With the release of another “Ask Us Anything” by the team making The Elder Scrolls Online, this time’s focus was all about combat. Many questions have been raised regarding the upcoming MMO’s combat system, especially after it was revealed that the basic comabt will be akin to that found in other Elder Scrolls titles and not like the Cool-down based combat of other MMOs. Zenimax took some time out to answer some questions regarding the combat mechanics, soft-targeting, and even how Bows will work in game. Here are some highlights:
Would you please explain the soft locking system in detail? For example, how does it interact with dodge? Does it apply to melee attacks, or just ranged? During missile travel time, is it possible for another target to intervene between you and your existing soft lock target to take the attack? – By Matt Feisthammel
You must be facing your target to hit it. However, soft locking allows you to pick a target out of a crowd to hit. It is possible that your target could be behind another target. You would hit the target you had soft-locked, provided you were aiming at them. Another target could not step in the way of the soft-locked target to prevent you from hitting your soft-locked target. As for dodging? The target can execute a roll dodge or evasion move to avoid attack
I want to know how the different armor types will be balanced. Why shouldn’t just anyone wear heavy armor? With advantages will a warrior have wearing light armor? – By Oliver Sieger
Each armor type has a full progression line associated with it. If you advance down the light armor progression line, you are likely to get bonuses to spells, magicka regeneration, and the like. Medium armor skill lines give you more bonuses to stamina activities such as dodge, sneak, etc. Heavy armor skill lines give bonuses to received healing, bracing, etc. And, of course, armor can have magical properties beyond this, and you may wish to mix and match as you see fit.
I would like to stop here and take a moment to point out something. One of the main questions I have been asked because of covering this game is the armor mechanic. If everyone in the game can wear any type of armor, why wouldn’t everyone just use heavy? This is precisely the reason I was hoping ZOS would have for this. Yes, you can be a heavy armored Sorcerer, but there may be perks to wearing Medium Armor if your playstyle will depend more on your stamina than health. Each Armor will have it’s advantages and disadvantages, adding another layer of strategy and furthers your ability to choose how you play.
How will the bow and arrow system work? Will it just be auto-aim and auto-shoot kind of thing or what? – By Gabriel Bera
Like any of our combat, you must aim at your target to hit them. Bows will have a charged attack, meaning they hit harder if you hold down the left mouse button longer.
You’ve stated that any class can use any weapon, but will different weapons have different abilities? For example, I plan to be a healing Templar character; will I have the same healing abilities with a greatsword than with a staff? – By Zalkar/Braeden Weibel
Yes, each weapon has a unique set of abilities that can be unlocked as your skill increases. For example, if you become an expert with Restoration Staff, you can use the ability “Grand Healing.” If you equip your greatsword, you would not be able to use that ability. Your Templar healing spell, however, can be used regardless of what type of weapon you have equipped. Finally, you can equip a back-up weapon and swap between the two in combat. So you can have one loadout with a restoration staff and healing abilities, and then swap mid-combat to a greatsword with damage abilities.
The choice of weapon will play a pivotal role in combat, and your ability to swap between loadouts may be the difference in beating a boss, or wiping on a run. The ability to choose your own role in the game and not be pre-defined by the class you choose is a breath of fresh air in an already saturated gaming genre.
The sheer amount of character customization should be enough for any gamer, regardless of previous MMO or Elder Scrolls experience, to give this game a shot. Make sure you check out the full “Ask Us Anything” post on the official Elder Scrolls Online Website.
I’m surprised you didn’t cover the soft-lock feature in your article. Previous episodes of ESOTR said that the soft-lock could be defeated by another enemy player (a tank for example) stepping in the way to physically block the target. This new info from ZOS says the opposite, that you would hit the soft-locked target even if another target was in the way. I look forward to the (I assume inevitable) discussion of this in the next ESOTR episode, as I am not sure whether this is a good thing or a bad thing and I’m sure the guys will bring some perspective to this.
yup, that was a big surprise for me, too. I’d be glad to hear your comments about it.
I suppose it was inevitable in the MMO. After all, to allow another target to intercept an arrow or spell would require trajectory calculations in real time. Given current computer technology, keeping track of all the projectiles currently in flight would probably be too taxing on the system. Also, connection latency would wreak havoc on these calculations. Nonetheless, I think I’m a little disappointed, as it would have increased strategic possibilities for characters with physical (arrow) or spell resistance to be able to physically block weaker characters from these types of attacks. Players will still be able to dodge these attacks; I’m definitely curious to see how the timing of the dodge will work and how latency will affect this, since it seems to be an active dodge rather than a passive skill-based dodge.
Planetside 2. Check it. AFAIK it has even a bullet drop effect. So, from technical point of view, it’s possible to achive (full tracking of projectiltes in mmo).
That was actually intentional. Rather than cover it here, it allows the hosts to be able to continue their conversation on the show! But since you asked, and my thoughts are reflected on the show since I’m behind-the-scenes primarily: My thoughts on this matter are actually kind of mixed. While I love the idea of the soft lock, I’m not sure how it will work with projectiles. Will the arrow go through another enemy if it happens to be in the way, or would it hit the first baddie it reaches? They didn’t specify if this only takes place if another enemy walks in front, or if other players can freely walk through your soft lock as well. While I don’t think the game will differentiate between the two with the soft lock, it is interesting if there are different mechanics depending on the scenario. Again, this is just speculation on my part. I do not like the idea of a soft lock for this reason: You can’t “lock on” in previous Elder Scroll games. While I understand that this game will be different because it is a MMO, the combat was strikingly familiar to Skyrim. If another NPC walks in front of your sword, you don’t chop through them and hit your original target, you hit them. If we are going to have the free aim option, shouldn’t that be a feature to make the game feel more like an ES title of old? Either way, I believe the combat will be revolutionary to the genre, so either way it works I’m sure I’ll be excited. Now that I think of it…I could have wrote this into the piece! Oh well, again, gives the Hosts something to continue their previous conversations with. Thanks for reading!