Thoughts on destruction/destructible terrain

Game Discussion
41

such as

let us drill a hole through an island vetex please

it would be so awesome

42

You can do that with most of frostmill

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Would be funny to be able to do it to every island

1 Like
43

vetex! make ultimate art cannon able to destroy wilderness islands, and my life is yours!

44

“if I can’t have it, nobody can” destroys goso jungle because it’s not claimable anymore

1 Like
45

Edward Kenton watching as some random mage deletes his house and boat cuz they were bored:

1 Like
46

Vetex be like:
“Throughout Elysium and the War Seas, I alone, am the destroying one. Ultimate Art: Cataclysm cannon”

1 Like
47

Wow! I didn’t expect the poll results to be so mixed. I genuinely thought it would lean heavily toward one option.

After going through all the comments, it seems that while most players generally don’t mind—and some even like—destruction, a few issues bring it down. Specifically, its inconsistency and the frustration it can cause in certain situations.

Key Takeaways:

Positives of Destruction:

Summary

  1. Immersion and Realism

    • Destruction adds depth and realism to battles, making bosses feel stronger and environments more dynamic (e.g., Argos’ arena).

  2. Visual Appeal

    • Players like the visual effects, especially seeing the landscape transform post-battle. It enhances the aesthetic appeal of the game.

  3. Tactical Advantage

    • When used strategically, destruction can create opportunities in combat, such as trapping players or altering the battlefield. (personally, a lot of the examples in this area feel more like exploiting)

Negatives of Destruction:

Summary

  1. Disruption in Combat

    • Destruction can interfere with combat flow, causing issues with movement and dodging, especially in boss fights like those in Fort Castrum or Elius’ arena.

  2. Performance Issues

    • Many players experience FPS drops during larger fights or with moves that cause a lot of destruction, making gameplay laggy.

  3. Balance and Functionality Problems

    • There are complaints about terrain not breaking correctly or causing NPC glitches, along with certain abilities causing too much or too little destruction.
1 Like
49

I’d like to do another poll based on the consensus.

What do you think is the biggest issue with destruction that you’d like to see fixed or addressed?

  • Destruction is inconsistent or doesn’t seem to work properly or well.
  • Destruction leads to FPS and performance issues, causing lag and frame drops during gameplay.
  • Destruction disrupts combat more than it helps, often making battles harder and less fluid.
0 voters
50

Personally i detest terrain destruction, especially when combined with autoclimb. While destruction does add a good bit of immersion and a lot visual appeal, it can also absolutely ruin gameplay :sob:. Calvus’s arena is a perfect example of horrible terrain destruction, same with elius but less so. Fighting amelia also gets a lot more annoying because of it. So terrain destruction is prolly top 3 in things that annoy me the most in combat in general. The other 2 prolly being autoclimb and ping issues/spikes.

Honestly if pve areas, boss arenas and dedicated pvp arenas just didnt have any terrain destruction then i prolly wouldnt mind the feature as a whole nearly as much

3 Likes
51

just making autoclimb toggleable would fix a lot of the issues

6 Likes
52

tbh, I agree. It reminds me a lot of Minecraft auto jump, which I always turn off because if makes me feel like I have less control over my player character.

53

make destructed terrain not regenerate until 30 seconds after the destroyer is out of combat :bangbang:

54

Coming back to this after a bit, I can say with certainty that the reason as to why terrain destruction was implemented is good, but its implementation leaves a lot to be desired.

Gabe Newell on operant conditioning

55

Imo, it’s an interesting feature but :

  1. Raise the “hardness” of terrain by ALOT, I can accidently dig entire PITS for myself by simply using weapon m1s.
  2. Prevent terrain from generating above you.
  3. Using any type of mobility while under terrain will cause you to teleport to it’s surface, like how being inside a boat teleports you above it.
  4. Make certain places (Elysium, Munera, Boss Arenas) completely immune to terrain destruction.
3 Likes
56

Actually, a really good point to bring up operant conditioning.

57
  • all of the above
0 voters
58

Could make stone 2x harder to break than grass, mud, or sand, that way you can’t get stuck under it nearly as often because the top layer is way more likely to break.

1 Like
59

simple: all three

60

Sadly we aren’t likely to even get Vet to look into one, yet alone all three. :smoking:

3 Likes
61

yeah yeah enough rambling tobias-chan go back to building on studio :roll_eyes: