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Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
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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.
Comments
I can't wait to test these things out in Alpha 2. Provided I can even pass the anti-cheat hurdle.
In many games (EQ2 for sure, others as well but I cant name them right now - I generally play casters) you dont. If you activate a melee ability with no target, it will activate and you will automatically acquire the first target it hits.
By your definition, would this make all EQ2 melee combat action?
If the attack is hitting whatever is in front of you, regardless of if it is your target or not, then yes, it's an "action" ability.
It's as if different games work differently
And as I've stated before, my battlefield awareness had to be as high as in action games, because everything was moving fast and I had to react to those changes. I might not have been using the same "dodge left then dodge right" rotations in those reactions, but the reactions themselves were still present. But of course you'll dismiss this too because it's not literally the exact same button press as in action games, even if the player was still constantly monitoring their enemies and constantly reacting to their actions and had to move correctly on the battlefield - just as an action mmo player would have to do.
Regardless of that, which at this point I don't care what L2 is considered, if people consider themselves as action mmo players. Then we should all be pushing for more action combat and not tab target. And most people will be using action combat since they have all the twitch skills already downpat clearly since they are use to players dodging their skills and aiming their abilities
In this case, it's mostly moot because Ashes will have both Tab Target and Action Combat.
We'll have to play to see which is more popular in Ashes.
With that said, I wanted to say that we've provided the community with a little extra clarification which can be found here: https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/52785/combat-clarifications-have-feedback-and-thoughts-on-combat-click-here-first#latest
Make sure to drop your feedback on the topic here: https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/52724/feedback-request-basic-melee-weapon-attack-update-discussed-in-june-livestream/p1
OK! Back to chatting ^_^
🏃♂️💨
Ha! It's a mitigated risk. No one in this conversation is a Green.
If you have a target and it is out of range (including off to the side or behind) you will get an error saying your target is out of range, even if you have a different target right in front of you.
If you clear your target and use the same attack, it will attack the mob in front of you and you will acquire that as a target.
Would that make EQ2 melee combat conditional action?
There are some factual inaccuracies in the above.
Many tab games dont calculate damage and then display the animation, as you say. This is because (especially in PvP) the animation of an attack is used as a queue to counter it, so at least in some games the damage dealt (or even if the hit connects) isnt calculated until the animation is finished.
Also, the animation in action combat is as equally unnecessary for the system to function. The animation itself is not usually used to measure a hit or miss - this calculation is usually done independently, and then the animators ensure that the animation simply fills in the area the attack checked.
Action combat would work just fine (from a mechanic standpoint) if there were no animations, the game just checked the hit area for any hit boxes, and then moved the character to the location that the attack moved them to.
It would be shit to watch, and probably a bit harder to play (no visual queue as to attack areas), but it would be mechanically the same.
Note that neither of the above are how all tab or all action combat work, different games are, well different. Trying to reduce either one down to "this is what it is" is futile.
No, if the skill is going to your target, then it's a tab skill. Just because it's visually similar doesn't mean they are functionally the same.
What are you trying to argue here?
Hold on a sec...
This ^ can also be how a hybrid hard lock could work. If I have Willowy_Elf_A target-locked, and he runs away (beyond my bow's range) and Willowy_Elf_B is right in front of my reticle. One possible outcome is that I get an 'out of range' message for Willowy_Elf_A.
Another possible outcome is that as soon as Willowy_Elf_A moves out of range it clears my locked target so my reticle (soft target) becomes the active target.
So there's lots of options...
It ain't easy bein green.
Especially when that frog killer guy is around.
But you specifically said But there are times in EQ2 where you do not need a target in order to attack.
If you dont need to perform that step of acquiring a target of your intended target is in range of a melee attack, is it still tab target?
Consider this along with casters having someone abilities that are placed rather than cast on your target, and surely the game must now be considered hybrid combat...
By performing an action that auto-selects the nearest target, it still functions relatively more as a tab-target ability.
In a more true sense of action combat, it comes down to performing an ability without the requirement for a targeting system, range limitations for said function and even tracking limitations based on ability type.
As example using melee:
do you have a target to perform the action (regardless of pre-target or auto-target after)
are they within range to perform the action?
does tracking affect the action?
Even in action combat games there are targeting system so players can cycle through target for situational scenario's if the players wish to use them. Soulsbourne games have it, game like Legend of Zelda have it as well. But a main difference is, you can perform those abilities regardless of using the targeting-locking system regardless.
There are spells cast Elden ring where you perform them and they do their thing. When it comes to melee, the lock doesn't always allow you to hit your target, it aids in a camera and character focal point interaction. It's not guaranteed to hit the target regardless of positioning like tab targeting generally is.
For ashes to have the reticle/crosshair lock-aiming-tracking system for the Tab-target based on ability type is a great choice but as I have said before, there could be limitations to its functionality and range to ensure it doesn't become an over powered mechanic vs those who free-aim and use free-aim abilities for an MMORPG.
As a side note thinking about Elden ring, those star abilities are pretty cool how they are cast and shower projectiles with tracking