Get rid of the (old) accuracy-system, make stamina vital

[DarkTerror]

Instead of melee combat being based on luck and dices, I think it would be better if stamina would be more vital. The less stamina you have, the less damage you will do. So if you are running out of stamina with a great axe like the blood axe, you are going to deal only the damage of a rusty knife. Larger and stronger weapons would of course need more stamina to swing. To get this more interesting, 3 new attack styles should be added, light, medium and strong. Light attacks deal only 25% of the maximum possible damage, but cost the least stamina and are a little faster (good against weak enemies). Medium is, who would have guessed, balanced and deals 50% damage, mediocre drain of stamina and medium speed. Strong attacks will make you run out of stamina quickly and are a little slow, but deal the most damage (good for bursting a lot of damage in short time).
This would, in my opinion, make melee combat more about managing your stamina and choosing the right attack for the right situation and make it less about getting a lucky hit.
Balance could decrease the amount of stamina drained with each swing and increase attack-speed by the way.

Pros:
Makes melee combat less boring as you will always hit.
Makes melee combat more interesting.
New ways to balance weapons.

Cons:
Probably will require some rebalancing.
Might need new animations.

 

[jon50559]

Sure it SOUNDS like a great idea, but imagine trying to code it
But seriously, sometimes the 'luck' system does piss me off

 

[HumanSteak]

To me, the current accuracy system is bullshit for many reasons.
1: Can't tell you how many times I missed 91% rolls 6-7 times in a row.
2: Balance seems totally worthless at high levels since we need like 4-5 levels to see a +1% on some weapons.
3: The hit or miss seems to follow certain streaks as follow "hit hit hit hit miss hit hit miss miss miss miss hit hit hit miss miss miss miss" etc... It just feels as if the rolls are lying to me.
What I'd like to see about this are accuracy changes like when you can't use a weapon yet, and when you can. As if at a certain level you could reach certain ranks with certain weapons like, let's say 5 levels higher than the weapon's base requirement would cut your miss rate in half, and 10 levels higher would cut it down again. Proficiency could work just as it does now, but said accuracy increase could be based on balance, to make it worth training once we get selectable subskill training because as it is now, I couldn't care less about balance

 

[TheOysterHippopotami]

I agree something needs to be done with stamina to make it more valuable. I think stamina and weight are vital keys to creating a worthwhile class system.

I like the idea of less stamina = less damage but I don't really mind the lucky hit thing, either. Another alternative would be to have stamina effect your attack and movement speed, and your ability to parry, rather than damage. Heavier armors and weapons would effect stamina. This would mean that someone using the stereotypical 'knight' class would have the advantage of being able to deal massive damage, but would find himself in a rather troubling situation as time went on. To balance this, he would have the ability to sustain larger amounts of damage (heavy armor). Someone with lighter equipment, on the other hand, would not be able to dish out tons of damage, but he would be able to maneuver his way out of sticky situations. In the long run, the ability to survive longer would = more damage.

The above should apply to generalists, too. The major difference should be that generalists can choose either style of play (and magic, too), but would be less effective at both.

Those are just two types of offensive classes though. There should also be a support magic class, as well as an offensive magic class. Then, of course, there should be the 'generalist mage' who could use both support and attack magic, but would be less effective at both. (Don't confuse the 'generalist mage' with the normal generalist. The mage would be far superior at using magic than the normal generalist but would be inferior with/unable to use conventional weaponry.)

Edit: There also needs to be a class solely devoted to archery. Not entirely sure how that one would work, though. Maybe just boost damage with bows?

 

[CrazyMonkeyDude]

Just touching on your last point ATM... There are several factors that can be manipulated to give archers a boost. Range, attack speed (which can be reload speed or draw speed), damage, and accuracy to name a few. Might require a bit of editing of the bow scripts, though.

 

[Age]

In the long run, the ability to survive longer would = more damage.

Not entirely true.
If I attack slow, but do major damage, and you attack fast but do less damage, I could attack something and kill it in one or two hits for 500 damage each, where you might've hit it two to four times doing 200 each, I have 1000 damage points, you have 400-800. If it hits me, I'm not going to be too worried, because I'm wearing heavy armor, I'll just keep swinging. If it hits you, you're going to run away because you're wearing light armor and damage poses a higher threat. I'll still be attacking and doing damage, but you'll be off doing whatever to get health back. Even with a healer (If we get that far), if I have 500 health and I take 100 damage per second, but the healer heals about 50-75 health per second, I'm going to get more attacks in, and hopefully kill my mob before it kills me. If you have 500 health, and you take 200 damage per second, and the healer is still 50-75 HP / second, you're only getting in a few hits before you worry about death. Now if we ever get to the lines of resurrection, this won't be near as big a problem, because you can just be brought back on the spot and back into the fight.

 

[FER]

Something I see that happens right now is a good reason to choose two weak 50 damage blows over 1 slow 100 damage attack, which in the end both would be the same damage in the same time spam (with the only difference being the chance to miss the attack)

Tough I agree about the idea of dealing instant charged attacks (the heavy blows) that consume more stamina. Would bring back a use for stamina, but would need some penalization if your stamina gets depleted completely (like cant attack until 50% of the bar i restored)

 

[Gorynych]

if your stamina gets depleted completely (like cant attack until 50% of the bar i restored)

That would be a Great idea, but isn't a little harsh on new players. You should take into consideration The weapons Total weight, if the weapon weighs alot, then yeah, the 50% idea fits in there. but rusty sword for example, it wouldn't require too much stamina to give it a quick slice.

 

[Thothie]

This is more along the lines of the sort of suggestions I like to see, actual thinking more about game play than "what would make me pwn more".

Some of the idears here are good, but, as some have conceded, hard to implement. I'm a bit hesitant to do sweeping changes at the moment, given all the headaches the "simple" addition of the female model wrought, but there's certainly a lot to think on here.

At the moment, the script side control and reading of Stamina is a bit dicey though, may take some code work, and getting a hold of MiB at the moment is rather difficult, it seems (or we'd have a patch out by now). I am capable of some limited coding myself, however, and maybe I can fix some of the broken Stamina functions. Sticky bit being that it seems that Stamina is tracked mostly client side.

 

[The Man In Black]

Been a really busy couple of weeks. Dunno when I'll get some time to myself..