General Discussion

For me in terms of PvP: Planetside

For traditional MMO PvE/PvP: WoW and AC

Combat in EQII, WAR, Vangaurd, LotRO was very subpar IMO. For me everything matters in combat; Animation, sound, feel, ect and they didn't have it together.

I did like CoH/V combat as it was fast but different than most MMOs, too bad the exploring and missions left a lot to be desired, never really held my attention for too long.

As far as traditional MMOG combat goes,  I like how WoW let me move freely while fighting so I don't have to stand there like a twit, CoX had a lot of abilities including things like knockback and knockdown that were really good.  I also like how WoW and other games have more instant cast abilities so my character actually does something when I press the button.

But over all traditional MMOG combat I feel is a subpar watered down version of more twitchy combat.

There are traditional MMO games that have more options for combat builds and skills than CoX and WoW but their core combat is slow and dull and if your core game is boring all the options in the world do not ammount to much.

I liked CoH when I played it and thought the combat was great... Then I went to DDO and was blown away by how much fun the combat was.  Shield Blocking to block doorways/reduce damage, jumping/tumbling away from attacks and spells, attacks not hitting you around a corner because you were in line of sight when the attack started, etc...

My best combat experiences have always been PvP based. Thus EVE, DAOC, WAR, and yes even in WoW. For PvE I'd say CoH/V is probably the best experience I've had in a group session.

Huh...AoC seems to be the most popular combat wise.

interesting.

I voted: Other.

To me, Tabula Rasa had the absolute best combat experience hands down.  While the rest of the game has more than it's share of problems, combat was generally pretty fun.  It suited the theme and feel the game was going for as it was pretty fast paced and quite brutal, at least in my opinion.  The run and gun style of gameplay I tended to favor, though, might make me a little bias.  Nothing was more fun than charging into a group of Bane with a shotgun, trying to dodge out of their line of fire until you're able to get into max damage range, unloading a clip then smacking them with the butt of your shotty for good measure.

TR's combat, followed by DDO's, really stand out to me simply because they reward you for not standing there mashing button combos.  Even AoC's combat system still comes down to mashing button combos.  If I wanted to do that, I'd be playing a Street Fighter MMO.  ( yeah, I know there isn't one, but dammit there should be ).

Planetside, by far.

To me, nothing will ever really size up to that game when it originally released. Back in the day going against surgiles in a rexo with an MCG, delicious. Some of the near day spanning battles, the dog fights, reaver combat. Was way ahead of its time.

Overall best combat system is AoC.  I had way too much fun with that system in PvE.

WOW has given me more memorable PvP combat situations.  Me and one other person practically destroying 6 other players.  All sorts of ambushes with my warlock that caught players off guard.  Yeah lots of good stuff.

City of Heroes did an exceleent job of making the timer based combat feel like it was twitch based and flashy.  CoH nailed down the looks of combat.  Ragdoll effects, flashy moves, great assortment of sounds, chaos, lots and lots of chaos.

I never played Planetside but from what I have read it was very good.  For me my best experience was definately Tabula Rasa.  Age of Conan is passable, but nowhere near the fast paced action that Tabula Rasa provided.