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An in-depth look at Crowd Control in The Old Republic

I must preface this article with the fact that this is only my opinion based on what information is currently available and should be taken with little impact on the final product. After doing the latest dissection I decided to go back through our prior dissections to take an in-depth look at the skills and abilities in The Old Republic. In doing so I started to notice one recurring theme in many of the abilities - Crowd Control. For those that are unfamiliar with the term crowd control:

In a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), crowd control (also called CC) is the ability of one character to influence or prevent the abilities or actions of another character(s). Crowd control can be extremely powerful because possible future action trees can be completely eliminated. Thus, the crowd control user (crowd controller or CCer) can control possible outcomes, forcing or controlling the opponent to use an even fewer set of available abilities/actions. Used properly, CC often renders an opponent nearly useless, allowing the CCer to use abilities/actions against an opponent without fear of retaliation or response. Source


I counted twelve abilities that have some sort of Crowd Control function. These abilities come from what is currently known from the Sith Warrior, Bounty Hunter, Smuggler, and Trooper:


  • Flash Grenade (AOE, Stun, All nearby targets) - Smuggler

  • Charged Burst (Knockdown, Single target) - Smuggler

  • Dirty Kick (Stun, Single target) - Smuggler

  • Missile Blast (AOE, Knockdown, All nearby targets, 5m) - Bounty Hunter

  • Electro Dart (Incapacitate, Single target, breaks on damage) - Bounty Hunter

  • Flamethrower (AOE Cone, Stun, Maximum of unknown number of nearby targets) - Bounty Hunter

  • Sticky Grenade (AOE, Single target stun and multi-target knockdown, All nearby targets) - Trooper

  • Firebomb (AOE, Stun, All nearby targets) - Trooper

  • Knockdown (Knockdown, Single target) - Trooper (actual ability name unknown)

  • Impale (Knockdown, Single target) - Sith Warrior

  • Smash (AOE, Stun, Up to 3 nearby targets) - Sith Warrior

  • Force Choke (Channeled hold, single target) - Sith Warrior



With how many of the abilities currently seen having some CC function you have to wonder how that will impact healing in the game. There are also abilities that require enemies to be stunned to be used, like the headshot ability of the Smuggler. To me it seems to imply that healing in the game will be much less of a main feature of the game unlike many other MMORPGS. This seems to be to be a point of contention. How will end game PVE (Player vs Environment) raiding work out in this model? I am sure that they will work out some way of having bosses immune to CC but it is still up in the air whether trash and the new lieutenant rank mobs will be the same in the end game. PVP (player vs player) is much less of a concern for me as I am sure they will have some way of curtailing the benefits of stuns and snares.

To me this discussion raises more questions than it answers but it is at least food for though for some discussion on the forum and in our comments section. What do you think?

Update: Sleeper discussed this a couple weeks back adding his own perspective on the crowd control abilities.

Comments

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  • Sztanyi's avatar
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    #19 Sztanyi Posted 9/15/2009 4:27:44 AM
    Well you definitely spent more time writing this then i did on my post lol :P I would be reallly happy to see this as raiding, it would make it so everyone in the raid has fun killing stuff.
    Also fighting in huge battles would make the encounter less repetitive then standing around a golem-type huge brain who does the same spell/attack every few sec for 2 min, then changes phases and does the same thing for 10 min...

    Anyway we'll just have to wait and see what BW decides to do :) judging by what i've seen so far I think that they have a very good plan rdy for us,i just feel like they're getting prepared for everything and that we probably wont have to worry about too many issues when the game comes out.
  • nedostup's avatar
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    #18 nedostup Posted 9/14/2009 10:25:53 PM
    I remember fighting Malak in the original KOTOR. He was immune to most of the force powers I had come to rely on in the later part of the game (both as dark side and light side) so I had to devise a whole new strategy on the spot. In fact, a lot of great RPG boss battles are like this, and so, I hope, will be endgame PVP in TOR.
  • TaboriHK's avatar
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    #21 TaboriHK Posted 9/15/2009 5:15:06 PM
    My only annoyance with that was with the tanks, if you had never played through before you wouldn't realize that it would be smart for even a light side character to grab the dark side power that allows you to drain them of health (force drain? it's been awhile). I am hoping they don't resort to that sort of thing because I honestly found Malak's second encounter to be somewhat of a gimmick. I'm hoping it will turn out more along the lines of Kreia, where it's difficult because she's powerful, not because she's eating people.
  • sado's avatar
    Jawa Trader
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    #14 sado Posted 9/14/2009 9:35:01 PM
    Yeah, that really goes to the core of what they want from you from the beginning. It seems as you say to be training you for something later in terms of raiding. This speculation above anything else I have done in the past as spurred my interest more than ever in the game.
  • TaboriHK's avatar
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    #13 TaboriHK Posted 9/14/2009 8:53:13 PM
    Everything I've seen in terms of CC has been...disconcerting. I can imagine this is going to undergo a huge change after the game drops. Stunlocking is the most annoying game mechanic ever invented.
  • bjbrains's avatar
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    #17 bjbrains Posted 9/14/2009 10:03:16 PM
    Bioware certainly knows this. I'm sure they'll find a way to prevent it.
  • sado's avatar
    Jawa Trader
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    #16 sado Posted 9/14/2009 9:42:26 PM
    Still too early to say how it will work out but it's interesting to look at CC from a game design point of view and why it has as big of a role as it has right now in the game even less than 10 levels in.
  • TaboriHK's avatar
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    #20 TaboriHK Posted 9/15/2009 4:01:09 PM
    You said it. It seems to be a major part of combat.
  • eria's avatar
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    #12 eria Posted 9/14/2009 8:15:14 PM
    Whenever I see stuff in a new game, I always try to look at it from all angles, and try to forget what I know in a sense. Until we know how healing or end game will work, it's hard to say. I honestly somewhat like the idea of lots of CC. Who knows, maybe in some encounters, only certain CC is available, or works. This would make people learn certain strategies I guess about what to use and when, because that's a lot of what PvE is, pushing a certain button at a certain time.

    I never liked the idea of tanking tbh. Why would some big monster hit the person most suited to take on his damage, because he called him a name? I think it would be fun to have an encounter where the weaker armored classes are targeted, and it would be up to the "tanks" to CC them and control them. They would buy their dps and support time to get into a different spot, or find cover. IDK, we'll see how it plays out, but I'm looking forward to trying out whatever they present, and giving them feedback on it.
  • sado's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 1623
    #15 sado Posted 9/14/2009 9:40:32 PM
    Tanking is another that would be out the window if this plays out the way it looks so far but then again I don't want this to become a trinity vs anti-trinity post. Good thoughts though, never understood the aspect of tanking beyond that it was needed.
  • Sedit's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 130
    #10 Sedit Posted 9/14/2009 6:37:40 PM
    Well, the boss Jedi Knight in the flashpoint got force choked, so maybe some CC will work while others they will be immune?
  • sado's avatar
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    • Posts: 1623
    #11 sado Posted 9/14/2009 6:41:01 PM
    The flashpoint we saw was a lvl 5-8 instance if I remember correctly. Later endgame content could work entirely different.
  • Sztanyi's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #8 Sztanyi Posted 9/14/2009 6:21:27 PM
    Ive been worried about there being too much CC in the game, but until we can play it we don't know if it will be a problem. Right now my prediction is that BW wont go with the traditional huge boss at the end of a raid that you need to kill, since that doesn't exactly fit into the whole SW story (20-40 jedi jumping around a taller-then-average mean sith lord trying to kill him for half an hour?) So instead i think BW will make raids just giant SW-type of battles. This way the CC will actually count, you will need to kill dozens / hundreds of mobs so you need lots of AOE stuns and stuff, since there (probably) wont really be healing (as in i dont see BW making a primarily healing only class at this point).

    Id also like to see something like in Jedi Academy, where the sith are able to break force chock by using force push.. i think that would be awesome to have stuff like that in both pvp AND pve.

    As a side note i think you should change Electro Dart from stun to incapacitate, or specify that the Electro Dart's "stun" breaks on damage (while for example the flamethrower's doesnt)

    And of course i wouldn't comment on any of your stuff without adding a HUGE THANK YOU for going through all those pics and finding all these abilities :)
  • sado's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 1623
    #9 sado Posted 9/14/2009 6:29:06 PM
    That's quite an interesting perspective on raiding, still too early to tell but the instances at least hint at what you're saying. As for the electro dart, I edited it, thanks. Glad you liked the post and the dissection :).
  • sado's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 1623
    #6 sado Posted 9/14/2009 6:18:19 PM
    They did sort of allude to a skill system in one of the interviews where they mentioned specifically classes being able to go into or "spec" into some healing abilities but prefaced with that it would not be a main feature. It will be interesting to see how it works in PVP.
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