Combat round decision making

[Lightning]

Originally Posted by Tudana

I find this combat a little difficult to understand, not in the types of options, but rather the "time" involved..how my mind works is as I read this, I think of all action is in freeze frame or pause for the 4-6 secs while everyone decides what moves they are going to make...hit /play and action insues.../pause again after round..lol

Nearly but not quite. Your weapon delay will dictate the pause between your rounds of choice - if you have a swift weapon you will be attacking more rapidly but will have less time to react. While you're waiting for your next swing (be it 1 second away or 4) the mob will be attacking at its own attack rate, so for simplicity lets say the mob attack speed is 2 seconds and yours is 4 seconds:

• 0s - The mob swings, you register damage etc
  0s - You swing, the mob registers damage, dodges etc
  1s - neither attacks, though you may see the mob queue up the move it executes at...
  2s - the mob swings again
  3s - neither attacks, though you may see the mob queue up the move it executes at...
  4s - The mob swings
  4s - You swing

Ontop of this, the moment you attack you can queue your next move up, but this might not be a good idea - what if, at the 3s mark you see the mob queue up a BIG damage move that you could mitigate with a counter? But you already queued up a move at the 1s mark that just hits the mob, this decision could well be fatal. So during the time between your swings you may be able to perceive what the mob is going to do next and plan accordingly. So taking the example above:

• 3s - neither attacks but you perceive that the mob is going to do its big damage move it can only do once per 10 attacks - the damage is such that it will kill you. You queue up a counter
  4s - The mob tries to maul you, but:
  4s - You execute your counter perfectly, and the 10 000hp damage attack is reduced from a maul to a 1hp tickle

This example is, however, simplified in that there is 1 mob and 1 player - add a group of mobs and a party of players and now you have to take into account who the mob(s) are attacking and what your response to that will be, and also use start, bridge and ending moves to build skill chains. As well as this, you may need to make the decision to break the chain if there is a need dire enough. From a tanking point of view, simple moves you may have taken for granted such as Shield Bash are inside or at the end of skill chains. Interrupting a spell caster will be a group effort.

All of this within the time between swings - will you want a rapid swing which means you are more likely to deliver your DPS over time or a slow weapon allowing you to act and react to changes in combat? Not all group members will have the same attack speed either, so you will most likely be "out of sync" with their own combat moves.

So, while at face value it may seem to be a case of "attack round, game waits while you do some thinking, attack round", there is a lot going on between rounds and the complixity increases as the number in the group and number of targets increases.

Originally Posted by Tudana

Thank GAWD!! I get to learn these new battle concepts on puny rats or snakes in my own front yard first, before delving down deep into a dungeon where the action will be alot more dense..:P

Yes, the first 10 levels will ease you into Vanguard, especially (I suspect) in terms of how combat works