As with most MMO history, the speed of combat was first setup in Everquest (EQ). Its dynamic was to fight one thing at a time. If a group of monsters came all of them would be incapacitated in one form or another (root, stun, mez) while one target was focused fired to death. While this lead to some very strategic fights it also meant that the pace of the combat was rather slow, especially when a group had a strategy all worked out to pull mobs to one place and kill them. This format has been the staple of almost every other MMO that has been released because it has several advantages. First of all it creates battles in which it is relatively easy to ascertain what is going on and correct it. If someone needs a heal, or if a root breaks, players can see the problem and then fix it. It also allows very structured combat so everyone knows and then performs their roles (hopefully).

This is the history that WoW has to work with. Most MMO's have followed this blueprint for combat. There has been talk about WoW having a faster pace. If Blizzard truly wants make this happen they need to take note of City of Heroes (CoH).

In CoH groups routinely take villains on as a large group. While EQ type strategies of rooting and mezzing can be applied they are more of the exception than the rule. The upside of this combat is that the traditional roles in other MMO's breakdown here. Instead of having to have a tank, a crowd control artist, and a healer; groups can function with almost any makeup. So this negates the perpetual hunt for required classes in groups (yes FFXI and WHM are the prime example). This also makes combat more engaging as each player now has 5-6 things to worry about instead of one. Everyone that I have talked to prefers this combat system and it is easy to see why.

The only real drawback of this form of fighting is the chaos it can usher in. Sometimes it is nearly impossible to figure out what is happening when 5 monsters use their powers at the same time or 3 of your teammates using theirs. With time and experience this is not too much of a problem. In fact, I have spoken with a number of people that have said that the speed of combat in CoH has ruined WoW for them. After taking on seemingly impossible odds going back to more mundane combat seems boring in comparison. This is where Blizzard needs to focus their efforts. By really going back over the speed of the combat experience, they could make their game much more fun to play. I know that if I could take the pace of combat in CoH and pair it with the rich graphics and history of the WoW world, I would have a game that I would be hard pressed to give up.

From a caster's point of view, being able to unleash AoE's nearly at will makes multiple foe combat much more intense. Add 4 people throwing their own AoE's into the mix and things really start to become interesting. While WoW may not have this much carnage, to me the varied powers that each class has makes for it. Then instead of seeing how many foes I can kill, I can look at the number of different ways I can kill them. An interesting prospect indeed…

Written by: Vaevictis

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