OK, here's a reconstructed Part I of my previously lost comments. There's too much for one post 
Long comments I: Interlock
The producer comments imply that we may be seeing an end to Interlock in favor of 'free-fire' attacking on timers, which is how every other MMOG works. I’m inclined to panic but instead decided to write this, heh.
What does Interlock do for us?
- It allows synchronization of attacker and defender animations, so that MxO fighting looks like two people punching, kicking, and blocking against each other, and not two dissociated figures punching air or flinching at blows that appear to land feet away.
- It provides a mechanism where the hand-to-hand fighter’s proximity to his target is reflected; the other guy can’t simply walk away with impunity.
However the system is broken in these ways:
- As noted by the producer comments ‘zero-sum’ combat and PvP are a mismatch. If A has just a very few levels above B he will nearly always beat B; if A is significantly higher he will invariably beat not only B, but B and 50 friends of the same level of B.
- The interlock timing is out of sync with that of free-fire attacks, lending unbalanced power to the free-fire attacks as compared to the interlock combat. This is not only broken in its own right but makes balancing the different ability trees against each other nearly impossible.
- At a (small) number of interlocked opponents against one target, the system breaks down entirely and ‘thrashes’ making sure each participant has a turn to execute their roll and attacker/defender animation. This further slows down the fighting cycle. It could be said that the best way to keep someone alive in Interlock is to have five or six extra people Interlock him.
- Numerous issues and game balance problems exist with the transition in and out of Interlock; when may a MA interlock a Hacker, when may Spies successfully attack and roll out, and so forth.
OK, so it’s broken. How do we get rid of the bad without also losing the good?
Simply removing Interlock, putting the MA attacks on free-fire timers solves problems #2 and #3.
Adding a sort of avoidance/mitigation system common to other MMOGs solves #1; now we can have full hits, partial hits, misses, and more; I’d even argue that the block action ought to provide a better chance of creating states (off-balance, etc) against opponents than the three attack options.
But that still leaves #4, and we need to keep the benefits of the Interlock system.
The only way I can see the benefit of the animation system is to keep it. Even if A and B are out of Interlock, if A executes Guard Breaker either the successful or unsuccessful animation plays for both of them.
But what if, while that’s happening, C comes along and executes another attack on B? This is the real trick. If C’s attack happens without interrupting the existing animation, it looks like C’s punching air; we’ve lost the immersion. If the animation between A and B is interrupted in mid-flow, we can also lose the immersion.
I don’t think we can expect that 100% of cases will work out. However, here’s a proposed rule of thumb: the most-successful (damaging) attack’s animation takes precedence. So, say A attacks B, and hits. The hit animation plays. Then C executes an attack, but it misses. It’s then OK for C’s animation to hit air, because it’s not doing damage. However if C clobbers B, then the animation going on between A and B stops, and the one between C and B begins.
Now we’re left with one big issue; how to keep the ‘lock’ part of Interlock?
This may be very familiar to old wargamers, but I’d argue for a Zone of Control (ZOC) system. Simply put, if A enters a certain radius from B, and they are considered Hostile to each other, he is then in B’s Zone of Control. A is at risk of being clobbered by B.
When in another player’s Zone of Control, the following ought to happen:
- Base movement rate should be dramatically decreased to walk speed; you can’t run by someone trying to hit you without being completely vulnerable.
- Any attempt (whether by movement, hyperjump, or escape ability) to leave the ZOC triggers a free, immediate attack of opportunity against the person escaping. This opportunity can be denoted by flashing icon. There ought to exist some attacks which have special effects if used against a person leaving ZOC, and some which might only be used in this circumstance (e.g., it should be very dangerous to turn your back on an Assassin).
- Some or all of these attacks, if successful, inhibit the escaping player from leaving ZOC (think short-term root). If A tries to run by B, who Grabs him and throws him to the ground, A did not succeed in getting away from B.
- The method of escape (regular movement, HJ, escape ability) serves as a modifier on the attack. Someone doing a fancy escape roll is harder to hit than someone running by.
- The server may need to check both parties for movement; if A and B both run by each other they should either both have an opportunity to strike or neither have an opportunity to strike
- If a player is already engaged by combat (involved in a fighting animation) the ZOC they exert diminishes or is eliminated. If A is blocking like crazy against B’s triple kick, A is in no position to reach out and clobber C who is running for the door.
- Some other abilities executed outside of ZOC may reduce or eliminate the target’s ability to exert ZOC. Being ‘rooted’ makes it hard to stop someone running by you…
- Movement as a result of fighting animation does not trigger a ZOC opportunity (it’d be a huge bug to have someone moving on the attack animation only to provoke many ZOC opportunities by doing so). ZOC is re-evaluated at the end of the animation (if you’re kicked many feet away from someone, when you get up you might then have the chance to run)
If you like a tactical game parallel, look at NWN’s ‘attacks of opportunity.’ There leaving a ZOC provokes a free attack, but the Tumble ability allows characters the chance to avoid taking the attack.
In the movies, look at the Trinity fight at the end of M:Reloaded. She obviously would like to escape the Agent, but cannot; wherever she turns she’s forced to keep fighting. Eventually she’s booted through a door, and only then has an opportunity to try her escape through the window. (Not that it worked out very well for her, but it’s the only example I could think of where a martial-arts fight happens and the fight transitions back outside of hand-to-hand range).
If this, or something like it, is put in place then there’s still a reason for Hackers not to stand on top of Martial Artists and for Spies to be able to get in and out of fighting range quickly. It presents a lot of tactical complexity to the MxO fighting system, particularly in PvP situations.
