Guild Wars 2

how does combat in gw2 work?
it does not seem to be an action combat system but neither does it seem to be click of boredom (like wow)
are the skills aimed like in tera? (if so is there a way to lock the camera and character movement to the mouse? because its currently like lego universe only the basic attack isnt bound to the lmb) or are they like wow where you just have to face in the general direction and push button to cause damage? or something else?

i was told the combat was very much an action system but currently all i can see is the evasion mechanic

Most skills lock on to whatever you have targeted, but they can miss if you’re not positioned correctly, or if the target can dodge or move away quickly enough.

Some skills are not locked on but target an area of the ground (selected with the mouse cursor). Others target an area surrounding your character.

When you press a button to activate a skill, you will use this skill.

If there is something in the way of the attack, the skill will hit.

Naturally, this makes hitting things with ranged attacks difficult (they don’t want this to be a shooter, after all) So what you can do, is select a target, and everytime you cast a skill you will turn to face your target and attack. If the target is too far away, you’ll still miss, but it will do the aiming for you.

Some ranged attacks also have the added benefit of homing (which can make it feel like WoW at times) But most classes only have 1 such skill (their auto-attack) while the rest of their skills require a bit more finesse.

The combat is Very action oriented, but not neccessarily because of the way attacks work. Positioning and movement are VERY important to not dying. So when we say “action” Don’t picture jumping over enemies and bouncing off trees or something crazy that you’d see in, say, a fighting game. Picture more kiting them along, circle strafing while waiting for an opening, perefectly timed dodges to end up behind an enemy where you can sit and stab them for a while till they turn around and you start the dance all over again.

At least, till you add a 2nd person. Then you make that guy do that job while you stab the enemy in the back with your daggers till he stops moving.

kiting and strafing an waiting for an opening is how tera works (only i play as a lancer so for me its more sit there taking all the hits timing blocks and hitting in between the oponents attacks so i dont run out of blocking power) only i feel it gets it right (that and graphics the leveling experiance is terrible past level 45 :/) by having everything aimed by you and dodging/blocking done by you so all RNG does is work out when you crit or not

the system sounds like a hybrid of that (and the items giving attacks things sounds like the gear system in lego universe) and the current “standard” of wow (i say standard because most mmos i have played work like wow) it will probably take me some time to get used to but it sounds interesting and it probably takes a few levels to experiance it propperly

sorry if anyone takes offence at me drawing comparisons between different games (its happened elsewhere) but it helps me work out roughly how it might work in my head (does guardian work like the lancer in tera? or does guardian also require running around (i like playing as a solid unmoving rock of pure defence for some reason…)
or something…

I can’t give you comparisons to tera or other MMO’s, but…

PvE content ends up being pretty static on a micro level (kiting and such still matters for how you approach groups of enemies, but in a one-on-one fight you can usually get by without moving all that much as most enemies aren’t very mobile), unless it’s something like a boss (champion) fight where you have to keep your distance/evade at times to survive. PvP is a different animal obviously.

Blocking, such as it is (the boon “aegis”) is not universally available. Some profession mechanics, traits, and skills give it to you as an option though. The only universal damage-avoidance is dodging (by default you get 2 dodges before depleting your endurance, then have to wait for it to refill at least halfway to dodge again).

As it is here the only random factors are critical hits and whether any runes’/sigils’/traits’ special effects will proc. Theoretically pretty much everything else is under your control if you have the right tactics and timing.

And it may sound obvious, but your choice of profession can have a dramatic impact on how the combat feels. I imagine a guardian is somewhat straightforward based on what you’re describing, but hey you won’t know until you try.