More MMOs need to have a combat system like this game.

Title. Discuss.

The combat system in CoH is probably my single least favorite aspect, actually.

Why is that?

I like the simplicity, yet mentally engaging aspect of it (moreso for some powersets than others)

The only issues i have with it are really just individual powers.

You mean mindless, skill-less button mashing, suppressed travel powers during combat and a built-in targeting cheat called the TAB key?

Combat was moronically over-simplified in this game.

Honestly, I prefer tab targeting as it gives a lot more laxed gameplay which allows me to RP easier. Which I know is a secondary point to the game, but you know, **** you guys. After seeing so many MMOs either make it nearly impossible to type while fighting, or just getting rid of chat bubbles (or entire systems) altogether, CoH was the ******* holy grail.




Tab targeting aside I still didn't like the combat. It was always a second string activity and just used it as a vehicle for RP.

I've never seen a game so adamant at ruining the feeling that it was supposed to portray. Both the stamina gauge and lengthy cooldown for powers did everything they could to make you feel unsuper as possible.

I mean, I've never seen Superman have to stop mid fight to let his blue bar recharge.

Or the flash punch someone and then stand there for a couple seconds going "wait, my punch is recharging"

Pretty much agree with all the replies. The combat mechanic is the one thing that really shows CoHs age and has been vastly improved in more recent games.

I dont know this combat system feels kind of slow and clunky especially when compared to CO.

Fight wait for powers to recharge fight a little more, hit, miss miss miss hit miss miss (all while having supposedly 95% chance to hit), wait for end, fight some more, miss miss miss, hit hit, miss, hit, miss, miss, miss, recharge or (rest at low levels). Repeat. I thought it was decent fight system until actually trying out other games and CO and then trying to come back and realize it's "old fashioned" and slow. It's more like playing slot machine than actual fighting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mauk2 Evil_Legacy became one of my favorite posters with two words. "Kick Rocks." I laffed so hard. Never change, E_L!

Still one thing COH scores over CO is that at least the top and bottom halves of your character are animated properly, rather than looking as if they belong to two different people and just happened to be joined at the waist.

To throw CoH a bone though, the slow pace of powers certainly made them feel...meaty. Like they actually had force behind them.

Neither CO or DCUO's quick based combat feels like you're actually hitting the enemy, just whittling down their HP bar.



Somewhere there's a compromise. Either CoH's stamina bar and cool downs needed to be minimized to the point where they don't interfere with pacing, or CO/DCUO's power effects need to be reworked to where they feel like theyre actually hitting the targets.

I really used to enjoy the combat mechanics pre-travel suppression. Aerial combat while flying, jousting, kiting, running while attacking, etc.......these were very unique models for many years. When COH devs decided to enforce rooted combat, the game lost the only part of combat I actually enjoyed. Thereafter, it just became a Napoleonic infantry formation affair....stupid and mindless for any ranged combatant. I switched to melee thereafter.

I definitely agree with the feeling of "meatier" attacks in CoX. TW in particular feels like im smacking people around the room with a big bulky weapon. I havent tried two handers in CO yet, but in general i dont feel like my CO chars hit as hard, even though they are significantly more powerful at lower levels. I feel like CoX really found a sweet spot with the "screen vibrate" thing.

City of Villains is great and all.... but I wouldn't say that the combat system is all that great...

Actually I probably left this game years ago if it wasn't for the TAB targeting and button mashing. I was never good at twitch style gameplay with a controller, my thumbs don't work well with analog sticks when it comes to targeting. As for cooldown/recharge, that was a new gaming concept for me in 2004 but it made sense as one way to both balance powers and to give the player something to enhance since enhancements in our abilities were neither skill point, stat or equipment based.

I do understand that for melee characters the idea of running out of "mana" is a new concept but as a long time player of Diablo II it was easy enough to adapt.

And wouldn't it be easier to button mash in a game where powers didn't have a cooldown/recharge time beyond it's animation time?

As for rooting, I grant you that needing to stop to buff yourself was annoying. As for travel suppression, well that was necessary since Arena PvP showed early on that on inside maps Superspeeders were nearly untouchable as they joust you while flyers got stuck with the -25% to hit with Fly.

No no no.

The system is just plain terrible, IMO.

I'd have preferred a system more akin to TERA's combat (yeah i went there), but now we'll never get it.

Sure I could always just play TERA, but it's not the same.

The entirety of TERA is worse, far worse than I want to deal with.

I'd say that it more has to do with what they let you fight /with/ than how you fight. Although we were getting some fun new mechanics like momentum, the rest of it showed pretty clearly that the combat system was made around/slightly before the WoW Era. But, gawd, you could fight as virtually anything you wanted. Gajillions of powersets with more customization than any other game I've heard of.
You can change your blasts between six different colors, CO? That's nice. I can made radioactive blasts look like water. Or fire look like sand. Or my bio-armor look like tree bark, growths or just take away the icky parts entirely. And have a pretty, if not entirely extensive group of animations to choose from on either (of the first two).