05/16/2020 - Feedback Request - Creatures & Combat

[Xsyon]

The Test Server is ready for what is hopefully the final round of testing and tweaking of the upcoming big creature and combat patch.

All that is left to do is to balance variables and I think this patch will be ready to go! Of course, if any issues are uncovered, I’ll fix those first.

First please review my previous post.

Note: If you would like to test with the help of Guide who can spawn and adjust creature to test combat and AI against, please open a help ticket and let us know when you plan to be around.

Here are some specific changes that need final testing:

- Dead bodies should take 8 minutes to decay and disappear. This has been increased from 4 minutes and should give a bit more time for players to harvest creatures that die from old age. (I may increase this further for creatures that die naturally and not in combat)

- Maximum age ‘legendary’ creatures can be given a name. If you are the first player to encounter a legendary creature you can name it and the name will stay. The name will also be announced in global chat.

- A successful parry now stuns your opponent for 1 -2 seconds based on your parrying skill. Does this seem ok? Is the stun duration too short or too long?

- Being stunned by a parry displays a buff during the stun time.

- The parry skill now uses agility and dexterity (as requested).

- Weapons apply different threat levels to creatures during combat, with blades applying the least threat and the larger picks and shovels applying the most threat. This should allow a player with a big weapon to tank while in a group fighting a large creature or mutant.

- The dodge skill has been reintroduced to be useful. Dodge now can increase your side step and backwards movement speed while in combat. Full dodge skill should allow you to move at full speed in those directions while fighting.

- You should be able to maneuver to cause your opposing creature to completely or partially miss their attack. Partially missed attacks from side stepping simply reduce the damage taken.

- Your dodge skill increases when a creature either partially or fully misses their attack.

- Creatures spin at a slower rate during combat so that you can potentially dodge them with side steps.

- Bears are set with the potential for a ‘special attack’. You will see the bear stand up and roar if this is triggered. This special attack, if fully implemented, will do double damage but is easier to avoid. Is this desirable? Is this too easy to avoid? If this is something players like I can finish it and set it up properly for all creatures.

Here are some general combat goals that I hope this patch achieves:

- Small creatures should be easy to kill, even for new players.

- Large regular creatures should be difficult but manageable to kill.

- Old age and legendary mutants should be difficult and require a group of veteran players to kill.

- All creatures that you attack should fight back. (If not let me know what specific creature did not attack back).

- As creatures take damage there is a chance they will run. There is a greater chance for small and weak creatures to do so.

- You should be able to turn and sprint away from a creature easily.

- It should be difficult or impossible to simply turn and run away at your normal pace.

- It should be impossible to simply back up to avoid attacks.

Variables likely need to be adjusted for all of this. Please provide feedback on creatures that seem too easy or difficult based on these goals.

If any of the above is not working as intended or seems unusual or undesirable, please let me know.

Here are variables I can easily adjust:

- Creature hit points
- Creature attack ranges
- Creature attack rates (time between attacks)
- Creature base damage
- Creature rotation speed during combat
- Player weapons base damage
- Player weapon ranges
- Player weapon speeds (delay between attacks)
- Duration of stun effects
- Creature aggro and reactions. Do any creature reactions seem off?

I have not adjusted these much yet as I would like feedback on all types of creatures. Please let me know if a creature seems too easy or too difficult based on my general goals or if you think any of the variables need adjustment for a specific creature or weapon type.

All of this has tested well for me, but as this type of twitch combat is highly dependent on your location and latency I would like feedback on the functionality to see if I need to adjust speeds or ranges to make sure this all works as well as possible for all players.

I will not adding any more features to this patch. My goal is to ensure these features and changes are working well and that variables are balanced enough for a public patch. Variable balance can continue after the public patches if needed.

Thanks!