hello everyone.
my topic mainly revolves around some skill functionality and/or the potential issues of skill functionality vs action camera functionality in regards to movement functionality
the spark of this idea ive come across you can find here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5hvZkKlISA
at 45:50 the dev mentions feedom of mobility
and by the looks of it
so id assume this would mean that you can press the s key (back as default) and start running facing the opposite direction your camera is aiming while currently it would make you walk backwards while facing the direction your camera is aiming (not including free cam option)
for the longest time playing this game i have noticed several clunky issues regarding some of the skills which require facing the target.
and considering that we are so close to oct 23rd and the release of hot and this camera mode i cant help but think this is a good time to fix some of the skill issues that ive come across that might perhaps get in the way of the smoothness off the action camera in regards to combat movement and skill activation fluidity.
in other words you can run freely with the action combat mode in any direction while still aiming in a certain direction but i fear that for specific skills that require you to have target for example they will cause this to be clunky.
i know that for some skills it will cause you to stop running backwards and instead walk backwards while channeling said skills. (which i hope it has this feature) but i think that most likely the game wont know which skills to use this for and which to not. for example walk backward firing at the target when using ranger longbow (which all require you to face the target to use correctly) but not for ranger great-sword 4 which does not require you to face the target as you block which i fear it will do anyway.
but even if it wont have these issues i think alot of us gw2 players have been suffering from the issues that i am about to bring up for over 3 years, and i think this game can benefit from the fixing of them greatly in terms of fluidity, combat balance, and overall a more fun experience when playing gw2.
nothing too specific however. the base issue that i have found is regards to 2 types of skills. both of which require facing the target. which may get in the way when trying to run backwards while trying to use certain target facing requiring skills.
1) the first type are skills that require you to face the target, and channel for a duration before a effect occurs.
A good example is Mesmer great-sword skill #2 “Mirror blade”
the issue with these types of skills is that f you have a target yet are facing the wrong direction it will either stop you from casting it, put it on a 3 sec “interrupt” cd, or the entire Cool down of the skill. all without even allowing you to begin channeling the skill.
mirror blade in this case goes on a 3sec cd if you attempt this. but whats odd is that you can activate this skill without having a target and throw the projectile at the end of the channel and still have the ability to hit something…. in addition if you do have a target you can begin casting it…..do a 360 during the cast…and then if you are facing the target at the end of the cast activate the effect (in this case throw a projectile).
in the last case if you start the cast facing the target and then do a 180 facing the wrong direction you will go through the entire channel and then nothing will happen no projectile will fire and the skill will go on the full cd.
(which is how it should be, although perhaps depending on the skill it could be changed so you use the skill as if you don’t have a target? in this case that would be throwing the projectile where your aiming at the end of the Chanel.)
the clunkyness comes from the inability to being able to “precast” these skills while facing away from the target. in this case that would be running away from the target while channeling mirror blade and then turning around at the last split second to throw the mirror blade (which would be epic!).
in addition there is also a balance issue with these type of skills in that if your fighting a thief Mesmer or really anyone that knows how to get behind you WHILE your moving (so you cant automatically keep facing the target) so you don’t have the chance to face the target again before the end of the cast comes about.
which imo would add more depth to combat and make things tons less clunky.
“he teleports behind him just before he starts channeling illusionary wave so he is out of his aim BUT Oh WAIT the mesmer turns just in time and wacks him in the face with it!. what a play!.” stuff like that in which its less clunky and adds more interesting content.
2) the 2nd type of skill although being very similar to the first are skills who’s effect activates once or multiple times during the cast.
a good example for this case is necro’s axe skill #2 Ghastly claws.
the issue with these types of skills in regard to direction facing in relation to the target is similar to mirror blade in that it will not activate if not facing the selected target, go on a 3sec cd, or the entire skill cd.
in addition if you do have a target and are facing the right direction at the start of the cast BUT either you start facing the wrong direction or your target moves so your facing the wrong direction the skill will immediately go on its full cd.
the fix for this would be to not stop the channel of channeled skills such as this when facing the wrong direction but simply make it so that as long as the caster if facing the wrong direction the skill has no effect UNTIL he begins facing the target in which case its effect will begin procking again for the rest of the duration.
in addition to letting these types of skills be “precast” by not putting the skill on cd immediately on skill activation if facing the wrong direction.
SO OVERALL
for any skill that requires a target it would be nice if
1) the channel can be activated while not facing the target allowing for precast and smoother combat.
2) for the 2nd type of skills that i listed it would be great if while channeling in the wrong direction the skill effect is void but when facing the target its effect resumes procking its effect for its remaining duration.
overall these simple changes would make combat soooo much smoother and allow some nicer plays.
and perhaps help with some action camera mode functionality issues in the future as well?
anyway thanks for reading !~ cheers
- Nil Chaos