Hello there!

Two somewhat related topics were selected this week, based on answers our developers gave at the MMORPG.Com Earthrise Developer Chat. The limited chat time did not allow us to elaborate further on everything we could have, so this is a great time to provide clarification on these important subjects.

This week's questions are based on two quotes in particular:

and

(bold emphasis ours)

And here are our questions:
Q: If someone sneaks up on me and I have no weapon equipped because I was crafting, do I have any hope of fighting back?
 
A: While crafting, players are never forced to leave their weapons aside. If you are ambushed while crafting, you can immediately respond to an aggressive action. But once combat starts, your character cannot swap his weapon for another. There are some very important strategic decisions associated with the choice of weapon, such as the type of damage dealt, the array of combat abilities that become available, and the weapon along with all other pieces of gear influencing your overall power that is used to calculate the spoils of the battle. Lorewise, Earthrise weaponry uses a configuration interface for powering through a character's energy matrix that requires fine tuning, which is not possible in the fray of a battle.
 
Q: Can you switch weapons between duels? Are there timers between duels planned? Is there a dueling mechanism? Are there any penalties for refusing duels? Can you turn it on and off (say to 'auto refuse' duels)? How will these mechanics differ from just being able to kill people out in the open?
A: We're still testing the basic model for consensual PvP so we have very few details to provide. Basically, duels are intended for testing skill and gear builds in a consensual, risk-free manner. There are no severe penalties for death, and there's no death at all - the loser is rejuvenated at the spot of the duel rather than respawned at a cloning facility, does not lose his life insurance, and he will not drop his inventory if not insured. Duels also do not give players death reports and do not allow them to place bounties. We will make sure that constant offers for duels do not bother players.

For those of you wanting more information on this topic, or possibly will want to refer to it later in other threads, key words/phrases/talking points for this topic include: weapon switching, dueling, duels, crafting, combat, energy matrix

We look forward to reading your thoughts on this topic.
~ m.

I assume by 'swap' they mean like one would 'swap' between equiped weopons in GoW or DeadSpace with the D-Pad and not mean like changing weopon in inventory for one in weopon slot like in WoW. Else all my opinions here = speculation.

I've been contemplating a large complaint about this idea but keep convinsing myself out of it, the idea is rather sound having just one weopon be it a sidearm or twohanded it adds more uniqueness and caution to what weopon you train in, I thaught I had issues with things such as mellee being kited and those with that large cannon being defenceless to mellee that it'd be rock paper scissors but in fact it makes sense, you gear up with fellow team members so picking the right group will be vital to success, being a certian style of player such as mellee theirs going to be enemy types that are hard to kill and easy to kill.

In the examples I stated their are solutions;

A mellee and long range fight - mellee weopons are lighter, and likely movement boosts will be specialised also to help close in without dying first, or use of stealth tech.
A player with that big cannon can do lots of damage per shot but the weakness to mellee is their drawback however, as a concept art peice showed their was a blade on a pistol I can only assume most if not all weopons have a mellee capacity, even if its just a blunt smack with the hilt atleast its a form of defence, relying on allies at that point is probably your only escape. But its a fair trade for damage output you'd otherwise do.

Nice little lore there about the reason for no switching, makes it some what better and more reasonable. Also, I'm glad that crafters don't have to put down arms to craft.

I like that idea. Perhaps a hand to hand skill?

My biggest concern about not being able to switch weapons in combat is the paper-rock-scissors scourge. It forces everyone into repetitive roles, and greatly limits the strategies and tactics available for any given encounter. Since duels were specifically mentioned as an aspect of ER pvp I'd hope that every weapon skill would have different abilities allowing enough variety to overcome paper-rock-scissors limitations. Duels are lame if the outcome is determined before the first shot is fired.

I'm really glad crafters won't be vulnerable when doing their thing.

I've always disliked the "in combat" lockout systems, a bit disappointing that it survives into another game.  IMO it would be great to switch weapons or even certain pieces of gear, with penalties.  For example, I'm running around with an assualt riffle but the fight goes close quarters so I sling the riffle back drawing out 2 hand guns.  Now as a penalty, dmg is reduced (unsynced so I'm not aiming optimally) and many skills I should have are unavailible for several seconds as sync is established (even more powerful skills may have to wait for the weapon to charge off my power grid even after that).  There are other times I dislike in combat lockouts as well, bandaging could make sense to be locked out but I prefer to be able to do it (just have the action highly penalized or undesirable).

Oh well not really a surprise.

Think of a paintball gun that uses batteries for the auto-feeder



Its not as freeform skill-based as I had hoped now that I know its basically a dual spec system: One part determined by armor, another by weapon. At least we can still switch freely amongst them, so long as we are not in combat. I think I'd like to know now how much diversity there will be in a given setup, for example, how much variety there is amongst a squad of riflemen in light armor.

Also, are we we being promised gambling on duels?

Like Melkior mentions above, this lack of flexibility puts a higher premium on grouping. That's not necessarily a bad thing

I'd also like more clarification on what "out of combat" looks like. Can I disengage (that sounds much better than 'run away' ) and after a short time no longer be in combat and so can switch to other weapons in my inventory?

Urgh, this part is making me cringe my nose. Mostly since I have NO IDEA what to expect. All we have are speculations based on individual interpretations of what is being said.

All in all, this seems to be somewhat of a parallel to AO's system: You have ONE weapon! And then it's all programs, skills or just plain dumb luck. With the last part making up the bulk of it all. Toss in dynamic combat and, random chance will take on an even BIGGER role.