PvP game design

[Kakarat]

Rambo won because it was a movie, not because 1 guy can take out 5 more than 1% of the time.

Actually this happens on a fairly frequent basis in any FPS. Not necessarily "5v1" in the sense that you are standing in a wide open field with 5 enemies and you kill them all but rather, you rapidly manage to kill 5 people in a row because the combat is paced quickly enough that you can kill the first one before the second one realizes he needs to turn around, then kill the second one right as the third one rounds the corner, then kill the third one and round that corner to find the 4th one reloading, etc. I'm sure every FPS player has had their "Rambo" moments as they manage to pull off a killing spree.

You can't get that sort of action in WOW/WAR because combat takes too long. You attack the first guy and his buddies have ample time to respond. But if you took WOW/WAR as they are and made fights last 1-5 seconds, it wouldn't feel like there's enough skill involved, since there's no aiming.


So the question is, "How can we shorten the battles (to allow for the FPS style 'Rambo Effect') without taking away too much skill and without adding 'aiming'?"



Some sort of pre-battle setup is all I can think of. But while that could work for "wizard battles" (spells and counterspells) I'm not sure how well that would translate to melee combat (memorizing "slice" and "parry" doesn't make as much sense as memorizing "fireball" and "magic missile").

Actually, you can have the 'Rambo effect' in WAR. I personally have done it a few times in scenarios. Mind you it usually has been 2vs5. Examples. Battle for Praag, All out assualt for tug-o-war capture points. Myself and a tank ended up behind enemy lines for some reason, and we completely annihilated the healing core, with me ending up with all the killing blows.
Second example, Logrin's Forge. There was 4 mid 30's destro defending one of the capture points. A 40 tank goes in to fight them, they are all on him, I sneak in and take out 2 before they realize what is happening, and then take out the other 2. I don't remember if the tank survived or not. Some of those scenario fights are the funnest I have had.

But anyways, those are far and few beyond the rest of the game.