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Devblog: Improvements to Tactical View

By [Ankama]WAKFU - ADMINISTRATOR - August 22, 2022, 16:00:00
DevTracker AnkaTracker
Surveys conducted from 2018 to 2021 have indicated the community's interest in seeing some updates to the in-game tactical view. In version 1.77 of WAKFU, we'll be introducing a number of new elements aimed at improving the user experience in combat.

Starting with this version, three views will be available in combat:

Classic view

This view has not changed, and is still the one that sticks most closely to the regular in-game environments.

Semi-tactical view

This new view combines classic and tactical elements for a mode that still adheres to the in-game environments, while also making noticeable improvements in terms of tactical clarity.
  • Red blocks (default color) represent obstacle elements. The blocks are limited to about two-thirds the height of the characters.
  • A grid is added to the battlefield to make cell locations clearer.
  • The area outside the combat bubble is completely black, as in tactical view.
  • Lighting and environmental effects are maintained: it will still be dark for fights taking place at night or in the mines.


Tactical view

The tactical view has been overhauled to provide significant improvements.

  • Red blocks (default color) represent obstacle elements. The blocks are limited to about two-thirds the height of the characters.
  • A checkerboard effect has been added: cells are marked in alternating colors to make it easier to estimate distances.
 

Other additions

Besides the improvements to the combat view, we're also strengthening the strategic aspect of the game.

  • The "Select a cell" function has been enhanced: there are now eight markers that can be simultaneously placed on the battlefield. They will remain in place until removed by a player, and are only visible to the team.
  • A new "Show resistances" function is now available through a keyboard shortcut. Pressing CTRL (default shortcut) in combat displays resistance information over each character in the fight.
    This function allows you to instantly see targets that are vulnerable to your character.
 

Modding

We know that gamers love customization, so we've opened most elements of the tactical view to customizable themes. The elements that can currently be modified by players are listed below. Note that when choosing a custom color, you can also set the associated transparency, e.g. to make obstacle elements less opaque.

Semi-tactical view
  • Obstacle color
  • Cell grid color
  • Background color
Tactical view
  • Obstacle color
  • Cell grid color
  • Cell color 1
  • Cell color 2
  • Background color
All views
  • Movement zone
  • Movement zone – Locked
  • Casting a spell – valid target and in line of sight
  • Casting a spell – spell's area of effect
 

Conclusion

The tactical view is an aspect of the game that's really important to us, and one that can provide significant improvements to the combat experience.

As a final note, we'd like to express our disagreement about certain ideas for tactical features that are sometimes requested by players. These suggestions include the idea of a "Creature Mode", damage previews, or displaying total damage inflicted at the end of the fight. Although these features are not directly related to the tactical view, they are still related to the general topic of the combat experience in-game. For various reasons, our team has no plans whatsoever to add these features, and we will probably never consider developing them.

In the future, we'd like to look at more in-game experience and interface issues (not to mention the complete overhaul of the interface itself). One of the main areas we'll be focusing on will be continuing to transition various elements to the account entity, but we also have some other equally promising plans that should be on their way in future updates.

Reactions 23
Score : 1119
Omg this is so good, I'm gonna diddlydoo
5 0
Score : 299
Awesome changes, i love especially the new checker-style board and the markers.
It would also be great if we could make markers that follow mobs, or players' movement (marking them directly rather than a cell).
2 0
Score : 1153
Those changes sound great, I am especially interested in the new markers. Do you intent to make it possible to place these markers on entities too, so they move with them?
Thank you for these quality of life additions!
3 -1
Score : 7316
The red walls are nice, but how will height differences, fences and half-walls be represented?

Also since Semi-tactical looks to be combining the clarity of tactical without removing the appearances of the game, I do hope they will have the background instead of the black void.

Also can there be an option to always display the element with the lowest resistance on the left of the HP bar? Since that's the only thing I really care about 90% of the time.

PS: With mods, everywhere can be bilbiza!
2 -1
Score : 52
Love these changes. ️
2 0
Score : 14469
  • The "Select a cell" function has been enhanced: there are now eight markers that can be simultaneously placed on the battlefield. They will remain in place until removed by a player, and are only visible to the team.

woah!!! looks very cool! wonderful improvements 
3 -1
Score : 2206
Nice
2 0
Score : 3209
good job.
PD: do something about the mobs behind obstacles, we cant select or click them sometimes with mono damage, example mob is next to my character but camera angle or vision of my screen is blocked by 1 or 2 obstacles i cant click the mob :T 
TY
5 -1
Score : 47
Mmm. Not sold. Tactical works adequately for me.
0 -6
Score : -1101
That's something omg :-)  Really great!
2 -1
Score : 2192
nice, some issues ive always had with cells were when a higher platform is covering a lower platform, and if a monsters on the lower platform, it sometimes might select the higher platform, making players mess up attacks or movement, or buffs.
2 -1
Score : 9917
Waah, Totally in love with these improvements. 
Semi tactical and customisation! Here we goo.
3 -1
Score : 615
There some slight problems in clicking the desired cell in the current tactical view:


1. Difficult to click on the cell behind large enemies standing on elevated cell like image above. e.g. 215 vandal boss

2. Difficult to click on cell behind large enemies even without elevation. e.g. 186 ashdragon boss,  186 dreggon warrior

Issues aside, look forward to the new improvements and customizations biggrin
4 -1
Score : 18119
Yeah,I agree. It would be great if something could be done about that. It can be very tricky to target those cells and can make you waste precious seconds of your turn.
3 0
Score : 18119
I love these changes so much!!!  wub

I always have the tactical view on but it is so boring (everything grey and dark), you are missing out on the enviroment and ambience of the area, now with the semi-tactic view I'll be able to enjoy battles a lot more tbh, thanks for that.

I like the new markers, it will be a lot easier to communicate with other communities, making them stay on the field until they are removed is an awesome touch that will help a lot in dungeons.

Just as a suggestion:
  • would it be possible to add Number markers? Like "1", "2", "3" so we could indicate the order in which to kill something or let our allies know what targets to prioritize/heal/move, the steps in battle, etc.
  • is it possible to keep the classic view background in the semi-tactical mode? instead of seeing the battlefield surrounded by a black hole, I think it would complement well the new mode and make the battle more enjoyable. For me, that was the biggest issue I had with the full tactical mode: not being able to enjoy the art in the zone I was battling in.
  • and, yeah, as Scorp-Plant#6805 suggested, it would be great if we could permanently mark a target so the marker follows them around the map instead of having to re-mark them everytime they move.

I'm excited to try these new features! good job!
2 0
Score : 7316
 
Suis#4053|2022-08-23 13:40:18
There some slight problems in clicking the desired cell in the current tactical view:


1. Difficult to click on the cell behind large enemies standing on elevated cell like image above. e.g. 215 vandal boss

2. Difficult to click on cell behind large enemies even without elevation. e.g. 186 ashdragon boss,  186 dreggon warrior

Issues aside, look forward to the new improvements and customizations biggrin

Same problem for the amybia tentacles in fungopole you literally cannot click on them.
Technically you can click on them in the timeline, but not on the field.
This is regardless if you use tactical view or not
1 0
Score : 12468
Good for the game. Glad to see that my idea I presented years ago is at least partly introduced to the game.
Good luck~~
1 -1
Score : 482
This is gorgeous, the semi tactical mode is like a dream for me. I love it!!!
0 0
Score : 4020
Edge and special tiles should have a black or white border surrounding their icon to help differentiate the icons from whatever people decide to mod the tile colors to be (and help them stand out more generally).
0 0
Score : 147
Okay Ankama, that is indeed, a good update, nothing to say but praise
0 0
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