Forums » General Pantheon Discussion

Using elevated terrain to your advantage

    • 839 posts
    May 31, 2017 12:23 AM PDT

    Hey guys,

    Had a thought last night, as a lover of the old gem of a game (and Bungie's best) Myth TFL and anyone who has played that will know that terrain and elevating ranged units is a big part of the game. I was thinking about if Pantheon included using terrain to the advantage of ranged projectile skills eg. Bow, Fireball, Throwing Knives etc. 

    So its pretty simple, but it might not be an easy thing to include i have no idea.  But If you are a ranged fighter and you put yourself on a hill, could this increase the range of your bow or the distance your fireball can fly etc.  I wouldnt expect this to have any effect to non projectile spells (eg. lightning bolt that comes out of the sky above the mob).   Maybe being at an elevated height compared to the mob could also offer a mild accuracy increase.  Not a big deal either way but somthing i thought could be cool.

    Sorry if this has been discussed...

    Any thoughts?

     

     

    • 2130 posts
    May 31, 2017 12:57 AM PDT

    Doesn't really work imo in a game that doesn't have physical projectiles. When physics isn't a part of the deal, it seems really contrived.

    For instance:

    "Okay Rangers, make sure you all stand on this rock 10ft above the mob so you do 10% more damage."

    • 3237 posts
    May 31, 2017 5:27 AM PDT

    I always thought something like this would be cool if implemented correctly.  Unless the game is designed with something like this in mind from the beginning, though, I imagine it being pretty difficult to implement on a consistent basis.  We wouldn't want to see hills or elevated platforms popping up "just 'cause."  If it were used as a situational advantage for rangers though?  Yeah, that would be awesome and add some flavor to the class and another dynamic to combat.  I actually shared a post with a similar concept in the past regarding rangers doing bonus damage while elevated ... it's a neat theory but likely difficult to pull off with great effect.  Thanks for sharing your idea Hokanu.

    • 42 posts
    May 31, 2017 6:22 AM PDT

    The only thing I remember from EQ about being elevated was Mages with their bolt spells and there was a bug where if they were elevated enough it would essentially "double cast" with just one cast of the bolt spell. It's a neat idea but I agree with Liav; it's hard to fit in to this kind of game. Every camping spot would be around a bunch of rocks or hills to give maximum bonus damage and every raid would probably be spent telling everyone to stop looking for elevation and just kill the boss.

    • 432 posts
    May 31, 2017 6:30 AM PDT

    I thought this was really neat when I saw it done in Final Fantasy Tactics. Crossbows and normal bows were so interesting with the height and range distances.

    That being said, i dont know an easy way of making this work. Im sure there already is a system that knows how far away you are from the target, but i dont know how in depth that could be.

     

    -mobile

    -Todd

    • 2419 posts
    May 31, 2017 6:27 PM PDT

    All of this becomes instantly irrelevant when you start fighting dragons, giants or other monsters who are extremely large in size. 

    • 1618 posts
    May 31, 2017 6:31 PM PDT

    Sounds good, as long as it works for NPCs hitting players as well.

    • 3237 posts
    May 31, 2017 7:14 PM PDT

    Beefcake said:

    Sounds good, as long as it works for NPCs hitting players as well.

    I would find that enjoyable.

    • 839 posts
    May 31, 2017 7:53 PM PDT

    oneADseven said:

    Beefcake said:

    Sounds good, as long as it works for NPCs hitting players as well.

    I would find that enjoyable.

    Aye! that might create a sense of urgency to take out / lock doen any ranged npc's up high especially in areas like black dagger keep! Great suggestion :)

    • 3237 posts
    May 31, 2017 7:59 PM PDT

     

    Hokanu said:

    oneADseven said:

    Beefcake said:

    Sounds good, as long as it works for NPCs hitting players as well.

    I would find that enjoyable.

    Aye! that might create a sense of urgency to take out / lock doen any ranged npc's up high especially in areas like black dagger keep! Great suggestion :)

    Or add to what Joppa talked about in the recent stream where archers could rain arrows down on you as a zone effect of sorts.  Would be super cool for sure!


    This post was edited by oneADseven at May 31, 2017 7:59 PM PDT
    • 37 posts
    May 31, 2017 10:51 PM PDT

    So, this definitely was an issue in EverQuest.

    I hope games have gotten better, but as I'm not a game designer/developer, I don't know.

    I love the idea and concept of elevation tactics. EverQuest, at least Oments of War and before(when I stopped) suffered from a typical issue, which was the game did NOT care about the Z-axis. This lead to being able to exploit anything that let you cast on a target that was within X/Y range, but let's say, 3000 feet above you, but didn't require physical sight(like healing).

    If games are appropriately checking elevation, sure, give a bonus to ranged attakcs. I'm fine with this from a tactical standpoint. I'm for mechanics that reward players for good positioning. 

    • 801 posts
    June 5, 2017 5:39 PM PDT

    Cool, Pin the mob into the rocks @ the mountain, let the AOE's bounce off, while we dps it down. Smart exploits there :(

    I am sure there will be tools, and players that take care of these situations, or will they? until released.

     

    Not all was reported back then, because we never got to actually experience the exploits until final release. Once it was, players exploited but it was locked down once players had a reason to report it. Probally after they looted everything they needed.