Dedeadend
Legend
First off, a disclaimer. I don't claim to be inventing this idea. Maybe I saw it in a game I don't remember. If not, and a developer feeds on this idea for his own game, I would like nothing better then to see this happen somewhere. If I DID come up with this... go me!
I had a funny idea a while back. An idea that only makes more sense the more I think about it. This isn't a suggestion for it to happen in WoW, hell for any MMO or other action RPG genres currently out. This is an idea that would need a game starting from scratch that still needs a base mechanic for combat. I have some ideas for the rest of combat, but before I go COMPLETELY overboard and try to invent an entire game from scratch, I'll just stick to "Tanking" as it's called in MMO's, because I would like criticism on this.
What if Tanks did not generate threat? What if npc's simply decided who was the weakest or most problematic target and attack it?
It's just silly when you think about it. I yell the loudest, therefore the enemy's pride is hurt and will always attack me without fail or reconsideration. This method works on every single npc to get their attention, and it's a good thing it works too, because these games would be a LOT harder for the entire group otherwise. I just don't think it's very fun having a system that disencourages movement and placing faith in an abstract numbers game happening in the background no one even really cares about or has a reason to care.
There should be a more visual and fun way to play the defensive role. What if taunt just plain didn't work on most enemies? What if threat was non-existent and enemies simply attack the weakest target or even the healer if they have the ability to? Would we see the entire game turn into a giant pvp war of running around scared? Probably wouldn't be very fun and excessively difficult assuming everything about dungeons and raids remains the same. In only this changed and everything else remained the same, Tanks just plain wouldn't be useful anymore. They could take more damage but the enemy would simply recognise that and save the Tank for last.
What I propose is somewhat of a sumo wrestling system for playing a defensive character. When assuming the defensive stance, the tank's movement speed is cut in half, but he also creates an aura barrier on the ground representing his sphere of influence. No enemy can pass it unless the tank is weakened. This barrier, in its normal state, extends to the tank's left and right as if the tank suddenly become 7 tanks. The barrier also extends backward, forming a triangle shape on the ground large enough for about 4 people to stand in comfortably. Attempts to push against the barrier is like pushing against the tank. In essence, the barrier is an extention of the tank's body mass. They share a somewhat voodoo connection. What happens to one happens to the other. You can push or damage the sphere or the tank, and they will both feel its effects jointly. The barrier CAN be pushed though, the same as the tank, but how strong the enemy can push is directly dependent on the tank's health and the enemy's health. To push at the barrier, you simply damage it. The strength of the tank's gear is also considered in the integrity of the barrier.
Attempting to shoot a target through the barrier will strike the barrier instead, damaging the tank in the process. Extensive healing will always grab the attention of enemy npc's. Fortunately, they need to get THROUGH the tank to reach the healer, rather then forget he's there.
On the flip side, overhealing the tank beyond his maximum health would give the tank a burst of strength allowing him to push more enemies backward with increased force.
If there are hazards like lava or bottomless cliffs in the environment, they can be used to the strongest group's advantage.
As long as the tank stays alive and in his defensive stance, the barrier should never go down. When the tank gets weak though, he can be pushed around quite a bit, adding pressure on him and the rest of the group who must adapt to the situation.
Each class of tank could have different abilities to modify their sphere of influence. Here's some abilities that might fit into each tank class we have now that would both expand upon each class's current personality and would dynamically change the battle depending on who's tanking.
A Death Knight's defensive stance could have an aura that pulls enemies all around him towards him like a gravity field. I like an ability like this for a Death Knight because they are more or less the brawler of the tanks. They use two handed weapons and don't use shields. Plus, they already have death grip, an ability that pulls people toward him rather then him charging at them. Attempting to shoot through the barrier could be like shooting through a gravity field, modifying the trajectory of the incoming arcane missile forcing it to miss unless it was shot directly at the tank.
Warriors and Druids have charge. I just think charge looks rediculous, like the lunge with a Sword in Halo but with amplified absurdity. What if their charge modified their defensive barrier instead? It would momentarily charge the tank forward with increased movement speed and push enemies effected by its aura regardless of the tank's health. A tank could stop early if he wished to and enemies would still be pushed backward a few feet, making it useful for throwing off cliffs or other environmental hazards.
What would taunt do? Maybe it would be nice to keep this for moments when a damage or healer doesn't reach the barrier in time.
All in all, this fixes many solutions things like threat cause without negatively impacting core gameplay. Damage and healer roles would remain the same and know exactly what to do to get safe, and don't have to worry about kicking too much ass for the tank to keep up. If they HAVE aggro, they know that all they need to do is get themselves back into the barrier and they'll be safe. They could do things like a Druid's Typhoon and throw enemies back, or simply walk through the barrier momentarily drawing the enemy through it, then running back into combat if they happen to be playing a melee damage role. You would have about 3 seconds or so before they realize you're in front of the barrier.
Suddenly, the tank is more focused on his own survivabilty and making sure he's actually... well... facing the enemy, instead of things like the amount of aggro he is causing and how much on each enemy. They don't need to worry about waiting until they know the tank has aggro.
This could have a dynamic impact on PvP too. Suddenly you'll have a lot more people playing the Tank role in PvP for its ability to actually protect, which is what a Tank SHOULD be doing! I suspect this would happen in dungeons and raids too. PvP is very crowd control oriented, meaning players would very quickly adapt to this and CC the tank temporarily disabling his barrier.
I got to thinking, what if the entire game revolved around this mechanic and this didn't just apply to Tanks? What if everyone in their normal stance had a physical barrier surrounding their close proximity they can use to push one enemy or so? This idea is separate to everything I said above and should be considered additional. When you take damage, you can be pushed. Pushing a caster would NOT interrupt his channeled spell. How hard you can be pushed is dependent on each player's total health, not their strength, intellect, etc; both how much the attacker has, and how weak the defender is.
I had a funny idea a while back. An idea that only makes more sense the more I think about it. This isn't a suggestion for it to happen in WoW, hell for any MMO or other action RPG genres currently out. This is an idea that would need a game starting from scratch that still needs a base mechanic for combat. I have some ideas for the rest of combat, but before I go COMPLETELY overboard and try to invent an entire game from scratch, I'll just stick to "Tanking" as it's called in MMO's, because I would like criticism on this.
What if Tanks did not generate threat? What if npc's simply decided who was the weakest or most problematic target and attack it?
It's just silly when you think about it. I yell the loudest, therefore the enemy's pride is hurt and will always attack me without fail or reconsideration. This method works on every single npc to get their attention, and it's a good thing it works too, because these games would be a LOT harder for the entire group otherwise. I just don't think it's very fun having a system that disencourages movement and placing faith in an abstract numbers game happening in the background no one even really cares about or has a reason to care.
There should be a more visual and fun way to play the defensive role. What if taunt just plain didn't work on most enemies? What if threat was non-existent and enemies simply attack the weakest target or even the healer if they have the ability to? Would we see the entire game turn into a giant pvp war of running around scared? Probably wouldn't be very fun and excessively difficult assuming everything about dungeons and raids remains the same. In only this changed and everything else remained the same, Tanks just plain wouldn't be useful anymore. They could take more damage but the enemy would simply recognise that and save the Tank for last.
What I propose is somewhat of a sumo wrestling system for playing a defensive character. When assuming the defensive stance, the tank's movement speed is cut in half, but he also creates an aura barrier on the ground representing his sphere of influence. No enemy can pass it unless the tank is weakened. This barrier, in its normal state, extends to the tank's left and right as if the tank suddenly become 7 tanks. The barrier also extends backward, forming a triangle shape on the ground large enough for about 4 people to stand in comfortably. Attempts to push against the barrier is like pushing against the tank. In essence, the barrier is an extention of the tank's body mass. They share a somewhat voodoo connection. What happens to one happens to the other. You can push or damage the sphere or the tank, and they will both feel its effects jointly. The barrier CAN be pushed though, the same as the tank, but how strong the enemy can push is directly dependent on the tank's health and the enemy's health. To push at the barrier, you simply damage it. The strength of the tank's gear is also considered in the integrity of the barrier.
Attempting to shoot a target through the barrier will strike the barrier instead, damaging the tank in the process. Extensive healing will always grab the attention of enemy npc's. Fortunately, they need to get THROUGH the tank to reach the healer, rather then forget he's there.
On the flip side, overhealing the tank beyond his maximum health would give the tank a burst of strength allowing him to push more enemies backward with increased force.
If there are hazards like lava or bottomless cliffs in the environment, they can be used to the strongest group's advantage.
As long as the tank stays alive and in his defensive stance, the barrier should never go down. When the tank gets weak though, he can be pushed around quite a bit, adding pressure on him and the rest of the group who must adapt to the situation.
Each class of tank could have different abilities to modify their sphere of influence. Here's some abilities that might fit into each tank class we have now that would both expand upon each class's current personality and would dynamically change the battle depending on who's tanking.
A Death Knight's defensive stance could have an aura that pulls enemies all around him towards him like a gravity field. I like an ability like this for a Death Knight because they are more or less the brawler of the tanks. They use two handed weapons and don't use shields. Plus, they already have death grip, an ability that pulls people toward him rather then him charging at them. Attempting to shoot through the barrier could be like shooting through a gravity field, modifying the trajectory of the incoming arcane missile forcing it to miss unless it was shot directly at the tank.
Warriors and Druids have charge. I just think charge looks rediculous, like the lunge with a Sword in Halo but with amplified absurdity. What if their charge modified their defensive barrier instead? It would momentarily charge the tank forward with increased movement speed and push enemies effected by its aura regardless of the tank's health. A tank could stop early if he wished to and enemies would still be pushed backward a few feet, making it useful for throwing off cliffs or other environmental hazards.
What would taunt do? Maybe it would be nice to keep this for moments when a damage or healer doesn't reach the barrier in time.
All in all, this fixes many solutions things like threat cause without negatively impacting core gameplay. Damage and healer roles would remain the same and know exactly what to do to get safe, and don't have to worry about kicking too much ass for the tank to keep up. If they HAVE aggro, they know that all they need to do is get themselves back into the barrier and they'll be safe. They could do things like a Druid's Typhoon and throw enemies back, or simply walk through the barrier momentarily drawing the enemy through it, then running back into combat if they happen to be playing a melee damage role. You would have about 3 seconds or so before they realize you're in front of the barrier.
Suddenly, the tank is more focused on his own survivabilty and making sure he's actually... well... facing the enemy, instead of things like the amount of aggro he is causing and how much on each enemy. They don't need to worry about waiting until they know the tank has aggro.
This could have a dynamic impact on PvP too. Suddenly you'll have a lot more people playing the Tank role in PvP for its ability to actually protect, which is what a Tank SHOULD be doing! I suspect this would happen in dungeons and raids too. PvP is very crowd control oriented, meaning players would very quickly adapt to this and CC the tank temporarily disabling his barrier.
I got to thinking, what if the entire game revolved around this mechanic and this didn't just apply to Tanks? What if everyone in their normal stance had a physical barrier surrounding their close proximity they can use to push one enemy or so? This idea is separate to everything I said above and should be considered additional. When you take damage, you can be pushed. Pushing a caster would NOT interrupt his channeled spell. How hard you can be pushed is dependent on each player's total health, not their strength, intellect, etc; both how much the attacker has, and how weak the defender is.
