DDO Alpha Signups

[WayAbvPar]

I, OTOH, would avoid a FR world if at all possible, simply because of the existence of Drizz't and Elminster, two of the biggest munchkin wet dreams to ever foul the genre. Hate isn't nearly a strong enough word.

[Zane0]

Ooh, good point.  That's like a punch in the face.

Still, it would be successful!

[Astorax]

Hopped on the bandwagon and signed up as well...

[Fargull]

I, OTOH, would avoid a FR world if at all possible, simply because of the existence of Drizz't and Elminster, two of the biggest munchkin wet dreams to ever foul the genre. Hate isn't nearly a strong enough word.

I would rather see Drizzit's than Rand's...

[ajax34i]

Honestly, my opinion, it's either a spell timer system or the mana point system they want.  Because, taking the rest system from PnP DnD and reducing it to fit MMO gameplay speed is basically turning it into a spells-on-timers system, like CoH's.  More or less (all spells on the same timer).  You enter combat with your spells available, you use some, and at the end of combat they recycle.

[schild]

From the other thread. Meant to put it here, but it sorta belongs in both

I sent Turbine a question regarding some videos on IGN.

Twitch: Obviously there's some elements. When the little wizard girl is running away from the golem, as soon as she gets out of reach, he misses - seems like he had no chance of hitting. Wizards aren't that dextrous. Do you have to be in range? Also, you can obviously dodge traps. In addition, it seems you HAD to aim with the longbow, can you actually miss? Is it based more on a dice roll? Are you all actually doing the right thing before anyone else?

The Response:

Basically, there are two components to each attack in DDO's combat system:

Making the attack connect -- if an attack doesn't physically connect, nothing's going to happen. So if a hill giant's about to attack you, and you back off or tumble away in time, the giant won't even get a to-hit roll against you. We will rarely if ever be moving your avatar for you, but some skills, like Tumble, will help you get out of the way faster. Also, some attacks are impossible to dodge, like magic missile.
Resolving the attack -- when an attack connects, we go to the D&D rules and figure out whether any damage was actually done. This is more-or-less by the books -- if your attack connects with a monster, you'll get your d20 roll, add your attack bonus, and compare it to the monster's AC. If your number comes out on top, you'll do some damage. If not, you won't.

Note that getting the attack to connect, or getting out of the way of an incoming attack, is basically the "player skill," while resolving the attack is where the "character skill" component comes into play.

Also note that we can adjust the player skill/character skill balance by making it easier or harder to connect attacks. In fact, we did just that recently by slowing our monsters down somewhat; character skill has a little more weight in our combat system right now. We'll continue to make adjustments and tweaks throughout alpha and beta, but this base system should remain.

It's, at the very least, a step in the right direction. Having to be in range means running away is a reasonable form of escape and there's some player skill in simply getting close. It's a better translation of the AD&D rules than I expected.

[kaid]

One thing that I am curious about in DDO and their combat engine is if every swing you do you see animated. In Most mmrpg after a time you start swinging so fast that for each swing you do graphically you are probably doing 5 or 10 auto attack rounds.

If you can dodge out of range of a critter it would be very nice if for once every attack you do is animated. I am sure there would still be a few issues with lag and not being quite where you think you are but it would indeed add a good bit to the feel of combat.

kaid

[Murgos]

Good question for DDO since it's a staple that advanced fighters do multiple attacks per round.

[Hoax]

Interesting, too bad the rest of the game is cookie-cutter vanilla fantasy garbage...  right?  Or did they decide to make an actual online world, with like player interaction and stuff?  (last I was reading it was all instanced quests?)

[angry.bob]

I signed up as well. Since bruce sucks and needs to be quiet, I think giving me the hook-up would really teach him a lesson - registered under "angrybob".

edit: Wow, this thread is a month old... I must have been asleep.

[Daeven]

Can I block his posts from appearing as I read?  Thanks!

The lack of Usenet newsreader-style killfiles is something I definitely miss in these newfangled Web boards.

Hmmm. I wonder with Firefox/Greasemonkey if I could create a runtime script to change certain authors posts to Bla bla bla. Bla? blaBLAbla blabla!

hmmm...

[kaid]

Hurm interesting it looks like they are trying to do combat very much like it is in the pen and paper game.

Currently, the controls for two-weapon fighting are the same as they are for one-weapon fighting -- you click the mouse to attack.

The mechanics are where it gets interesting.

First, a little bit of background for our melee system in general: when you attack something in melee, you start a progression, or chain, of attacks. The number of attacks in your sequence depends on your base attack bonus (BAB), which is determined by your class and level.

This system is our way of handling the multiple attacks you get in PnP D&D as your BAB increases. So, for instance, a character with a +1 BAB might have a two-swing attack progression, while a character with a +10 BAB might have a four-swing attack progression.

Now, when you're wielding two weapons, your attack animations are obviously different, but the attack progression system is still the same. The difference, of course, is that you're wielding two weapons, so on some of your attacks, you'll get an off-hand attack on the monster. As you get better at two-weapon fighting (with feats like Improved Two-Weapon Fighting), you'll get the off-hand attack more often.

All of the other PnP rules for two-weapon fighting -- the to-hit penalties, the reduction in penalties if your off hand weapon is a light weapon, having only 1/2 of your Str bonus to damage in your off hand, etc. -- should apply in DDO.

Of course, keep in mind that this is our current system, and is subject to change based on alpha and beta results. But this is what we're doing right now.
Reply With Quote

Yet more answers (and unfortunately, the answer people are starting to get cranky!):

    * If you're wielding two weapons, you'll be attacking with both of them if you're attacking, or blocking with both of them if you're blocking. No options for anything too fancy like attacking with one weapon while blocking with the other.

    * Yes, you do need to block in order to get your shield bonus right now. To compensate for this, shields in DDO give much more of a defensive bonus than they do in PnP D&D. If you're not using a shield, you can still block, but you don't get as much of a bonus for doing so. Note that it is definitely still possible to be hit while blocking though.

    * Blocking's pretty much instantaneous --you hold down Shift, and you go into a blocking pose. You let go of Shift, and you switch back to a regular pose. As you get used to the system and to monsters' attack patterns, it becomes fairly easy to anticipate an attack and hit the block key before it lands. The trick is to not be in the middle of an attack when the monster attacks you, because you can't cancel out of an attack in order to block.

    * The individual attacks in a chain are faster than separate, single attacks, but you can't move or change targets in the middle of a chain. However, if you stop clicking during your attack chain, you'll stop attacking after you finish your current animation. (I'm not sure if you automatically stop attacking if your target dies, but this would make sense too.)

Sounds pretty interesting I would like to see how this plays out in game but it so far sounds pretty faithful to the pen and paper combat.

kaid

[Samwise]

Sounds pretty twitchy.  Which might be a good thing as long as you don't have to do it for hours on end.

[Cheddar]

Can I block his posts from appearing as I read?  Thanks!

The lack of Usenet newsreader-style killfiles is something I definitely miss in these newfangled Web boards.

Hmmm. I wonder with Firefox/Greasemonkey if I could create a runtime script to change certain authors posts to Bla bla bla. Bla? blaBLAbla blabla!

hmmm...

I do believe said issue has been resolved as said user is no longer on my intarweb.  <3 F13!