Melee Characters: Optimal IWT and ability order (software independent)
The issue: How to best keep melee characters on target in situations where the target is moving (mostly PvP).
Assumption: Melee characters need to be using Interact With Target (IWT) along with associated click-to-move option in order to constantly stay in range of a moving target.
Not relevant to this discussion: Which software/hardware you use, whether actions are happening because of key up or key down events, group composition concerns.
Some approaches to the issue:
1.) Continually send IWT commands throughout the course of a fight, interlaced with attack skills. Visually, this looks like:
{pick the target}
IWT
IWT
{attack skill/macro}
IWT
IWT
{another attack}
IWT
IWT
** Target dies or combat ends **
{character re-follows a leader or stops movement}
Pros: This seems to maximize DPS by keeping the target in range. Characters generate a portion of their attacks behind the target, even if the target is stationary, avoiding the chance for dodge/parry in many cases. Characters can often exhibit "swarming" behavior, where they are circling or passing through the target, changing direction with each application of IWT (this is a Pro because that swarm might be hard to target).
Cons: Characters swarm around the target, even if it's stationary. Latency (either network or on the clients) can cause events where characters scatter and/or run away from the target, especially if there is a loss of the target in the game's UI or the target dies. The normal solution to this is to quickly re-follow a leader post-combat. Characters in close proximity to ledges, cliffs, lava, or otherwise "bad stuff" can occasionally fall off due to this swarming. Also, if IWT is used on the leader character in a multibox setup as well, it can screw up the camera controls so that the camera no longer tracks behind the character.
A significant other con is the high rate of keyboarding needed to maintain a decent IWT rate to prevent characters breaking the swarm and running off. Carpal tunnel and fatigue are two big concerns for this older gamer :).
Currently, this is the solution I've read about the most (and use currently).
Are there other viable solutions out there? Allow me to theorycraft for a moment:
2.) Continually send IWT commands throughout the course of a fight, interlaced with attack skills and the occasional movement key to stop the character. Visually, this looks like:
{pick the target}
IWT
{move backwards - e.g. "tap S or down arrow"}
IWT
{attack skill/macro}
IWT
{move backwards}
IWT
{another attack}
IWT
{move backwards}
IWT
** Target dies or combat ends **
{character re-follows a leader or stops movement}
Basically, the hope would be to interlace a backup (or maybe a strafe) command periodically into the rotation so that the swarming behavior might be slowed or even stop. Would characters then not run through the target so often, and instead tend to just face the target and not overshoot it?
It would be nice to have some of the "glued on" performance of spamming IWT with less of the downsides of the swarming method. Personally, I would be OK with using a manual IWT from time to time to move my characters long distances and use a rotation like the one above with my attacks in order to minimize the swarm-i-ness of the in-combat behavior. Ideally, the perfect IWT/ability order would lock on to stationary targets (primarily PvE) and NOT exhibit any much of the swarming behavior.
Looking for feedback here if you've tried anything that seems to work well against moving targets. If you have something that works, please contribute.
