/stick

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spaztacticsRemember that little gem? How about /follow working on your opponents as well as your allies? Those were the good times my friends. Back when we didn’t have to worry about spinning around in circles or running after the annoying laggers who loved bouncing around like buffoons trying to avoid being hit. DAOC made me appreciate those two simple slash commands. Is it a crutch? Maybe. But I’m tired of mashing keys trying to keep up with someone who won’t hold still. Please, don’t try and claim legitimate strategy here.

DAOC had ’em but WAR probably won’t. Last reports from the conventions say that /follow was in for friendlies only and /stick was nowhere to be seen. Many ex DAOC players like myself are for the /stick command and most WoW players are not. In WoW it was breed into people to run/clip through each other and spin around to execute positionals or get off an extra hit. There’s just one little thing that might get in the way of what I like to call “spaztactics”.

Collision Detection. Yep, possibly the next best thing to the stick command is nothing more than solid character models. This should cut back on some of the spaztactics we’ve had to get used to but not all. I still fully expect people to spin around and act like fish out of water attempting to perfect their capoeira technique at the first sign of a nearby opponent. As for me I’ll be content with facing my opponent and fighting. If you want to fight me and use spaztactics then I’m just going to back up and let you break dance on your own.

I can understand why a lot of people dislike the /stick stuff. In a sense it over simplifies and dumbs down the experience. To quote a very un-PC random post I read on a msg board: “/stick is a short-bus mechanic that DAOCers rely on”. Even if I were to agree with all the /stick naysayers it wouldn’t change my mind. As long as people use spaztactics I’m going to be an advocate of /stick.

Please, just hold still.

  • One thing I found kind of contradicting in DAOC was the availability of both /STICK and positional attacks. It’s pretty hard to nail someone with a side-attack if they are always facing you…

    WoW definitely favors the twitchy gamer, but I did like the feeling of being more in control of the fight. Rather than pressing /stick and only mashing my attack buttons, I would have to worry about being within range of my opponent as well, which made for a comprehensive battle experience.

    Your mention of collision detection is a good one. One of the weakest things in DAOC was when you were fighting a caster. Not only would you interrupt him constantly when engaging with melee, you could interrupt his spells by running through him at the right time. Laaaaaame.

    They may not have /stick in WAR, but they will have /face, which should be useful for the ranged DPSers.

  • That’s a good point you bring up about /stick and positional attacks being contradicting but remember in DAOC there were so many forms of crowd control. It was very easy to get your opponent stationary to execute those moves.

    /face should definitely add some degree of relief. If you hold still and set a hotkey to /face and just mash it I suppose it can accomplish the same thing. Always being able to face someone using spaztactics will be nice.

  • Snafzg, you’re kinda contradicting yourself, because /face does the same to positionals that /stick does.

    I’m personally a big fan of /stick, and even with it, I still got off plenty of positionals in DAoC. Positionals aren’t supposed to be used in 1v1, they’re for more advanced group play. And as far as I am concerned, not having to hit keys all the time to keep up with a jumpy opponent means you can devote more time and energy to playing your class well and keeping an eye on the rest of the battlefield.

    /stick is win.

  • There was a time not so long ago when I would call spaztactics skill. I still kind of consider it being skill, probably due to playing so much gdamn Counter Strike. The way I see it, if everyone can do it, it’s fair, amiright?

    I actually still do it today. It gets to a point where the common player will eventually feel almost the same as a mob. It’s a lot like Counter Strike in the aspect of knowing what people are going to do, which is the same as remembering what you used to do (if you’ve improved).

    As for /stick, boy do I miss it, boy do I remember hating it. It’s gold if you use it and cyanide if it’s used on you. There’s nothing worse than a huge friggin firbolg with a spear repeatedly stabbing you in the back no matter how desperately you try to lose him. Even turning around and running right back through them doesn’t slow them down one bit.

    I’d say if the games got collision detection, stick is unnecessary. If not, why not throw it in there for the less fortunate.

  • I am all for stick and I am completly against the spaztastics in games like WoW.

    For a game like Counterstrike, being able to aim and shoot well (ie, having good control of the keys and mouse) are apart of the game. Each shot does the same amount of damage, and the skill in that game comes from being able to headshot someone. In other words, skill being the same, all things in the game are equal.

    An MMORPG however is quite different though. Your “skill” comes from the character class (plus gear and abilities). Yes, there is still skill in knowing what abilities to use at what time, but all the “twitch” skills should play very little role in how you do. Simply put, your character doesnt dodge an attack because you move him in a spaztic way, but because he has a X% chance to dodge. All your defense is already built into the character.

    Also, given the difference between what is “melee range” in some games, trying to get off styles can be hard enough as it is. You also have to factor in lag and what not. In a real battle between a warrior and a mage, when the warrior gets up on the mage, the mage isnt going to be able to realistically dodge all these attacks because of his spaznastics. Unfortunatly, some of these games do have these issues and no real balance around it.

    In essence, battles should be fought more like the Final Fantasy games, where you are locked in combat and get to do one move at a time.

    /stick may help, and so may collision detection, but so far, I dont think any MMO has done it well enough that keyboard “skill” isnt factored in.

  • Doh, I did contradict myself, didn’t I!

    I didn’t find it all too bad in WoW to be honest, and I’m far from being good at the spaztastics… Bonedead brings up a good point that I forgot to mention.

    I liked that you could somewhat avoid combat if you chose in WoW due to the lack of stick. If you knew the terrain better than your enemy, you could use it to your advantage (jump over that rock, run under that bridge, climb onto the shore, up and over the bank making a hard right turn. With stick, someone would autofollow you and eventually catch up because the computer was guiding them and playing the exact angles for you. In WoW, you actually stood a chance at escape.