Just to clear some stuff up, we are not doing Dark Souls like dodges/rolls. What we're really looking into is deepening the movement mechanics to be on pair with the actual fighting, instead of just circling around each other. Think minor, repositioning movements.
Yeah that is what I tried to get at completely. That a few steps during your swings can make you hit much harder or weaker, and have effects like concussive polestun, staggering in a direction, knees buckling. Steps during swings and blocks that are made to counter each other so you don't buckle from big heavy overhead smashes. Replace the fucked up speed bonus system in Warband combat with angles of impact and foot positioning to determine the power of swings.
Using a great maul shouldn't be auto crush throughs. It should be reflecting massive weight and force in a small smashing impact, where you don't need much space to accomplish the force of a poleaxe. Unless a shielder does crap like hold and release RMB to "shield bash" in a certain direction while stepping into, or away, from the impact while catching the maul high up in the swing before the power maxes out, they will be forced to a knee and be have to do their next block or attack from a real compromised situation. So with skill you avoid it, or can recover. But the attacker is able to follow up with an even better aimed crushing blow, at an angle that he thinks is almost impossible for you to deflect, and continue bashing the shit out of you in a "combo" that gets more and more damaging and brutal looking based on physics and "overwhelming the defenses." This basic scenario can be done with any weapon, modeled based on the physics of various weapon interactions.
So you can't just hit RMB and flick your mouse and do perfect blocks. You need to do that but more timing on tapping, holding, and possibly releasing RMB after weapons or shields collide, and move your WASD in a way to best counter theirs at the same time, and have big weapons collide and be used in aggressive parrying maneuvers just like shields, where you can step one way with WASD for footwork and your mouse for your arms in another and create advantageous collisions and releases of weapons and shields, attacking or blocking, based on redirecting force and stuff. Moving WASD aggressively during blocking to force your foe back, using WASD defensively or passively to give ground in a controlled way, or attempt to withdraw from combat. Don't use WASD at all to redirect the force of swings and you get pulverized eventually.
Like the direction you move WASD, or "step" in, while your mouse determines how your arms/weapon/shield move in, are combined to determine where you and your enemy's weapons or shields will end up after colliding and force players to stagger and compensate around to recover and properly block or attack again. Determine the pro-factor at point of impact and any followup footwork/release of two people engaging and make it easier for the one starting off good to follow up stronger, the scrub struggling to reclaim equal pro-factor calculations by adjusting for the next collision of combat objects. Someone real good at controlling their steps and swings to maximize force against some noob who can't keep up will look real flashy and dominating in gameplay, creating a dynamic but real entertaining "combo" system.
I'm thinking of this as more like 3d open map fighting/boxing gameplay, where choosing a left hook or an uppercut or whatever and how you both move, influences what kind of block or attack will be done next, where skilled ppl keep up with each other but a pro can do all sorts of pro crap to capitalize on missteps and viciously overpower someone.
Like a proper boxing/MMA game. But with hundreds of players. And instead of gloves they have hilarious tools of killing, maiming, and crushing.
Make armor and weapons interact like shells and armor in tank combat simulations too. So you use the actual tip of weapons with actual consideration into your aim. Give swords, spears, multiuse polearm heads, actual purpose instead of re-skinned lightsabers like Warband. So spearmen are actulaly using footwork to stab ppl with the end of a spear, and lolstabbing causes big glances based on observable physics instead of RNG shit.
tia
