Saturday, December 29, 2012

Evolution of Combat - Revolutionary or Disaster In The Making?

Evolution of Combat has been a real game changer indeed. As Runescape Wiki summarized, EOC brings "a variety of new content including powerful abilities, dual weapon wielding, new Magic and Ranged equipment, and new Prayers. In addition, the combat triangle has been massively balanced, monsters have new attacks, and the combat level formula has been revised." 

I remain rather ambivalent about this update. This update was a mixed bag of effects for me, helping me with training on one hand while causing me a significant deal of monetary loss on the other. (On hindsight though, the monetary loss was mostly due to players engaging in panic-selling, so I can't really pin the blame on the update.)


The aims of EOC can be found on Mod Mark's DevBlogWhat I'd do is to pick a few aims to discuss, and hopefully give a picture of how I see EOC from the comments.

1) Refocus combat to be more about player skill - ... making it more about mastering techniques, rather than navigating interfaces at speed.
This is a rather sound argument, and the new abilities do warrant a little more attention than just waiting for the special bar to be filled up. The abilities could make monster slaying faster if used appropriately, so that's one incentive right there. However, I just seem to prefer the old system of click-and-wait. Getting Momentum activated in the shortest amount of time possible is usually my priority, then I can sit back and multitask while my character kicks some serious monster ass.

2) Encourage variety in combat equipment - ... The problem is, at the moment, there aren't many reasons to change from your favourite weapons or armour. We’d like to give you those reasons.
Well, this is valid. One personal benefit of EOC is that I'm a lot motivated to utilize Magic and Ranged for PVM situations. I've actually managed to gain quite a number of levels as a result. That being said. I am slightly annoyed at now less effective to tear through almost anything with my melee gear, as I used to.

3) Make it fun! - ... In-game combat - particularly training on standard enemies - currently involves clicking on a creature and waiting. We'll do a whole lot more to make these situations challenging, rewarding and - ultimately - more fun.
Honestly, I don't see much of a difference. With Momentum activated, it is the exact same game, except I don't get to use the flashy special moves. In fact, if you use the right gear, it is probably less challenging (which I suppose is a good thing, but makes this point moot).

4) Make it easier to access - Several combat options (special attacks, combat styles, spellbooks) are tucked away, hard to access, or on various different interfaces, so we’re planning to bring all those options together.
Without the action bar, the combat options are still located on different tabs - not really a significant change (or at all). On the sidenote, I really love the inclusion of the action bar, which is tremendous help even in non-combat situations. Tip: If you don't already know, you can put items such as the Explorers' Ring on the action bar to serve as an alternative one-click teleport!

5) Allow players’ combat levels to truly represent their ability – The combat level calculator is complicated and encourages players to not train certain skills in an attempt to create a false impression of their damage potential (pures). 
This is one of the statements that I don't agree with. I don't think having a whole load of level 200 players running amok is the best idea that Jagex has had. For the longest time, maximum combat level is something that is pretty respected and sought after. Now, you have way too many players who have maxed combat levels. That definitely takes some fun off players who've been training Prayer and Summoning in order to get that coveted level 138. *points to self*

6) Be brave, but be traditional where possible - We are a game with a proud heritage and a player base with clear expectations of the game they want to play. We don’t want to make a game that we can’t even recognise anymore.
I think this is complete and utter bull. EOC is brave, but there is nothing traditional about it. By revamping the entire combat system, a huge deal of the game is fundamentally changed. I'm pretty sure old-timers who have stopped for a while and return to the game after EOC would not recognize it anymore. Yeah, I think this is pretty much an unnecessary justification for EOC, neither does it make any sense.

Of course, comments are entirely my own opinions and there is nothing I'd welcome more than fruitful debate on my outlook on these aims and their results.

Though I'm not in love with the new system, I'm going to tone down with the whining and live with it, very much like how I have with the other bad decisions (in my opinion) that were made by the developers. In a couple of years, people would have forgotten about the 'old days' and be perfectly fine with EOC being the norm... until Jagex comes along and decides to throw in another game changer.

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