If latency is that large an issue with the idea; cutting the 45-90-45 down to a simple 180 should be sufficient.

edit: and just because I'm not sure if it was clear, but staves can be substituted for any non-shield block in this case.

I can't into words

I like the idea, but they have more important issues to work on right now.

"Fix by nerf" is bad philosophy. Especially when applied to things that aren't broke.

Sprinting in Heavy Armor should cost 5x Stamina. You can't run in platemail.

The idea is nice, and coming from someone who heavily modded Oblivion to get a more realistic combat experience out of it this would be an interesting change. The problem is, as mentioned above, that server side lag could easily kill this system, but there is another problem.

Go in game and block, then spin the camera around your character. The direction you are facing isn't the same as your characters. In first person you can spin all you want but your 3rd person model doesn't rotate at all until you attack or move. I just feel this system could be far to cumbersome and people would notice the change for all the wrong reasons given how little time the game has to register all of the players precise movements.

But I do agree, the current system where "blocking" is simply a toggled buff given to the player could use some work.

fixing block casting is actually the better solution when considering performance. If ZOS devs can make it work without a performance hit then your idea is good. If not then jsut dont allow block casting.

Who cares, you just spent a lot of time to produce a decent idea, supported it with well thought out supporting arguments, and ended up with something that ZOS is going to completely ignore. Just remember, if a dev did not think of it, then its a crappy idea. The secret is to make the devs think they thought of it, then it will take priority over everything else.

Perhaps go an extra 10 degrees on each side just to compensate for latency, even drop the amount slightly for that section.

Otherwise, awesome!

Soloeus wrote: »

"Fix by nerf" is bad philosophy. Especially when applied to things that aren't broke.

Sprinting in Heavy Armor should cost 5x Stamina. You can't run in platemail.

Sure and cloth should have an armor rating of 0.

heck it did in single ES games.

*shrug*
This is supposed to be an RPG, combat is supposed to be abstract. I see nothing wrong with 360 degree blocking. In fact, I'd tend to argue directionality in general should be irrelevant. (fun fact, it sort of is. Turning in first person doesn't seem to have turned you when you zoom out to 3rd. No clue what direction the rest of the world thinks I'm facing, if it doesn't even match up for me between 1st and 3rd person.) IMO, 3rd edition had the right idea when they got rid of the whole "directionality" aspect of rogue attacks (replacing backstab with sneak attack), replacing "from behind" with the concept of flanking/flatfooted.

That said, if you want to really get into it technically, I'd have to argue that shields should protect 180. From 45 degrees front right, around to the front, to 45 degrees back left. You should also be able to attack with your sword or cast spells simultaneously when using a shield. Realistically, you should really pretty much always be blocking when you've got a shield on one arm, and 1-hander in your other hand. (unless you're actually shield bashing, of course)

And, notice I specified 1-hander. ESO shields aren't particularly large. Small shields like the ones in ESO tend to be strapped to the arm. Smaller shields could actually be used while wielding 2h weapons. That said, with a 2h weapon, it WOULD be pretty difficult to block with a shield while actually attacking with the weapon.


All that said, I'd be inclined to suggest weapons shouldn't be able to parry ranged attacks. Only shields should be an effective defense against them. However, I have no problems whatsoever with weapons (staffs, daggers, 2h swords, bows etc.) being able to parry melee weapons. Heck, there's a name for it. Parry.

...but either it applies to all weapons lines the same or it is increased with sword+shield.

The game has lousy tracking, how many times will it not let you weapon hit the guy right in front of you, until you take a step back.

Until they fix how the game tracks where you are, and where everybody else is, this can't happen.