Fusionstrike
08-09-2012, 01:55 PM
The most recent update added an auto attack behavior that represents a change in combat mechanics for PL. For those who didn't notice, if you use a damage-inflicting skill on a mob, you will now automatically start auto attacking that mob. (Before the update the skill would hit the mob but you wouldn't "attack" unless you pushed the attack button manually.)
I think this is a fine idea, but it could use some refinement. Here's what I think should be done.
1. If a player turns off auto attack in the options menu then this behavior shouldn't happen. In other words, with auto attack option turned off, the player should never attack unless the attack button is pushed, and every push results in exactly one swing at a mob. (I haven't tested extensively with auto turned off so it might already do this for every situation correctly.)
2. Make a button each for "auto attack" and "stop auto" rather than the current single attack button that toggles. The reason I say this is that I'm so used to the old system where I had to press the button manually that I end up hitting a mob with a skill then pressing attack by habit, resulting in toggling off my attacking! Aside from being incredibly annoying, I think it's just a better interface to have a button to press that ensures attacking will happen. If we had an attack button separate from a stop button, then it can make us start attacking if needed and if already attacking just do nothing. In my PL career, I would estimate that I stop attacking by mistake about 99% of the time and only about 1% of the time do I actually intend to stop attacking. This is especially frustrating for high lag conditions when I push the button, it looks like nothing happens, so I push it again but oops it was just lag so now attack is off again. Argh!
3. Implement a "self-defense" behavior. I think it's great that the system automatically makes us keep fighting when we attack a mob with a skill, but the system should go further. If a mob starts messing with us, we should auto attack back! It's dumb that we stand there getting beat down and doing nothing about it. Again this kind of thing tends to happen in high lag where player doesn't get a screen refresh for several seconds and meanwhile is getting smacked around without knowing it. And like item 1, this behavior should not happen if the auto attack option is turned off.
For item 2, I think there's probably room for a "stop" button in the top left corner, or some other place far away from everything else so it's not hit by mistake. Since a stop button would be used only rarely, it should be hard to hit by mistake. Or maybe there's some other more clever way to make "stop" happen but not be easy to do by mistake (e.g. press and hold for 1 second on attack button??)
I think these changes would vastly decrease the number of errors in combat and make the PL combat experience much smoother even when lag is high.
I think this is a fine idea, but it could use some refinement. Here's what I think should be done.
1. If a player turns off auto attack in the options menu then this behavior shouldn't happen. In other words, with auto attack option turned off, the player should never attack unless the attack button is pushed, and every push results in exactly one swing at a mob. (I haven't tested extensively with auto turned off so it might already do this for every situation correctly.)
2. Make a button each for "auto attack" and "stop auto" rather than the current single attack button that toggles. The reason I say this is that I'm so used to the old system where I had to press the button manually that I end up hitting a mob with a skill then pressing attack by habit, resulting in toggling off my attacking! Aside from being incredibly annoying, I think it's just a better interface to have a button to press that ensures attacking will happen. If we had an attack button separate from a stop button, then it can make us start attacking if needed and if already attacking just do nothing. In my PL career, I would estimate that I stop attacking by mistake about 99% of the time and only about 1% of the time do I actually intend to stop attacking. This is especially frustrating for high lag conditions when I push the button, it looks like nothing happens, so I push it again but oops it was just lag so now attack is off again. Argh!
3. Implement a "self-defense" behavior. I think it's great that the system automatically makes us keep fighting when we attack a mob with a skill, but the system should go further. If a mob starts messing with us, we should auto attack back! It's dumb that we stand there getting beat down and doing nothing about it. Again this kind of thing tends to happen in high lag where player doesn't get a screen refresh for several seconds and meanwhile is getting smacked around without knowing it. And like item 1, this behavior should not happen if the auto attack option is turned off.
For item 2, I think there's probably room for a "stop" button in the top left corner, or some other place far away from everything else so it's not hit by mistake. Since a stop button would be used only rarely, it should be hard to hit by mistake. Or maybe there's some other more clever way to make "stop" happen but not be easy to do by mistake (e.g. press and hold for 1 second on attack button??)
I think these changes would vastly decrease the number of errors in combat and make the PL combat experience much smoother even when lag is high.