Z-Axis and melee in Guild Wars 2

I am 49 years old, and I have been playing Guild Wars for almost 2 years now (23 months plus) and although I have tried many of the other mmorpg games, I have not found any other game whose gameplay, graphics and storyline can hold my interest like Guild Wars does, it's the only game I now play on a daily basis.

Although I love the game, I have become very concerned with some of the changes that Anet has announced will be put in to Guild Wars 2. One of the aspects I love about Guild Wars is it's fluid movement in both combat and overall gameplay. Being quite a bit older than the average mmorpg player, my manual dexterity and reaction time is not what you would call great! That said, it was very disconcerting to me when I learned that Anet plans to do away COMPLETELY with the click to move and go with a Z-Axis system.

I am totally aware and agree that the Z-Axis system will eliminate some player exploits (such as attacking an enemy above you on a hill with a melee weapon) and allow a much more rich interaction by enabling players to swim, slide, jump, etc... HOWEVER are we to expect a control system similar to WOW or LOTRO where a melee character has to practically be on top of his enemy in order to attack, or a character to be right on top of a chest or npc in order to interact with it? I have read that target locking will not change in that you will still be able to lock on to an enemy and not just 1 part of the enemy's body HOWEVER, will a melee player still be able to click or double-click on an enemy from a distance and automatically move towards it and attack?

It is likely that many current players of the game may not find these issues to be of a major concern to them, however I can say that (although a minority) I speak for thousands of devoted gw players who love the game because of it's simple control system and find the WOW / LOTRO gameplay systems frustrating at best and not enjoyable at all to play.

Guild Wars has the lock-on attack system, so you don't have to press any buttons to attack, therefore, you don't have to be REALLY close, hugging the enemy and I'm sure they won't remove this in GW2.

I'm not. But you know what? It's far too early to know anyway. Another silly speculation thread.

Actually Jeff Strain or Mike O'Brien has stated in an interview that the targetting that we have in GW will be passed along to GW2.

There are thousands of devoted WoW players that found GW system frustrating and not enjoyable.

I agree something more simple or even more effective than the WoW control system is a must for a lot of players, saying that it needs to have the freedom feeling of being able to jump, swim, etc.

I personally feel like although the current system is effective and easy, it lacks the feeling of freedom and makes the game feel far too robotic and predetermined to me.

You're telling me you can't press buttons on a keyboard?

If they can design a good balance between the ease of movement and targeting in GW1 with the freedom to swim, jump, crawl, slide, etc. common to many other games, then I'm all for it. Give people the ability to really move around, yet also stick with the easy click-to-move features people are used to.

Just because you can bound around like a Jack Russel Terrier, doesn't mean you have to.

Well, since they are removing click-to-move, it will be interesting to see how they change the movement in GW2. I think it could be a lot like WoW, but we'll have to wait the whole 2 years to find out :P

I pretty much WASD anyway unless I want to check out my chars armour while he's running but I can understand your concerns. If what czymann said is right then I'm sure you have nothing to worry about. What I was dreading was PvP melee resembling the stupid crap from WoW where people jump through each other and basically whoever turns faster is better - but then I remembered the gw's has glorious body blocking XD

Even if they wouldn't be adding all the jump nonsense, the Z-Axis would have to be fixed for GW2. The faulty Z-Axis is the perfect soil for a horde of bugs. Attacking and blocking through walls and bridges, teleporting onto otherwise unaccessible areas, Line of Sight problems etc etc etc

About every MMORPG I have seen in the past 5 years has all used the same map system. A simple bumpy grid with objects plopped on. I'm tired of looking at the same ugly looking mountains, flat, steep but not vertical cliff faces, a complete lack of bluffs, and so on. Let's get a fresh map system in, please! This includes having more variety in terms of Z axis.

I agree with you. Removing "Click to Move" is possibly the dumbest move they can ever make. Hell, even WoW has click to move as an option now.

EVERY recent MMO that I know of has click to move in one form, shape,or fashion.

Though you can't blame this on a Z-Axis system however. The Z-Axis will remove a ton of issues with the current form of Guild Wars, yes. But the GW1 control system can easily fit into GW2 without much modification.

Trying to reinvent the control wheel will only turn off a lot of current players of the GW1.

I'm with the OP on this one. I love click to move, it's a lazy man's pot-o-gold in these types of games. Having the keyboard as the only option for movement isn't very healthy either. Strange enough, every Korean 3-D mmorpg I've played has had c2m and it worked like a charm. Click 20ft in front of you where there's a drop-off and guess what happens when you reach the end of the ground you're on - that's right, you drop off. I really hope c2m makes it way into GW2 someway. Keyboard only movement sucks to the highest degree

Properly implemented Z-axis may be a good thing because it will increase complexity of the combat. I can see wammos doing this in GW2...

I am glad to see some very good responses to my post (both for and against keeping c2m) and I do believe those who said to keep click to move as an option are on the right track.

The z-axis system will eliminate lots of exploits that are currently in the game and heck z-axis will give us jumping swimming etc... (an I am all for that) it's just that that in all the z-axis games I have played like wow and lotro, if you are melee you have to be almost on top of the enemy before you can attack them.

I believe Anet should keep click to move as an alternative to keyboard. If they are able to do this and and implement all the other features that z-axis will give us, GW2 should be a great playable game and many more GW1 players will make the move over to GW2.

Click to move has to stay! I don't mind adding lots of new options but using mouseclicks to move character is the fastest and most comfortable way. If you don't believe, come and solo me on Dragon Arena Mouse movement FTW!

I'd like a Lock-on system where you could attack while doing some moves to elimate button mashing but make it more inivative.

Space Bar = Lock on

You lock on you yoiur foe and automatic move within range if your target moves just like in our current GW however there would be other features.

(W,A,S,D)(movementkeys) + Jump key would make you jump in that direction and if you jumped forward with the attack lock you would lunge forward and attack.

Combining with attacks would also create cool effects

Lets use some common GW skills as examples

W (forward)+jump+ galrath's used in midjump = Jump Forward Then roll and slash target foe with Extra damage.

W + jump + Point blank shot used quickly = Jump up above you foe (if your close enough and he doesn't move too quickly) and shot 1 arrow that deals a fair amount of damage and land on the other side.

A + jump + Cyclone Axe = side jump then roll around your foe and jump and slash everyone with your axe.

W + jump +Inferno = Elementist jumping towards foe and exploding on contact with a bunch of fire.

Basically all these skills would have use that seem common sense if they were done jumping or rolling.

It is confusing that they would remove click to move. Having the option of both is nice, and traveling long distances isn't a chore since you can click far away.
I assume they will keep the targeting, the whole LOTR "must be facing target" thing is retarded.

Although it's a small sampling, (like myself) the majority of the people who have responded to this thread seem to be in favor of keeping click to move in GW2, at least in some form. Arena Net has a gained reputation for listening to the GW community, I sincerely hope that in the case of "click to move" they continue to listen.