How does attack checks work, anyway?

ladymythos · July 2013

It might seem like a stupid question, but bear with me here, please. So far I have four characters in the Tower District, with the highest having finished the Cragmire dungeon, uh, dungeon in the area afte the tower district. (she's lvl 22 by now.) So while I haven't played that long, I have played long enough to notice something odd about the enemies.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems to me that once the enemy starts to swing, there's nothing I can do to avoi getting hit. Is this intentional? I noticed something like this already back in World of Warcraft, the whole two months I bothered playing it. Back there, I noticed that once I released the arrow from the bow, the enemy had already noticed me and charged at me. Every time. It didn't matter that the enemies were 100 meters away and couldn't possibly have heard me. As a hobby programmer, it tells me that the 'attack check' happens when the arrow is released, not when the arrow actually hits. The arrow flying is just the animation. That explains why the enemies always attack once I start the attack, not when they are hit. If the arrow misses, it just means the 'attack check' failed when the arrow was released, not when the arrow missed. Normally, you won't notice this in a hectic combat, so it doesn't matter.

Anyway, is this the way it works here, too? The main reason I'm asking is because quite often, the enemies seem to be 'stuck' on me when they attack. If an enemy lifts his sword to attack and I dodge forward, he will often slide backwards with me (or whatever direction he's facing). This often makes it impossible to avoid getting hit, simply because I need to dodge *before* the enemy attacks, not *during* the attack before the sword connects.

This is only for melee, fortunately. Magic and ranged attacks work great. And don't worry, melee is by no means broken. It just looks weird, and makes me think about combat differently. Besides, it's not much of a problem when I'm a melee fighter, or in a group. But as a DC or CW? It's... weird.

So can someone please tell me I'm on to something here, or are my theory entirely wrong? If so, how is the attack check working?

zydrateacademy · July 2013

Are you referring to the red spot attacks? Some of them are a bit rough to avoid but it's all in the timing.

As for standard attacks, no idea.

ladymythos · July 2013

No, 'red circle' attacks are fine. So are the stronger attacks where the enemies charge up attacks. I'm talking about normal attacks, done by minions and so on. I'm just wondering if there's any point in trying to avoid them. Once they start to attack, they seem to be locked to me, so if I move, they move. If I run forward, they follow me forward at the same speed, even if they are facing me. (and thus are running backwards.) I've also noticed it with wolves. When I run, they often try to run past me, yet hit an invisible wall slightly in front of me. This seems like they are attached to me, so they can't run faster than me.

But again, it's no big deal. It just looks weird, and I'm wondering if there's any point in trying to avoid their attacks.

zydrateacademy · July 2013

I usually just avoid the big slam-hits the tough enemies but generally yes, I don't bother trying to dodge standard enemies.

5-bar enemies and bosses tend to have these kind of power attacks (Non-red) that are easy to spot, and those I -can- dodge.

abell39 · July 2013

When you say "dodge," do you mean using Shift+direction to dodge, or just running past to dodge? If it's the latter, yeah, unfortunately that's how it works -- you have to shift-dodge at the right moment to avoid hits, you can't just do a normal run out of the way. If it's the former, then that's weird indeed and what you're describing usually doesn't happen for me.

ladymythos · July 2013

Actually, I mean both. That's what really made me wonder. Some enemies, like minions with swords etc, don't have big charge-attacks, but their attack animation does seem to take a little while. The problem is when one of them starts to raise a sword, he has already hit, according to the game. This means that if I shift-dodge away, he will follow me. Even if means he will move backwards at dodge-speed.

It's also very easy to see this if you are a ranged character. If you shoot an enemy in the distance, he will 90% of the time be right next to you when the sword connects, even if means he has to move 100 meters in one second. Or at least as long as you're projectile can travel. This is what annoys me the most.

But again, it's not a big problem or anything. Far from it, I find it amusing that it's so unrealistic and silly. It's upt there with rolling forward in mid-air (as a TR, jump off a cliff or down the stairs, then shift-dodge in mid-air), or a tiny dwarf-lady being able to force-lift an ogre. Silly, but in a good way. Now how was that song, I wonder... ah, I remember. "I asked him his name, and in a rusty voice he said; Yoda... Y, O, D, A. Yoda... yo yo yo yo Yoda..." Hehe.

How does attack checks work, anyway?

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