but in GW2 there are times where you clearly dodge but are still hit anyways.
Must be lag.
GW2 is by far closer to traditional MMO combat than TERA.
I disagree.
Uh...
Ice skates != closer to an action game. You're confusing action game with traditional MMO. WoW lets you skate around and use all of your abilities, is it an "action game?" In fact, aside from the roll, GW2 combat is not all that dissimilar from WoW.
Every class in TERA has active avoidance abilities, be it a dodge, backstep, block, or something else. Some classes have abilities you can use while moving, but they have animation lock, as they should for a game that focuses on your skill as a player.
Have you ever played a third person action game before? Monster Hunter, Phantasy Star Online, Dark Souls, DMC, Bayonetta... All of these games have animation lock. It's meant to punish you for mashing buttons without first thinking about your actions. It's exactly the opposite of games that let the player spam abilities with no thought as to where the ability will place them in relation to the enemy, or how it might leave them open to attack.
TERA has cancels as well, but they require precise timing and solid knowledge of the class and its skills. Some skills can't be cancelled (usually high-risk, high-reward abilities - high damage is balanced by the tradeoff of leaving you open for attack), some can only be cancelled at certain times in the animation (such as when it makes sense, you can't cancel out of an ability when your character is upside down five feet in the air, that would be awfully silly). These are all things that tie TERA to actual action games, and the reason that GW2's combat seems floaty and lacking impact.
Yup. You're meant to think about your actions, know the attacks and combos of your class, and know the enemy that you're fighting.
I'm not confusing GW2 with anything. It's unfortunate the game feels floaty to you but that does not allow you to spread misinformation about the game. GW2 combat differs from WoW's in significant ways beyond dodging:
1. GW2's projectiles have travel time, which means they
can be sidestepped, counter to what Xoaki claims. Further, projectiles will be terminated by physical objects between them and their target. So a fireball will not fly through a tree to hit you, like in WoW.
2. Further, the hitbox of your weapon swing actually matters to whether you hit or not, and most of the skills in the game
do not require a target to cause damage. That's why mods which do away with GW2's tab-targeting like
this one are feasible in the game. That's also why GW2 is extremely playable with a controller.
3. You will attack in the direction your character is facing, not the direction your camera is pointed.
And I have significant pedigree in actions games like NG, and to a lesser extent DMC and Bayonetta. Your assertion that those games make you think about the skills you use is true only in the sense that if you can't cancel it you don't use it, and if you can cancel it, you cancel it. Dark Souls is the only game I've played wherein you must pay absolute tribute to animation time.
NG is about abusing skills with invincibility frames, and dodging and blocking.
DMC is about cancelling everything, in the interest of maximizing combos and staying "safe".
Bayo is roughly the same, except you can dodge liberally, and are encouraged to do so (witch time). I'm quite sure almost everything in that game can be cancelled into a dodge, as well.
Guild Wars 2, everything can be cancelled by a dodge which has invincibility frames. Certain professions, like warrior and elementalist, can cancel anything into a movement skill (skills which both cause damage and move your character a predetermined distance, which you can aim). For the latter, you should probably never see any non-movement skill animation through to its finish.
Entire dungeons in GW2 were solo'd on the strength of the combat system requiring the player to know when to dodge, when to take an hit, and exploit an enemy's attack pattern and animations.
So, similar to me not hand-waving Tera's mechanics away because I've only played it to the first BAM, I suggest you not do the same with regards to GW2.
