This is something we've discussed before but I wanted to approach it from another angle. Most people liked the idea of Heroic Opportunities from EQ2, but disliked the execution.
The basic idea is that your group all works toward achieving a specific result using a combination of their abilities. Usually it was a bit of extra damage, sometimes it was a buff or a debuff.
That's a cool idea in theory, but the end result is often a mess where you either reach a dead end on the combo or your whole group is forced into a "rotation" of abilities, including the tanks and healers.
So here's a possible evolution of the idea: Escalating, tiered "exploits". Status effect like conditions that can be upgraded by the use of certain abilities.
For instance, if a Wizard sets an NPC's status to "scorched" with a fireball, a Rogue could follow up with an alchemical flask that sets them (any maybe NPCs around them) on fire, escalating the condition to "burning." Then we could take it a step forward and a Druid could wrap the NPC in flammable ivy, and now the NPC is "engulfed" in flame. They start to panic, causinig them to not attack for a few seconds as they desperately put out the flames and they now take some additional damage over time.
On the flip side, an Enchanter or a Dire Lord could "consume" the "scorched" or "burning" conditions, cancelling the effect but allowing them to power up an ability of their own, possibly causing a big critical strike or transfering the effect to a new target.
The effect would be to add dynamic combat based on your group composition. Don't have a Druid? Well you can't upgrade "burning" to "engulfed" anyway so your Dire Lord can happily consume the effect.
To combat the strong possibility of "rotations" feeling "forced" because they are "optimal" you could have the required spells have a decent cooldown, and possibly increase the cooldown if they're used to upgrade or consume an exploit. You could also have NPCs be immune to a variety of status effects. You can't set a water elemental or a ghost on fire. You can't freeze a yeti, etc. So now you are planning your LAS around not just your party but also your environment. Oh! And maybe the environment itself could mute or even make certain status effects imposible. You can set someone on fire in the rain but it's not going to last as long and might even fizzle out immediately.
What do you all think? Would love to get some ideas flowing.
Manouk said:IIANM....
*tries that out*
I f I A m N ot M istaken I think something like that was demonstrated on the Monk stream? with the chi counters? and having them charge up? (one must not disrupt the flow of Chi- feng shui)
I would need to rewatch the Monk stream but that sounded to me more like resource management. A single player is managing their own abilities in order to increase their individual powers.
What I am suggesting is a group collectively managing their pooled abilities in order to push an enemy or encounter into a more vulnerable state so that they can end the fight quicker or prevent the enemy from using abilities (as an example.) Individuals would be able to start a chain, but would rely on other players to properly continue and execute the chain. Hopefully in a more varied, interesting and intuitive way than we've seen with previous MMOs (namely EverQuest 2 and Vanguard.)
Yea totally.
I think it was also demonstrated a bit in the Shaman stream and when they've mentioned states like when the NPC is in an "unbalanced" state, such & such skill can trigger a knock down.
Seems fairly similar to what you're saying Byproducts but maybe not the tiers, that we've seen?
I like your idea of tiers and multiple skills/classes that can take advantage of them or Change them. If you have several viable ways to go down the status paths it could help prevent the rotation feeling. So instead of always following X with Y, you have to actually plan around the type of mobs and not every chain is optimal for a given situation.
Was Windswept a status ailment or an acclimation thing? (wait maybe windsheer is acclimation and swept is status?)
Anyway having heard that name before we could say that Windswept would make fire burn hotter with the oxygen blowing through it, make cold bitter and freeze the target, make earth/stones into a deadly projectile storm around it. Then depending on what classes you have and what you are fighting you make those decisions. I don't know if that's enough tho or if it would be balanced enough to not end up with the optimal path always choosen / preferred by the min/max.
Counterfleche said: I really don't want to see combos. I do want to see a web of synergies, where there are many different effects and many of our actions are set up to benifit from specific ones. My only concern with characters being able to "consume" these statuses is that it becomes a race to see who consumes it first. I would want any consumed status to remain for a minimum time and allow multiple characters to use it.
That's a good point. I was thinking only one class should "consume" a given exploit/status effect, but in a raid setting it could get a bit hairy. In a group setting it kind of doesn't matter unless you're trying to advance it first, but in a raid setting where poeple get into DPS measuring contests it could become a huge point of contention. Coordinating that and creating windows of opportunity for players to use an ability might be more beneficial, unless you're cascading the cooldowns on the ability such that Rogue 1 uses theirs, then Rogue 2 on the next one, then Rogue 3, etc. But even thinking of that gives me CHeal rotation flashbacks. No thanks.
I dont mind this idea, as long as it does not become a case of needing to perform these type of combat executions to be able to win a battle. I.e. you must have a Wizard and Druid so to create these type of actions else the fight is unsinkable, and also, other classes discouraged.