Combat system test - Amun open

[_Enio_]

That delay seems very situational. Eg it is not there when you kill a monster and then target the next without moving in between.(the char stays in an aiming stance after the first monster death)

The delay isnt so big.. but its longer then the following shots. (isit only some ping thing?)

Generally that change makes archers now "dancable". like Warlocks before the spell change - normals can be ran out/through/out of the 90 degree arc..

Is this intended that you can run/dance out (thought it was just about standing still)?

[Mattdoesrock]

Well my thoughts so far on my Barb, Marks and Lock:

Casting while running... Is this intentional? Or a bug... Either way, it's really really good, I love it. BUT! It should be the same for all classess... Even if movement speed was reduced slightly (hell I don't know, perhaps archers / mages have to concentrate more while casting?) but yeah, moving casting for all.

Also it can be very very hard to use skills when moving around someone. You will keep doing your normal hits, but you don't seem to start your powers easily. This even happens when you're not in combat mode. I had my target stunned, and was hammering Jaw Breaker, but it did not cast, and instead I did a normal attack.

I tried to take a video... But my software decided not to work...

Like Enio has said, there are some balance issues that need to be addressed. -- Nearly all ranged attack spells have been given a 1 second cast time, as crap as that is, you can live with it - But some spells you cannot. Two that come to mind are Retaliation and Dispell and the healing spells... <-- Which aren't even attack spell, but are defensive spells / buff's.

These spells are very situational, and need to be acted on VERY quickly. Both are meant for very quick situations, that take skill and timing to use well. With the 1 second cast time, this is nulified sadly.

A few more things:

- Using potions start your global cooldown... Not really important, but might be a bug.

[Immune]

I've only tested my conj so far, here is what I've seen:

It seems that ALL spells have some sort of cast time now, anything that used to be instant, isn't anymore. Why? If mages rely the most on spells, shouldn't they be able to cast a few on the run, especially heal spells and buffs like arcane devotion. Trying to run and stop constantly as you try to get in your usual buffs is just an unnecessary pain I think.

I noticed that if you move while casting, the spell doesn't go into cooldown and the mana isn't used, which is good. But when the spell is cancelled by a mob/player, it does go into cooldown (which isn't the problem), but the yellow timer doesn't show up if that happens. I had to press arcane devotion for a minute after being cancelled because I couldn't tell when it would be ready again.

Sometimes when casting a spell, there seems to be an unmentioned precast before the actual cast initiates. What is this? A bug or intentional? It doesn't always happen, so I'm assuming it's not supposed to at all.

The new mage casting animation... eh, I don't like it much honestly, it almost seems as if this new animation is a main reason for the "no instant spells", because I couldn't picture myself running and sticking my arm up in the air like I've accomplished something while running. I'm sure that's not the "actual" reason, but still.

One last thing which has nothing to do with combat, you've added premium gem buying. What gets me is that it costs MORE than lucky boxes... and lucky boxes are expensive, as everyone knows. You realize that the best "buy gem" costs nearly $15 worth of xim? Can't say I ever plan on buying these, but hey I guess some people just have that kind of money to throw around.

[von1958]

my knight using slashing has no problem at all but my barb when attacking ripost must be hit up to 5 times to get it to work once or twice it said it was in cd but it was not

[ArchmagusArcana]

Yeah, i really hate that new mage animation. I like that there is a new one and that you are trying to spice things up, but to me it just looks silly.


Positioning seems to be a lot better, but it SEEMS that i can hit with a mace from 3 meters away, and with a spear its about 4. Were melee ranges increased as well?

I have noticed that precast as well. It seems as though Arc Dev (usually the very first spell i cast when i log in), takes about 2 seconds to fully cast, almost like my character is trying to gather his thoughts before he starts the spell.

As for precasting, as klutu mentioned, i loved to be able to lock a meteor on someone and when they get in range, have it cast, same for things like beast attack etc. I am assuming that this is a part of the solution to remove 'piggybacking', but precast was something that many of us really liked. I will mourn its loss, bu its fairly easy to adapt to that.

Back to the movement canceling casting. It causes a lot of issues, even for warriors. To cast a spell sometimes you have to hit the key several times, for quite a while. Turning will cancel a spell as well. Is this meant to happen, or is this an unintended side effect.

For the most part i like the update. The big thing that i really really hate is the movement thing. It makes me feel like im trying to play a turn based game in a real time environment. For classes that have light armor, like mages and archers, having to stop to cast, and THEN NOT MOVE AT ALL, not even turn, till your spell is done really detracts from the feel of the game. I would be ok with being slowed, or an imob effect, but having to cancel my spell just sucks (especially to guess the timing), i feel that i would get killed far more often because of this.


There is a bug with Duel Banners. You may not use normal hits if you initiate a fight with a banner. Of course i only tested this with realm mates as in test server you can talk to other realms and organize fights without the need for any of that. This held true for at least barb, lock, knight. Alsius had no conju, and i did not pvp any archers during the time i spent on the test server.





Also, thanks for putting this up here for us to test. We know its not done and that its still an update in progress, and i for one appreciate that you sat around the office and took the time to talk with us about various things in the game. Im not at all trying to trash this update, but i do want to give honest feedback on things i dont like I for one plan on spending a good bit more time trying to get used to things as well as i can.

[Ulti19]

I only tested a knight in amun recently and im actually really liking alot of the changes.

-i love how i can now use moves like shield bash while moving
-i actually like the new crazy swing animation, it looks as if my knight is
actually trying to hit something
-and i find its awesome to be able to name my horse

However i found that if i attack normally now and then cast lets say gutting, the gutting takes longer to be used after the regular attack, it isnt used right after normal hit. Is this intentional or mistake?

[King_Of_Angmar]

So far only tested my hunter....

-I like how the new animation is when in range/out of range. (e.g. holding the bow out like aiming while in range)

-I saw that I could no longer change my weapons and armor by putting them on a skill bar button, was this intentional? I play ninja sometimes(right now :P) and the bow switch is really key for me so it's almost necessary that I am able to put them on a bar for quick switches.

-It really doesn't seem like I'm hitting a whole lot faster, even just standing still. Its hard to tell from these animations when the shot is totally off and I can move again.

[e30G]

Try re-equipping your items on your skill bar.

I have yet to test this update, but I do not understand why instant support skills such as heal ally, dispell, synergy bond etc had cast times raised. These are as Matt said, highly situational skills where timing and reflexes are paramount. Adding cast times to them would detract from the gameplay experience IMO.

[_Enio_]

Some things:

Retaliation:
Defensive selfbuff, should be Instant.

Bug with async. movement cancellation of spells (here Winter stroke)?:
Could it be that I cast eg. winder stroke and my client gets a cancel message from my own movement - the spell still got sucessfully cast? Maybe when i move just close to the end of the cast? Because 2 times we had something like this happen and the cooldown animation on the spellbar was missing, not castable due to bein on CD though? Think that happened once with matt and once to me later.


[Note: Its really really hard [imho a bit too hard] to get a hit not cancelled when fighting a dancing/runningthrough/strafing aside - barb/knight in close range. Even with bigger zone around urself to hit even behind you the time i need for a fast shot(fast sb +12% as) is enough to get it cancelled by running aside/through between the instant hits of the melee class.]

I look forward to more testing tomorrow when precast is maybe already back

[-Edge-]

Can we set a date for a couple of us to try a fort battle or something? Maybe later today at around 6/7PM GMT+1? If that suits anyone.