DIP, DUCK, DIVE, DODGE!

[Dyne]

Actually I was referring to the fact that you can "manually" dodge out of the way of attacks. Mostly frontal attacks once the mob begins their animation, such as with puks and many other mobs. Not evade as in the skill. However the more the game focuses on that kind of gameplay in my opinion the simpler and less strategic combat becomes and combat especially at the high end becomes repetitive and shallow.

I played FFXI at launch and I still remember the people in that game doing the whole "manual" dodge dance around mobs. It was a funny sight, but yeah I don't want to be doing that dance on high end encounters all the time because just like in XI frankly it is stupid. You can find videos of Tera with people do this exact same "manual" dodge dance people who didn't know any better in XI were doing, because that is what you get with "action" combat. I'd rather have it built into the mechanics like in traditional MMO's so that I can actually focus on and do more during combat. I prefer the complexity "traditional" MMO mechanics can offer over the "flashiness" of simply rolling in the dirt every 5 seconds, and I think they should build on that rather than actually regressing back to hack and slash mechanics.

What are you talking about? FFXI did not have a dodge button. You can run away, and sometimes you don't get hit if you're far enough, but I wouldn't call that a manual dodge dance. Adding dodge buttons doesn't mean the game will go back to hack and slash mechanics, it can still retain all the auto attack, strategic maneuvering, use any and all your skills you have now, even stuff that enhances evasion. Except now, you can dodge left or right if you want to, or you can just walk if you are absolutely against it. Not only will it add more strategy to the game, it would add more difficulty, and force people to pay attention more. How many people in real life do you know got hit by a train and lost 2000 hit points? None, they were all splattered to pieces because it is not realistic to stand in front of a moving train and just lose hit points and survive.

[Murugan]

What are you talking about? FFXI did not have a dodge button. You can run away, and sometimes you don't get hit if you're far enough, but I wouldn't call that a manual dodge dance. Adding dodge buttons doesn't mean the game will go back to hack and slash mechanics, it can still retain all the auto attack, strategic maneuvering, use any and all your skills you have now, even stuff that enhances evasion. Except now, you can dodge left or right if you want to, or you can just walk if you are absolutely against it. Not only will it add more strategy to the game, it would add more difficulty, and force people to pay attention more. How many people in real life do you know got hit by a train and lost 2000 hit points? None, they were all splattered to pieces because it is not realistic to stand in front of a moving train and just lose hit points and survive.

Again that wasn't what I was talking about, think of it like how FFXIV works where you can move out of the way of abilities so they lose their line of sight and miss only in FFXI it didn't work. But people still did it anyways, this was early after NA release. We called it manual dodge, and it was somewhat of a joke on those who we saw doing it.

Your suggestion doesn't add strategy to the game really because if you watch videos of games with "action" combat like Tera you can see that they spend a great deal of their time dodging, and aiming attacks, but it is really not that strategic. Perhaps it could be, but practically it just isn't. The reason that traditional MMORPG mechanics are much more strategic is because all of that basic stuff is abstracted allowing players to focus on more advanced techniques.

The more you try and "simulate" reality with combat in an RPG the simpler it becomes because real combat takes a lifetime to master to the extent that our characters in-game supposedly have. So when developers put these mechanics in they have to design encounters that are less demanding in other areas. Personally, I would rather spend an "epic battle" managing more complex aspects of combat strategy than constantly running circles around a mob while trying to keep my reticule centered. You and everyone else praising Tera's combat system as revolutionary and "next-gen" other than missing the point that the game is already flopping in Korea should realize this has been tried before and the results weren't as spectacular as you seem to hope. It's great if you like "flashy" effects, but it just lacks substance in the way that even XI's limited combat system was able to provide in abundance.

[Dyne]

Again that wasn't what I was talking about, think of it like how FFXIV works where you can move out of the way of abilities so they lose their line of sight and miss only in FFXI it didn't work. But people still did it anyways, this was early after NA release. We called it manual dodge, and it was somewhat of a joke on those who we saw doing it.

Your suggestion doesn't add strategy to the game really because if you watch videos of games with "action" combat like Tera you can see that they spend a great deal of their time dodging, and aiming attacks, but it is really not that strategic. Perhaps it could be, but practically it just isn't. The reason that traditional MMORPG mechanics are much more strategic is because all of that basic stuff is abstracted allowing players to focus on more advanced techniques.

The more you try and "simulate" reality with combat in an RPG the simpler it becomes because real combat takes a lifetime to master to the extent that our characters in-game supposedly have. So when developers put these mechanics in they have to design encounters that are less demanding in other areas. Personally, I would rather spend an "epic battle" managing more complex aspects of combat strategy than constantly running circles around a mob while trying to keep my reticule centered. You and everyone else praising Tera's combat system as revolutionary and "next-gen" other than missing the point that the game is already flopping in Korea should realize this has been tried before and the results weren't as spectacular as you seem to hope. It's great if you like "flashy" effects, but it just lacks substance in the way that even XI's limited combat system was able to provide in abundance.

You really only have to dodge on possible kill shots, which is enough to keep you on your toes. You also do not have to spend a great deal of time aiming because we have auto target, auto lock on, and auto attack. Everything we can do now, we can still do, you name it we can do it even with dodging added. We still keep the strategy mechanics, all of it.

I'm not saying to make it exactly like Tera with Tera combat system. I'm saying just add dodging with our existing combat system. That doesn't make it like Tera, Age of Conan, or whatever action mmorpg you can name that failed. It does not take a lifetime to master, at some point it becomes instinct, just like pulling in ffxi, or keeping utsusemi up.