Brawler Archive

I was placed as Brawler correspondent at the beginning of a cycle of Top5 issues. I had to hurry to collect some feedback and form a list of top issues. I apologize for the lag time in getting these responses to you (and some of it is my fault as I had to be scarce during the holiday season). Most of our answers stem from coming changes to the combat system. Here's a list of the Top5 and the responses that were given to us by TH in tandem with the developers. I've separated each item into the initial issue as given to the devs, their response, and a reaction to this comment. For our profession, most of the responses were more or less positive.

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#1 issue: In a post on the future of combat, Q (quoting an unnamed dev) stated, among other things, that: melee damage should be improved and negative ranged mods should be looked at . . . whatever happened with this?

#1 response: Melee damage improved in the [December] Publish. Feedback at that time will be helpful.

NOTE: A lot of the major combat changes have been pushed back and we hope to see some of these changes coming in during a February publish.

#1 reaction: This is great news. While the dev response doesn't include ranged mods, we hope that these are included. Unfortunately this means waiting for the next patch but we do know that big changes are coming.

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#2 issue: HAM costs should be further looked and made less prohibitive.

#2 response: There is a new HAM dynamic on Test Center and if it doesn’t suffer from any problems, it will greatly enhance combat in the game on all levels.

#2 reaction: Unfortunately this change was taken out after this feedback as it was a bit too powerful and is being retooled. All the same it is encouraging to know that this system is being looked and it will be good to see future incarnations of this.

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#3 issue: Brawler melee weapons should be given enhancement options comparable to those offered to ranged users.

#3 response: We have a “Weapons Balance” that will bring a lot of fun to the game and it will be out in the [January] Publish. I know your first reaction will be, “[January]!?!?”, but consider it. Every weapon in the game will be re-balanced, we’ll see new weapons and it will be a lot more fun.

NOTE: Again it is important to note that some of these changes have been further pushed back and current word is to look for the combat overhaul in February.

#3 reaction: Same basic answer. We'll have to see how this change affects melee. Rebalancing weapons won't be enough if content isn't added with new weapon enhancements. However it is very encouraging to know that weapons are being looked at as a whole and will be be changed (presumably for the better). We'd love to see more reasons to use different versions of our weapons.

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#4 issue: Warcry and warcry 2 would be made much more usable with the addition of a status effect icon on the target display.

#4 response: We agree on the Icon and it will go on the feature request list.

#4 reaction: Excellent. Let's just hope that it trickles to the top of that list sometime soon now.

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#5 issue: The unarmed tree branch of brawler is much more difficult than any other branch. This is due primarily to the initially low damage output of fists and their high delay.

#5 response: This is a single item and with all the combat changes going in, its too early to tell what the impact is going to be here, so we’re going to have to wait it out to see what the overall impact is.

#5 reaction: Understandable. We'll still be on you though in a few months if this is still an issue. Also note that this has more to do with how +damage modifiers work than actual weapons (as an unarmed user is dependent on these for their damage).

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So our current status seems to be holding for the combat overhaul. After we start to see some of those issues trickle in we can comment on whether we feel that the overhaul is fitting our needs. Until then, a lot of concerns are somewhat moot. As soon as things hit Test Center I will be able to report on how the changes appear. We can start to redraft and rethink our Top5 at that time (although it's never a bad time to bring up any issues you might discover now or to offer commentary on the latest Top5 and responses).

For a discussion of the general direction that we have been shown for where Combat will be heading, I recommend checking out the following thread by ThunderHeart:

(will fix this link asap)

Thanks, and I'm sorry for the delay in getting these responses to you!

StGabe.

Message Edited by StGabriel on 01-06-2004 04:44 AM

im glad to see things are still moving forward.

Ugh, this post stilI needs some edits. Iapologize for that. I'm having browser issues and I will reformat everything tomorrow night when I get back home (I'm still doing some traveling over the holidays).

StGabe.

Message Edited by StGabriel on 01-06-2004 04:45 AM