Therefore I may take some time replying to you.
A core engine problem
Therefore I may take some time replying to you.
Better encounters have existed in games that were even more “dice roll” based, the problem has little/nothing to do with the fidelity of the simulation, which engine is used, or how the combat system works.
The problem has everything to do with encounter design where the bosses don’t move around and don’t have any mechanics that pose a real threat or risk of failure, and allow players to win even if they are completely ignorant of how the encounter actually works.
It is possible to design better encounters in GW2, they just typically don’t. Grenth requires some level of understanding of the encounter, and can and does kill people. Pre-nerf Fire Elemental was overtuned, in the sense that his difficulty came from big numbers more so than mechanics, but even he was still more entertaining than any of the dragons are currently.
It’s just shoddy encounter design, plain and simple, no need to go looking any further.
There is nothing to discuss. You’re comparing non-MMO games to MMOs and then saying that the two aren’t the same.
Cars aren’t the same as planes because one can fly. I can drive my car off a cliff to feel airborne but it will never be the same as flying in a plane.
Other than changing the title to “The core engine design trade-offs betweeen a client/server MMO and an FPS running on a dedicted PC” I don’t have any suggestions.
All games use the same basic concept, MMOs just simplify it. In both styles, you’re nothing more than a cube hitting another cube (hit boxes).
In an MMO however, the only thing that matters is the distance between your cube and theirs. As long as you are within range, your attack will connect. Unlike most MMOs however, projectiles in GW2 are just like those in an FPS. Both are small moving cubes that hit another cube.
In more advanced games, the concept is the same except instead of a single cube, each object is made up of multiple ones. At the basic level, the cubes of a humanoid are their arms, legs, torso and head, which can then be further divided depending on how advanced you want to be. Depending on the style used, to hit the other cube, your cube simply has to be in range, just like in an MMO, or a specific cube (your weapon) has to hit their cube. Your damage is then based on which of their cubes you hit, a headshot being the most obvious. For special attacks that say, cut off an arm, impale, etc, are nothing more than animations at predefined points or within predefined areas.
Both styles are the same on their basic levels. MMOs just use simplified hit boxes.
The dragon events show a flaw with their engine or they simply forgot. The hit boxes for the dragons are fixed to the default model and don’t move with their animations. This is most notable on the shadow behemoth, with the hit box being its face when it screams. Jormag has a more advanced hit box, using 3, for the hands and head, instead of just 1 big one. Because of this, you can hit all 3 at once, doing 3x your normal damage.
They could have made the dragons solid objects, but judging by their hit box, the collision would have most likely included where it isn’t, making it seem like there are invisible walls. They would have to first fix them all. A more advanced shadow behemoth for example would have had collision on its body, and then when it screamed, it would do a frontal line AoE, knocking everyone back, which would then become another collision point. This however is usually when they have to decide if it’s worth the extra time and resources, which is usually a no for something not really needed.