Deep in the bowels of a Reddit thread about WildStar vs. WoW Classic a while back, several people mentioned WildStar’s combat as being one of its major problems. One poster even singled out the game’s dodge mechanics specifically, and it caught my attention. I’d say that twitchy, reactive combat has definitely been a thing for the last 10 years of MMOs or so, especially the kind where you spend most of your time leaping and dodging away from various mob and environment effects. WildStar was far from alone, after all; Guild Wars 2 might be one of the more popular embracers of this type of combat.
And you know what? I don’t really love it either. Like the EverQuest fan who was complaining about WildStar, I tend to prefer slower-paced combat that’s more strategic and doesn’t expect me to stop combat and flail around and away constantly. I prefer something more like City of Heroes‘s combat, if I’m honest. And it’s not even necessarily about old vs. new MMOs; I’m thinking here about how Ultima Online’s combat is a fast-paced balancing act of jousting to avoid one-hit death. That’s also not my favorite.
Are you a fan of twitch combat and especially dodge mechanics in MMOs?
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