First thing I thought when I read this thread title: FFXIV... GW2... Oh god and TSW...
Please, this melee combat may be a little slow but it is a hell of a lot better than any Wow clone. It seems the OP hasn't played much MMOs, because none of the mainstream ones during past 3 years have had what is described.
Originally posted by Ridrith TESO. I've been in the beta and playing since mid-2013 and have had a lot of experience playing through the beta, different classes, races, starting areas when given the chance and more. My main problem with this game, and damn is it a big issue for me since it involves the type of character that I play in almost every MMO/RPG is that the melee combat is HORRIBLE. Truly one of the most boring, unengaging experiences I've ever had in a MMO. What's the issue with melee combat? First and foremost the animations are uninteresting and boring, combat feels like a chore when you're doing the same two animations over and over. What truly seals the deal however is the impact of melee attacks, as a geared out dragon knight when I charge forward and swing a massive great-sword at somebody's face and it connects I expect to know it. I want to see them stagger, to make a MOVE, to let me know that they we've been hit. The only thing you get is seeing their HP bar go down. There is no impact, no force behind melee combat. They don't stagger, they don't move, they aren't being thrown around by powerful attacks that would cleave a normal man in half. It's just bad, and it's boring and uninteresting enough for me to not want to play or pay for this game. Next SWTOR incoming.
sorry i absolutely cannot take you serious when you say this the most boring melee combat ever.
have you played EQ? ya know, like how you just turn on auto attack and stand there?
i like ESO's melee combat. what you are talking about is combat animations, not the combat itself.
Originally posted by DSWBeef Gonna have to agree. BUT have you tried the bow combat? Its down right atrocious...
I did. And it didn't bother me. I ran around most of the time with a NB using both bow and DW. I was more concerned with downing groups of 4 or 5 solo in public dungeons, or raining arrows, rooting and knocking back other players in Cyrodiil than what the animations look like.
I play an archer in Skyrim so I'm perfectly aware of its superb bow play. I never expected to have that here and it isn't here but it feels just fine to me.
Well you are the first person I've ever heard who said that archery feels just fine to them in TESO.
I guess regardless of how broken a system is, someone out there will like it.
IMO - archery is the worst aspect of TESO, from the short range, to soft targetting being a complete joke (aim a foot from a target's ankle - and your arrow hits center torso every time - lol)
C'mon.
It's bad.
As opposed to tab target lock on hit almost every single time style gameplay of most every MMO?
Someone has to play devil's advocate here, and it is a legitimate response.
Almost ALL MMOs give you near 100% chance to hit your target. I don't understand your complaint here.
If you don't like the range of bows, the animations, or the 'cast time', that's no problem.
Hating on it because it's easy to aim? Welcome to MMOs, m8.
If a game has Action combat then it should not have auto following arrows... In tab targetting that is the norm. In tera if you shoot and your target moves you miss. Thats how it should be.
Playing: FFXIV, DnL, and World of Warships Waiting on: Ashes of Creation
Originally posted by Jakdstripperhave to agree. the first char i made was a melee user. tried to hit a few mobs and it was like hitting air. you can't tell if you've hit anything unless you look at your enemy's hp bar. very very bland and incredibly "floaty". the last time i've seen such crappy melee was in Fallen Earth first person combat. i almost immediately switched to a Nightblade bow user and then started laughing my head off when i realized how lame the aiming is with the bow. Still at least i didn't have to suffer the melee horridness. The feel of combat is really not a strong point of this game.
Your criticism seems based around animation/feel. But are the RPG mechanics of the melee combat actually bad as well? I understand what you are saying about Fallen Earth (although from videos TESO is not as bad) but for me that doesn't bother me as much as some, rather I care much more about whether the abilities they design actually work well as in a system as a whole.
i don't think the mechanics begind the system is bad. It just feels very unsatisfactory, and it's not just the melee. Which becomes a problem in a game where a big chunk of the gameplay is combat. I think improving basic combat should currently be the top priority for Zenimax.
Originally posted by nerovipus32 I disagree the melee combat in ESO is the best melee combat in an mmo to date.
Since we are just giving opinions i would say pong has better combat than ESO.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.' -Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid." -Luke McKinney
People are out there actually defending ESO's melee combat and on top of that saying it's good to the best? Wow, people will defend anything, wont they?
Originally posted by Otakun People are out there actually defending ESO's melee combat and on top of that saying it's good to the best? Wow, people will defend anything, wont they?
Well its their opinion. I think melee combat is passable but i have to drink a lot of ESO cool aid before i claim it to be the 'best ever'.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.' -Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid." -Luke McKinney
Originally posted by Otakun People are out there actually defending ESO's melee combat and on top of that saying it's good to the best? Wow, people will defend anything, wont they?
People are out there actually criticizing ESO's melee combat and on top of that saying it's not one of the best? Yes let's start making meaningless exclamations.
Originally posted by nerovipus32 I disagree the melee combat in ESO is the best melee combat in an mmo to date.
AoC is far superior in melee combat - and by a light year ahead.
Heck even vanilla DAoC's melee combat felt better to me and that game is 12 years old.
So I disagree - ESO's combat to me feels like air-dancing with weapons.
If it weren't for AvAvA, I wouldn't even play this game - that's the only reason I'll be giving it a shot.
Note - everything above is just my opinion.
In the same boat, the AvA is intriguing enough for me to give it a shot as a PvP fan. The animations need a lot of work, but they aren't as game breaking to me as TSWs were. Also the 10 levels you have to endure before you can enjoy AvA is almost game breaking, possibly the worst gaming experience I have ever had.
TESO. I've been in the beta and playing since mid-2013 and have had a lot of experience playing through the beta, different classes, races, starting areas when given the chance and more. My main problem with this game, and damn is it a big issue for me since it involves the type of character that I play in almost every MMO/RPG is that the melee combat is HORRIBLE. Truly one of the most boring, unengaging experiences I've ever had in a MMO. What's the issue with melee combat? First and foremost the animations are uninteresting and boring, combat feels like a chore when you're doing the same two animations over and over. What truly seals the deal however is the impact of melee attacks, as a geared out dragon knight when I charge forward and swing a massive great-sword at somebody's face and it connects I expect to know it. I want to see them stagger, to make a MOVE, to let me know that they we've been hit. The only thing you get is seeing their HP bar go down. There is no impact, no force behind melee combat. They don't stagger, they don't move, they aren't being thrown around by powerful attacks that would cleave a normal man in half. It's just bad, and it's boring and uninteresting enough for me to not want to play or pay for this game.
Next SWTOR incoming.
That's all I had to see upon entering this thread to know there was no point in even bothering to read this post. Anytime I see stuff like that or "wow clone!" or any of that other garbage - insta ignore
TESO. I've been in the beta and playing since mid-2013 and have had a lot of experience playing through the beta, different classes, races, starting areas when given the chance and more. My main problem with this game, and damn is it a big issue for me since it involves the type of character that I play in almost every MMO/RPG is that the melee combat is HORRIBLE. Truly one of the most boring, unengaging experiences I've ever had in a MMO. What's the issue with melee combat? First and foremost the animations are uninteresting and boring, combat feels like a chore when you're doing the same two animations over and over. What truly seals the deal however is the impact of melee attacks, as a geared out dragon knight when I charge forward and swing a massive great-sword at somebody's face and it connects I expect to know it. I want to see them stagger, to make a MOVE, to let me know that they we've been hit. The only thing you get is seeing their HP bar go down. There is no impact, no force behind melee combat. They don't stagger, they don't move, they aren't being thrown around by powerful attacks that would cleave a normal man in half. It's just bad, and it's boring and uninteresting enough for me to not want to play or pay for this game.
Next SWTOR incoming.
It sounds like you might want to play street fighter or tekken or GTA.
There are games out there that are much worse, rift for example, allows some classes to move about while fighting. This give that class a huge advantage over magic using classes, who as soon as they look like moving to avoid being hit their attack is canceled. Making them totally fucking useless for pvp and most pve!
I had no problems with the melee combat.. Blocking a power attack and then using one of my own with a 2H axe to knock the target down was very satisfying. I played in first person for the most part but switched to 3rd person for a change of pace every now and then and really had no problems with 3rd person combat or animations either. It was pretty cool watching my Nord sling an axe around from hand to hand ( all races do that animation though which is disappointing ).
I also used a bow with a Templar.. The first person mode can be improved but really didnt have an issue with 3rd person using a bow.
Animation wise as far as attacking I would like to see race specific styles or at least make them different based on large , average or small races.
Had more fun with the combat of any MMO I have played in a long time.
it's boring and uninteresting enough for me to not want to play
So it makes you not want to play, yet you've been playing it for over 6 months. Why?
That's kind of a silly question isn't it? It's called being a beta tester. There's a reason I downloaded the game and played it many months ago, because I wanted to see what they were going to do and how they were progressing with the game. Unlike most people on these forums I don't jump into a beta or alpha and expect the finished project, I actually TEST the game and play it in an early state to form opinions on the systems and provide feedback to the developers.
As for those getting outright hostile because I have a different opinion or because I'm not singing this games praises, that's fine. There's always going to be the gamers out there who scream, cry and kick because you don't agree with or don't like their game of choice. Obviously they have to come here to defend the title because a single post/opinion of one user who found melee combat and it's animations to be totally lackluster is going to ruin their own experiences. I don't really care, lol.
For those of you who want more information, feel free to check out the PC gamer previews and such who shared a lot of the same concerns about the melee combat. It's floaty, weightless and feels weak in comparison to ranged/casting. I have zero experience with bows seeing as how I never bothered to use them. Casting does feel better and there's a sign of impact, but beyond that it's more or less the same.
I felt the same when I first started testing. Melee combat certainly needs some love it felt like I was fighting ghosts a lot of the time with no real feeling to the combat. Last beta seemed to improved somewhat they added more sounds for combat.
Overall melee combat still needs some loving but after a while I found it did not concern me as much as when I first started playing.
First and foremost the animations are uninteresting and boring, combat feels like a chore when you're doing the same two animations over and over. What truly seals the deal however is the impact of melee attacks, as a geared out dragon knight when I charge forward and swing a massive great-sword at somebody's face and it connects I expect to know it. I want to see them stagger, to make a MOVE, to let me know that they we've been hit.
Since when did the MMORPG veterans care so much about visuals?
Every time a new MMORPG comes out its "too cartoony" "chunky animations" etc
MMORPG veterans recalls DAOC etc as the best MMORPG moments they ever had
After testing all weapons out i settled on shield and sword, and I love the melee system. sure the beginning is ..boring. but it is infact getting better as you level up. the hotbar is still the main dammage dealer be it whit melee specials or whit magic.
the small and large attack do infact stun or have other properties but you need to level up to unlock that. you realy begin as nooby farmer and end up as a weapon specialist.
(also crafted weapons at special craft houses can get special properties that add more effects to basic/large attacks)
Have you ever blocked a heavy attack and retaliated with your own heavy attack?
It's pretty awesome
But but that requires player skill, i need a hotbar block counter button.
+1
Give me a break. As you can see on preview videos NPC's executing a heavy attack get a super visible casting animation on them (or a telegraph) and the heavy attack retaliation takes forever to charge up (and deals comparatively little damage), which makes it equally boring. Zero player skill involved.
I agree with the OP, except for the drama. If TESO can fix that part in the future, the game would be 50x better than it is now.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
So what your asking for is every swing and attack to have a visible reaction and in principle I completely agree with you, however if every two handed attack staggers the npc that 'should' mean that every two handed attack by an npc (or another player in pvp) staggers the player too. How quickly would that descend into a flamefest if players were constantly getting knocked back and being unable to counterattack because they couldn't or wouldn't use the ingame blocks? Combat would be limited to heavy attacks and blocks only.
Comments
First thing I thought when I read this thread title: FFXIV... GW2... Oh god and TSW...
Please, this melee combat may be a little slow but it is a hell of a lot better than any Wow clone. It seems the OP hasn't played much MMOs, because none of the mainstream ones during past 3 years have had what is described.
sorry i absolutely cannot take you serious when you say this the most boring melee combat ever.
have you played EQ? ya know, like how you just turn on auto attack and stand there?
i like ESO's melee combat. what you are talking about is combat animations, not the combat itself.
If a game has Action combat then it should not have auto following arrows... In tab targetting that is the norm. In tera if you shoot and your target moves you miss. Thats how it should be.
Playing: FFXIV, DnL, and World of Warships
Waiting on: Ashes of Creation
Since we are just giving opinions i would say pong has better combat than ESO.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.'
-Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid."
-Luke McKinney
Well its their opinion. I think melee combat is passable but i have to drink a lot of ESO cool aid before i claim it to be the 'best ever'.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.'
-Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid."
-Luke McKinney
People are out there actually criticizing ESO's melee combat and on top of that saying it's not one of the best? Yes let's start making meaningless exclamations.
In the same boat, the AvA is intriguing enough for me to give it a shot as a PvP fan. The animations need a lot of work, but they aren't as game breaking to me as TSWs were. Also the 10 levels you have to endure before you can enjoy AvA is almost game breaking, possibly the worst gaming experience I have ever had.
agreed.
It sounds like you might want to play street fighter or tekken or GTA.
Look on the bright side, at least you do damage!
There are games out there that are much worse, rift for example, allows some classes to move about while fighting. This give that class a huge advantage over magic using classes, who as soon as they look like moving to avoid being hit their attack is canceled. Making them totally fucking useless for pvp and most pve!
I had no problems with the melee combat.. Blocking a power attack and then using one of my own with a 2H axe to knock the target down was very satisfying. I played in first person for the most part but switched to 3rd person for a change of pace every now and then and really had no problems with 3rd person combat or animations either. It was pretty cool watching my Nord sling an axe around from hand to hand ( all races do that animation though which is disappointing ).
I also used a bow with a Templar.. The first person mode can be improved but really didnt have an issue with 3rd person using a bow.
Animation wise as far as attacking I would like to see race specific styles or at least make them different based on large , average or small races.
Had more fun with the combat of any MMO I have played in a long time.
the OP must think that ESO's combat is worse and more boring than wurm LOL
man, this is comical. i wonder when he is going to realize he is talking about combat animations and not the actual combat itself?
DERP!
That's kind of a silly question isn't it? It's called being a beta tester. There's a reason I downloaded the game and played it many months ago, because I wanted to see what they were going to do and how they were progressing with the game. Unlike most people on these forums I don't jump into a beta or alpha and expect the finished project, I actually TEST the game and play it in an early state to form opinions on the systems and provide feedback to the developers.
As for those getting outright hostile because I have a different opinion or because I'm not singing this games praises, that's fine. There's always going to be the gamers out there who scream, cry and kick because you don't agree with or don't like their game of choice. Obviously they have to come here to defend the title because a single post/opinion of one user who found melee combat and it's animations to be totally lackluster is going to ruin their own experiences. I don't really care, lol.
For those of you who want more information, feel free to check out the PC gamer previews and such who shared a lot of the same concerns about the melee combat. It's floaty, weightless and feels weak in comparison to ranged/casting. I have zero experience with bows seeing as how I never bothered to use them. Casting does feel better and there's a sign of impact, but beyond that it's more or less the same.
I felt the same when I first started testing. Melee combat certainly needs some love it felt like I was fighting ghosts a lot of the time with no real feeling to the combat. Last beta seemed to improved somewhat they added more sounds for combat.
Overall melee combat still needs some loving but after a while I found it did not concern me as much as when I first started playing.
Since when did the MMORPG veterans care so much about visuals?
Every time a new MMORPG comes out its "too cartoony" "chunky animations" etc
MMORPG veterans recalls DAOC etc as the best MMORPG moments they ever had
After testing all weapons out i settled on shield and sword, and I love the melee system. sure the beginning is ..boring. but it is infact getting better as you level up. the hotbar is still the main dammage dealer be it whit melee specials or whit magic.
the small and large attack do infact stun or have other properties but you need to level up to unlock that. you realy begin as nooby farmer and end up as a weapon specialist.
(also crafted weapons at special craft houses can get special properties that add more effects to basic/large attacks)
Give me a break. As you can see on preview videos NPC's executing a heavy attack get a super visible casting animation on them (or a telegraph) and the heavy attack retaliation takes forever to charge up (and deals comparatively little damage), which makes it equally boring. Zero player skill involved.
I agree with the OP, except for the drama. If TESO can fix that part in the future, the game would be 50x better than it is now.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!