[dev1008] About Jumping

[Abriael]

Which cliffs, rocks, ledges, docks, fences ect.. exactly would you be able to "auto-jump" off of and which would you not? My thought process when I'm playing the game, and maybe I'm alone amidst the people wanting jump with this, I see an object, I might be able to jump it, if its he right height. I see a cliff, I can jump off it. Even if there's a bottom below I can't see with distant drawing turned on. With context sensitive jumping, who knows where I could jump and where I can't. That for me is the main reason. I want to feel in control.

If so many are afraid of seeing others jumping around, as if that in some way mocks you in game (I'm sorry for you if it does), than forget the whole idea and lets move on. I played xi for 6 years, without a jump. Sure there was plenty of times I wish the game had it, but I managed without it.

I would like a jump, but this feature alone isn't going to decide whether I will continue to play the game. If a jump were added, I want it under my control.

It's not a matter of mocking. It's a matter of visuals. I wouldn't necessarily feel "mocked" if it started to rain green pigs with pink polka dots, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be pleased by the visuals.

There are several ways to make context sensitive jumping visually detectable, one has been implemented to a very nice effect in Final Fantasy XIII (with very nice animations by the way, that are way, way better than the horrible, generic, and most of the time context inappropriate generic jump animation you see in many MMOs).

Context sensitive jumping can be applied to basically every area that you listed. Even more, it can be applied to MORE areas than generic jumping. Just to make an example, if you find a tall cliff (taller than your character), you can't get over it with a generic jump.
With a context sensitive jump, your character can (for instance) grab the ledge and pull himself up, or sommersault over the ledge, or many other solutions paired with the proper animation related to the context.

The only thing generic jumping is "superior" for, is to randomly jump around where there's no reason or feature to jump. Which IMHO, can and should stay out of the game.

Why make it so you can walk around? Why not just choose a point on your map, and if the game allows you to move in that direction, it does so for you? You see an enemy, you choose to attack it. Your character automatically walks over there and engages. You could even take it a step further and say you just watch the outcome, without any interactive input from yourself at all.

There will always be a degree of automation in MMORPG games (at least until someone decides to implement some kinect-like crap). Don't kid yourself thinking that pressing one more key puts you that much more "in control"