Introduction
Since posting in Kingfury's thread about dual wielding shields, I've become aware of the lack of group combination attacks, abilities and teamwork in general during combat, the exceptions of course being the Black Mages' Meteor spell and Skillchains, but even Skillchains are able to be utilised by a variety of melee-type DD's with ease so I've become inspired to come up with the idea of 'Formations'.
This idea has been inspired by old-world and traditional military formations, used during combat to great effect, the three main ones I'd like to discuss are the Phalanx, Schiltron and Testudo.
The Phalanx
The Phalanx was used by many old world civilizations and is designed as a single-directional deterrent, it serves as an effective wall of spears, swords and other sharp pointy things, if an enemy move into range they become impaled and on top of being unable to reach the opponent, take damage. This ability would work in a similar way to Spikes as the opponent must move into the formation to take damage so logically this also dictates that in game the enemy must attack physically for the Phalanx to take effect.
The Schiltron
The Schiltron, similar to the Phalanx but with some major differences and was used primarily by European military groups during the medieval ages, the wall of weapons is altered into a dome of weapons, dealing damage to any attacking direction but due to the more spaced spread of weapons, increasing the risk of damage through the wall, think of it as a higher multi-directional but less defensive version of the Phalanx.
The Testudo
Finally is the Testudo, otherwise known as the Turtle Shell formation. The Testudo is a formation first pioneered by the Ancient Roman Militia, the idea was to form a multi-directional wall of shields from front, back, sides and above, creating an impenetrable block of soldiers. This would not serve any offensive purpose but would be an effective total defense against most physical and magical attacks, imagine it as a more defensive variation of the Phalanx.
Summary
In short, my idea is to improve the gameplay experience by adding the option of Formations and group attacks to the mix, allowing players to use an advanced option should they so please and creating a bigger diversity in the combat experience in general.
Multi-User Abilities
This doesn't have to be limited to Formations being the only multi-user abilities and I must stress the Black Mage's Meteor spell being one of the only multi-user abilities as of yet, even having a multi-user ability for some physical DD's or for a healing field or barrier to be set up by a series of White Mages, Scholars or Red Mages would be a really interesting change to the way the game is played.
My idea would be for the player to trigger these multi-abilities by completing certain criteria, here's just a few ideas for different multi-abilities for each job for example:
- Warrior: Antagonize - A larger provoke by multiple Warriors allowing for increased enmity from any target monster.
Lowest Requirements: Level 5, use Provoke within the same 5 seconds as another Warrior.
- Monk: Burst Fire - A synchronised 'Boost' ability allowing for all Monks involved to recieve temporarily increased attack.
Lowest Requirements: Level 5, use Boost within the same 5 seconds as another Monk.
- Thief: Slight of Hands - A series of sneak attacks by multiple Thieves.
Lowest Requirements: Level 15, use Sneak Attack within the same 5 seconds as another Thief.
- White Mage: Healing Zone - Allows two or more White Mages to set up a line/triangle/square/pentagon/hexagon between them that will repeatedly heal anyone inside.
Lowest Requirements: Level 1, cast or begin casting at the same time as another White Mage casts or begins casting Cure/II/III/IV/V/VI, Curaga/II/III/IV/V or Cura/I/II/III.
- Black Mage: (Black Mages already have Meteor so I'll skip this one for the mo')
- Red Mage: Element Drive - Gives a temporarily increased elemental affinity and attack boost to any involved Red Mage's weapons.
Lowest Requirements: Level 16, cast or begin casting at the same time as another Red Mage casts or begins casting Enthunder/II, Enstone/II, Enaero/II, Enblizzard/II, Enfire/II or Enwater/II.
- Paladin: Magic Barrier - Allows multiple Paladins to set up a line/triangular/square/pentagonal/hexagonal magic barrier to decrease the damage of any physical or magical attacks to anyone inside.
Lowest Requirements: Level 20, cast or begin casting at the same time as another Paladin casts or begins casting Protect/II/III/IV/V or Shell/II/III/IV.
- Dark Knight: Drain Field - Creates a line/triangle/square/pentagon/hexagon that drains the life force of any monster inside.
Lowest Requirements: Level 20, cast or begin casting at the same time as another Dark Knight casts or begins casting Drain/II, Aspir/II, Absorb-MND, Absorb-CHR, Absorb-VIT, Absorb-AGI, Absorb-INT, Absorb-DEX, Absorb-STR, Absorb-TP, Absorb-ACC or Absorb-Attri.
- Beastmaster: Pack Mentality - Whilst using the same type of pet, all affected Beastmaster's Spur ability gives an increased Store TP effect and the times of Ready and Sic are reduced. (Suggested by Tile)
Lowest Requirements: Any level, be using the same pet as another Beastmaster.
- Bard: Synchronise - Increases the effects of songs played by Bards provided the songs played at the same time are the same song.
Lowest Requirements: Any level, cast or begin casting at the same time as another Bard plays or begins playing any song.
- Ranger: Arrow storm - Causes the enemy to be caught in a hail of arrows via synchronised shots between Rangers.
Lowest Requirements: Any level, attack with a bow within the same 5 seconds as another Ranger.
- Samurai: Bushido Eye - When 'Third Eye' is cast by multiple Samurai in near synchronization, the amount of hits the Samurai involved can anticipate increases vastly.
Lowest Requirements: Level 15, use Third Eye within the same 5 seconds as another Samurai.
- Ninja: Maze of Shadows - Vastly increases the amount of shadows all effected Ninja have provided Utsusemi is cast near simultaneously.
Lowest Requirements: Level 12, cast or begin casting at the same time as another Ninja casts or begins casting Utsusemi: Ichi or Utsusemi: Ni.
- Dragoon: Alternating Leap - Decreases the delay between Jumps.
Lowest Requirements: Level 10, use Jump, High Jump, Super Jump, Spirit Jump or Soul Jump within the same 15 seconds as another Dragoon but not within the same 5 seconds.
- Summoner: Grand Summon - Multiple Summoners can band together and summon a larger and more powerful version of an avatar, which, for the most part will be automated but can be given small specific commands by anyone involved in the summoning.
Lowest Requirements: Any level, summon or begin summoning at the same time as another Summoner summons or begins summoning the same avatar.
- Blue Mage: Force of Nature - When two identical Blue Magic spells are used in quick succession, the effects and damage inflicted by the two is increased vastly.
Lowest Requirements: Any level, cast or begin casting at the same time as another Blue Mage casts or begins casting the same blue magic spell.
- Corsair: Wall of Bullets - By synchronising shots together, Corsairs are able to hit the opponent with not only reduced delay but increased damage.
Lowest Requirements: Any level, attack with a gun within the same 5 seconds as another Corsair.
- Puppetmaster: Crossed Strings - When using the same puppet parts, all the effects of maneuvers by Puppeteers on those puppets will be multiplied. (Suggested by Tile)
Lowest Requirements: Any level, be using the same head or body as another Puppeteer for doubled effectiveness or the same head and body as another Puppeteer for tripled effectiveness.
- Dancer: Grand Performance - Increases the effects of all dances performed by Dancers performing the same dance simultaneously.
Lowest Requirements: Level 5, perform a dance at the same time as another Dancer performs the same dance.
- Scholar: Resonate - When multiple Scholars use the same spell simultaneously, that spell's effects, damage and scale is vastly increased.
Lowest Requirements: Level 4, cast or begin casting at the same time as another Scholar casts or begins casting the same spell.
- Geomancer: Elemental Strike - Dependant on the terrain, when used by multiple Geomancers creates a strengthened version of an elemental attack (think earthquakes, tidal waves, firestorms, lightning strikes etc).
- Rune Fencer: (I'm not entirely sure what a Rune Fencer does so I can't comment on this)
Just a few ideas, some feedback would be greatly appreciated, if you have your own ideas do feel free to comment with them and I'll put them up too. ^^
Phalanxes, Schiltrons and Testudos
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09-06-2012, 07:39 PMairsparrowhawkPhalanxes, Schiltrons, Testudos: Formations and Multi-User Abilties
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09-07-2012, 12:56 AMSMD111
i actualy like this idea
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09-07-2012, 06:56 PMTile
cool idea, how about for Bst
pack mentality when using same pet and Spur, massive amount of Store Tp and reduced timers for Ready and Sic
can do th thing thing for Pup but have it be same frame/head and Maneuver to give double/triple the effect of just the one -
09-07-2012, 07:21 PMairsparrowhawkSounds good, I'll put the suggestions up there. ^^Quote:
Originally Posted by Tile
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09-11-2012, 09:57 AMkingfury
Very awesome concept /
Would the cooperation be dependent on player placement or would it be triggered so long as the 2 or more players were in close enough range? The WHM one for example, what would determine the shape of the effect line? Whether it is or not, there are cases I can see either scenario being really cool in most battles and tough to pull off in others.
Deeper game play for dedicated players = happier players I say. The Devs should really let us test this out on the test servers. -
09-11-2012, 05:10 PMairsparrowhawkWell for the WHM, DRK & PLD abilities alike, all participating players' placement would form the shape of the multi-user abilities. So I have a couple ideas how this could work.Quote:
Originally Posted by kingfury
If there were two WHM trying to trigger a Healing Zone, they'd stand somewhere on either side of the party since they'd be able to affect more of the party with that abillity, if there were three WHM they'd stand in a triangle around the party when trying to trigger it and so on. So for instance, let's say we have several WHM named Red, Blue, Green and Orange.
"Red cast cure on partymember1!"
"Blue cast cure on partymember2!"
"Green cast cure on partymember1!"
"Partymember3 hits the monster for 3933 points of damage!"
"Healing Zone triggered! A triangular healing zone has been formed!"
Note that the fourth WHM didn't take part within the seconds between their spells, so it's only a triangular area between them and not a square area between all four.
Now it could either work when certain requirements are hit, say, if all of the WHM cast Cure or a variant within seconds of each other, or it could be an ability that they could 'ready' for and would begin when enough WHM joined in and one decided to begin the ability. So for instance...
"Red has readied for Healing Zone!"
"Blue has readied for Healing Zone!"
"Red activated Healing Zone! A linear healing zone has been formed!"
Note that the other two WHM didn't take part at all, perhaps Red activated the ability before they had a chance or perhaps they just didn't want to contribute for some reason or another. I'd imagine a valid reason for not wanting to participate is that the abilities would cause a huge amount of enmity, I mean, if you saw several people in a battle all banding together, you'd probably target them first since they're the most dangerous looking target.
As for range, I'm not really sure what the range would be like, I'd imagine that all players would have to be in close enough range to cure each other but other than that, I don't see why any range inside of that is out of the question.
And I agree! I've always liked gameplay that's incredibly simple and basic on the bottom level but can become incredibly deep at later levels, part of the reason that as much as I love the concept for PUP, I barely play it because I don't really understand how the maneuvers and overheating works, even at a low level it's a lot to learn all at once. I think the developers should be willing to experiment a little more wildly on the test server personally. -
09-11-2012, 11:33 PMkingfury
Very cool!
The placement concept I can see being a big deal planning wise before and throughout a battle. If the effect areas could be created before the battle began, then formations could be created before hand to buff the front liners while the WHMs could stand out of range as to not get hit by any damaging AOE blast. In the event of the zone line wearing off mid battle, the WHMs would have to run in to refresh the effect and run back out. The same could be said for the other area of effect buffs.
In any case it would be a deeper level of game play that would be more exciting than just standing and curing/debuffing lol. -
09-12-2012, 06:56 PMairsparrowhawkExactly my thought! At the moment for a WHM, the healing seems a little stressful and too unvaried, at the moment it's about picking the right Cure spell for the right person, too powerful and they'll gain hate, too weak and the person might die, this leads to very stressful situations for WHMs even at low levels and I'd imagine on the end game it must be really horrible.Quote:
Originally Posted by kingfury
With my system in place, not only would the healing zone do part of the job for the WHM (which would alleviate some of the stress) but also with the constant maintenance needed, the job would involve more positioning and tactical thinking rather than just rapid decision making alone. ^^