The Evolution of Combat: BETA discussion

[Alg]

I would imagine it wouldn't be nearly as bad as people make it seem if you just used your basic abilities. I feel the abilities over basic do more damage, but in most cases you could manage just from basics alone.

Nope. He's broken.

[Patch_umz]

After this event, I'm sure of it, I will never ever use combat again once this update goes live. You may say 'adapt to it and stop crying', well, I don't care, I enjoyed RuneScape for its simplistic combat which I could play at leisure, without having to focus my head at a screen and my fingers at the keyboard constantly. Runescape was always something I played while doing other stuff, I just can't adapt to such a big change, so I will leave this aspect of the game. I find it sad to see my much beloved game 'evolving', while change could be needed, this is a 360 degree turn in direction, which I find very difficult to live with.

 

A 360 degree turn? You do realize that's going in the same direction you were traveling in the first place?

 

As someone who has played for 8 years, I am pleased with these updates. The entire reason I stopped playing the game was the absolutely boring combat. Far too repetitive.

I stopped playing for the same reason (Played since 2001). No matter what I did, I couldn't avoid combat eventually, and it was painfully boring. So this update is a god-send for me.

[Den]

Defensive abilities are hardly needed in most situations. Of course abilities will make something speed up, but doing things like slayer will still be ok to do without abilities. That is what Jagex are aiming for as far as I know at the moment.

Yeah, autoattacks do pretty good damage, and you can manage without abilities if you really want.

 

But of course you can also level to 99 woodcut with oak trees... sooo...

Hey, there's an afk method for most skills, right? :P

 

Now there is one for combat as well.

[pulli23]

Once again: what for low lvls?

 

Barrows is at the moment something lower lvls only could do and gain decent money. But considering how much of a gear check this has become - what about them, what can one still do in the future? Farm to 99 all skill and then go boss hunting? Would make no one do barrows at all.

[Patch_umz]

Once again: what for low lvls?

 

Barrows is at the moment something lower lvls only could do and gain decent money. But considering how much of a gear check this has become - what about them, what can one still do in the future? Farm to 99 all skill and then go boss hunting? Would make no one do barrows at all.

What are you talking about... Barrows is still not that hard. Only Akrisae is difficult, the rest is the same as before. If you mage the melee brothers, it's trivial. If you melee Karil, it's also trivial. Plan for this, and you won't have any problems. So stop exaggerating. My magic is only in the 70's and so is my defense, yet I was able to easily do 3 consecutive Barrows trips this beta. I even maged Karil without much trouble. (And as a note, I used absolutely zero defensive abilities)

 

Whine less, learn to play better.

[pulli23]

yet I was able to easily do 3 consecutive Barrows trips this beta.

 

I am able to do infinite trips had I wanted to do so. But I'm simply noticing things; it was even stated here in this topic you "simply had to get the right equipment". I'm not sure about you, but I -at almost all 95+ lvls- have not 50m laying around to buy things.

[Kimberly]

yet I was able to easily do 3 consecutive Barrows trips this beta.

 

I am able to do infinite trips had I wanted to do so. But I'm simply noticing things; it was even stated here in this topic you "simply had to get the right equipment". I'm not sure about you, but I -at almost all 95+ lvls- have not 50m laying around to buy things.

 

You don't even need that much money to buy good defensive gear, even though you're wrongfully assuming the prices of today will match what they'll settle to post-EOC.

[Patch_umz]

yet I was able to easily do 3 consecutive Barrows trips this beta.

 

I am able to do infinite trips had I wanted to do so. But I'm simply noticing things; it was even stated here in this topic you "simply had to get the right equipment". I'm not sure about you, but I -at almost all 95+ lvls- have not 50m laying around to buy things.

As I stated, I didn't use 50m gear, I don't even have the defense level to wear Nex armor. And I wasn't even using GWD gear, I was in realistic gear so I could gauge how well I'd do when it was released. My gear costs maybe... 4m total, if I'm using either Ahrims or Gano, with a standard Staff of Light and some weak whip melee weapon if I wanted an efficient Karil kill.

 

And it should be noted I don't even need to use protection prayers if I don't want to, you can Snare/Entangle the melee ones, and Karil/Ahrim don't hit that hard.

 

I'm not spending almost anything for this, and I'm sure if I wanted to, I could've got away with using something weaker than Ahrim/Gano and using Prot Prayers. Prayer potions are cheap as dirt, and Renewals are very efficient.

[strilmus]

I'm just going to be blunt about this

 

after everything runescape's been through, if you're going to stop playing because of this

 

that has to be the saddest, most pathetic reason to choose compared to the other ones

 

fakeedit: all you really need to do fine in barrows is....barrows gear

 

even an extended fight with dual wielding whip/dscim (because some people are too damn lazy to get ee) shouldn't really harm you that much more than it would with slightly higher tier gear

 

hell, you can probably use a dark bow on ahrim and you'd be okay

[Alg]

Barrows is still not that hard. Only Akrisae is difficult, the rest is the same as before.

If anything, it's easier if you have all three styles; they pretty much can't hit you.

 

I'm convinced that Akrisae isn't supposed to be that powerful, though.

[Patch_umz]

Barrows is still not that hard. Only Akrisae is difficult, the rest is the same as before.

If anything, it's easier if you have all three styles; they pretty much can't hit you.

 

I'm convinced that Akrisae isn't supposed to be that powerful, though.

Yeah, Akrisae is mainly a problem because of the bar-swapping delay.

[Alg]

Yeah, Akrisae is mainly a problem because of the bar-swapping delay.

Perhaps it's just my defense level, but he's also far more accurate than he should be. Doesn't matter what armor I'm using, he'll hit consistent 1000s.

[Sir_Squab]

What style does he even use?

[Blutters]

Magic and melee. He hits nearly as high as Dharok with low LP, but all the time. I went there in Dbone + ZGS and meleed erryone, no big... until I got to him and he was nearly hitting higher than I could eat. I didn't have another style, thought I could just use Magic abilities to at least get him to switch, but nope.

[Estoc]

Magic and melee. He hits nearly as high as Dharok with low LP, but all the time. I went there in Dbone + ZGS and meleed erryone, no big... until I got to him and he was nearly hitting higher than I could eat. I didn't have another style, thought I could just use Magic abilities to at least get him to switch, but nope.

 

There's your problem, you're using a single style and maging in melee armor versus a mage. The first time I fought him I had a similar experience with max gear, but then I came back with the proper technique and destroyed him.

[Alg]

There's your problem, you're using a single style and maging in melee armor versus a mage. The first time I fought him I had a similar experience with max gear, but then I came back with the proper technique and destroyed him.

I took a ton of damage when ranging in Armadyl, and switching to magic (+ gear) doesn't really help because he's pretty strong against that.

[Blutters]

My point was that he hits far too high regardless, and that I was able to complete the rest with satisfactory speed with that sub-par gear.

[muggiwhplar]

Well it would make sense if Akrisae is significantly harder than the others since he's unlocked after a grandmaster quest.

[Alg]

The fact that he's combat 115 suggests that it's a mistake, though.

[Patch_umz]

And just so you guys know. According to the JMods, there's SUPPOSED to be a patch planned for this weekend. We'll see if they actually manage it.

[Tim]

Any news on BETA outfit release date yet or is it still being played by ear?

[Squakus]

Any news on BETA outfit release date yet or is it still being played by ear?

 

For those who missed previous Mad Scientist unlock weekends, we will be hosting a fifth unlock weekend soon, and will be giving out the Mad Scientist Outfit to those who have earned it shortly thereafter in mid-September.

Keep an eye on the newsfeed for further details.

 

From the latest newspost on runescape.com

[Saradomin_Mage]

At long last, a beta update.

 

All quests, the Dominion Tower, Barbarian Assault, a reworked ability book interface, and an all-new ability are all ready to be tested in a major update to the Evolution of Combat Beta! We also have news on this weekend’s Combat Beta event, plus some exciting information regarding an additional Mad Scientist Outfit unlock weekend!

 

More Content Available

 

Today sees the release of the biggest update to the Evolution of Combat Beta to date! The following features are now available for testing:

 

 

All Quests!

Dominion Tower

Barbarian Assault

New and improved ability book interface

New Ability: Momentum

 

 

Quests

 

All quests are now available for testing. Players will be able to start and complete any quests available to their live character. Players wishing to play a particular quest multiple times will be able to do so by re-importing their save to the beta after completing the quest on their beta character (assuming they don't complete it on their live character in the meantime.)

 

Dominion Tower

 

The Dominion Tower - along with its full collection of boss monsters - is now available for testing. Bear in mind that the requirement to have completed a boss's associated quest still remains in order to face that boss in the Dominion Tower, so now is the perfect time to test out some quests in the beta and see if you can defeat the Dominion Tower!

 

Barbarian Assault

 

The Barbarian Assault minigame is now ready for testing, featuring an updated set of mechanics. Previously those in the Attacker role had to switch between different combat styles (Aggressive, Controlled etc.) or different arrows/spells in order to overcome the vicious penance. In the new combat system, this mechanic no longer worked for melee players, so we have changed the way the Attacker role works slightly. While playing a wave, Attackers will notice 4 new abilities appear in the Constitution section of their ability book. These abilities represent different fighting stances and the correct one must be used to overcome your penance foes. These four abilities are shared across all three combat disciplines (melee, range and magic), so rangers and mages no longer need to worry about changing ammunition or spells. The four new abilities are:

 

 

Reckless Stance

Balanced Stance

Defensive Stance

Aggressive Stance

 

 

These abilities can be dragged to your action-bar for easier use. However, bear in mind that they only function within Barbarian Assault.

 

New Ability: Momentum

 

Speaking of new abilities, we have introduced one new ultimate ability, linked to the Constitution skill: Momentum. This new ability is designed to help players embarking on long Slayer assignments.! Once you have built up enough adrenaline you can use Momentum to increase your auto-attack damage by a significant amount. However, using another ability will deactivate Momentum. The idea behind this new ability is to give players a less input-intensive way to grind through long Slayer tasks.

 

New Ability Book Interface

 

With the introduction of all these new abilities, what better time is there to introduce the new ability book interface? After listening to your feedback about the old ability book, we have taken the opportunity to completely re-design the Ability book to make it more user-friendly and prettier to look at!

 

Your feedback while playing the beta is vitally important to us, and we are not afraid to make big changes (such as the redesign of the ability book) based on your feedback. Please - keep on playing and sending us your thoughts!

 

Enjoy the beta!

 

Mod Rathe, Mod Chris L, Mod Pi & Mod Avatar

 

Combat Beta Event: Stealing Creation

 

The weekend arrives right on-cue and - for many - there’s the welcome promise of milling around Gielinor at a leisurly pace. For our beta-testing army, though, there’s the promise of unparalleled carnage on the Evolution of Combat Beta worlds!

 

All members can access the Combat Beta worlds this weekend from 4pm (BST) on Friday 17th August to 10am (BST) on Monday 20th August.

 

Our developers are super-keen to get your feedback on the Stealing Creation event this weekend, so they’d really appreciate your help in testing it out by playing a game or two and then letting us know what you think via in-game bug reports and forum-based feedback. There’s no item unlock this weekend, but that does bring us nicely to our next news item...

 

We want to make sure our plucky beta testers don't miss out, so we're putting in an additional outfit-unlock weekend! This will be held in early September and will function as a catch-up event, so if you missed an item unlock activity, you’ll be able to complete it then in order to get access to the complete Mad Scientist Outfit.

 

Once the final catch-up unlock event has concluded, we’ll be able to share news with you on when exactly the Mad Scientist Outfit will be making its way onto your main RuneScape accounts. We thought it was only right to let everyone catch up first before issuing the outfit; rest assured, it won't be too much longer to wait after the event!

 

So what are you waiting for? Get involved, fight hard and share your feedback with us! Just log into the forums here and then:

 

 

Get the event details from this weekend's event thread at QFC: 307-308-1-63946822

Give us feedback on the event after you've participated at QFC: 307-308-2-63946834

 

 

Good luck!

 

The RuneScape Team

 

Patch Notes:

[hide]

Abilities and hotbar:

 

● The ability book layout has had a complete re-work.

 

● All variants of the recolored darkbow now count for shield requirements on abilities.

 

● Barrows UI is no longer obscured by the hotbar.

 

● The supply table in Troll Invasion no longer drains your adrenalin.

 

● Fixed a typo when you drag the Borrowed Power spell to the hotbar.

 

● The "Teleport to Gatestone" spell is now greyed out on the hotbar if you don't have a gatestone out to teleport to.

 

● Tokkul-Zo used on the hotbar will now open the teleport options, when the ring is worn.

 

● Using quick chat will no longer activate your hotbar.

 

Combat:

 

● Activity bar in Soul Wars no longer drops while fighting the Jelly and Pyrefiends.

 

● Reduced the avatars health in Soul Wars.

 

● Reduce the amount of prayer points drained, while around the Soul Wars avatars.

 

● Prevented Akrisae's war mace from disappearing when degraded.

 

● Corrected the stats on the regular and master penance tridents.

 

● Update the stats for the imbued Berserker and Onyx rings.

 

● The dragon claws and offhand dragon claws now have the same critical bonus.

 

● Class 4 and class 5 bows in Stealing Creation no longer act as longbows.

 

● Corrected the combat level for the Mutated zygomite.

 

● Elemental balance in the POH can now be targeted.

 

● Fixed an issue where some weapons had incorrect stat requirement messages.

 

● Necromancer, Skeletal, Animal staves are no longer classed as melee weapons.

 

● Tzhaar, White and Gravite staffs are no longer classed as melee weapons.

 

● Magic training wands are no longer classed as melee weapons.

 

● Master wand now counts as a magic weapon.

 

● The Helm of Neitiznot now has the correct stats.

 

● The blisterwood stakes no longer have a very low hit bonus.

 

● Corrected the attack speed when fighting Ogres at the Lathas' Training Camp.

 

● All Lucky items now have the same stats as the regular items.

 

● Tz-Kih's now drain 10 prayer points with every attack.

 

● Poison damage will no longer keep the player in combat.

 

● Increased the damage in the smoke well.

 

● Fixed the Guthix bow attack bonus.

 

● Corrected the regular and corrupted dragon spear stats.

 

Graphics:

 

● The Blisterwood staff will no longer disappear when unsheathed.

 

● Added new icons for Main and Off-hand claws.

 

● Fixed the moved camera position, when leaving the Ogre hot springs.

 

● Fixed some textures on the Al Kharid bankers.

 

● The player's chathead is now visible when targeted after an NPC that has no chathead.

 

● The animations during the Ranged acts of the Circus are now performed correctly.

 

● The inside of the God cloaks are no longer red.

 

● Poles from the Rat Catchers quest with rats on, are now appearing correctly.

 

● Reese's sword now has the correct sheathed model.

 

● Back of Guthan's chain skirt no longer stretches while in combat.

 

● The Armadyl battlestaff now gives an increase to the damage of the Storm of Armadyl.

 

● All bones now use the new burying animation.

 

● Void ranger helm will now hide the player's hair correctly.

 

● The farmer north of Draynor no longer has a stretched mouth.

 

● Mabel no longer has a stretched jaw.

 

● Darren Lightfinger in the Thieves Guild no longer has a stretched jaw.

 

● Prevented the Saradomin and Zamorak mjolnir from floating behind the player.

 

● Lucky dragon 2h Sword will now use the correct model when sheathed.

 

● The mystic lava staff no longer looks like the staff of air.

 

● Painted shields now remain painted when sheathed.

 

● Removed the 'bobing' movement of heads when wearing the Wildstalker helmets.

 

● Reduced the size of the Ganodermic boots inventory icon.

 

● Fixed the Oracle's head from bobing back and forth.

 

● Removed the holster for the shadow sword.

 

● Skeletal enemies have now have the correct animations.

 

● The following shields now sit correctly on the player's arm when in an idle pose: Batwing, Splitbark, Leather, Hard Leather, Studded Leather, Grifolic.

 

● Eniola has had his arms re-attached to his body.

 

● Bird's now appear around the player's head when they fail at thieving.

 

● Fixed some stretching while resting with a sheathed magic longbow.

 

● Necromancer staffs no longer have a floating skull when equipped.

 

● Fixed some stretching on Lucien.

 

Other:

 

● Updated the skill guides.

 

● Updated the prayer guide to show the new curses.

 

● Fixed a minor typo on the degrade message for Torag's hammer.

 

● Player will no longer remain stationary when playing the LOLcano emote a second time.

 

● Heim crabs now heal a maximum of 200 life points.

 

~~~

 

In other news:

 

The Following have now been unlocked in the Combat Beta:

 

● Dominion Tower

● Barbarian Assault

● All Quests

 

Known Issues:

 

Quests

 

● Quests have now been unlocked in the beta. Not all quests have yet been fully changed for combat, so you may notice that some combat sections are much easier than others, but if you do notice any bugs please use the in-game reporting system to let us know about them.

 

Dominion Tower

 

● We have changed the dominion tower gloves into weapons so that they aren't in competition with Nex gloves.

 

● The current graphical issues with the gloves are a known problem but we didn't want to delay the dominion tower content any longer. They will receive new graphics and animations with a later beta update.

 

● The gloves currently act as level 80 two-handed weapons with no extra effects. They will be receiving a passive effect in a future beta update.

 

● Some stretching on the Death animation with the Culinaromancer.

 

● Target info is not immediately lost when Treus Dayth disappears.

 

● Handicap tooltips show old names.

 

● Stretching on Zenevivia.

 

● Health bars at the top of the screen don't match up with the new health bars over the NPC heads.

 

● You can't continue to use a Dominion potion via the hotbar, after the dosage has changed.

 

● Dagannoth Sentinels are relatively easy to defeat.

 

● Giant Scarab does not poison.

 

● Nezikchened has a low hit chance.

 

● Crush defence reference in the Battlechest match information.

 

● Reference to special attack on the Sigmund match information.

 

Barbarian Assault

 

● No known issues, please see the news post for details on the changes to this mini-game.

[/hide]

[Patch_umz]

Unfortunately not much on the combat side changed. I'm sure a ton of quest work and stuff went in though. And there was mob experience balancing too I noticed.

 

Really want them to start buffing Ranged, lol.

[Sy_Accursed]

My only complaint on the new ability book is on lunar mage they put monster examine, stat spy and disruption shield in the combat spell tab, yet left all the others in the skill spell tab, even though several are clearly combat related spells eg:

Cure Me

Cure Other

Cure Group

Heal Other

Heal Group

Vengance

Vengance Other

Vengance Group

Spiritualise Food