Can we have a discussion about collision mechanics?

[Solarverse]

Ever since the OG Devs increased the area of collision mechanics around our characters, (one of the many ways they implemented deterrents in response to Fire Tank Herding) we started seeing issues where if two characters get too close to each other, it will bump your character around. This problem wasn't so bad at first, but it's getting worse. One prime example that you can see is when two players spawn in Atlas after character creation, they will fight to occupy the same space and literally push each other around for (the maximum I have personally witnessed) 25 feet or more.

 

I have been pushed off cliffs, pushed out of the center of mobs as a Tank and ended up on the outside of the mobs, I have had Assassin's Strike interrupted due to being pushed too far away from my activation point that it registered as an interrupt, pushed so far away from Ms. Liberty that by the time I finish training up, it didn't count because I had been pushed too far away from her and even pushed in to other rooms in which caused me to grab the aggro of a room before the team was ready.

 

Let's face it, folks, the collision mechanics are a problem in how they stand now. Since Fire Tank Herding is no longer a thing, I would like to see this deterrent removed and the collision mechanics reverted back to what they were pre-issue 5.

 

Thoughts?

[Etched]

I couldn't imagine anyone being against this. I for one give it a thumbs up.  🙂

It bugs me endlessly when I pop into Ouro at the same time as other players and I'm shoved around until i move or get out of range.

 

@Etched

[TheZag]

Ive played several MMOs where players didnt have collision with other players and even with mobs.  It didnt feel janky either,  much the opposite in fact.  I was able to move where i needed to go without getting 'stuck' on someones elbow.  It would be worth a shot to see how it feels on the test server in my opinion.

 

[arcane]

Would this bring back the old bug where enemies will occupy the same exact space, and you can hit a whole stack of foes with one single target attack?

[Solarverse]

1 minute ago, arcane said:

Would this bring back the old bug where enemies will occupy the same exact space, and you can hit a whole stack of foes with one single target attack?

 

That's a valid point. I know a lot has changed since those days, so that would need to be something looked in to and corrected if it presents itself to be a problem; before the collision mechanics change would go live.

[TheZag]

23 minutes ago, arcane said:

Would this bring back the old bug where enemies will occupy the same exact space, and you can hit a whole stack of foes with one single target attack?

 

I think that was from a tanks gauntlet inherent.  Nowadays getting 16 mobs into a small space would be less efficient than just killing them where they stand,  assuming the bug is not fixed.  Back then,  tanks were grabbing hundreds of mobs to hit them all at once with their single target attacks.

 

Mob collision with each other would likely remain unchanged and even if the devs change player collision,  it probably wouldnt go away completely,  just shrink some.  It would help on itrials also when all the melee is trying to pile up on the smaller AVs with all the ranged trying to pile up on the melee.  Most itrial AVs are larger than normal but some are still quite small when it comes to getting into melee range.

 

[Arbegla]

Less collision is a good thing. I can't stand how even some pets still have collision on them (looking at you FFG and acid mortar)

[SwitchFade]

1 hour ago, arcane said:

Would this bring back the old bug where enemies will occupy the same exact space, and you can hit a whole stack of foes with one single target attack?

Yes, it would allow things to juxtapose.

 

Hmm. Dunno, I get the frustration... But the alternative ....

 

Could we just get less "push" from collision?

 

 

[Akisan]

Would this also fix the NPCs just shoving us out of their way as they walk down the street?  Because while that's funny for a while, it gets old fast when you're street sweeping.

[biostem]

Just have the hit box match the physical model as closely as possible...

[Solarverse]

6 minutes ago, biostem said:

Just have the hit box match the physical model as closely as possible...

 

I don't think that would stop the shoving though. The shoving has always existed, however, it was barely noticeable back when the hit box was small. That as far as I know is the only fix.

[Greycat]

Tends to be annoying for RP as well. (Honestly, there are a lot of things I'd like to see, RP-wise... like actually sitting in a chair instead of hovering over it or sitting partway through it. But that's a different discussion and a whole lot of other work.)

[srmalloy]

12 hours ago, arcane said:

Would this bring back the old bug where enemies will occupy the same exact space, and you can hit a whole stack of foes with one single target attack?

That is a different issue, and still exists, to my knowledge. The issue is that mobs only have collision boxes horizontally; a mob can drop vertically onto another mob and overlap without limit. This was how the dumpster-packing worked -- by forcing the taunted wolves to jump into the dumpster, where they would be dropping onto the ones already there, and just slip freely into the scrum; it only works because the dumpster walls keep the mobs jammed together and forces new ones to drop vertically into the dumpster.

[Yep, Nope is right]

Hmmn. Based on a reasonable number of experiences on Live, I'd be opposed to entirely removing collisions between players. It's far less of a problem now, but back in the days when massive lag was a fairly regular occurrence, or slow connections or high latency links like satellite not quite bad enough to disconnect someone but so bad they had little control over their character, our SG several times saved someone from dying by repeatedly bumping them to get them out of a bad spot. I've not seen such a situation since we came back, and, of course, some of the situations which can happen wouldn't incur debt anyway. Still, it is the sort of thing that you get thanked for profusely, and really makes someone's day when they finally are able to recover out of the massive lag or relog and realize their friends expended that extra little effort to protect their teammate and they won't be making a run back from the hospital after all.