Well since we all know melee combat is the most tedious thing in action rpg I've got a way to perhaps spice it up a bit. Taking an idea from TMNT: Turtles in time, an old arcade/snes game. Basically your character goes through 3 stages of attack each with a different attack animation, and then a finishing move: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMOKYWXocSI

The finishing move could give bonus such as an aoe, increased damage, and a knockback/knockdown just like in tmnt. And perhaps give off some graphical effect to show its power.

Anyways ya look at the video and try to place it in dungeon runners setting, fighters already have a few melee attack animation so I dont think it will be totally impossible to implement. It would definately make melee combat more involved since you have to line up the final attack in the optimal location, and you could even give each weapon type a unique finisher like a larger degree aoe attack on scythes, and a longer effect range on spears. Ya so good idea, bad idea? tell me what you think.

Edited by tappa (01/27/08 01:34 AM)

The thing about modifying any one class is that it will potentially unbalance pvp. Of course, some would claim one or the other class already has the advantage in pvp...

Imbalances are always fixable though, we'd still be using pen and paper to play these games if that stopped us from implementing things.

Anyways you could always stop it from knocking other players down, then you'd just be left with fancy animatins.

Edited by tappa (01/27/08 01:48 AM)

I'm assuming this is something like what they are planning to do with Age of Conan. The problem, however, is that you are trying to change a core gameplay concept, and I think the efforts required to change this outweighs the enhanced "fun" and "skill" factor. What you are suggesting isn't bad, but its like taking Counterstrike and turning it into an RTS (extreme exaggeration)... so to speak.

Actually its taking a core gameplay mechanic which is rather boring and adding something small to it so you have something to watch and time properly while holding the attack button in order to break the flatline.

They could even use red flesh or cleave as a finisher just to try it out.

Anyways its more like taking a chat sim and turning it into an mmorpg so you have something to concentrate on, thats my opinion of it.

Edited by tappa (01/27/08 04:47 AM)

A Chat Sim into an MMO is feasible because you aren't changing much, you are adding. MMOs are glorified Chat Sims where you can do other stuff than just chatting: in short, an MMO is sort of an "upgrade" to a Chat Sim. What a Chat Sim has, most MMOs have as well. What you are proposing, however, is more than just adding things: you are taking an established mechanic and changing it almost completely. While it might not be a bad idea, it may be a bit too complicated since you are destroying a lot of stuff that is built on the previous mechanic and rebuilding them on the new mechanic. Unless the result is completely revolutionary, I think the results do not justify the effort required. Kind of like giving you complete control over every muscle on your avatar's body: nice touch, but it just isn't feasible.

As I said, nice idea; but it may be a bit too late for that.

But I am exaggerating. The truth is, I am at loss exactly what you have in mind: I am thinking of Age of Conan's battle system, which I've heard is quite complicated. Although I might add, if you have an action spell on a mouse button and you use that to attack, then you can consider your action spell as a "finishing move" if you like. Isn't "slash, slash, BUTCHER!" good enough?

Edited by Necrophilius (01/27/08 05:49 AM)