Guild Wars 2

TLDR:

Guild Wars 2’s combat is, in my opinion, extremely well done. I’m now spoiled on it and cannot go back to other games.

TL;Read Anyway:

I recently tried to go back to WoW for a friends’ sake. I noticed myself trying to dodge roll all the time, and interrupting my own spellcasts because you can’t move while casting in that game. (Unless you’re, what, a Shaman?)

For kicks, I booted up SW:TOR as well, because I figured hey the story might keep me into it. Nnnnnnnnope. Nothing quite like standing still watching a bar go down for 3 seconds while “channeling” Force Lightning.

I don’t know what to do, really.

There’s so much right about GW2 combat that anything else feels very weird. I like that boons and conditions are consolidated, instead of having to memorize what 13899424 buffs/debuffs do. Dodging is actually really nice. Not having dedicated healers in PVP is really nice. Downed State adds interest and is actually a mechanically-necessary part of how GW2 combat works.

Also, the fact that my mage just switched from using a Staff to a Dagger should matter. It blows my mind that it never mattered before. To be honest, I’d love to boot up WoW for a few months and have fun with my friends… but I don’t know how to deal with such a huge leap backwards. Other MMORPG’s coming this year (Wildstar, Elder Scrolls Online, etc.) don’t seem to be adding anything new to combat, either.

Does anyone else feel this way?
Any suggestions?

EDIT 1:

I want to say that for me, great combat in an RPG is defined by two things in equal parts.

1. Ability interest/synergy.
Are abilities themselves interesting? Do they give me the feeling of “Dude. I can’t wait to try THIS out”? Can they be combined effectively to produce unique results?

2. Action/playability.
I don’t feel like I can AFK, go get a pop, surf the web on my other monitor, or watch Netflix while I fight. My mind has to be engaged. This can be accomplished with movement requirements, combo’s, procs, and etc.

I love the combat in this game, it just feels so right and there’s something very immediate and immersive about it.

All my friends play GW2 so I’m not drawn to other games.

I’ll agree that going back to a pure stand-still tab target game where you just straff to the left or right to move out of bad floor is a leap backward in combat… it is an archaic form of it, where you hit certain buttons based on procs, stand still and nuke nuke nuke until you have to move.

GW2 combat is a step or two above the WoW and Rift combat styles.

Tera and Neverwinter are a few steps above GW2. More action-based combat with a better class/talent system(similar to Diablo 3 even though D3 is not an MMO, I hold its talent system in the highest regard).

Wildstar looks to have a good handle on it. Not sure about all the telegraphs, but we’ll see.

i enjoy guild wars 2’s combat.

fluid. fast.
nice animations.

neverwinter’s combat is nice too but i can feel the lag.
in guild wars 2, i do not feel the lag in combat.

actually the gameplay is very similar to Requiem momento mori, nightmare mmorpg- i think its called. similar attack and moving, but no dodging unless its skilled/traited kind of thing.

I feel its a little too uninvolved. During champion events, I find on my Mesmer, I just prop myself up a good 900 range away (To account for the mobs slightly moving around), get my phantasms up, turn on auto-attack and either alt tab out or sell things on the market.

Thats not an isolated situation or even being lazy. There are a lot of weapons where auto-attack outdoes all your other skills.

Was sort of hoping for Vindictus, that didn’t suffer from F2P syndrome and low budget when I got it. I do like the idea of being able to take care of yourself though.

Combat is one of the few reason I keep playing GW and fortunately, changing the way combat work in this game would require just too much work so I don’t think ArenaNet will change it despite whining from WoW/InsertWoWCloneHere fanboys (unlike the gear treadmill).

Servanin.5021:

I feel its a little too uninvolved. During champion events, I find on my Mesmer, I just prop myself up a good 900 range away (To account for the mobs slightly moving around), get my phantasms up, turn on auto-attack and either alt tab out or sell things on the market.

Thats not an isolated situation or even being lazy. There are a lot of weapons where auto-attack outdoes all your other skills.

Was sort of hoping for Vindictus, that didn’t suffer from F2P syndrome and low budget when I got it. I do like the idea of being able to take care of yourself though.

Everything in the Open PvE world is meant to be easy. If you have a big enough group of players, all you need is your #1 and a heal if you make a little mistake. Some dungeons are also easy but can challenge you to move an inch or two. GW2 combat really shines in structured PvP.

Servanin.5021:

I feel its a little too uninvolved. During champion events, I find on my Mesmer, I just prop myself up a good 900 range away (To account for the mobs slightly moving around), get my phantasms up, turn on auto-attack and either alt tab out or sell things on the market.

Thats not an isolated situation or even being lazy. There are a lot of weapons where auto-attack outdoes all your other skills.

Was sort of hoping for Vindictus, that didn’t suffer from F2P syndrome and low budget when I got it. I do like the idea of being able to take care of yourself though.

Combat vs content. If arenanet loves the idea of zergs, then yes combat becomes dull and boring. If arenanet moves away from zerg content, then combat becomes interesting again.

Champ train in queensdale — Boring combat.

The Alpha boss in CoE — Pretty good combat.

One thing I did like in a game called Warhammer Online was the fact enemies could not walk through each other, so you could create a bit of a tank wall in some choke points, which I think is was a pretty cool idea, not sure how it would work in GW2. I kind of miss the the hard core tank, dps, healer, and support classes. But yes GW2 combat I think is pretty good overall.

kelman.9451:

One thing I did like in a game called Warhammer Online was the fact enemies could not walk through each other, so you could create a bit of a tank wall in some choke points, which I think is was a pretty cool idea, not sure how it would work in GW2. I kind of miss the the hard core tank, dps, healer, and support classes. But yes GW2 combat I think is pretty good overall.

Thats called collision. It would most definately not work in GW2. Well, at least not friendly player collision. Since a lot of the content is open world, and fosters a zerg mentality, that would be a nightmare.

It works in true action combat games though…

Sorry but GW2 combat is actually one of the worst parts of it.

Is a hybrid between tab-targeting and action – Till there is a good idea. But then you add unresposive combat itself, lack of skills and combinations (there is a reason why everyone plays just like everyone else) add the lack of a role for each character and that everything is summed up into “roll, roll, burst, roll, roll.”

There are tab targeting games with far better combat, for example, FFXIV.
There are action games with far better combat, for example, Vindictus and TERA.
And there are hybrid tab-action games with far better combat, for example, Blade & Soul.

GW2, again, trying to do everything “new and fresh” screw basic things up. Combat is one of the really weak spots of GW2.

Alexander Dragonfang.1759:

Sorry but GW2 combat is actually one of the worst parts of it.

Is a hybrid between tab-targeting and action – Till there is a good idea. But then you add unresposive combat itself, lack of skills and combinations (there is a reason why everyone plays just like everyone else) add the lack of a role for each character and that everything is summed up into “roll, roll, burst, roll, roll.”

There are tab targeting games with far better combat, for example, FFXIV.
There are action games with far better combat, for example, Vindictus and TERA.
And there are hybrid tab-action games with far better combat, for example, Blade & Soul.

GW2, again, trying to do everything “new and fresh” screw basic things up. Combat is one of the really weak spots of GW2.

+1 on this one. I think Tera has one of the best combat of all MMO games.

Of course Tera has great combat. That’s ALL it has!

I literally did a quest in Tera to kill 10 XYZ’s, turned it in, and got ANOTHER QUEST TO DO THE SAME THING. lol. The combat system’s not archaic, but the questing system and the rest of the game is.

GW2’s isn’t a whole lot better.

Reknown heart A: Hold down control, walk around hitting F on the highlighted objects
Reknown heart B: Kill enemies

As far as TERA goes, the problem with it is that they don’t really utilize the combat system. They nerfed outdoor BAMs so they aren’t a challenge to solo anymore, and you don’t really utilize your dodge/block for non-BAM enemies, because like GW2 enemies, they aren’t choreographed except for ground circles and charged attacks.

You can’t dodge reflexively because latency makes it such that if you dodge as soon as you see the enemy swing, you are already too late, so all you can do is either kite, or after one auto-attack, count to 2 and be ready to dodge by 2.5 seconds.

I enjoy the GW2 action combat better than combat in other MMO’s. However, it is actually a compromise between action games, where you have to aim, and MMO’s, where you lock onto targets. The mobility is there, dodge is there, but while you can aim, there’s no targeting reticle and you can lock onto targets.

I should probably preface this with ‘IMO’ in order prevent any buthurt feelings;

I don’t see what’s so special about GW2’s combat. Some telegraphs are very difficult to see, especially when obscured by the insane amount of spell effects. Weapon swapping is gimmicky, and doesn’t feel any different unless I’m going from melee to ranged. Being able to attack and activate skills while moving removes the importance of positioning. The downed system also feels like a gimmick. If my enemy’s health reaches zero I expect them to be dead. And finally, the skill system that holds the player’s hand by choosing half the skill bar for them, because apparently, people are too stupid to think of how skills synergize with each other and are incapable building their own kittening skill bar. W.T.F.

With all that said, I can’t enjoy GW2’s combat without Combat Mode.

The combat in GW2 is very well done with a few exceptions.

I love the ability to attack while moving as well as the ability to dodge. Mobility in general is done well in GW2.

Unfortunately the way boons and such stack runs counter to the idea of a highly mobile combat system in group play.

Overall I find GW2’s solo combat to be some of the best I have ever seen while its group combat is some of the worst.

Well, imho a targetting system used in GW2 is the thing which holds the combat back.
If a Tera had an endruance based dodge system or GW2 had the “action-based” targetting system, it would be perfect. Everybody had to actually play, not just stand and let the AA pick the reward for you. Also, problems with the actual targetting system would be gone…

GW2 has great combat and mind game capable tactics. like op mentioned, i too find it harder to go back to static combat like Swtor. Its my opinion but the fact that i dont have to a full screen of skills and keybind 30 keys to 50 skills for my 10 fingers to press… the 8 skill combat and implementation of combo fields and combo finishers gives a nice taste to combat tactics with implementation of weapon swapping giving an additional 5 skills to use.

I think the variety is good but i can agree that more weapon sets and utility / elite skills can help spice up combat and builds.

Ive played a lot of mmos, from Warcraft 3 into wow and lol, warhamer, age of conan, lotr online, rift, aion, gw1, knights online, swotr and more, the one game i think that has the best Combat of any mmo would have to be Tera, its a pity as a game Tera isnt that good, but the combat is amazing.

Downed-state is where i’ll disagree with OP. It should be taken out of the game.

I like GW2 combat (most fun i have ever played). Easy to learn, but very hard to master. Often players blame class and combat for their own shortcomings.

Pawstruck.9708:

Of course Tera has great combat. That’s ALL it has!

I literally did a quest in Tera to kill 10 XYZ’s, turned it in, and got ANOTHER QUEST TO DO THE SAME THING. lol. The combat system’s not archaic, but the questing system and the rest of the game is.

Quest are classic, it a appeals to people who like classic quest, is a matter of choice not a quality itself. Being that said, DE in GW2 are just terrible, they are repetitive, they are chained, and you are always doing the very same thing. The only thing that changed is the way it is delivered, which is not much better than the classic questing.

And the rest of the game archaic? you know what is archaic? GW2 bosses, no raid content, overall gear desing, the new ascended armor, compared to the most basic armor set of TERA… Just lol.

I personally think “taking away” trinity is still bad. How can TAKING AWAY can improve ANYTHING.

Do they understand WHAT THEY ACTUALLY TAKEN AWAY? They took the combat roles and the costumizability of characters. They simplifyed combat to like consoles.
Not to mention they did this to help you get party….when in fact you are LFG to certaint areas places dungeons for days somethimes. But atleast more time for sure thne some other mmo.

As for Tera….the most fun combat i have ever played. Gear still mattters. Personal skill still matters. Class still matters. Most balanced and fun combat i ever played with Gw1.

Chewablesleeptablet.3185:

Servanin.5021:

I feel its a little too uninvolved. During champion events, I find on my Mesmer, I just prop myself up a good 900 range away (To account for the mobs slightly moving around), get my phantasms up, turn on auto-attack and either alt tab out or sell things on the market.

Thats not an isolated situation or even being lazy. There are a lot of weapons where auto-attack outdoes all your other skills.

Was sort of hoping for Vindictus, that didn’t suffer from F2P syndrome and low budget when I got it. I do like the idea of being able to take care of yourself though.

Everything in the Open PvE world is meant to be easy. If you have a big enough group of players, all you need is your #1 and a heal if you make a little mistake. Some dungeons are also easy but can challenge you to move an inch or two. GW2 combat really shines in structured PvP.

Not everything x:

Theres a reason why Bathazaar is rarely open, and it’s not because you can’t grab a big enough Zerg for it.

Although that event is harder because of just plain terrible gane design rather than being intentionally challenging.

On a side note, the game with the best potential in combat I’ve ever played is probably Vindictus, the vanilla version anyways.

It wasn’t complicated and to be honest you kind of used the same 2 skills over and over but the way it was set out and way the enemies themselves fight in the game made the combat so involving and intense that you forget you’re basically spamming.

Not to mention a fully destructive environment which can be turned into a weapon, and things like chain hooking different body parts of bosses to do stuff to them, it made for an amazingly immersive and intense combat experience. But of course, Nexon went and wrecked the game as usual.

I actually like GW2 combat, but I hate the Ranger, it’s so lacklustre and just ineffectual.

Now the Neverwinter Ranger is a different matter, it hits hard, has long range, good weapons, both ranged and melee, and it feels like I’m actually doing something, not just pew pew, oh look 37 damage…………………..

Another game, Dragon Nest, resembles the type of action that Vindictus has. TERA looks really awesome too in terms of combat action.

GW2 seems to be somewhere in between an action-focused MMO and a traditional one. As far as I can see, the only difference seems to be being able to perform a dodge action.

Comparing to WoW or SWTOR, I’d say GW2’s combat is superior; but I don’t really think it’s that solid mainly because I’ve played ones (like Dragon Nest) which I consider having far better combat and fluidity.

Nevertheless, I feel the GW2’s combat fits the game nicely. It doesn’t feel awkward and is good in its own right; the controls are pretty good too.

Pawstruck.9708:

Of course Tera has great combat. That’s ALL it has!

I literally did a quest in Tera to kill 10 XYZ’s, turned it in, and got ANOTHER QUEST TO DO THE SAME THING. lol. The combat system’s not archaic, but the questing system and the rest of the game is.

Well, if you thnk about it: GW2’s renown hearts are the same thing. Only, you can choose what you want to do. Kill bandits, plug leaks, bring X item to Y vendor. Dynamic events where a town is being taken over is the same…the amount of risen to take over a camp in Orr is the same static number hidden behind a progress number. Its the same stuff, just done a bit better.

Specifically about combat, Teras combat is way better than GW2 IMO but I personally feel that Neverwinter might take the cake.

I’ll say for class mechanics within combat…Mesmer has to be the most well thought and constructed classes Ive played in any MMO. Just love it. Even though its not my main..well sort of it is.

I like different aspects of different combat systems.

The thing I like most about GW2 is the ability to cast while moving. This alone makes a huge difference compared to static games. Dodging is also nice, but comes with the downside that you can literally avoid 100% of the damage and trivialize all the content if you are good at both positioning and dodging.

The plus side of WoW combat is the depth. You need to stay still but that is ok because it makes positioning important, knowing when to stop dps and move, gives different combat roles, and allows you to have actual skills and rotations and chains depending on the situation. In any given boss fight in WoW I used over 40 different abilities and had to know the best time to use what ability to get the best DPS. in GW2 I just roll my face over the keypad and that is as deep as the combat gets.

My perfect combat system would be one which you could cast while moving but still had a trinity and 40+ combat abilities.

Nekroseth.5186:

I personally think “taking away” trinity is still bad. How can TAKING AWAY can improve ANYTHING.

Do they understand WHAT THEY ACTUALLY TAKEN AWAY? They took the combat roles and the costumizability of characters. They simplifyed combat to like consoles.
Not to mention they did this to help you get party….when in fact you are LFG to certaint areas places dungeons for days somethimes. But atleast more time for sure thne some other mmo.

As for Tera….the most fun combat i have ever played. Gear still mattters. Personal skill still matters. Class still matters. Most balanced and fun combat i ever played with Gw1.

It can work. Just look at Vindictus, Dragon’s Nest, Monster hunters, or really any plethora of Korean F2Ps that don’t have a role system.

It just doesn’t work in GW2 because its built like a standard MMO, not an action MMO.

GW2 has a great combat system. The only better one I can think of action wise is TERA. But TERA wasn’t a very good game beyond how fluid and responsive the combat was.

cesmode.4257:

Pawstruck.9708:

Of course Tera has great combat. That’s ALL it has!

I literally did a quest in Tera to kill 10 XYZ’s, turned it in, and got ANOTHER QUEST TO DO THE SAME THING. lol. The combat system’s not archaic, but the questing system and the rest of the game is.

Well, if you thnk about it: GW2’s renown hearts are the same thing. Only, you can choose what you want to do. Kill bandits, plug leaks, bring X item to Y vendor. Dynamic events where a town is being taken over is the same…the amount of risen to take over a camp in Orr is the same static number hidden behind a progress number. Its the same stuff, just done a bit better.

Specifically about combat, Teras combat is way better than GW2 IMO but I personally feel that Neverwinter might take the cake.

Tera’s rooting is horrendous. Nothing destroys the flow of battle worse than not being able to flow in battle. I’ve completely lost the desire to ever experience stop action combat again.

I hadn’t thought about a couple of these things before.

The world bosses, other than the recently-updated Tequatl, ARE very “get a big enough group and don’t stand in the fire.” I have a Ranger friend who quite literally has been killing a world boss in GW2 while playing a match of League with me. That’s really silly. This brings up a good point: Your enemies are a large part of combat, too. I feel like GW2 does an okay job of this: At least most mobs have special abilities, and I don’t think you can just faceroll through any mob like it was any other (unless you’re a Warrior )

Also, GW2 gracefully disguises quests as “part of exploring the world.” I guess I buy it, because they feel effortless to me.

The absolute most critical areas I think the combat could improve are:
1) Class balance in PVE
2) There are still skills/talents that do almost nothing or are worthless. They’re working on fixing this, it seems. Ofc, whether or not they’re doing a good job of it…
3) Boons/conditions need to be balanced. Badly.

Yea, GW2 definitely does combat mechanics well. I would argue that Tera does it better, but GW2 beats Tera on just about everything else, lol.

VOLKON.1290:

Tera’s rooting is horrendous. Nothing destroys the flow of battle worse than not being able to flow in battle. I’ve completely lost the desire to ever experience stop action combat again.

Every action game has you stop to attack (Or only lets you use a weak attack while moving) to add decision and consequence to your action.

If you keep attacking carelessly, you might get stuck in a frame that you can’t dodge cancel out of. In GW2 thats simply not there. You get aggro from multiple hard hitting enemies or a champ, you just keep circle strafing at no loss.

My only gripe with combat is how loose the target system is. I want a “target enemy players” option so when I tab I don’t have to go through all the moas and random monsters in WvW, turrets, pets, spirits, guards, just so I can hopefully target a nearest player. I hold right click down constantly, and trying to click on someone to target them doesn’t come naturally to me anymore. That part of it is just a mess.

Maybe folks could fill me in on what TERA does wrong, because I haven’t made it past level 10 yet…

VOLKON.1290:

cesmode.4257:

Pawstruck.9708:

Of course Tera has great combat. That’s ALL it has!

I literally did a quest in Tera to kill 10 XYZ’s, turned it in, and got ANOTHER QUEST TO DO THE SAME THING. lol. The combat system’s not archaic, but the questing system and the rest of the game is.

Well, if you thnk about it: GW2’s renown hearts are the same thing. Only, you can choose what you want to do. Kill bandits, plug leaks, bring X item to Y vendor. Dynamic events where a town is being taken over is the same…the amount of risen to take over a camp in Orr is the same static number hidden behind a progress number. Its the same stuff, just done a bit better.

Specifically about combat, Teras combat is way better than GW2 IMO but I personally feel that Neverwinter might take the cake.

Tera’s rooting is horrendous. Nothing destroys the flow of battle worse than not being able to flow in battle. I’ve completely lost the desire to ever experience stop action combat again.

Animation lock you are referring to. It prevents you from brainlessly spamming abilities. You think out each action because there is a consequence: animation lock.

In GW2, and not saying GW2 system is terribad, but at times you do feel like you are spamming abilities. On my necro, I run a staff / D+WH. I run through staff 2,3,4 weapon switch, 5 , 2…spamming through my abilities without a lot of thought or consequence. In Tera, you have to position yourself, make sure you are not going to be walloped by the boss, and go through the rotation and try to get off the chain attacks as well..

Pawstruck.9708:

Maybe folks could fill me in on what TERA does wrong, because I haven’t made it past level 10 yet…

The PvP is horribly unbalanced (like, way worse than GW2 unbalanced)
Crafting is horrendous and you have a chance of failure and destroying an upgrade level if an upgrade fails.
Open world content is near non existent past the standard kill 10 x,y, and z mobs.
The economy is in the pits because of loopholes and gold farmers.
The game has a race of children in scantily clad clothes, which is just wrong to me.

The combat and graphics are top notch and that’s about it for pros. The dungeons are a lot more fun in TERA though imo. Otherwise GW2 is gonna be better in every other category.

Pawstruck.9708:

Maybe folks could fill me in on what TERA does wrong, because I haven’t made it past level 10 yet…

The end game, at least when I played, was nothing BUT RNG. You think people have it bad in GW2 with RNG? It is why I laughed and hardly complained about it here. Because in Tera, it was EVERYTHING. You try to craft a +10 enchantment or whatever, and if it failed you lose those materials and I think you even went backward in crafting level or something like that. This was early on, within the first few weeks. It was a nightmare. That was RNG at its worst, so when people whine about it here I think back to my Tera days.

That, and that the political system was a failure, elitists, dungeon queues were horrible. Tera’s graphics, combat, and dungeon mechanics/fights made it worth playing. Man i miss those dungeons

Servanin.5021:

VOLKON.1290:

Tera’s rooting is horrendous. Nothing destroys the flow of battle worse than not being able to flow in battle. I’ve completely lost the desire to ever experience stop action combat again.

Every action game has you stop to attack (Or only lets you use a weak attack while moving) to add decision and consequence to your action.

If you keep attacking carelessly, you might get stuck in a frame that you can’t dodge cancel out of. In GW2 thats simply not there. You get aggro from multiple hard hitting enemies or a champ, you just keep circle strafing at no loss.

That’s what people in stop-action combat games tell themselves… it has meaning. With the skills and cooldowns in GW2 “attacking carelessly” is just as (if not more) foolish than in stop-action combat. Skills often have secondary and even tertiary effects, and the right timing in using them can make all the difference.

If I’m paying attention, I can (and have) kill a warrior when I heal. If I time it wrong, or simply cast on CD, I can wind up dead instead.

As far as I’m aware, currently on the test server there is an option in the game menu to turn on “combat mode”. Which will/may function in a similar way to tera, as shown in this old video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tjK5OI2oAQ , so something like this MAY come to the game if it functions well. Take my words with a grain of salt because I don’t remember where I saw this information (probably reddit).
PS: I’ll say it just in case, better not try to use the mod. Firstly, it’s old and not updated and it probably is banable since it alters game files.

Pawstruck.9708:

Maybe folks could fill me in on what TERA does wrong, because I haven’t made it past level 10 yet…

- There’s a huge lapse in power between levels. This makes PvP servers very lopsided since any level difference makes a huge difference in who wins a fight.
– Gear is a huge factor in fights. You would think that the action combat system would make all fights very skill based, but the gear scaling often decides outcome, meaning that unless you’re hardcore in getting the best gear, you are at a big disadvantage.
– There is very little customization with builds since there are very few skills and no talent tree system like GW2. Also, all classes only have 1 weapon set that they use.
– The game adheres strictly to the basic quest system with little to no diversity. Even WoW has branched off to build more creative quests, but everything in Tera is pretty much a talk-to-this-person, collect-these-items, or kill-these-mobs quest.

Few games really capture the feel of a good solid boss fight like in Tera when you’re fighting a big boss as a Lancer. However, GW2 comes close and it has a world that feels much more diverse and alive, while not forcing you to into spending every waking hour to get the best possible gear in order to stand a chance in any fight.

levionan.8506:

Another game, Dragon Nest, resembles the type of action that Vindictus has. TERA looks really awesome too in terms of combat action.

.

DN’s combat is very different from Vindictus. I’d say DN’s is more in between WoW and GW2. First of all, there’s a very heavy emphasis on scrolling through your action bars (the auto attack and kicks are useless in PvE), and since you need 2 action bars to fit all your skills on, it’s very UI intensive.

Secondly, for the early game and trash, DN plays like Vindictus, but due to how the endgame bosses are structured (ie the raids) is structured very similarly to games like WoW, it plays like them.

As to the thing people are mentioning about rooting in combat. It’s a design decision. Not every action game roots you in combat, DMC, Dynasty Warriors, and even TSW with most weapons don’t.

Rooting does ruin the flow of combat because it feels very unnatural. Theres no reason to stop mid run if you don’t have to. In some cases, like when a guardian is concentrating all his energy to charge up Divine Light (the full heal skill), it makes sense to stop, but not for every attack you do. In my opinion its like putting traffic lights in a racing game.

Solid Gold.9310:

I actually like GW2 combat, but I hate the Ranger, it’s so lacklustre and just ineffectual.

Now the Neverwinter Ranger is a different matter, it hits hard, has long range, good weapons, both ranged and melee, and it feels like I’m actually doing something, not just pew pew, oh look 37 damage…………………..

Me thinks you need to change your gear/build up some. I have all 8 classes at 80 and 100% world complete and when I want a fast killing farming machine I ALWAYS turn to my ranger. Enemies go down in seconds, vets/champs not too far behind either.

VOLKON.1290:

cesmode.4257:

Pawstruck.9708:

Of course Tera has great combat. That’s ALL it has!

I literally did a quest in Tera to kill 10 XYZ’s, turned it in, and got ANOTHER QUEST TO DO THE SAME THING. lol. The combat system’s not archaic, but the questing system and the rest of the game is.

Well, if you thnk about it: GW2’s renown hearts are the same thing. Only, you can choose what you want to do. Kill bandits, plug leaks, bring X item to Y vendor. Dynamic events where a town is being taken over is the same…the amount of risen to take over a camp in Orr is the same static number hidden behind a progress number. Its the same stuff, just done a bit better.

Specifically about combat, Teras combat is way better than GW2 IMO but I personally feel that Neverwinter might take the cake.

Tera’s rooting is horrendous. Nothing destroys the flow of battle worse than not being able to flow in battle. I’ve completely lost the desire to ever experience stop action combat again.

Being able to move while in combat is great I agree. It is hard to go back to any other combat.

I will say that in Tera’s defense, most action combat systems have you rooted during the animation. The problem with Tera’s implementation is that a lot of it is so slow. If you take another popular example from these forums, Vindictus, it also has rooted animations but the difference is that they are very quick so it is hardly noticeable.

Only action game I can think of where you aren’t rooted is DMC2. You know, the one people refuse to acknowledge because it turned into exactly what you’d think would happen if you could move and shoot; you walk around shooting things, then dodge when they get close.

Pawstruck.9708:

interrupting my own spellcasts because you can’t move while casting in that game. (Unless you’re, what, a Shaman?)

Most spell casters can move while casting.