Feedback talk:User/Morcotulcon/Changing Precision with a different mechanic for Critical-hits

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I do like your idea in principle. I would like to see more precise control and realism brought to GW. However, I'm not sure how this can be achieved successfully. The FPS genre you used as an example is quite different in its gameplay dynamic as compared to MMORPGames like GW. In the former, you're using a small but high-powered projectile to hit a target (often at great range). Most of the headshotters are snipers who patiently and carefully take aim to get that all-important headshot (the "box" of which you speak being the hitbox; the area on the target that registers as a headshot when a bullet hits it rather than a visual box that one can see).

In the latter case, GW is a game of fantasy swords and sorcery with most combat taking place as hand-to-hand or over short ranges. Certainly people engaged in such combat would love nothing more than to score a critical hit to a vulnerable part of the body and have it be the result of personal skill rather than some random percent chance calculated by the computer. But how do you make such a mechanic workable in a game of frenetic close-quarters combat action? In FPS it happens because the player has the time and opportunity - from 1000 yards away - to slowly and precisely line up that typically static target crouching in the bushes. You get the headshot because you actually used fine manual dexterity on the mouse and/or keyboard to achieve the result.

How do you work in precise positioning and aiming of a sword, for example, to achieve the same effect in a game like Guild Wars where everyone is in motion without completely changing the feel of the combat system? To achieve something akin to the FPS genre's manual precision you'd have to have a mechanic such as your sword arm being controlled by the mouse for the purpose of precisely aiming where you're attempting to strike with your sword. I'm not sure that would work too well in a game like GW. But certainly food for thought. Guild Wars 3 perhaps 01:53, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

The extra damage is balanced out by the fact that if you miss, you probably won't do anything at all, which is another thing left out in this suggestion. It's not always from very far away: sniping is fun and all, but head shots with full auto rifles and shotguns are also very important. The point is, "headshotting" can only work when there's no GW-esque targeting mechanic, few semi-exceptions (like moments when huge bosses are vulnerable) are possible. –~=Ϛρѧякγ (τѧιк) ←♥– 20:11, 23 April 2011 (UTC)

I see three main problems with this idea:

1. It turns an MMO into a shooter/fighter. The game controls would have to we changed to allow aiming for different body parts, and people would pay more attention to hitting the head (for example) than using skills well. I don't know how it would actually turn out, but in many shooters getting even one headshot when you kill in three bullets will win you the shootout - meaning that a person with low-level gear could kill someone with higher level gear just by being able to hit that area.
2. Once you get the muscle memory for hitting that part of the body, it will be very easy to do it often - so much so that I could break the mechanic. The obvious defense against that is to move around and make it harder to get hit, but that again puts even more focus onto the Street Fighter aspect of combat and less onto the true MMO feel.
3. It makes combat more complicated. Many prospective players could easily get alienated by the skills, stats, and now constantly having to hit a certain part of the body.

--Thunderduck 22:27 May 1 (UTC)

P.S. I can also foresee players who stack the new Precision that you suggested and only focusing on getting those crits. Sort of like quickscopers in shooters, who, by getting good at shooting their rifle when it is barely scoped in and hasn't started swaying yet, can perform nearly instant kills at close and long range by getting really good at a single thing.

I would definitely like to see the %critical mechanic switched out for a skill-based critical mechanic. The effects don't have to be as severe as a headshot in most FPS games (a standard MMO %crit-sized skill crit would be just fine), but it's one more nuance that would allow the skilled player to excel. It's true that you would have to radically change the controls to allow for this kind of targetting and I'm not sure how that would work out, but if they figured out something that felt responsive and intuitive, this wouldn't be a bad thing at all. Also, getting rid of the "true MMO" feel in favor of something more dynamic and skill-based isn't bad either. In GW1, you could dodge projectiles, kite and take advantage of a multitude of nuances that had nothing to do with your character stats, a feature which made combat more fun than true MMOs like City of Heroes, where arrows followed you if you dodged them. There is really no good reason why when two players of equal skill fight each other, one should always be prevented from winning (because of level/gear difference). The increased demand on player skill could be softened by the natural difficulty curve. Easier maps would have creatures that didn't move around as much (making criticals easier) and didn't put as much pressure out (making criticals less necessary) as creatures from more difficult maps. By the time a character would need to try to hit a monster in its soft spots to optimize damage, the player would be proficient enough that he wouldn't even be thinking about it anymore. Assuming your PvP opponents will be getting better at doing this as well, using skills at the right time will also become a deciding factor because at equal skills your opponent can kill you at the same pace you can kill him. --Silverdawn 21:21, 16 May 2011 (UTC)