Collision mechanics -- yay or nay?
by Elizabeth Wachowski 
Nov 5th 2007 at 1:07PM
The plight of the prot warrior and other tanks in PvP has been lamented for ages on the forums. DPSers can, of course, kill their opponents in PvP, and healers can help out their team, but the effectiveness of tanks depends entirely on a non-sentient opponent. Illidan and Archimonde apparently can't see beyond attacking the shiny person in the nice thick armor, but even the dumbest player knows not to go for the guy in plate with 15k health. Making taunt work on players is a commonly-mentioned idea, but it would take away a lot of the fun and strategy from PvP.
Prius of Blade's Edge has a new idea for helping out our protection buddies in PvP. He would like WoW to implement collision mechanics in PvP. That way, a prot warrior could "tank" by physically preventing enemy players from getting to his squishies. Warhammer Online is already implementing such a system, whenever it finally comes out (probably bundled with Duke Nukem Forever.)
There are a lot of problems with body collision in general, most of which are aptly summed up in this thread. Total body collision would allow WoW's infinite supply of jerks to block off access to banks, inns, dungeons and whatnot. PvE collision would turn raids into a group of tauren warriors standing around a boss while ranged DPS nukes it down. And, like everything, collision would add lag to the servers.
But a pure PvP collision, done only in battlegrounds or if two players are PvP-enabled or dueling, sounds like it could be a neat mechanic. Of course, I'd feel sorry for the gnomes, but maybe they could get some ankle-biting collision abilities.
Do you think PvP collision could be a viable new mechanic for WoW PVP? What problems would you forsee?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, PvP
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
RanWitScissorz Nov 5th 2007 1:20PM
Body collision reminds me to the days of a troll/ogre in lguk blocking the hallway to uguk while someone trained the live king / frenzy to zone.
Bentley Nov 5th 2007 1:20PM
Gnome tanks should be able to do a collision mechanic of nut kicking. That's a lot of threat generated and damage done.
Bob Nov 5th 2007 1:24PM
This is one of the improvements over WoW that Warhammer Online will have. Players of the opposite faction cannot pass through each other. Its a great idea, too bad it never found its way into WoW.
Buckshot Nov 5th 2007 1:23PM
Yes, turn it on worldwide, as it was in SWG. Will fix a lot of the spawning errors and BG "safe spot" exploiting.
Autumnbear Nov 5th 2007 1:29PM
It would make 'traditional' dungeon groups fun again.
The Warrior up front, leading the way.
Archers or Rogues taking the rear.
Mages and Priests safely protected in the middle.
I would just hope that ranged attacks and sweeping strikes didn't follow collision mechanics. If they did, we'd have to learn how to aim past the 'solid' parts of other players to hit our targets that are behind them.
Tim Nov 5th 2007 1:33PM
The introduction of collision mechanics would cause problems for WoW as currently implemented, but there's no reason why the designers couldn't figure out creative and interesting ways to solve those issues. In fact, it might make their jobs more interesting for them!
I love the idea of everything having mass, i.e. frog < gnome < tauren < bog lord < Fel Reaver. If someone is blocking you, you should be able to push them ... auto-shove as a feature? Knockout gas to clear players causing mischief etc.... who knows...
Kinda silly though to have it only in PvP... I think you either have it or you don't. But it has about as much chance of getting introduced as flying mounts in Azeroth.
marnok Nov 5th 2007 1:34PM
It doesn't work. With latency being what it is in wow, your opponent would simply push around you before you even have seen him begin to move.
The only thing collision adds is frustration of bumping into things that aren't there due to latency issues.
Tim Nov 5th 2007 1:34PM
BTW, Bentley is a genius! Ruff la mayo!
MojoMan Nov 5th 2007 1:38PM
I wonder if they can and if it will improve PvP gamplay if they implement taunts so that the attacker(s) will switch target to the taunting tank for 2 to 3 seconds?
Jeccius Nov 5th 2007 1:44PM
I like the PVP/instance-area only idea of this, mainly because it would only take one n00b to stand in the Inn doorway in Goldshire and it could knacker alot of low levelers immediately.
Warsong Gulch could be a laff too - you get the ladder effect into play. One character sits down, another hops on top, then another and another. All stand up and the top one has a clear run on top of a building :D
Tim Nov 5th 2007 1:41PM
PvP taunt = reverse fear. It's that easy.
Tim Nov 5th 2007 1:42PM
PvP taunt = reverse fear. It's that easy.
DJ Nov 5th 2007 1:49PM
Lord, NO!
Sorry, but I'm thinking of the entrances to Drek'Thar in AV. Two warriors in each corridor, backed up by a priest of two will be able to hold off all of the opposing forces. Horrible. Six hour AV's, just what I wanted.
Bentas Nov 5th 2007 1:50PM
Wouldn't work, and really even if it did wouldn't solve the actual problem, which is that the protection spec is useless in pvp.
Option #1 - Admit that every spec isn't a viable PVP spec and move on. Everyone in every possible spec and combination of talent points is NOT going to be viable in PVP and never will be. A protection tank just isn't one of them. respec or live with it.
Option #2 - As written early on here, make taunt work on players. I know it's been written here before that the protection warrior is really a CC class. They hold crowd control on one or more mobs while other people dps it down. Taking white damage threat and taunts away from warriors is taking away pretty much the only thing they can do. So make it PVP viable. Make Sunder a target interrupt which clears the players target, and have devastate be a taunt of 2 seconds per sunder applied. 5 sunders applied equals a 10 second taunt. That plus the other taunts and shouts should be enough to make Protection Spec more viable in PVP.
Paw Nov 5th 2007 1:51PM
As a warlock player, I'd like to be the first to say "Nerf PvP Taunt!" heheh! Nerf fear indeed.
None Nov 5th 2007 2:05PM
Any kind of collision detection in a game with a hojillion players is ANNOYING AS SIN. Take it from a FFXI vet, collision detection shouldn't be in an MMO!
Tim Nov 5th 2007 2:05PM
"Reverse fear" taunt could also increase the taunted player's damage against you by x % (in order to make it more fair).
rinks Nov 5th 2007 2:11PM
No, no, no. Any exploits currently available in PVP will pale compared to what this will bring. Everything in this game was designed without collison in mind. Do you really think it will just be a smooth patch?
Again- no, no, no way in hell.
Naix Nov 5th 2007 2:11PM
Sounds like a great bad idea. Next lets have rogues only do 10% extra damage from behind.
Kargrym Nov 5th 2007 2:14PM
The game Shadowbane used to have a game mechanic for making a person temporarly a collision object, immune to dmg and also rooted.
It was a very useful ability back when you could have a line up a bunch of warriors in a row, hit the "hold the line button" and then none of the opposing casters could nuke past you because you we now effectivly a literal shield wall. it was on a long recast timer but damn it was fun when you were "call targeted" by 50 people and you could hit that thing and it would take them forever to figure out why you wouldnt die, meanwhile the rest of your team is beating the hell out of thier support system.