Hi there,

Two short questions today, one taken from our QOTW thread and the other designed to give us all an update on the combat system in development.

Will there be any attributes, items or skills which will modify the rate of which you will gain more skills?
There will be no items or abilities that directly affect the rate of acquiring skills via increased inflow of skill points. We want to make sure that skills are learned in a fluid and balanced progression. What will define the rate of gaining skills in Earthrise will be either rate of success in gameplay such as combat, or the gradual use of different abilities no matter how minuscule each contributing to the overall experience of the character. 

We understand that the combat system has undergone a fair number of changes over time. Can you highlight for us anything major that's been added or taken out from what's been previously announced?
 
While most we have announced so far has been implemented exactly up to our promise, we have been making many changes based on our own experience playing the game we're designing. One of the major changes we have definitely improved on is the control scheme which has been made more responsive and ergonomic, making it much easier to move while targeting your opponents with special abilities. Entering and leaving combat is now left to the player by choosing manually one of two control modes. Players can target their enemies using a muzzle-point cursor but can now easily switch to unlocked cursor for both shooting at any position on the screen with visibility being the only limiting factor, and also selecting and using interface items even in Battle Mode. In Exploration Mode players will move faster and be able to interact with devices and terminals but have no combat capability and would be more vulnerable. In Battle Mode players will have their armor and battle gear fully charged for combat, but will move slower to make targeting more comfortable to combatants. We have also moved from the previous implementation of locking which caused problems while targeting multiple opponents to an assisted cursor targeting which helps players lock their cursor to a target as long as they are pointing in a close enough range from them.

Enjoy!
~ m.

So it sounds like different "stances", in one you can initiate combat but are limited, and in the other you can access other options in the game. Are these forced, will there be customization in the types of control each gives?

Muzzle point curser meaning, standard your mouse is the reticule? Unlocked cursor being something similar to planetside's (or any other fps for that matter) hit a button to get your mouse up and interact with menus and chat?

The battle mode / exploration mode doesn't seem that new. Atanas explained a similar system in the first video he narrated. Tab was used to toggle between the two mods. It seems similar to both Fallen Earth and Mortal Online.

It will be interesting to see how viable a mouse-free combat mode would be. Even with QWEASD it won't be very useful for run-and-gun. I think for the time being I'll stick to mouse-look.

The changed to targeting seem interesting. Its good to hear that targetiing is going to be more fluid. It sounds like things will be more flexible. Are you willing to make a comparison with your system against the one implemented in Tabula Rasa.

I always enjoy this time of the week on the forums.

Regarding the combat/exploration modes I'll need to see a video or hands on experience to try and form an opinion on the matter.

The only two questions I currently have are, when switching between modes will I be penalized in any way with regards to having to wait for my gear to be fully charged, before I am combat ready so to speak. Secondly, if my normal speed takes “x number of seconds” to kick in, between switching from battle mode to exploration mode.          

Regards
Ironfield

When reading about these different targetingmodes I can't help making the comparison to SWG once again. These different modes worked really well so most deffinetly nice to see something similar in ER. Being able to move faster when not in combat is also a great idea! Those long travels from one place to another are never fun so lets make them shorter

God I hope not - that just leads to Darkfall style macro progression.

I agree it has potential for that, but just as you argue ways to counter exploitation of pvp progression, there are a multitude of ways to counter macro exploitation also, especially if the majority of the skill gain does not come from it.

Regardless Ael might be right when (he?) says that using a full range of abilities instead of one or two will have a slight increase on the regular experience you earn from killing mobs.

Would also depend on the amount of xp gained from skill usage.  If you get 1 xp per use and need 100000 to level up, it's going to take you a while.  This would be for just the skill usage vs nothing.  You might also run into performance issues if many players are in the towns using abilities to boost xp.