Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity Original Sin - Beta MOB's engagement area and splitted characters

I haven't played the game in multiplayer, so before yesterday I didn't noticed this issue. I don't even know if it has already been discussed in the forum (in that case, sorry for the redundant topic).
So, what's the BIG issue?
When one character is engaged in combat and the other one is not, the engagement area for this second character is definitely too small. He can even use spells and ranged weapons to attack enemies (already engaged with the first character) without entering turn based mode. This way he can easly clear the battlefield while his companion stays put during his turn.
Now, I don't know what's your thoughts about that, but in my book this is a HUGE issue, an issue that need to be addressed as soon as possible.

I've played a fair amount of co-op and never noticed this issue with any build. Is this possible it was a one time bug, or have you reproduced it multiple times ?
If yes, then that's definitely a HUGE issue, yeah.

Starting combat appropriately is definitely an issue atm. Not only with the case that is described here, but also for example when you revive a character on a damaging surface such a fire. That character will start taking damage in real time until he enters combat... which sees to sort of arbitrarily happen when moving or attacking (might have something to do with the sight of enemies.

The bottom line is that the way combat is initiated should be looked at again.

I really don't see why turn based mode isn't forced upon all characters in the map upon engagement in combat by one character.

Once one person is in combat mode, any movements by the other character really should be in step timing wise with what the rest of the map is doing. Even if the second character is all the way across the map, I don't think he should be able to run in "infinite speed" essentially toward the fight. If one character raises the attention of NPC's when he doesn't have his friend around, he really should have to pull out at the same rate the second character is coming to the rescue.

I'm glad Larian disagrees, because that's a terrible idea. The idea is specifically to give players the freedom to split up or stick together as they prefer.

You really think it would be a good idea if Bob is in the SE corner and Jake is in the NW corner, and Bob gets into a fight, you really think that Jake should have to take a zillion turns in turn-based to get close to Bob? No, just no.

Obviously being able to attack freely while not entering combat is a bug which has to be fixed, and good job by the OP for finding it.

As a DnD player, I do happen to think that if bob is in the SE corner and Jake is in the NW corner, Bob SHOULD have to take a bunch of turns to get to Jake.

I also happen to think they should split XP. That's how it works in DnD and I happen to think it works well. If they want to explore solo they should have to fight solo.

The problem I can see is if bob wants to explore and Jake wants to fight. Maybe have an ability to completely opt out of combat when it starts? I just really think the ability to move freely while other party members are in combat poses a huge problem.

How does the XP system work in co-op anyway? I would guess that only players who participate in combat get XP for slain enemies. If a co-op player enters a combat of their partner he should receive XP only from that point onwards. Is it like that?

And of course the second player out of combat shouldn't be able to hurt enemies in real time. Maybe it would be a solution to make the turn-based area much bigger but giving the second player double the action point in the first turn when entering the fight. That way he could run to help his co-op partner in turn-based mode, but without the change to do damage in real time.

I don't now about the XP even though I played the whole game in coop, because the TP Pyramids allowed the other played to join you very quickly.

As for the entering combat issue: This seems fairly straight forward. Figure out what the absolute maximum range is that someone could cast a spell to influence a combatant in the optimal case. Make a radius of that range +2 or so around every combatant an area that triggers combat for everyone that is not in combat, regardless of what they are currently doing.

As for more actions point when someone joins combat late: I don't see why time should run faster for a character just because he is further away from combat. A turn in combat is 6 seconds (I think) and your AP represent what you can do in those 6 seconds not more, not less (sans buffs/debuffs).

[quote=LordCrash] If a co-op player enters a combat of their partner he should receive XP only from that point onwards. Is it like that? [quote]

I highly doubt it. That would be a programming nightmare. I mean I guess they could run a variable for how long the combat lasts and devide how many turns the second person participated, but again, that would be annoying and lead to all kinds of bugs.

I just suggested that as a measure to bring the joining character faster to the action. When the turn-based area is quite big then the joining character would at least need 2 or even 3 turns to even get to his/her partner and to be able to participate in fighting. In the current status of the game many fights are already over after a few turns so it would be a bit tedious and boring for the joining partner to just move forward on the battlefield...

But maybe it can be done without, has to be seen.

I don't think it's that hard to program tbh. The system already notices whether a player is in combat or not (it determines whether the player is in real time or turn-based mode). In that case the second player not engaged in combat just wouldn't receive any XP points from his partner's kills in combat as long as he is in real time mode. It's a simple check: real time? yes -> gets NO XP, no real time (turn-based)? -> gets XP

I don't know why this should lead to many bugs...

THAT wouldn't lead to bug issues. I'm talking about your suggestion to give people proportional xp to how much of the fight they were in. But now we're on a tangent and this thread is dead

Well, the other player could just use the TP Pyramid at that point. Also getting that many action points could definitely be abused.

Also, given the range of spells i doubt that the combat area would be more than a 25-30m radius which a fast character can cover in 1 Turn, a slow one in 2-3 which is fine.

I actually never proposed that. I said that players should only be rewarded for kills when they take part in a combat encounter.

Oh. I misinterpreted your statement. Sorry about that.