It’s not every day that I stop what I am doing to mentally clap for a poster on Reddit, but user Rolling-in-the-Meeps prompted just that response from me back in August thanks to his post disambiguating “tab-target vs. action combat” and “rotational vs. reactionary.” Essentially, he’s arguing that what makes a game feel active isn’t really about whether the combat is organized around tab-target or “action” twitch; rather, it’s a focus on reactive gameplay instead of rotational gameplay (which you can still achieve with tab-targeting).
“I know there is absolutely skill involved with perfecting and maintaining your rotation, but I like games that have more reactive elements to them,” he says.
Days later and I’m still thinking about the argument. I think he’s right to break down the argument into these component bits, but I think I personally prefer a mix of both rotational and reactive. I don’t love, for example, the reactive avoidance gameplay in Guild Wars 2, but I loved proactive and reactive healing in Guild Wars 1.
How about you? Do you prefer combat rotations or reactive gameplay in your MMOs?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
