[MUD-Dev2] Combat Systems (was: Reasons for Play)

[Hudson, Thomas C.]

Adam Martin wrote:

> ...and what do you think of the proposed system for Pirates of the
> Caribbean?
> 
> "Unlike the previous generation of MMOs, Pirates of the Caribbean
> Online's combat is real-time and based on timed clicks of the mouse. A
> left-click begins a combat sequence and clicking again at the proper
> moment moves the player's avatar into the next phase of the sequence.
> A right-click allows the player to select a special move with a longer
> cooldown period. As players train with their weapons, they'll get
> points that they can place into various skills, making them more
> powerful or adding new moves to chain combos. "We wanted to make
> combat more dynamic," Goslin said. "Being a pirate is all about
> action, so we didn't just want people just watching the interface
> during combat." "
> 
> http://uk.pc.gamespy.com/pc/pirates-of-the-caribbean-online/778443p2.html

Hmm - has somebody fogotten this is a MMO? Sounds reasonable for a
console game, but really problematic in the networked environment. The
only options I see are:

1) transmit raw mouseclick timing over the network
2) have the client pay attention to mouseclick timing, recognize when a
combo's been successfully executed, and transmit that data to the server

#1 "feels" safer, but both appear to be easily macroable to turn them
into a current-generation combat interface and just embroil VRStudios in
more WoWGlider-type problems. #1 also makes gameplay dependent on jitter
(first derivative of latency), which is really really noisy and sounds
like a recipe for player dissatisfaction.

I'm sure I'm thinking inside some small box - please shoot down my
preconceptions now. :)

Tom