World of WarCraft: The MMOFPS

Posted by Dave on June 18, 2007 in World of Warcraft. 8 Comments

Unfortunately, I didn’t work on the post I had planned for this weekend.  Instead, I was playing WoW all weekend.  Here’s an idea for discussion, however:  One of the things that bugs me about MMORPG’s in general is how apparent the turns are.  We interact in real-time, but there’s still a turn-based game going on underneath.  Imagine, if you will, a more interactive WoW.  What would it be like?  How would combat be handled?  How would PvP balance out?

8 Responses to “World of WarCraft: The MMOFPS”

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  • Bildo
    June 18, 2007 at 8:03 am

    Much like… http://www.tcos.com

    At least, from what one can see on the site. Fantasy MMOFPS. Now if they’d just get around to putting it on the shelves.

  • Dragon
    June 18, 2007 at 8:46 am

    I’ve yet to see a fantasy/melee combat system that wasn’t turn based that actually worked outside of a combat game (Mortal Kombat etc). Die by the Sword had a pretty good go at a mouse controlled sword system but I find Oblivion and its predecessors unwieldy and random at best.

    Maybe thinking of terms of a joypad controler rather than a mouse of twitch based melee would be the way forward.

  • Nuyan
    June 18, 2007 at 10:16 am

    Darkfall Online will have it and so does Age of Conan if I’m not mistaken. Darkfall Online combat will be very similiar to Mount&Blade ( http://www.taleworlds.com/ ) and that game has the best combat system for a game I’ve seen so far, while it’s independent and made by only two people that work on it in their free time.

  • Guy
    June 18, 2007 at 12:21 pm

    Is there really a turn-based game going on underneath? Can all events only discretely happen every X seconds? It’s been a while, so I can’t remember if characters hit each other simultaneously in WoW; I don’t seem to remember that they do, though. Just having a rate-of-fire to the weapons doesn’t make it turn-based IMO, if that’s what you mean; even FPS’s have rates of fire.

  • Verilazic
    June 18, 2007 at 12:49 pm

    In WoW, the best example I can think of for it being turn-based would be the global cooldown. But otherwise, everything is really just based on real time seconds. Mana, energy, and health regenerate by a certain amount every 2 seconds, while HoTs and DoTs heal/dmg every 3 seconds. I really don’t think Oblivion’s style of targeting is a good idea though, partly because of logistics and partly because of personal opinion.

    Practically speaking, I’d say WoW has a pretty decent balance atm. PvP is pretty fast-paced, and reflexes can make a big difference, but people who aren’t interested in that can still play the game passably well.

    All in all, I’d say its not so much a matter of turn-based or not any more, its more just a matter of how fast everything happens. FPSes rely completely on quick reflexes, whereas WoW slows down things slightly so that you sometimes have time to think, but really the reflexes become quick decision-making rather than how fast you can press the mouse button.

    Historically, I’d say RPGs have had things turn-based because they wanted to play more like a game of chess than basketball. So they “pause” things every few seconds to give time to think. Now, having some sort of turn-based system for how combat works just makes the mechanics easier to run. It’s just a different unit of time.

  • Dave
    June 18, 2007 at 3:58 pm

    Here’s an idea I just had while reading some of your comments:

    What if instead of pressing a key to cast a spell, you instead held the key for the spell of your choosing while aiming and clicking to fire off the spell. You might miss if your aim isn’t so great or the other player dodges (or blinks!) out of the way.

  • HumbleHobo
    June 24, 2007 at 9:49 am

    If you wanted a fully real-time combat engine, you would have to use a system that actually knows swordplay. If an AI could actually physically block your blows with appropriate positions, and if an AI could direct yours to some extent, you still woudln’t have to aim everything yourself.

    I want to see an MMO where the DPS of your weapon doesn’t matter, only the skill you have in it.

  • Jezebeau
    June 25, 2007 at 2:37 pm

    Enter the world of not being able to survive multiple creeps at once unless they form a ring around you and fight you one at a time, and gods help you if you’re a squishypriest.

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