Duel of the fates: Two class previews outline the positives and negatives of SWTOR

@shanert

yes.. because houses dotting the landscape as far as the eye can see is what i think of when i think of Tatooine.

@jslim419

Tatooine was fine before the turn off the housing regulations and degradation systems.

Though SWTOR has the dune sea as well, it just isn't as vast as SWG's version of it. So I will with hold my judgement until I've had a chance to explore it for myself.

@(Unverified) I'm buying a Korean TERA account this weekend! Getting myself ready to experience not knowing a language for ArcheAge, lol

@Grumms
I like all the "1112, 1114" hate going around about MMOs right now. Especially since no one complains about A A A B or B B Y. Those inputs are totally different.

How will Tera NOT be punch punch kick. Punch punch kick. Kick kick kick. WOW COMBOS CAUSE IT USES NAMES AND NOT BUTTON NUMBERS!?

But really, what's the revolution for TERA?

@Beltyra it's not that simple. Positioning is important, what your oponent is doing is important, you use different attacks and different defences based on how the situation unfolds. It's a bit closer to something like DCUO's combat system, but even then it's beyond that.

All the footage I have seen, and the developer commentary I have seen, and the feedback from people actually playing the game, leads me to think it's not going to be the same old same old, and definately not going to be trading 1212123 for AAAAAAB.

@Beltyra

Fully aimed attacks and heals, not as much RNG and more player control in combat means skill>gear. Other games have tried this but failed, if TERA succeeds it could be amazing. I am very excited for TERA, but also very skeptical. I'm keeping an eye on it and will be stoked if it succeeds, but not entirely shocked or disappointed if it fails. Still, it is promising, and we shall see what it's really about when it comes out. Until then, speculation is speculative.

@(Unverified)
TERA was very much LMB, LMB, LMB, RMB, Spacebar, Spacebar, LMB, LMB, etc. on the standard open-world fights I played at E3. I found my TOR playthrough, at least the Sniper, to be slightly more enjoyable, but ymmv.

TERA looks like it will be fun, but don't confuse flashy moves with depth.

@Beltyra

Actually, AAAB or BBY in, say, God of War is a superior system for several reasons that are completely independent of the actual input method (which, itself, is completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things):

A. The attacks individually have differing speeds, ranges, arcs, and secondary effects (knockback, knockdown, flinching, etc.),
B. There is a TON of options for changing your attack style, even in the middle of a combo (for example, B(delay)B gives a completely different attack from BB).
C. Player-controlled dodging, blocking, parrying >>>>> RNG-controlled dodging, blocking, parrying
D. No stupid cooldowns to get in the way; for that matter, cooldowns aren't even necessary because individual attack combos have their own merits as opposed to normal MMO skill rotations where there is ALWAYS a "best" rotation that you cannot deviate from AT ALL, EVER, because the game isn't built for experimentation.

If you can't see how MMO combat can be radically improved from its current model, I don't know what to say to you...

@Zyrusticae

Twitch-response gaming is great, I loves me some TF2, Brink, CoD etc... but it's actually cheap and easy for those servers to be hosted in Australia.

MMOs keep tight control over their servers and only host them in NA/EU, both of which are 250-400ms pings for Aussies, meaning active placement and response-based skill play leaves us hugely disadvantaged.

It's a great mechanic, but it won't be for everyone.

@cotheer Wow, finally someone who has a brain!

Thanks for saying it perfectly :)

@cotheer
As opposed to "Punish 10 Imperial boars!" :D

@cotheer
too bad somebody can't get both right in a single game :\

@cotheer SWTOR has the exact same quest type system as every other MMO. You still go out and escort this guy, kill 10 of them, take this thing to that place. Sticking some dialogue selectors and randomly picking the response is still a gussied up choose your own adventure.

this works well in single player games but this much touted "story" doesnt work as well in MMO's where there are groups of you moving through the world changing it. Not a stab at SWTOR either, most MMO's suffer from the same issue with story. How to be the hero when you are one of half a million hero's.

Didnt we "do" this Star Wars story thing in like 6 movies, many many many books and a bunch of single player games? Grabbing decade old core MMO mechanics and bolting on a story does not make a AAA MMO.

AAA single player game, for sure.

@cotheer

Of we could wait for something like GW2 or Secret World which is, shockingly, looking to do something interesting in both ways :p

In fact, I'd think a large part of the reason TOR is getting so much flack for being more of the same is because so many upcoming MMOs are looking to change things up in interesting ways (in addition to having their own improvements on story telling in MMOS).

I'm really not getting these constant excuses of "well they never intended to do anything new with the combat, so why get upset about that?" I don't see why a AAA developer like Bioware should get a pass on their gameplay being generic and boring just because they made it that way intentionally.

@Ehra

Or, not of :p

@Ehra

"I'd think a large part of the reason TOR is getting so much flack for being more of the same is because so many upcoming MMOs are looking to change things up in interesting ways"

thing is... those upcomming MMO's will never "change things up" they will try half way into development, and then be forced to redesign by their publisher.

some of these people that think they are going to re-invent the wheel. i swear i wish i could smack each one of them back into reality.

@cotheer

Tera's combat is not really perfected combat even. it's just asian game style combat. the style of combat they have in that game is actually pretty old.