I definitely agree with the statement in the update about the daunting ability book. The few times that I have accessed the EoC beta, I've been sorely disappointed with the presentation of information. The whole idea of having a list format in the ability book with a scroll bar really takes away from the easy-to-learn pre EoC system. On top of that, the damage and defense system is no longer intuitive at all. In fact, the new armor screen hardly gives any information at all.
One thing that might help my first concern could be to make the ability book similar to the way the spell book is now, adding filtering options, coloring in abilities which can be used with your current setup, etc. There could even be tabs, and the abilities could be larger, like prayer icons. It is simply unnecessary for a single ability to take up an entire row on the display panel, especially since 3/4 of the row is the abilities name, which shows up in the mouse-over tool-tip. It seems to me that the current non-EoC system is more streamlined, compact, and easy to understand.
Addressing the second concern, I can appreciate the desire to remove complicated formulas, but removing all information in the equipment screen doesn't help the case. Now, the equipment screen only shows ambiguous number such as "Total armor" and a very confusing "Target info" panel. To be quite honest, I don't even know what half of the numbers mean. Does my armor apply to all types of damage? Does it reduce damage? Is it similar to the way defense used to work, where it reduces hit chance? All of these questions remain unanswered.
Overall, I conclude that the abilities and play style in the beta is what I expect the game to be like. I like the idea of adding a dynamic combat system. However, I feel that there is too much unnecessary complication, making it extremely difficult for a player to understand what anything does.
17-Jul-2012 14:52:25
