ArenaNet:Guild Wars 2 suggestions/Action Battle System Control Scheme

(Discussion)
Many comments made by the Anet staff on multiple occasions have led me to believe that they intend to incorporate an action battle system into GW2. One example of a game with a system of this type is Phantasy Star Universe, and, I have to say, that system was one of the only two things I liked about the game (that and the character customization system). If GW2 uses a system of this type, it will need better compatibility with 12-buttion controllers (like the Logitech Dual Action controller I’m holding in my hands now) as they are the best means of interface for games with action battle systems. This page suggests a controller layout as well as an action battle system to go along with it.



Menu
To access the menu, press button 10 (the START button). While accessing the menu, you can cycle through several windows with the shoulder buttons to manage your inventory, view mission logs and objectives, view the overworld map, equip your skill bars, manage your equipment, adjust your game settings, send messages, view your status, manage your attributes, search for nearby parties, send invites, search for events, and more. To navigate the menus, you may use the left analog, the D-pad, or the mouse.

Chatting
To open chat, press ENTER on your keyboard. Use the keyboard to type in the message you wish to send and press ENTER again to send it. You may use the mouse to access different chat channels. If voice chat is available, you would likely only be able to talk to party members, not on open chat channels.

Emotes
To use emotes, open chat. Then type in the name of the emote preceded by a slash. You may also assign emotes to the four different directions on your D-pad for accessing them on the go (see D-Pad Functions).

Walking and Running
Running in any direction would be done by moving the left analog stick. To walk, press the analog stick lightly in any direction.

Other Forms of Travel
Swimming will be done by pressing the left analog stick in any direction while your character is in the water. Your speed will be not be adjustable. To crawl, move the left analog in any direction while holding down button 11 (L3). While crawling in areas with tall grass or heavy vegetation, your aggro bubble shrinks dramatically. This allows you to sneak up on enemies. Very useful for grabbing and disabling enemy combatants (see Physical Skills). You cannot attack while swimming or crawling.

Talking and Interacting with the Environment
You may only interact with your environment while you are neither targeting an enemy nor aggroing an enemy (see Targeting Enemies). To interact with your environment while outside of battle, simply walk over to who or whatever it is you wish to interact with and press button 1. This allows you to pick up items, talk with NPCs, initiate trade, open doors and chests, join parties, and much, much more.

Camera Controls
To adjust your camera’s angle, move the right analog in any direction. To center your camera directly behind your character, press button 5 (L1) while there are no enemies nearby. Hold down button 5 (L1) to keep the camera centered while moving. To cycle through four preset distances, press button 12 (R3) repeatedly. To adjust the camera manually, use the mouse.

Targeting Enemies
Press button 5 (L1) to target the nearest enemy within targeting range. While you are targeting an enemy, your camera will focus on it, and their health bar and name will appear at the top of your screen. To cycle through all enemies in targeting range, press button 5 (L1) repeatedly. While you are targeting an enemy, all of your attacks will be directed towards that enemy. This is true for both ranged and melee attacks as well as spells. Healing spells and spells with the potential to heal will automatically target the member of your party with the least health though you can manually target players using your party window and mouse. If you are holding a shield, it will only be effective while you are targeting an enemy.

Weapon Attacks
To attack using the weapon equipped to your character, press button 1 while targeting or aggroing an enemy. Press and hold button 1 to charge energy and release the button to execute a power attack. Each weapon belongs to a weapon class, and all weapons of the same class have the same or similar power attacks. These are very powerful and some can interrupt spells or even knock enemies down, but the charging stage can usually be interrupted by enemy attacks. Press button 1 repeatedly to execute a combo. All weapon classes are capable of executing combos, even ranged ones, and all weapons of the same class execute the same basic combo with a set number of hits in it. At the end of each combo is a finishing move. These are slightly more powerful than regular attacks. Weapons can also be programmed to execute a skill at the end of a combo. Some skills change if executed at the end of certain weapon combos. This can be any regular or racial skill, though attack skills are recommended. However, if you are for some reason unable to execute the preset skill at the end of your combo (insufficient energy, long recharge time, etc…), you will execute the standard finishing move for that weapon.

On a side note, the longest combo should probably belong to the bow. One possible combo could fire 8 normal shots with increasing rapidity, and then fire a double shot, then a triple shot.

Regular Skills
Regular skills must be equipped to one of your two regular skill bars to be used in combat. This can be done by accessing the menu. The two regular skill bars are the primary bar and the secondary bar. The primary bar has 3 slots and the secondary one has 4. To use a skill that has been equipped to the primary bar, press the corresponding button (2, 3, or 4). To use a skill on the secondary skill bar, hold down button 6 (R1) and press the corresponding button (1, 2, 3, or 4).

On your screen there will be a display of buttons 1-4 with the names of the skills currently equipped to those buttons off to the side. When you use a skill, the corresponding button on the display will darken and will not fully un-darken until the skill is recharged.

Lastly, it may be possible to combine some skills for increased effects. To do this, both skills will have to be equipped to the same bar. To execute the combination, push both of the corresponding buttons at once. Some skills can also be charged for more power by holding down the corresponding button, then releasing. Some skills also change if executed at the same time as a weapon attack. To do this, press the corresponding button and button 1 at the same time. Other skills change if executed while a power attack is charging. To do this, hold down button 1, and then press the button which corresponds to the skill you wish to use. Of course, any skill to be combined with your weapon attack must be on the primary skill bar.

Race Skills
Some skills are only available to members of a specific race. These can only be equipped to the racial skill bar. Skills on this bar can be executed by holding down button 8 (R2) and pressing the corresponding button (1, 2, 3, or 4). All actions which affect the outcome of regular skills also affect racial skills.

Physical Skills
Some skills allow your character to perform special actions such as jumping and grabbing and throwing. All physical skills are available to you at the beginning of the game. They all use a nominal amount of energy and have a short recharge time. Physical skills can be placed on any skill bar, including the racial skill bar. They can also be applied to more than one slot on the skill bars so that they can be accessed from any of them. This allows you to combine them with skills on any bar as physical skills can often be combined with other skills for special effects. These skills also are often affected by your character’s race. For instance, a Norn will be able to throw several enemies that an Asura could not, and Humans are lighter than the Norn and have longer legs than the Asura, so they would have a higher or longer jump.

The weapon attack skill can be thought of as a physical skill, but, while it can be applied to more than one slot on the skill bars, it cannot be totally removed from the skill bars altogether. Also, it does not use energy nor does it have a recharge time.

Examples of Physical Skills:

Jumping – This ability, like the attack skill, may be permanently on your skill bar, though you would still be able to move it around. If you could not move it around, then I would suggest assigning it to button 2. You can affect the trajectory of the jump by holding down the jump button or initiating the jump at running speed. This ability may also come with an ability to grasp ledges and climb onto them. Running off a sheer cliff at full speed will automatically initiate a jump. Pressing up against a ledge while outside of combat and pressing button 1 will initiate a short jump and allow you to climb up onto the ledge. Also,, while targeting, you can dodge to either side by pressing while pressing the analog stick left or right. You can also leap towards or away from the targeted enemy by pressing jump while pressing the analog stick forward or backward.

Kicking Attacks – I’ve heard nothing about this being included in the game, but if it is, it would fall into the category of physical skills. This attack would function similarly to the weapon attack, causing your character to execute a kicking combo specific to their race. Surprisingly, yes, Asura legs look just long enough to actually be used for kicking. These attack combos would knock your enemy back a short distance and cause a nominal amount of damage.

Grabbing/Throwing – It is somewhat doubtful that this will be included in the game, however, if it is, it would need to be accompanied by a weight system. According to my system, there would be seven levels of weight: one for each race, one lighter than any race, and one heavier than any race. Enemies below your weight rating, you can grab, slowly drag around, and/or throw over short distances. Enemies at your weight rating, you can hold stationary but not throw or drag around. Enemies above your weight rating can slowly drag you around and cannot be thrown, dragged, or held stationary. In any case, only certain skills can be executed during a grab. This goes for both you and your enemy, so grabbing an enemy, even one heavier than yourself, still prevents them from using most of their skills and totally prevents them from using their weapon. This can be especially useful against nukers and brawlers. Unfortunately, a grabbed enemy can continue casting any spell that was initiated before the grab. Also, grabbed enemies can still be damaged by party members, and those of equal or lesser weight absorb a percentage of the damage dealt to you.

In any event, several seconds after you grab an enemy, they will break free of your grasp and the grab has a longer recharge time than any other physical skill to prevent its overuse. If you are knocked down while holding an enemy, it will escape your grasp. Also, an enemy cannot be grabbed while they are executing an attack combo or if they are holding a raised shield (see Targeting Enemies). Grabbing an enemy while mounted would allow you to drag them over short distances, and some mounts are capable of throwing enemies. Lastly, all mounts would have level 6 weight rating (except for Charr siege beasts who have a weight rating of 7), and a character who is mounted functions as part of that mount and thus cannot be grabbed off the mount.

Combination Skills
In order to simplify matters concerning skill combinations, it will be possible for you to link two skills together and place them in the same slot on your skill bar. This only works for skills which affect each other when used at the same time. Physical skills cannot be combined in this way as they only affect skills initiated immediately after them. Also, Racial skills can only be combined with racial skills, though physical skills often affect them. To further simplify matters, every skill description includes a list of all the skills it can be combined with as well as all other conditions (such as setting one at the end of a weapons combo) that will affect it. All combined skills also have their own descriptions, but these can only be be accessed after the two skills have been combined on the skill bars. There will also be extended descriptions of how each skill is affected by various condition made available to you also. Simply select a skill and then select "Extended Description" for a detailed description of all its capabilities.

Mounts and Their Skills
Assuming there are mounts in GW2, all mounts will have their own skill bar which replaces your racial skill bar and can likewise be accessed by holding down button 8 (R2). All mount skill bars include a dismount command. The mount skill bar may be customizable in your menu screen. All or most of your physical skills can be used while mounted, including your weapon attack, but all of your physical skills will be affected and changed by your mount. Most regular skills, though, are disabled my mounts and few of them are changed by mounts. An mount's running speed can be adjusted with the D-pad (See D-Pad Functions). Running at increased speeds can exhaust a mount. However, this requires a few minutes at full running speed, and dashing past multiple groups of enemies may not be an option in some areas as their power attacks can often knock a player off his mount. Your mount's stamina will be displayed on a gray bar, just above your health and energy bars. While you are not on your mount, they will fight by your side. They can be equipped with better armor and may have adjustable attributes. Considering the variety of mounts and their varied morphologies, mount armor will likely be upgraded as a whole rather than having parts. In any case, their status, skills, and equipment can be viewed and managed from the menu screen.

Blocking Attacks
There is no button or skill for blocking. Some skills allow you to "evade", but none, by themselves, can block an attack. However, if you are holding a shield of any kind, it will automatically be raised while you are targeting an enemy. Any attack coming from that enemy or any enemy 75 degrees to the left or right of that enemy, which can be blocked, will be blocked by your shield. Some attacks only suffer reduced damage when blocked while others are stopped completely. Many spells and other attacks cannot be blocked by a shield, and power attacks, while they do suffer reduced damage, tend to have a higher propensity for knocking you down if they are blocked. Also, some finishing moves cannot be blocked and will knock you down if you try. Some skills allow you to use two-handed weapons to block either melee or ranged attacks. Also, firearms, if included, may penetrate shields. Lastly, while mounted, you may not be able to block anything.

Basic Resurrection
Several skills will allow you to resurrect fallen allies more effectively, but the ability to simply resurrect them with ten percent of their total health is permanently available to all characters. It is equipped to button 7 (L2). Simply hold down button 7 (L2) for a short period of time to resurrect the nearest fallen ally. If you gain other resurrection skills, you can equip one of those to button 7 to replace basic resurrection. Basic resurrection uses no energy and recharges every 30 minutes and after you defeating a boss. The recharge status of your resurrection skill is displayed in a circle near the upper left-hand corner of your screen.

D-Pad Functions
The D-pad on your controller has three basic functions and one extra function available for those using siege beasts. To cycle through these functions, press button 9 (SELECT).

Emotes - Using your menu, you can assign four emotes to the D-pad (one for each of the cardinal directions)to easily access them on the go. This is not an essential function and can be enable or disabled in the menu to simplify use of the D-pad.

Weapon Sets - You can link up to four different weapon sets to the four directions on your D-pad for easy access. This is more essential to combat, but it can still be enabled or disabled for simplification of D-pad use.

Mount Speed - This can be accessed at all times, but it has no effect until you are on a mount. While in this mode, pressing up on the D-Pad will increase your mount's speed, and pressing down on the D-pad will decrease your mount's speed. Pressing left or right will do nothing. A mount's slowest walking speed is equal to the speed of a running player character. Speed increases by increments of 11% and maxes out at 33% faster than ordinary characters. However, every setting higher than walking speed exhausts your mount. 11% can be maintained for perhaps twenty-five minutes at a time, and thus could be considered a good running speed. 22% could be maintained for about twelve minutes, and 33% could only be maintained for maybe four minutes at best. The more dramatic the exhaustion on your mount, the longer it will take for him to recover. Mounts can recover at walking speed, but they do better while you are dismounted. This function of your D-pad cannot be disabled as it essential to mount control.

Targeting Reticule - When you activate a siege beast's siege mode, a small dot appears on your radar directly above your beast's position, and your D-pad automatically switches to this function. Using your D-pad, you can move the dot on your radar to anywhere within the beast's range and use a firing command skill to order it to fire on this location. Otherwise the beast will attack your target or, if you have no target, will fire on the nearest enemy in range. All ranged beasts also have a minimum range and are thus incapable of firing on their own position, and all siege beasts require you to have a firing command on your racial skill bar while they are in use (similar to the "charm animal" skill in GW1). Lastly, the targeting reticule function cannot be removed from your D-pad as it is essential for effective use of the siege beast.


 * Why this is a good idea
 * Allows for complex battle structure and engaging game play
 * Assigns more complex functions to the right hand while relegating simpler functions to the left hand, making it easier for 3/4 of the population (those who are right-handed) to play the game


 * Why it may not work out
 * May lead to overly complex battle structure forcing players to study skills heavily to come up with effective builds
 * Am alternative control scheme may be needed to accommodate left-handed players