[MUD-Dev] Cognitively Interesting Combat

[Derek Larson]

Paolo Piselli wrote:

> By "sweet spot" I don't mean "the value that is best for all
> people".  Remember these are constraints - or bounding values.  I
> really mean "the range of values that is most inclusive of our
> target audience without being overly constraining".

Ah, ok.  I generally take sweet-spot to refer to some local
maximum. The point that I wanted to make, and still do, was that
when the designers sit down and actually start setting some of these
values, I suggest aiming for a subset of the playerbase (FPS-ers,
RTS-ers, EQ-ers, etc.).  The catch-all strategy is only dependable
around the advent of the product, and we're getting into middle
innings with MMORPGS.

>> needs more focus on reaction.  The most that some of the current
>> MMOG's have in this regard is healing or running away when low on
>> life; it needs to be taken a lot further.

> Absolutely, I am hoping that the fruits of this discussion will
> ultimately be a hard look at the cognitive tasks involved in
> playing some of the archetypical roles we find in a MMOG (tank,
> rogue, healer, buffer, nuker, CC, etc.)  I definitly agree with
> your assessment that some have a more interesting combat
> experience than others because they are more reactive.  What is
> the sub-game that each class plays during combat?  Consider the
> buffing class, which tends to have no in-combat role and therefore
> tends to get glommed onto other classes.  I think something like a
> buffing class could be given a much more active in-combat buff
> management task, and could ultimately stand on its own in such an
> implementation.

Put succintly, I think it would be ideal for each class to have it's
own, differentialbe variant on the game contained within combat.

> I do not have much experience with UO, but I would love to hear a
> detailed breakdown of all the thinking that goes into managing HP,
> stamina, mana, etc. over the course of combat.  What real
> decisions does the player have, and how often does he have them?
> What reactions does the player need to make and how often must she
> make them?

Time to dig in.

Let's consider the UO tank mage.  100 hp, 100 mana.  Primary means
of attack: melee weapon attacks (generally a halberd) interspersed
with spells (must unequip your weapon to cast).  Primary defense:
healing spells (either ~10hp or ~40hp).  The important player skills
are timing and mana management.  Timing comes into play with
swinging your weapon: the period of a halberd is about 5 seconds, so
after you swing you use that time to cast your spells, while making
sure to be ready to swing again after the 5 seconds are up.  If you
spend too long casting, you'll probably end up punching instead of
swinging your halberd (missing a potential ~30 damage).  The best
players maintain their swing frequency of 1/5sec.

Another important tactic is disrupting your opponents spells (and
not having yours disrupted).  If you take damage or are affected by
a hostile spell while casting, you fail.  Spell casting times vary
with level, going from ~1sec to ~2.5 sec for the combat type spells.
This is important for choosing which healing spell to use when
damaged.  You can attempt to use the 40hp spell, but it's slower and
a good player will disrupt you.  The 10hp spell is pretty failsafe,
but it's effective healing rate is slower and less mana efficient.
Novices usually die because they don't use the small heal and get
disrupted.

Then there's the damage spells, the most important are:

  Energy bolt    - 20 mana - ~30 damage              - 3 second cast
  Explosion      - 20 mana - ~25 damage (2sec delay) - 3 second cast
  Flamestrike    - 40 mana - ~25-50 damage           - 3.5 second cast
  Lightning Bolt - 11 mana - ~15 damage              - 2 second cast
  Magic Arrow    - 4 mana  - ~4 damage               - .5 second cast

Choosing which spell to use will depend on your mana reserves,
opponent's health, and what they are trying to cast.  If they are
using greater heals, you can often use lightning bolts to both
disrupt and damage them.  If instead you cast energy bolt, they will
successfully heal, and the net result is not in your favor.

The above paragraphs, plus the mana management example I mentioned
last email, make up the crux of tank mage combat.  In addition,
there's usually a back-and-forth with poisoning and curing poison,
and possibly some use of healing or explosion potions.

To directly answer your questions, the decisions the player makes
are basically: which heal spell to use and which damage spell to
use, and these are made between weapon swings, so 1 or 2 per 5
seconds.  As for reactions, the best players have to be able to
react to within .5 seconds (with a broadband connection), with
similar frequency as decision-making.

Let me know if you need clarifications.

-Tek
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