Update on the test patch/new melee system

[S2Fielding]

Update: We're aiming to release the first iteration of the test patch by wednesday 10/15/08

Just dropping an update on the test patch/new melee system. I'm sure you all want to know when you'll get it - well, at the earliest it'll be friday (10/10) most likely.. We ran into some last minute issues with the Community & Clan pannel which has set us back slightly.

I wanted to take this opportunity to give some more information on the melee system, and a more thorough explanation. So here it is, from the top - there are several new items added to the list below, so be sure to read it all:

General melee system changelist:

- Interrupt is being removed
- Block is going to have a stamina cost associated with it (probably stamina per second as well as an initial cost to prevent spam)
- Quick attack stamina costs are such that, if you are running (not sprinting) and spam quick attack flurries, your character should always hit maximum stamina just before starting the next flurry. The end result of this is that quick attacking while sprinting is going to impact your stamina more than just sprinting - but quick attacking by itself virtually has no stamina cost.
- Block will now block melee special abilities, such as acid spray and critical strike.
- You will no longer take damage when you are blocked by an enemy player
- Strafe speed set to 0.92 (increased from 0.86). NOTE: This change may be reverted, it depends how well dodge works in its new implementation (listed below)
- When stunned via a block, your will have your movement speed reduced to 80% (increased from 65%). Note that the stun time of being blocked is now unit-specific. A scout's stun time on being blocked is shorter than a legionnaire's, for example. The stun time per unit is roughly equal to the full attack time of one melee attack (how long it takes to perform the attack then return to idle - note, this value is longer than how long it takes to perform an attack then start a second attack).
- Note that jump attack remains unchanged (will still break through blocks)
- Unit attack speeds and roles are receiving some tweaks to promote variation. For example, the savage attacks slightly slower, the legionnaire is attacking 50% slower, and the scout is attacking 35% faster (a net gain of 23% when you include the flurry pause time, for the scout). Note that all this is subject to change, it's just the values we have down so far. We've modified damage to keep the DPS the same on most units - although some have received slight increases or decreases in DPS.
- Dodge will have a cool down (we're thinking 1.5-2 seconds, we'll modify it as needed). Dodge movement speed has been increased by 50% and the duration/length of the dodge has been shortened slightly (about 23%).

We've made two other global changes which I think deserve special mention. Note that these are both experimental and will probably receive tweaking and/or removal if they do not work as intended:

• When attacking an enemy structure, your movement speed will be reduced slightly (probably about 30%). Note that due to the changes of stamina costs, you will maintain high stamina, and the speed debuff will be short enough that if a defender comes to attack you, you will very quickly have full speed, stamina, and be combat-ready without much of a disadvantage. This makes attacking both easier and harder in that it's easier for defenders to catch up to you, but easier for you to fight them if you are the attacker.
• Minimap changes: Enemies will now only show up on the minimap if they are revealed by an electric eye or bat, or if they are within vision radius of one of your structures (so they show up on the minimap if they are in your base). This allows players to be naturally "sneaky" without the stealth skill - hiding behind rocks or cliffs waiting for enemies to pass etc.

Now, in preliminary testing of this melee system we've found that it's very important that it feel fluid, smooth, and RESPONSIVE. To this end, we've also made the following changes:

• Removed the freeze or immobilize time at the end of melee attack chains.
• Removed stamina exhausted penalties. When low on stamina characters will no longer be slowed down or attack at a reduced speed. The punishment for being low on stamina is that you cannot block for long and you will be unable to sprint or dodge, which are very important components of this melee system

• Decreased the duration (aka "cast time") on several skills and spells. This allows you to block or attack faster after executing the skill or spell.

• In the current retail build, the melee attacks of our units have an "attack time" and a "chain time." The attack time is the total length of the attack, you cannot perform other actions until the attack time has expired. The chain time is a number that is LOWER than the attack time, and after the chain time has expired you can perform the next attack in your melee chain. This is why you're able to perform your second melee attack faster than you can, for example, do a dodge or use a special ability. We're making it so that the following will be usable after the CHAIN time rather than having to wait for the attack time to finish:
  • Dodges
  • Melee special abilities (such as acid spray and critical strike)
  • Jump attacks

The end result should be that players feel like they can use their special abilities (or dodges or jump attack) sooner than they currently can, if only slightly. We feel that one of the most annoying parts of our current melee system is when you're spamming the button to do a certain attack and it takes too long to execute. This should make things feel more fluid and responsive.

• We're adding a bindable button that acts as a "dodge modifier." The button will be bound to right-click by default. The dodge modifier key will be a key that, when pressed, will cause your character to either charge or dodge in your current direction. So, for example, if you are holding "A" to strafe left and you hit right click, you will perform a dodge in that direction. Note that the reverse is true, you can hold right click then press W,A,S or D to charge (if pressing W) or dodge in that direction.

Again, none of these changes are set in stone. If something isn't beneficial to the game, we won't keep it. I ask that everyone give this new system a fair and unbiased try once the test patch is up

[S2Fielding]

Here's what I posted in the other thread, in regards to the other features contained in the upcoming test patch

Community & Clan Panel

The community & Clan Panel is like a "super buddy list" with lots of features. It will be an overlay you can pull up at any point in the game - from the game browser, game lobby, or while fighting. It will include:

- A clan list to view which clan members are online or offline
- A friends list to view which friends are online or offline
- A notification system which will alert you when clan members or friends sign on or off. This will also alert you of things like scheduled clan matches.
- Limited clan management, including the ability to invite new players to the clan
- Ability for clanless players to set their status as looking for a clan or not. This status is viewable by clan leaders and officers and will aid in helping clanless players to find clans
- A messaging system to easily and quickly send messages to your friends similar to an IM client

When we eventually implement a new VOIP system, it will include VOIP controls similar to an external VOIP client (such as ventrilo or team speak)

Maliken re-worked
- Maliken is being removed in his current form, however the maliken items will likely stay as enduring items (except for the soul of maliken).
- Maliken will be an avatar for the commander. The commander will have a spell which enables him to spawn as maliken for a limited time. This spell will have an extremely long cool down (upwards of 15 minutes). Note that while the commander is spawned as maliken, he will clearly not have access to his commander tools and spells.
- Maliken will have an ability to "resume commanding" on will
- Maliken spell will start on cool down at the beginning of the game

edit: As per usual, we will be using the test client to test the patch. Feel free to grab it here:
http://patch3.s2games.com/Savage2TestInstall.exe

Linux test clients here:
http://patch3.s2games.com/Savage2Tes....4.10-i686.bin
http://patch3.s2games.com/Savage2Tes....10-x86_64.bin

[Numbrain]

will the maliken spell start available or on cooldown???

[Generic]

Omg... I want you SO bad right now!!!

Attention everyone! I want you all to send coffee, donuts, and energy drinks to the S2 team.. I WANT this patch!!!

---I'd hope Maliken spell would start on cooldown so as to avoid abuse on small maps.

[S2Fielding]

Originally Posted by Numbrain

will the maliken spell start available or on cooldown???

on cool down

[evilleader]

Originally Posted by S2Fielding

on cool down

*salutes to S2*, you have been totally amazing about updating and listening to the community, even because of the bad comments given you STILL keep working on it, and I must respect you guys, you try to make it better all the time, many companies would not have done that, I'm so glad I bought this game on release, it is truely worth it and your job is totally amazing. You guys are not afraid to change some settings to make it more playable, thank you!

[Numbrain]

What i want to know is how do hellbourne fit into this new system...

Any changes on the hellbourne front?

[GRIM_Ripper]

must... have... give us the melee portion RIGHT NOW, please sounds quite interesting overall, love the change in units. am really glad to see some slower attack times too... should allow for more reaction based blocking vs certain units.

however, i am worried about ring around the rosie factor with increase strafe speed.

finally, is there a stamina cost for the initial use of block to prevent quickly tap spamming block?

[S2Fielding]

In our initial thoughts on this system, block wasn't going to stun at all. If that remained the case, we were going to allow HB to be blocked (allowing the defender to take less damage). Due to stuns being present, though, I'm tempted to say there will be no changes to HB - they will ignore blocks as always

[S2Fielding]

Originally Posted by GRIM_Ripper

must... have... give us the melee portion RIGHT NOW, please sounds quite interesting overall, love the change in units. am really glad to see some slower attack times too... should allow for more reaction based blocking vs certain units.

however, i am worried about ring around the rosie factor with increase strafe speed.

finally, is there a stamina cost for the initial use of block to prevent quickly tap spamming block?

ah I forgot to make note
I've added this to the notes above:
- When attacking an enemy structure, your movement speed will be reduced slightly (probably about 30%). Note that due to the changes of stamina costs, you will maintain high stamina, and the speed debuff will be short enough that if a defender comes to attack you, you will very quickly have full speed, stamina, and be combat-ready without much of a disadvantage. This makes attacking both easier and harder in that it's easier for defenders to catch up to you, but easier for you to fight them if you are the attacker.

and yes block does have a start-up stam cost