(German translation here / deutsche Übersetzung hier
Hello Everyone,
Many players have requested we make the combat, movement, and camera snappier and cleaner. This is a short post of our raw design docs of how we're planning to improve these things.
Again, this is raw design-- we don't spend a lot of time making it pretty, just making sure it's clear. Feel free to offer advice and comment.
Thanks!
Click to Move
Default this to OFF for new players.
WASD Sensitivity
When the player presses one of the WASD keys, it should accelerate the player's rotational or translational speed over a period of time until it reaches max. I don't think we need a slider for this. It should take about 0.5 seconds to reach max (we can tweak this). This will allow players to tap a key to make small adjustments to direction or position. That's the main goal-- to allow players to have finer control.
Right Mouse Button
Right Mouse Button should no longer control the avatar's direction when the player is not moving. Instead, it should work just like LMB--it controls the camera's direction. Of course, this means that when the player starts to move forward, they will move in the direction of the camera because that is already how it works.
When the player is moving, then yes, the RMB will still control the avatar's direction.
A great side effect of this is that RMB rotate will no longer cancel auto-attack.
Auto-Run
When the player has Auto-Run activated (when Num Lock is held), then RMB+mouse should control direction, and LMB+mouse should pan camera.
Forward Strafe (aka, Diagonal Strafe)
Basically, do a simple fix for this so that when the player does a diagonal strafe (ex: press W + E), then the avatar turns to face in the direction he or she is running, but the camera does not move to be directly behind the avatar. In other words, the camera should still behave as if the character is not rotated in the direction he is running. This is to avoid the rather silly sliding sideways animation currently in the game. :)
Importantly, when the player stops, the avatar would of course snap back to face the direction he or she was going before doing the diagonal strafe.
Another point: the avatar should move at the same speed as when he is moving forward normally. So, neither faster, nor slower.
Also, the angle currently for diagonal strafe is a little too high. Try it with 30 degrees for now. (And also, make it a set angle. Now I think the angle might change based on various run boosts).
Finally, the head should turn to face in the same direction as the camera (not at the camera-- but in the same direction the camera is facing).
Combat Fixes
- RMB (above) change will have the advantage of no longer causing accidentally aborted combat.
- When the player initiates combat (regardless of how-- auto-attack, etc.), the avatar should instantly snap its rotation to face directly at the enemy.
- When the player initiates combat, and the avatar runs to get into range of the target, it should run at full speed, and not decelerate as it nears the target. Therefore, make it stop instantly when reaching attacking distance. Currently it fumbles around with acceleration, rotation, and deceleration creating a non-snappy, sluggish feeling.
Quicker Feedback for Player Action
- When the player selects a target, it can take up to a second before the cameo pops up. It would be nice if it popped up immediately. I don't know if any of that info is already sitting on the client (it seems that name, 3d model, and health are already on the client), but if so, we could pop the cameo instantly with this partial information.
- The feat/spell icon animation when activating takes too long. It does a shrink and grow and plays a white burst. It should be a quick flash, almost instant, and probably not pulse in size. The goal is to have quick punctuated feedback that the system recognized the user's action.
- When the player selects or targets an enemy, and the feat bar pops up--instead of having it slide up, make it instantly pop up. We can still use the slide effect for making it go away and when the player mouses over it to bring it up.
Iteration #2
Auto-Select
When the player does not have any target, then feat & spell icons should be lit (currently, offensive spells/feats will only light up when a target is selected). The player can still try to cast the feat or spell. When they do, the game will try to pick a valid target:
- the game tries to pick out a valid target for the spell or feat. Obviously, it should be an enemy for an offensive spell. Then it picks the nearest valid target that is in front of the player within a reasonable range. If there are none, it will consider enemies that are behind the player.
- If it finds a valid target, then that target is selected (cameo pops up), the spell or feat is targeted at that enemy, and that enemy will now be auto-attacked.
- If it does not find a valid target, the game will play the animation for the feat or spell, but it will stop without firing a missile, etc. and no spirit will be deducted.
Move & Attack
When a player first clicks on an enemy to attack it (either with auto-attack or with an offensive spell), then the player's avatar will engage the enemy (just like now). By this, I mean the player will snap to face the target and move to be within range. That's the same as now.
Here's the change: the player should still be allowed to move around, and this will not cancel auto-attack, or even a spell or feat in progress. HOWEVER, if the player moves so the target is out of range, or so the target is not within the +/- 30 degree cone of the player, then the attack or feat/spell will not fire off. However, auto-attack is not cancelled, so that, if the player's target becomes valid again, the auto-attack would resume.