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Camelot Unchained dishes out details on alpha testing, combat, and player interaction
So, are you a backer of Camelot Unchained? Are you wondering when you'll be able to get your hands on the game in a playable form? The earliest build will be available to players in August, but just what will that early alpha contain? In an interview with Eurogamer, Mark Jacobs has stated that at a bare minimum, players should be able to get large-scale battles going in the game. Progression will be there but will not be fully tuned or adjusted, and the earliest stages of building systems will be present. But what will that large-scale combat look like? In an interview posted today by Keen and Graev, the game's development team confirmed that the game will be avoiding an action-based engine, since it's not in keeping with the old-school ethos of the design. The interview also discusses the social features in the game, including a chat client that will allow players to talk even if they're not in the game. We'll know in August how many of these early concepts make it into testing and whether they work out on the road to release.
Tamriel Infinium: Elder Scrolls Online combat 101
As I had mentioned in previous articles, it's become apparent that readers don't have a clear picture of The Elder Scrolls Online. I can certainly understand where this comes from; the advertisers have held back a lot of specific information about ESO. Although we have had one trailer that included in-game footage, it didn't really give us a good taste of what it feels like to play the game. It certainly didn't show what the game has to offer beyond PvP. Although PvP will likely be a lot of fun in ESO, I know that not everyone will pick up or wants to pick up the game strictly for that reason. This week, I would like to dive into a bit of the combat basics. Creative Director Paul Sage and his crew have given multiple demos showing the combat of ESO, and even a few of our own reporters have hopped onto a demo PC at a convention or two to experience the game firsthand. I certainly suggest you read those write-ups if you're looking for the overall experience because today I'm talking about combat specifically. How does it work, and more importantly, what will it feel like?
The Art of Wushu: Chasing down Soul Chasing Claw
Soul Chasing Claw is the eponymous skill of Royal Guards and one of the most frustrating styles to counter for a new player. It's a nice, robust style with clear strengths and weaknesses, and it's one of my favorite styles in Age of Wushu even though I don't use it myself. Unfortunately, Soul Chasing Claw feels a bit unfair when it's used against you at first. It has long-range, high-damage combos that seem unstoppable, but for the most part it's smoke and mirrors. It's simply a set of tools that are useful rather than all-powerful. Most RGs that rely exclusively on this style are easy to beat for experts, but it is a useful addition to any external Yang martial artist's toolkit.
Black Gold Online video shows off action combat system
Whether you prefer the steampunk or the fantasy faction, if you are a fan of dodging and constant movement to try and out-maneuver your opponents, combat in Black Gold Online should be right up your alley. In the latest feature unveiling, developers delve into the ins and outs of combat in the upcoming game, eschewing the traditional stand-still-and-button-mash version of combat in favor of some action. Most skills in the upcoming game are collision, or hit-box-based, and melee fighters will move in the direction they are facing with every swing. Ranged works a bit differently: Although most ranged skills will remain locked on their target, some will require players to anticipate enemy movements and target accordingly. And don't forget these battles also involve vehicles! While mounted, players will be in FPS mode. Get a preview of Black Gold Online's combat in action in the trailer below. [Source: Snail Games press release]
The Soapbox: There's nothing wrong with easy
The word "easy" gets a really bad reputation in gaming, an unfair reputation, at that, because there's absolutely nothing wrong with something's being easy. A while back, we hosted a great column about how we tend to call things easy when they really aren't. (Seriously, go read that.) That's all well and good, but that's also not what I'm talking about here. Gaming as a community seems to have decided that easy is just plain bad, that it's a horrible insult, and a game being easy is like saying that a game is worthless. But easy isn't bad. Playing a single-player game on easy difficulties isn't a mark of weakness, and having an MMO that's easy on a whole doesn't mean it's a bad game. Having easy content isn't just an acceptable thing; it's an outright good thing for a lot of player. There is absolutely nothing wrong with easy.
Clobbering time again and again in Ryse: Son of Rome
There's a certain point where each execution in Ryse: Son of Rome stops feeling like a vicious byproduct of war and starts feeling like just another Tuesday in the legion. Violence is treated with such a casual tone, I found during my two hours sampling a near-final version of the game at Microsoft's Xbox One showcase in San Francisco last week, that it seeps into every corner of Ryse, dulling the impact of all conflict and narrative. Why should I mourn the death of a story character after I just killed 412 barbarians in the last 20 minutes? Ryse: Son of Rome feels like all sizzle and no steak. It's a procession of CPU-controlled warriors lining up to fall on protagonist Marius' sword in a stylish slow-mo ballet of blood and dismemberment. Killing enemies feels less and less triumphant with each strike, which is kind of a problem when the main focus of the game is seeing just how high you can stack the corpses.
The Art of Wushu: Harnessing demons to slay lovers
Demon Heart Chain Hand is one of the most likely choices for a player's first new martial art. Although many other styles in Age of Wushu are expensive or difficult to obtain, DHCH is relatively easy to farm. It also adds tons of extremely useful utility in the form of a ranged knock-towards, a PBAoE flight disable aura, and a silly self-exploding super move. It works very well in group combat, and proper use of the set can turn the tides of battle even if your internal skills are much weaker than those of your enemies. Even after you're a powerful master, you'll rely a lot on this set in many cases. It does many things (especially its ranged knock) that have very practical uses. As a dueling set, it's a bit on the weak side, but people tend to underestimate it for that reason too.
Encrypted Text: Combat and Subtlety under Siege
Every week or two, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Scott Helfand (@sveltekumquat) will be your shadow on this treacherous journey; try not to keep your back turned for too long, and make sure your valuables are stashed somewhere safe. When we last left our devious, poison-festooned heroes, they were assassinating the heck out of every raid boss in sight, much as they have been this entire expansion. Assassination has been the spec of choice for raiders of all stripes in Mists -- but might Patch 5.4 change the balance? The answer may depend as much on you as on the gifts that WoW's designers wrapped up and handed us for the new patch. Combat and subtlety both are looking like perfectly good options in almost every situation. Unless you're with a group that is seriously trying to squeeze every last drop of damage out of its DPSers, and you're already playing your spec perfectly, your main criteria for which spec to use should rely on 1) whether you enjoy it and 2) whether you've got the right gear for it.
EQ Next, Landmark to share combat systems
Although we knew that combat was going to be present in EverQuest Next Landmark in some capacity (Franchise Director Dave Georgeson mentioned getting leather for crafting way back at SOE Live), no actual details were known. Now, thanks to a Forbes interview with Georgeson we know that the combat system will have the same mechanics as EverQuest Next. The two games will also share the same emergent AI system, although Georgeson said that Landmark may not use it in the exact same way. So if the two games are sharing so many things, what is the point of having two separate full-fledged MMORPGs? Georgeson answered by stating, "EverQuest Next is more of a focused narrative with story arcs and rallying calls, [and] emergent AI pushing things around. Landmark is very much an exploration in creativity and making things that are cool to show off to other players." While combat won't be in Landmark right at launch, it will be implemented very soon afterwards. We guess the big question now is will you be playing EQ Next, Landmark, or both?
Battle and usability being improved in The Repopulation
Someone always wants to play a melee character. You could give everyone in an MMO the ability to shoot something dead from two zones over and there would be at least one player rushing into melee range to smack at it. Hence why The Repopulation has made a point of upping melee's viability by improving its ability to hit a moving target; if someone's going to do it anyway, it may as well be viable. Medical abilities have also been improved, and the game's crosshairs and aiming assistance have both received an upgrade. The other two major areas of improvement for the game's past month of development has been the addition of new content near Plymouth (including a truly massive cave network) and improvements to missions and mission templates to make the game easier to jump into. The inquiry system also allows players to collect data on the game world, and the Surveying skill allows players to figure out where harvestable resources are located. Take a look at the full patch notes for an in-depth look at how the game has changed as it moves ever closer to its beta test phase.
Choose My Adventure: I believe I can die in Age of Wushu
Wow. What a game, Age of Wushu. I mean, I have played many, many open-world, free-for-all PvP sandboxes in my time before this one, but Age of Wushu places all of those cool systems in a world that the West generally doesn't play in and then adds in little systems so that there is always something to do. Always. In fact the most common complaint I hear about the MMO is that there is too much to do but not enough explanation to cover all of the activities. I think the real frustration comes not from the lack of guides and pop-ups but from the fact that many of these "helpful" guides are localized for English-speaking audiences enough for them to make some sense, just not enough. I mean no offense here; this is just the truth: Broken English inside a game can make already complex gameplay much harder to understand. There are many small anomalies as well. For example, an NPC referred to me as a man although my character is a woman, and when a small icon indicated that I was hungry, I ate some food, but then an icon told me, "Hungry and Thirsty. HP and internal Energy Recovery speed increases slightly, but you will need some food." Huh? I just ate... I think? Now I can see why Patrick's Age of Wushu guides are so popular!
Original Age of Conan game director talks combat influences
If you've been around the MMO block a time or two, you probably know the name Gaute Godager. If not, he's an original Funcom founder, as well as a game director on 2001's Anarchy Online and 2008's Age of Conan. AoC fansite Assassin's Hideout recently scored an interview with the elusive developer, and it's an interesting read thanks to tidbits about the game's setting and its unique combo combat system. As for the former, Godager says that while Funcom considered many IPs -- including George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire -- the Conan property made the most sense because it lent itself to the "stylized HBO-like grown-up game" the team desired. It also helped that Robert E. Howard's Hyboria license had recently been acquired by Funcom partner Paradox. Age of Conan's combo system is indebted to a 1993 fighting game called Samurai Showdown that served as one of Funcom's very first projects. The developers all took a fencing lesson, during which the instructor said that "all sword fighting [is] based around only six attacks. Up left, up right, straight down, down side up left, down side up right, and stab." Godager says that the explanation stuck with him and ultimately had a significant influence on MMO combat. "Look at EverQuest and draw a line to Neverwinter," he explained. "You will see Conan in there directing the speed, intensity, and flow of combat." [Thanks Slith!]
PAX Prime 2013: Adjusting butts in Elder Scrolls Online
After my hands-on demo at E3, I was cautiously optimistic about sitting down for another hour of Elder Scrolls Online at this year's PAX Prime. I was ushered into the press demo area and immediately dived into character creation. There were significantly more options available here than during my last demo just a few months ago. Among the additions was a feature I'm sure you've been waiting for: the "posterior dimensions" slider. Beyond butts, the variety of the options Bethesda brought to PAX Prime was pretty impressive. I spent more time in character creation than I expected, even customizing my stomach size. After I decided on the appropriate butt girth, I loaded into the snowy, nordic area of Bleakrock Isle and immediately spent a solid 10 minutes exploring my option menus.
The Tattered Notebook: Quips, quotes, and EQ Next tidbits from SOE Live
It's official: I survived SOE Live! (I'd have included "with my sanity intact," but we all know I didn't have any going into it.) It's not that I seriously doubted this conclusion; I did successfully survive my inaugural visit after all. But with so much to see and hear and do, there was bound to be a casualty of some sort. In this case, it was sleep. Even sacrificing that, there was still no way to experience it all -- and I tried! If you haven't been to SOE's annual "family reunion" in a while, you might not realize just how big it has grown. And adding EverQuest Next and EverQuest Next Landmark to the already expanded portfolio of games represented made for more news than could reasonably be condensed into nice little packages. That's where The Tattered Notebook comes in! I'm going to share an assortment of hidden gems and hilarious moments from the convention, including plenty of EQ Next intel from various developer interviews.
SOE Live 2013: EverQuest Next's mechanics and more
Anyone who attended SOE Live this year heard quite a bit about EverQuest Next. Even if the upcoming sandbox was not the reason you came, you couldn't help but learn a thing or two. And for those who braved the crowds to attend multiple panels focused on the game, chances are you are still trying to sort through all the information and remember everything that was said! That's where we come in. After attending all the panels and sitting down with multiple devs, we've complied and summarized as much information as we can for you. Today's focus is on various mechanics (such as armor, combat, and classes) as well as a few other odds and ends we tossed in. So why are you still here? All that good stuff is after the break!
SOE Live 2013: EverQuest Next explained
With that pesky SOE Live embargo out of the way, we can finally stop speculating and start talking about EverQuest Next! And if you're a sandbox fan, you're going to love it because when SOE declared last year that it was doing something really, truly different with EQ Next, it wasn't kidding. EQ Next is set in the realm of Norrath, but this is a rebooted version of those lands. Veteran players will find familiar places and names in the lore and setting, but they won't have a monopoly on the knowledge of this world; players new to the franchise can be equally comfortable because everyone is discovering this new world at the same time. On two separate occasions over the last few weeks, I got to sit down with Franchise Director Dave Georgeson to learn even more details about the game in preparation for today's SOE Live reveal. Want to see what all the fuss is about? Then join me for a tour through some of the key aspects and features of the upcoming sandbox.%Gallery-195288%
Take a gander at Black Desert's combat in a new trailer
It's been about a month since the upcoming sandbox title Black Desert talked about its approach to melding action combat with a sandbox environment. At the time, all anyone could do was speculate on how that would look in action, but as of today you can catch a glimpse of it in full force. Embedded just past the cut is a minute-long trailer showcasing several individuals and monsters locked in vicious combat. It's important to keep in mind that this is only an early trailer and may not be indicative of the final game, nor is there yet any word on the game being released in the US. That having been said, the trailer certainly looks like quite a ride, with plenty of dodging, rolling, and flying projectiles all about. Even if you haven't been interested in the game up until now, you might want to take a look. [Thanks to Tor for the tip!]
The Daily Grind: Which MMO has the best combat feel?
In my informal survey of comments on Massively, one of the common dealbreakers that I see for MMOs is a combat system that just doesn't feel right for the player. Maybe the animations are off, the sounds are too wimpy, or the pacing is annoying. Whatever the case may be, the art of war isn't enjoyable and that pushes a player away. But what about the flip-side? I'd like us to examine MMOs that get combat right and provide that "feel" that hits a sweet spot in your gaming pleasure center. I love it if weapons sound the way that I think they should, that there are reactive effects when I hit the enemy, and that skills go off more or less right when I activate them. So which MMO has the best combat feel? Let's duke it out! Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Encrypted Text: Patch 5.4's new Killing Spree and rogue glyphs
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Chase Christian will be your guide to the world of shadows every Wednesday. Feel free to email me with any questions or article suggestions you'd like to see covered here. Killing Spree has been killing rogues since 2008. While assassination rogues are discussing the best opportunities to use Vendetta and subtlety rogues are planning their Shadow Dances, combat rogues are just hoping their cooldown won't throw them off a cliff or into fire. I remember when rogues simply didn't play combat when fighting Magmaw. Killing Spree on Garalon? Only if you had a death wish. The Glyph of Killing Spree fixed most of these errant deaths, but didn't fix the root problem: Killing Spree takes away control from the rogue. We're not capable of choosing our targets or our destination when using Killing Spree, which makes it a liability in high-stakes situations. The new PTR version of Killing Spree looks to change that. The normal Killing Spree will turn into a powerful nuke on a specific target, while Killing Spree under Blade Flurry's influence will result in the random attacks we're used to.
The Nexus Telegraph: Getting the message across in WildStar (before it kills you)
There are no two ways about it: A a lot of WildStar's combat involves getting out of the way of something. Combat telegraphs have been reinforced as a major element of gameplay, and we've seen countless videos explaining how the telegraph system works in varying degrees of depth. And much like pretty much every other element of the game, this is a major issue for some people. I can understand why this provokes a knee-jerk reaction. I mean, now you can see exactly what's going to happen next and where you need to not stand, right? How is that still a challenge? The answer is that there's still a lot of challenge involved, and allowing people to know what's going on around them ahead of time not only preserves the challenge but actually heightens it. And to talk about that, we're going to need to step back and talk about lots of other games and the different sorts of challenge you can face in games.
