then it can’t just dissipate after you created it. A held channel I think thematically would make sense to cancel as you are actively working through an action and can just stop doing that action.