This is NOT a request to get rid of jumping, let me start there for the tl;dr audience! Jumping is a vital part of the gameplay experience in Ashes of Creation!
I recognize that there is an existing thread on the jumping subject, however I'm trying to approach it from a bit of a different angle and with more thoughts going into it. Here's that discussion, for reference: https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/59522/bunny-hopping
I started this discussion on Reddit, and after analyzing the responses, I've changed the wording just a bit. This is meant to be a discussion, and I'd like to hear everyone's feedback. If you don't like my examples, offer some of your own, or even offer an argument for why excessive jumping / "bunny hopping" isn't an issue.
The recent gameplay demonstration has showed that there's some desire or utility to excessive jumping in gameplay. Whether it affects targeting and melee ranges, acts like ADADAD in old FPS games where the player looks like they're all over the place and tough to target, or is just really annoying, it seems to be something that doesn't fit the overall flow of combat and the style of the game in general. Since it has come up, I am thinking of a few ways that it could be mitigated or even punished, as well as some that have been brought up already. I'm eager to know what everyone would like to see!
Cooldown - Can't jump until X time after last jump, or X time after landing.
* * PRO: Can't just keep jumping.
* * CON: Platforming and climbing will be impacted and saving oneself from a dangerous edge might be much harder.
* * ALT: Only implement this when someone is in combat. Free jumping at all other times!
Stamina - Jumping consumes X stamina. This means it would share the same resource as non-mana abilities, dodge, and block. To this extent, jumping would need to be assessed as another form of defense, and be treated in a special manner for it. This could be a way to reduce ground-based AoE effects if a player can time a jump better than they can try to get out of the area, but non-ground volumes like ball of lightning would be unaffected (maybe even MORE effective?)
* * PRO: creates an additional manner for players to engage in defense, using the shared stamina resource as the limiter.
* * CON: It may effectively add nothing or make balance and fine tuning even more challenging to deal with another layer of defense, as well as creating skills and augments to support it.
* * ALT: Jumping reduces max stamina temporarily, until stamina has been restored to the reduced maximum and can fill back in after. This means a couple jumps might not be an issue, but excessive jumping will mean needing to retreat and refill more frequently since the stamina pool will keep getting slammed.
Defenselessness - Jumping mitigates some portion of defense while hit midair, which may only last a short time (.25 sec or til they land, whichever happens first). This may include equipment-specific defense, natural attribute specific defense, debuff prevention, or any other number of penalties. Skills that put the player airborne are not affected, so a leaping attack wouldn't be affected.
* * PRO: Excessive jumping is punished, but if you're slow-falling down a cliff, your defense will kick back on pretty quickly after making the jump.
* * CON: Encounters where player have to jump to survive will need to be tuned to consider the jump penalty.
* * ALT: Being hit in the air causes an "Unbalanced" debuff that reduces their defenses some amount while it wears down and balance is reestablished.
Invisible Enemy Buff - It isn't projected to everyone's UI, but every time a player jumps, they add a +5% stack to anyone within a certain radius. The first hit on that player by anyone with a stack will consume that stack and deal the stack's percentage in increased damage for that hit. There may be a limit to the size of the stack and how long it lasts.
* * PRO: It quietly adds a penalty for excessive jumping, but not one that is obvious. Players focusing on that target will be able to detect it happening more than others, but anyone can make it count if they turn and aim at the frequent jumper.
* * CON: It would be less obvious as a thing to exploit, and if it is an unreported value, it is tough for players to know they can rely on it.
* * ALT: Instead of an invisible buff, it could be a visible debuff on the target, and anyone can hit the frequent jumper to utilize the diminishing stacks of being "unbalanced" from the jumps.
Nothing At All - Let players jump to their heart's content. If it doesn't affect position detection, targeting, combat engagement range, or anything else, just let it be.
* * PRO: The team probably doesn't have to do anything special in general.
* * CON: The team better make everything so incredibly consistent that there is no room for exploitation. This may be very tricky to accomplish. Everything has to be based on cones with height distance checks, never on spheres. Weapons need to connect even if the weapon swung below where the target model is at, otherwise people can jump over melee attacks and gain a defensive advantage.
That said, these are just examples, suggestions. If you have your own suggestions, think any or all of these could be implemented as written or with other modifications, or have other thoughts on the purpose/limits of excessive jumping, I'm eager to hear everyone's suggestions on the subject!
inb4grogs: Bunny hopping does go back to early FPS game in a variety of ways, including as a way to get more movement speed. I am not talking about that, that is likely not a factor here.
