Combat Type
Pax Dei will feature action combat and aim it to be more strategic than reactive so the decisions you make before combat, such as gearing up and knowing the weaknesses of the enemies, will be at least as important as the ones you make during combat. It won’t be hotkey smashing, but not super timing-sensitive either. The goal is to make anticipation and reading the encounter more important than reaction speeds but they do want to have room for mastery.
While combat is action-based, it will rely a lot on the RPG progression elements. So the game feel will be very action-oriented, but you’ll want to progress your character skills and gear and have the best consumables possible, similar to tab-targeted games. And of note, you will be crafting all the gear and consumables, so if you want to just focus on PvE, you better have a clan that has people who love crafting!
The combat will not be reactive or twitchy. They are aiming for it to feel responsive but the emphasis is on the decision-making both before and during combat and having the right setup for the encounter.
There will still be reactive elements to combat but their idea is for it to be fair. More will be revealed at a later stage.
Pax Dei will have a similar feel to a variety of games combat, with the focus on taking the good from different games and making something unique.
Directional combat will be the main rule during combat.
To clarify a bit. They’re not making combat where you control/choose the direction of a swing/attack. The attacks depend on the weapon you use and the attack animation set it has.
They’re not doing tab targeting. They won’t be doing combat that allows you to choose the direction of your attack like for example in For Honor. Each weapon has a set of attack animations but you do choose in which direction you perform them (like in Dark Souls or most 3rd person RPGs). So a sword typically has swings, maybe a stab, and a spear is more about poking with the pointy end.
Classes and Their Combat Styles
Pax Dei creates sand for players to fill into their own molds. This allows players to form their own version of the classic Tank, Healer, and DPS roles.
Lets take Tank for example. Players know what a tank is supposed to do. They know the tasks he/she is supposed to handle. They know how it feels to have a good Tank by their side and a little bit in front of them.
What you will find in Pax Dei is not a predefined set of things that they have in their infinite designer wisdom decided would make a good tank. What you will find are skills, specializations, armor, weapons, accessories, enchantments, abilities and/or spells that may be useful for someone wanting to be the Tank.
The idea is that the community will make their own profession websites where players define what a tank should be. Which skills he/she trains, what equipment he/she carries, which abilities and magic he/she should employ. And there will no doubt be several theories of what is best, and there will be several setups for the ideal tank, for when he faces different types of enemies.
The same goes for other “professions” or “classes” that players carve out of the material that is offered. The devs will not be breaking any molds, the player and community will be making any mold they like; The classical ones, New ones and they are quite sure that you, the players, will come up with things far more innovative and smart, than what they would have been able to cram into something they called “a Tank”.
This is also how it looks when you design a game where the Player and his endeavors, his deeds, his smarts, and efforts are at the center of the story. And this is what it looks like when you wish to feed the community endless material to make their own things, both within the game and outside.
Staminas Role in Combat
Stamina is the “main currency” in combat and will play a big role in combat. Most actions and abilities will use stamina. There will be a stamina meter below your health bar that depletes as you attack like it was in Dark Souls.
Gear Switching During Combat
You will be able to switch switch gear during combat but there will be some restrictions related to this which will be discussed at a later stage. The main thing to keep in mind is that simply swapping a single weapon/wieldable in your hand isn’t enough to switch your “class”. It’s more multipronged than that and the synergies of different gears, traits, and your skills are what define your “class” so while you can have strategies built around some gear swapping, you can’t completely change your strengths and weaknesses during a single encounter and switching to gear that doesn’t fit with the rest most likely benefits you nothing.
As stated before; The decisions a player makes before the encounter are at least as important as the ones they make during the encounter, so having knowledge about the encounter and how to be ready for it has a huge impact on their success. While switching gear is possible, knowing which gear to have ready for that encounter and when to switch is more important than having as much gear with you as possible.
Attack Rates and Damage
Weapons will have different attack rates and damage based on their weight/size and this is part of the strategy in combat.
Healing
Different types of targeting will be offered for healing, not just AoE, so you will be able to decide who to heal. More to be revealed at a later stage.
We will update this article as more is revealed to us.
