You know, everyone praises the combat system in CoX, but to be honest, ED - even with the 13% across the board redux in endurance costs for using powers - you still run out of endurance, especially in the higher levels of the game. And because ED makes fights last longer, end. management becomes an even bigger issue.
CoX is the only game I know of where you have to stop fighting - usually often - and rest to regen endurance. Can't tell you how often this had to be done during a fight! Fight - run away - regen - fight - rinse - repeat ad nauseum.
This is NOT fun, fast-paced or dynamic! This is because you can't use weapons when your end. gets too low to stay in a fight and regen while fighting!
For example, a max damage staff in GW offers 11-22 damage per attack versus an even level foe. While you won't be able to take down said foe with the staff alone, it does reduce the foe's health minimally, but more importantly allows you to press the attack while your more powerful skills recharge and while you regain energy.
Fights last every bit as long in GW as they do in CoX, but it's not because you're having to withdraw to rest to get back in the fight! It's because GW has better overall balance and because enemy AI in GW forces you to think and stay one step ahead. GW is thinking man's combat. CoX is repetitive button-mashing with mandatory end. rests thrown in.
I have to say the I6 nerfs on my regen exasporated that.
I had developed my toon form level 1 keeping it as balanced as possible to provide an constanst feed of END so that it was always in the fight, it never needed to rest.
Obviously I did that at the expense of other powers, travel powers or MMOG for example, but he pace was good. The exact balancing act of end versus power moves was difficult to balance and I spent many a few levels on the way just being the human pancake in fights.
I was very pleased by final level when I had got it just so.
Then they nerfed it.
Half way through the fight i would now have to wait 5 minutes for my instant healing to recharge. WooT!
The weakish toon specifically designed to play at a full on pace, now plays weakly at a snails pace.
CoX is the only game I know of where you have to stop fighting - usually often - and rest to regen endurance. Can't tell you how often this had to be done during a fight! Fight - run away - regen - fight - rinse - repeat ad nauseum. This is NOT fun, fast-paced or dynamic! This is because you can't use weapons when your end. gets too low to stay in a fight and regen while fighting! For example, a max damage staff in GW offers 11-22 damage per attack versus an even level foe. While you won't be able to take down said foe with the staff alone, it does reduce the foe's health minimally, but more importantly allows you to press the attack while your more powerful skills recharge and while you regain energy. Fights last every bit as long in GW as they do in CoX, but it's not because you're having to withdraw to rest to get back in the fight! It's because GW has better overall balance and because enemy AI in GW forces you to think and stay one step ahead. GW is thinking man's combat. CoX is repetitive button-mashing with mandatory end. rests thrown in.
You have to regen endurance or stamina or whatever in most games. If you are running out of endurance in COH during a single fight with a single spawn of bad guys, you are doing something wrong. Even my low level characters without stamina and without endurance reducing SOs can survive a single spawn's worth of battle. Sure they may have to rest up in between spawns, but the same is true of SWG, Saga of Ryzom, Guild Wars, and basically every other MMORPG I have ever seen. So I am not sure what you mean here.
Sure they may have to rest up in between spawns, but the same is true of SWG, Saga of Ryzom, Guild Wars, and basically every other MMORPG I have ever seen. So I am not sure what you mean here.
Not true of Guild Wars. Know why? Because you can regen in a fight! That's right: using a weapon - even of limited utility - lets you stay in the fight and press the attack even as your energy is regening. The regen rate for energy is much faster in GW, too. You don't have to retire from the fight simply to regen energy!
Here's a perfect example of what I'm talking about: my level 20 monk (healer) solo healed an entire eight-man team in one of the games tougher missions, a place called Thunderhead Keep. Fighting spawns of bad guys ranging from level 16 archers to level 28 bosses, I was able to keep the entire team healed with only one death through some fights that lasted as long as 5 minutes, and my energy never dropped below 50%! And I was able to attack while healing using my max damage staff!
I was able to do this because I have a number of skills that my monk uses for healing that only cost 5 energy to use, and my energy regens at +4 (versus a warrior's +2 regen rate). With 51 total energy (about half the endurance you get on a toon in CoH) but able to use skills and spells that cost less than they do in a comparably equipped empath in CoH means that my healing monk is far better at healing a full team in GW than any empath I ever played could in CoH. Hell, even the word "Rest" is mapped to a quick-key by in CoH! Only time you rest in GW is when a party member is res'd and has to regen health and energy from zero.
Furthermore, I don't know how many times teams in CoH had to tell new empaths to "focus on healing, not fighting" because they were using endurance to attack rather than heal. I NEVER had someone tell my monk to focus on healing not fighting, because attacking with my staff costs NO energy! (And the guys doing the damage appreciate the extra help anywhere they can get it). If you attack and heal in GW, your monk is doing a good job. If you attack and heal in CoH, you've got a crappy empath on the team.
One more thing: avatars in GW regen energy quickly enough, and the mobs are generally spaced far enough apart so that your whole team has full regen by the time you reach the next mob. In CoH, on the other hand, the mobs are spaced so closely together - especially in the hazard zones - that you have to regen in the space you just cleared and hope a new mob doesn't spawn on top of you (this is true pre-level 14, before people get their "travel powers". Once people can fly or speed to safety this ceases to be an issue).
Sorry, but I think the combat is faster, more fun, and more dynamic in GW, so much so that I have 2 accounts with 10 level 20s between them and am still playing a year later. CoH lost my interest in less than 3 months, especially after travel suppression was put in.
Comments
You know, everyone praises the combat system in CoX, but to be honest, ED - even with the 13% across the board redux in endurance costs for using powers - you still run out of endurance, especially in the higher levels of the game. And because ED makes fights last longer, end. management becomes an even bigger issue.
CoX is the only game I know of where you have to stop fighting - usually often - and rest to regen endurance. Can't tell you how often this had to be done during a fight! Fight - run away - regen - fight - rinse - repeat ad nauseum.
This is NOT fun, fast-paced or dynamic! This is because you can't use weapons when your end. gets too low to stay in a fight and regen while fighting!
For example, a max damage staff in GW offers 11-22 damage per attack versus an even level foe. While you won't be able to take down said foe with the staff alone, it does reduce the foe's health minimally, but more importantly allows you to press the attack while your more powerful skills recharge and while you regain energy.
Fights last every bit as long in GW as they do in CoX, but it's not because you're having to withdraw to rest to get back in the fight! It's because GW has better overall balance and because enemy AI in GW forces you to think and stay one step ahead. GW is thinking man's combat. CoX is repetitive button-mashing with mandatory end. rests thrown in.
I have to say the I6 nerfs on my regen exasporated that.
I had developed my toon form level 1 keeping it as balanced as possible to provide an constanst feed of END so that it was always in the fight, it never needed to rest.
Obviously I did that at the expense of other powers, travel powers or MMOG for example, but he pace was good. The exact balancing act of end versus power moves was difficult to balance and I spent many a few levels on the way just being the human pancake in fights.
I was very pleased by final level when I had got it just so.
Then they nerfed it.
Half way through the fight i would now have to wait 5 minutes for my instant healing to recharge. WooT!
The weakish toon specifically designed to play at a full on pace, now plays weakly at a snails pace.
So instead of COV, I bought WoW.
C
Not true of Guild Wars. Know why? Because you can regen in a fight! That's right: using a weapon - even of limited utility - lets you stay in the fight and press the attack even as your energy is regening. The regen rate for energy is much faster in GW, too. You don't have to retire from the fight simply to regen energy!
Here's a perfect example of what I'm talking about: my level 20 monk (healer) solo healed an entire eight-man team in one of the games tougher missions, a place called Thunderhead Keep. Fighting spawns of bad guys ranging from level 16 archers to level 28 bosses, I was able to keep the entire team healed with only one death through some fights that lasted as long as 5 minutes, and my energy never dropped below 50%! And I was able to attack while healing using my max damage staff!
I was able to do this because I have a number of skills that my monk uses for healing that only cost 5 energy to use, and my energy regens at +4 (versus a warrior's +2 regen rate). With 51 total energy (about half the endurance you get on a toon in CoH) but able to use skills and spells that cost less than they do in a comparably equipped empath in CoH means that my healing monk is far better at healing a full team in GW than any empath I ever played could in CoH. Hell, even the word "Rest" is mapped to a quick-key by in CoH! Only time you rest in GW is when a party member is res'd and has to regen health and energy from zero.
Furthermore, I don't know how many times teams in CoH had to tell new empaths to "focus on healing, not fighting" because they were using endurance to attack rather than heal. I NEVER had someone tell my monk to focus on healing not fighting, because attacking with my staff costs NO energy! (And the guys doing the damage appreciate the extra help anywhere they can get it). If you attack and heal in GW, your monk is doing a good job. If you attack and heal in CoH, you've got a crappy empath on the team.
One more thing: avatars in GW regen energy quickly enough, and the mobs are generally spaced far enough apart so that your whole team has full regen by the time you reach the next mob. In CoH, on the other hand, the mobs are spaced so closely together - especially in the hazard zones - that you have to regen in the space you just cleared and hope a new mob doesn't spawn on top of you (this is true pre-level 14, before people get their "travel powers". Once people can fly or speed to safety this ceases to be an issue).
Sorry, but I think the combat is faster, more fun, and more dynamic in GW, so much so that I have 2 accounts with 10 level 20s between them and am still playing a year later. CoH lost my interest in less than 3 months, especially after travel suppression was put in.