by svino » Fri Jun 23, 2017 2:14 pm But I think that combat right now is too "one dimensional", in the sense that the only thing we can do right now is just punch and jump, and if the enemy punches harder, then you lose.
I think the right way to fix combat is to add complexity through more dimensions to fight.
- Initiative points
I think the only thing right now that opens up the combat system is initiative points. But since the defensive skills were changed to give IP to opponents rather than cost IP, the possibilities of IP decreased. However, the change with defensive skills was necessary simply because it was abusable.
Right now, skills that cost IP may not buff the player himself in any way, otherwise they can be abused by stacking IP in spars. This means that IP skills may only be used to detriment opponents. The only skills that cost IP right now, are attacks, and a unique skill; Opportunity knocks.
Opportunity Knocks is a fun ability, because it adds possibilities. It can be used for team combat, and rewards players with good timing. And with combat meditation you have a chance to use op-knocks and almost instantly attack afterwards. It takes practice to pull off, and it's definitely a thing that can set a better player ahead of a less experienced one.
I know a lot of people, maybe even J&L themselves, dislike combat in MMO's/Moba's, but I think there are a lot of things from these that can improve combat.
What about IP costly attacks that;
Slows down an opponent?
Stuns an opponent?
Makes opponent unable to attack?
Other detrimental effects? - "Defensive points"
To prevent the sparring abuse, and to increase the depth of combat, I would like to see something parallel to Initiative Points, but instead of acting offensively it would purely be for defensive skills, or skills that buff the player. I think the super defense moves like Zig-zag ruse and dash, ruin the IP system. When 5 players are attacking a single player with red attacks, his only option is to spam Zig-Zag ruse, to remove the red openings, which feeds all the opponents with too many IP. And when a player alone with yellow/red attacks, Zig-zag ruse is way too strong, eliminating the possibilities of red/yellow combat almost completely for 1v1 combat.
I think defensive points could be a thing that starts at 0 or 10, and regenerates every 1-2 seconds in combat, to a maximum of 10. These points could be used for super defense moves (Zig-zag/dash/etc.) And even other new interesting moves.
What about;
An adrenaline rush, that costs a lot of DP, but increases movement speed and attack speed?
A small buff that reflects all openings given for a short amount of time (clearly visible to opponents)
Other beneficial effects? - Limited combat deck
I think another problem with combat is the limited combat decks. One may argue that "Limitations breed creativity", but I feel that there are too many restrictions in this department.
When you're making a combat deck, you have 10 slots for combat moves. First of all, you need to be prepared to defend against all colours. Most people here choose a blue defense (sidestep), a green defense (quick dodge), a yellow defense, and a red defense, (Zig-zag ruse). Then you need at least 1 combat stance, (unless you're using the default one
). So that's already 4 slots that everyone must use.
Then for unarmed combat, we need 1 opener attack, there's usually 1 that's better than all others (blue punch/green punch). 1 finisher attack, and at least 1 other color attack to prevent getting cheesed by a dash deck. So that's 7 moves that everyone must choose. (4 defensive ones and 3 offensive ones.) Now we need 1 take aim to generate IP, 1 opportunity knock, if we happen to attack with friends, and then we have 1 skill left where we can get creative with our deck.
What if we could buy an endgame skill, "combat mastery" or something for 250k LP that allows us to instantly swap to a secondary deck? It would allow us to create much more sophisticated decks. Skilled players could then notice what defensive skills the opponent was weak in, and try to switch to that color instead, instead of it being much determined from the start.Edit: this was since fixed when they added combat deck swapping in combat
You can take and add a lot to these ideas, but i generally think IP feels flawed at the moment, and that we don't have enough options in combat.
