Breakfast Topic: What if World of Warcraft were more physics-based?
by Josh McGee 
May 13th 2011 at 8:00AM
Many new MMOs coming out recently released boast about how they have amazingly new and realistic physics engines. A new one coming out, TERA, looks like it will be very heavily physics-based, and I'm sure it will be fun for a lot of players.
World of Warcraft is an old game -- six years old, in fact, and while Cataclysm updated it to a great extent, it is impossible to add things like a great physics engine without rewriting the entire source code of the game. So maybe in World of Warcraft 2, we'll have more realistic physics.
But what would WoW be like now if it had a more realistic physics engine? Sure, we have things like gravity, knockbacks, and vehicles, but you can't pick up a tree and chuck it at someone! You can't be cut up by the propeller of some deadly gnomish plane (those danged gnomes), and as my friend pointed out to me the other day, there is no friction. Think about it: In games like Super Mario 64, when you stop running, you lose momentum, so you still move a foot or two. In WoW, you have complete control over your actions (unless you're fighting one of those accursed warlocks), and momentum hardly ever comes into your mind when playing.
So, dear reader, what do you think about a more realistic physics engine? Do you think it would make WoW better -- or do you think WoW is great as it is, nice and simple? Share your opinions and maybe some ideas of what a good physics engine could do!
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Dale May 13th 2011 8:08AM
Better! My first experience with physics in an mmo was City of Heroes and knockbacks were a pure joy! My favorite moment: power thrusting an enemy way and killing him. He flew up into the air and landed on a fence, by his crotch....just dangling there.
Brett Porter May 13th 2011 11:54AM
Well, that's what happens when you power thrust someone.
Eirik May 13th 2011 3:34PM
Part of what you are referring to is the rag-doll physics model they added. What you overlook (or didn't experience) is the performance degradation (frames per second, effective lag, etc) that adding that caused. If your hardware was up to the challenge, no problem. However....
themightysven May 13th 2011 8:10AM
Now you're thinking with Portals: Stonard
Zenith May 13th 2011 8:12AM
A Wow type MMO with no friction would be hilarious! Just add some Benny Hill music and you're set for a nights entertainment! Dungeons and raidbosses wont be a big problem as just getting to them(and hope you dont have to move in the fight at all)
Cheb May 13th 2011 8:12AM
I've never played an MMO with physics, but I'm remembering killing ogres in Oblivion and watching them (and my precious loot) go tumbling down a mountain to get stuck on a tree in a spot I couldn't reach. I'm good with no physics in WoW.
Amaxe May 13th 2011 9:16AM
Sounds like if they added a physics engine there'd be more use for the http://www.wowhead.com/item=60854/loot-a-rang
GrumblyStuff May 13th 2011 9:52AM
@Amaxe
Urg.. have you ever used a boomerang? I'd have to fetch it after I (poorly) threw it and would just vendor it after the third try.
Imnick May 13th 2011 9:52AM
I don't think this would improve the game either, it just sounds far too gimmicky to include in combat more than the knockbacks we already have and would eat memory while not being good for much more than making bodies roll down hills.
You can keep your physics.
Noyou May 13th 2011 1:21PM
Oh my I hated that in Oblivion. Any time on an incline. Lost loots. Especially in the high grass or inside the towers where the Oblivion gates were. Plus it was dark :( There are a couple of mobs in WoW that really irk me. When they die they roll away from you. It's not even that far but when you are trying to kill 10 or more for some quest it's just a pain. I'm ok with the whole suspension of reality/physics. I mean how fun would it be if we could only carry a few items in our backpacks? It's a game first and foremost. It's gotta be fun and let's face it the reason why we are here is to get AWAY from reality ;)
Siorra May 13th 2011 8:14AM
The thing about WoW is it's fast paced and puts a lot of emphasis on your position in the world. It's not the type of game that would suit ramped up movement speed or player / mob collision. Though saying that I would love to try the game out with enemy collision. Friendly player collision wouldn't work for most raid setups or PvP, but not being able to walk through enemies would be... interesting. For a while, anyway.
MeesterCat May 13th 2011 8:19AM
Talking of player collision, that was something I enjoyed in WAR PvP. Having tanks being able to block and hinder melee from reaching casters made for some interesting tactics.
Cheb May 13th 2011 9:24AM
@MeesterCat
That actually sounds like it could be really interesting. Could casters cast through enemy players though? Like if the set up were
casters tank enemy melee enemy casters
would the casters be able to nuke each other? I'm just seeing this horror scenario of opposing tanks and melee all beating on each other with a bunch of healers hiding in the back and being stuck there until someone figured out a person to focus down because they're all fighting in a tunnel or doorway. How does it work?
Haro May 13th 2011 10:22AM
@meestercat
This!
this would be the way, in pve, to get finally rid of the threat mechanics. Plate-armor melee protect their clothies by physically standing in the way, while casters are who can put up magical barriers against magic-dmg.
No more common-sense-breaking of the kind "arthas stops beating on the healer because the warrior disses his mom", that the threat mechanics have forced us into since the raise of MMOs
CDave May 13th 2011 4:37PM
This was actually one of my favorite things in WAR. Being a melee character on a bridge in a pvp battleground (or whatever it was they called them in WAR) felt really effective. You could hold back a bunch of enemies and use abilities that hit multiple targets. You would usually die fairly quick, but you may be able to take a few out and give your team some extra time. I remember having 2 healers back me up and a group of us were able to hold a bridge for a decent amount of time until the other team finally went around or just attacked something else.
I think this could be a great addition to rated battlegrounds since it adds some more depth, but possibly not. For the game as a whole, I think it would be a bad idea unless they specifically designed it with collision physics in mind (hint: they didn't).
Ice May 13th 2011 8:17AM
When the advertised WOTLK with "destroyable buildings" and that it has "phasing" I thought they would make just that... make most buildings destroyable, you know.. battlefield style with physics =/ that it would make the world dynamic with added player involvement, you could destroy certain buildings somewhere else than WG..and it would take something else than just timer to build up magically (you remember when timers resetted..the buildings just grew from the ground and were all shiny and new!
It was disappointing that it was only used in wintergrasp/sota with "at 25% health you see animation" ..not really my idea of "DESTROYABLE BUILDINGS woah!"
Yes, I would totally love the physics engine to be added into game. It would make quite lot things to be possible, like more puzzle style minigames.
Robert Powell May 13th 2011 8:17AM
actually we do have momentum, try running and jump.....you continue in the forward plane................
MikeLive May 13th 2011 8:22AM
You have the friction thing slightly off. In WoW there's infinite surface* friction so nothing slips, so if you plant your foot to stop you're going to stop.
*I make the distinction with surface friction, as rudimentary drag is in the game - if you fall, you'll only accelerate to some maximum top speed, a phenomenon due to drag.
etherlithium May 13th 2011 8:24AM
I'm not sure if it could work in an MMO, as a major feature. Suppose that, for example, you implement boulders that can be manipulated by classes with telekenisis (e.g. implemented on mages). Now, there is a lmited stock of boulders in the world. If you were to make the boulder-physics attack a key part of the rotation, you'd be in all kinds of absurdity, like finding a way to get enough units into the fight for hundreds of uses. Say a mainsequence ability is used once every two GCDs (and we assume this is exactly 3 seconds) then for a five minute fight that is a hundred units of whatever that the player needs to use or reuse, plus reaquiring an object after hurling the boulder at the boss. That's a serious modification of playstyle. Not to mention that in PUGs there would be a horrific lack of co-ordination and ninja'ing of physics objects by lolkids from the competent character carrying them.
Perhaps it could be a long cooldown ability that uses a physics attack, but then again that could seem incredibly on rails and artificial. The cooldown would have to be set so that the attack can only use up so much "ammo" such that the "ammo" spawns are manageable in boss zones, probably entirely as a gimmick akin to the harpoons on Razorscale and the tethers on Magmaw. So nothing would be gained there.
... TL;DR I just don't see how it can fit into the existing mechanic as a useful thing.
MusedMoose May 13th 2011 8:25AM
I can think of one instance where physics would be really fun: in battlegrounds. Specifically while playing a male draenei arms warrior or ret paladin. The draenei male animation for the big two-handed weapon strike is oddly reminiscent of a golf swing, arcing the weapon up high with the follow-through.
(There's a point to this, I swear.)
Now, imagine a swing like that, with the appropriate physics and strength from the male draenei's fairly massive build factored in, applied to your average goblin. Or, if you play Horde, the same thing with tauren and gnomes. There would be tiny people flying across battlefields ALL THE TIME.
And it would be beautiful.