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Thoughts on RuneScape's Combat

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Seasons Past

Seasons Past

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What I miss most about the old combat system is the variety of tactics it encouraged. In my opinion, the old system hit an elusive sweet spot of being fairly easy to learn while also maximizing the number of possible combinations and options, which made for a fun and unique challenge.

With the old system, it was entirely viable in many situations to fight with an abyssal whip and obsidian shield, while wearing a Karil’s top and Ahrim’s robe skirt, for example. Hybrid defence made things more interesting because it meant that you couldn’t take someone down easily with just one combat style. Accordingly, the system allowed combat styles to be switched mid-fight, allowing for a great number of possibilities in combat. Then throw in weapon special attacks to crack through a skilled opponent’s defences, and you have the foundations of a well balanced combat system: neither too simple nor too complex.

Above all, I would say that the greatest strength of the old system was that (in PvP situations at least) it was unpredictable. There was always a new technique to be tried, a new strategy to be tested. For me, that’s what really made it shine.

Profiled for later reading. Spirit of Forinthry ~ Runecrafting: Magic Armour ~ F2P Extensions ~ Dragon Slayer improvements ~ New Player Experience

19-Sep-2022 23:08:15

Dilbert2001
Jun Member 2006

Dilbert2001

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The Tick System exist since RSC. Essentially RSC/RS2/RS3/OSRS are closer to turn based combat than actual real time. Not that it is good, but why just complain about EoC when it is the same 0.6s tick in all variants of Runescape all these 21 years?

Jagex has been working on the improving the Tick System to 0.1s but it will not be overnight. Mod Keeper has said they have something similar to improve the Tick based combat in the making. We just have to wait for his next report.

The other thing is there is Revolution Mode for those who don't want to use, or are not familiar with, EoC. It is basically Legacy Mode in steroid. It does everything the one click attack Legacy Mode does. It is far better than Legacy Mode.

20-Sep-2022 03:21:59 - Last edited on 20-Sep-2022 15:38:22 by Dilbert2001

Sylvanheart
Oct Member 2023

Sylvanheart

Posts: 222 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Seasons Past said :
What I miss most about the old combat system is the variety of tactics it encouraged. In my opinion, the old system hit an elusive sweet spot of being fairly easy to learn while also maximizing the number of possible combinations and options, which made for a fun and unique challenge.


I suppose I broadly agree with that, yeah. The way old equipment worked was... weird . I hesitate to say it worked well, but it certainly had a uniqueness and character to it that the new system just doesn't. I often find myself wondering what the point of even having type advantages in RuneScape is anymore. As far as I interact with it, it doesn't actually add any depth to the combat at present. All it impacts (for me at least) is which weapon and armour I choose to bring to my Slayer task. There's no real choice, though. It's like a dumb and obvious multiple choice question. It pretends that you have to actually think and make a choice about what to bring, and that those choices matter. But in truth you just look up the enemy, see "Weak to Arrows", then equip a bow and go kill stuff.

The old system wasn't all that different, though. I mean, monsters had weaknesses and there were 'optimal' setups for every encounter. It's just that there was still a place for other niche stuff. And certainly in PvP situations there was a lot more depth when it came to gear choices.

20-Sep-2022 13:26:55 - Last edited on 20-Sep-2022 23:57:49 by Sylvanheart

Dilbert2001
Jun Member 2006

Dilbert2001

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Sylvanheart said :
Seasons Past said :
What I miss most about the old combat system is the variety of tactics it encouraged. In my opinion, the old system hit an elusive sweet spot of being fairly easy to learn while also maximizing the number of possible combinations and options, which made for a fun and unique challenge.


I suppose I broadly agree with that, yeah. The way old equipment worked was... weird . I hesitate to say it worked well, but it certainly had a uniqueness and character to it that the new system just doesn't. I often find myself wondering what the point of even having type advantages in RuneScape is anymore. As far as I am aware, it doesn't actually add any depth to the combat at present. All it impacts (for me at least) is which weapon and armour I choose to bring to my Slayer task. There's no real choice, though. It's like a dumb and obvious multiple choice question. It pretends that you have to actually think and make a choice about what to bring, and that those choices matter. But in truth you just look up the enemy, see "Weak to Arrows", then equip a bow and go kill stuff.

The old system wasn't all that different, though. I mean, monsters had weaknesses and there were 'optimal' setups for every encounter. It's just that there was still a place for other niche stuff. And certainly in PvP situations there was a lot more depth when it came to gear choices.

Perhaps you should research more. Not just gear has diversity, mobs have too. RS3's combat is far more than taking arrows to shoot mobs weak to ranged that the old combat was. In RS3, even regular mobs and not just bosses can have their own unique attacks style we need to counter with gear selection. Many mobs also use Abilities too.

20-Sep-2022 15:42:51

Sylvanheart
Oct Member 2023

Sylvanheart

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Dilbert2001 said :


Perhaps you should research more.

Sylvanheart said :

I am not writing this as some sort of authority on combat matters. In fact, these days I am very much a casual player and I fully expect that the more combat savvy among you might view some of these ideas with contempt. ... And so even if you disagree, please ... do not put down others.


I wrote the main thread itself with a great deal of care. In fact, I spent the entirety of yesterday evening rewriting the whole thing to edit out the same sort of provocative language I am now asking you to be careful of, because I, too, inadvertently included it in the original version. However, my casual replies are written much more quickly and are naturally going to be more bias towards my own personal gameplay experiences.

That's why I included what I just quoted above at the start of the OP. I'm a casual player. At present, lower and mid-level Slayer targets make up the majority of my combat experiences. And for that sort of basic combat, I think what I wrote is true. There is no real depth to such "easy" mobbing. I am not particularly familiar with the depth of higher end PvE. I am sure that it exists, but I can't really comment on it. What I can comment on is how pre-EoC combat with "easy" mobs was more nuanced than it currently is. And, though I never participated all that much in PvP, there was a time when I did that as well. And again, at a basic level I think pre-EoC PvP was also likely more nuanced than it is now.

21-Sep-2022 00:19:38 - Last edited on 21-Sep-2022 00:20:17 by Sylvanheart

Dilbert2001
Jun Member 2006

Dilbert2001

Posts: 30,176 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
^^
I can answer whatever your original or edited posts with just two words: Revolution Mode.

Again, it is even easier than Legacy Mode because of the Keybinds and weapon specials and also be activated from the Activity Bar or keybinds.

21-Sep-2022 00:27:16

Jack Flac
Feb Member 2022

Jack Flac

Posts: 6,207 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Dilbert2001 said :
^^
I can answer whatever your original or edited posts with just two words: Revolution Mode.

Again, it is even easier than Legacy Mode because of the Keybinds and weapon specials and also be activated from the Activity Bar or keybinds. That just shows you can't be bothered to actually read the thread. Revolution is not the answer. Revolution is running away from the problems of EoC. The tick rate isn't even the core issue with EoC either. It's the grid system, which is not possible to do anything about. If the combat was actually good, everybody would be using Full Manual. News flash, majority don't bother with that.

This thread actually does something to address some of the real issues present in EoC from day 1 till now. Do I think it's perfect, no. But you really need to stop talking like you know what you are talking about when it's painfully obvious you don't.

An ability system based around a point and click tile system would actually be a huge improvement over what we currently have. And reworking adrenaline to come mostly from Basic attacks is something that has been suggested more than once, and not without cause. It's actually quite a good idea.

But yeah, you really need to stop trying to butt into conversations you have no real desire to be a part of. It's painfully obvious when you make it clear you can't be bothered to properly read the actual thread. Leader of The Enemy ||
The opposite of Justice is simply another Justice. What is Evil is subjective to each person.
YOU
are their evil

21-Sep-2022 01:02:24

Dilbert2001
Jun Member 2006

Dilbert2001

Posts: 30,176 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
What? Revolution Mode is what RS3 recommends, not Full Manual. They actually give new players bonus xp to use Revolution Mode.

If players really liked to use mostly basic attacks, they would be using Legacy Mode. We already how Legacy Mode sucks, players just don't use it and Jagex removed plenty of Legacy Only Worlds. That's the fact. Nobody care about basic attacks. All they ask for is to get a better than 0.6s tick.

21-Sep-2022 02:24:08

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