Thread: 2.0 battle system will depend on rotations like in WOW?

Originally Posted by bobbygunz

Rotations is basically the current system too though; isn't it somewhat inevitable?

Nope, because they're taking out some of the reasons for a rotation to even exist.

Originally Posted by Elexia

Nope, because they're taking out some of the reasons for a rotation to even exist.

As long as there are even a few cooldowns of note, a rotation will continue to exist. A frost mage, for instance, still has a rotation even if it's mostly the exact same spell (Frostbolt).

That said, I don't think rotations will be a end-all strategy in the slightest. If we take another WoW example, many specs will use various different attack procedures under different conditions (Frost Mage, Beastmaster, etc). Just because certain things may be spammed, doesn't mean that they're not strategic, as long as there are times that make it a good decision.

Inversely, a rotation is, as in it's name, repeating. It carries complexity in that you're hitting multiple buttons sequentially to serve a part of your combat strategy. However, there's nothing in a "rotation" itself that's strategic. It's how one fills the gap between what's variable (efficiency, much like how our comboed higher-tier abilities are more effective than un-comboed--tp cost nullification aside), and unvariable (cooldowns). In other words, the selecting of rotations.

I think ARR's freedom from current combo chain mechanics will be almost entirely beneficial. That said, without knowing the way cooldowns, gliding mechanics affecting abilities, or how abilities might modify other abilities will work in ARR, I can't say if it'll turn into a spamfest or just a much freer ability for strategy.

I'll guess hope for the best for now, and expect something less...

*Just my opinion here, and not so much in response to your post, Elexia, as simply brought to mind because of it. I don't at all mean offense.

Edit: reading up further on cooldown mechanics now.