What does a "traditional" combat system mean to you?

Sliding tool bar on the bottom of the screen. Stack as you want with whatever skills you want. First 10 are your keys, and I think you can assign other key commands to the rest of the bar, but it's adjustable to be as long or as short as you want. I never did that, I just put clickable ones down there because why not, I can pause it and take my time. It's unobtrusive and keeps out of the way, each charcter gets their own bar, so you're never looking at anyone elses stuff.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8eQV3Yv_-...ABP0/P3ntEhtucdo/s400/dragon_age_origins2.jpg

 

Nice doc Vjek, I like the way you have it arranged by syllables - this fits with a sort of 'word of power' mechanic, where the individual words for spells are created through complex quests and are then available to be strung together as the player sees fit. I'll enjoy reading it more thoroughly later to be sure.

Good point about expansions Malak. The way WoW worked, there was virtually no point to the game EXCEPT for "end-game" content, unless you were a twink in the battlegrounds (the only way I found the game to be fun with limited play time). The way levels are being treated in SotA should help with this. New abilities or trees should be added (for the most part) collaterally to existing skill sets. We'll already have Avatars with high level in certain skills starting new trees from the beginning, so this should be very doable.

Have to add I really enjoyed the magic systems in Ultimas IV-VI, as well as that of VIII (Pagan). Even tho the ritual magic was somewhat tedious it felt right and was fun to explore. I would also enjoy a mix of methods, where some abilities are useable say, twice per day (more commonly used for innate abilities or objects) or keyed to other events involving the character's story/stats. I'll also mention Dark Queen of Krynn, Eye of the Beholder & Baldur's Gate as enjoyable systems (for variant reasons).

As far as "Vancian memorization", it has been much vilified and not implemented well in many cases, but I think it can be used with good effect in a CRPG as long as the wait times are similar to healing/mana regen times, and spells are balanced. Call it preparation and it gets a better response. Of course, if mem times are affected by stats, you run into min/maxing with intelligence/wisdom gear in a lot of games.

I think you can take a lot from paper-n-pencil and then automate the math. Calculating a multitude of complex factors is not a problem for computer processors, and this should be used to advantage in games. As Freeman said - if there are many small factors that affect combat, it is easier to maintain a balance for players who know how to play their strengths.

Again, that suggestion would have a hard time being applied to skills as well and may be less than helpful. Side note: do we know the in-world mechanic for magic? IE are we using incantations combined with the reagents as in Ultima? Are there hand symbols or silent spells? This might be something to look at.

 

Traditional combat (not counting turn-based)? Pick target, let your character beat it to death, while you picking buffs / debuffs and changing tactics according to situation. I want my character to fight, not me, I'm here to make decisions for him. Let RPS decide how effectiv his blows will be, not my cerebellum.
So it will be:
Baldur's Gate
IWD
Dungeon siege
NWN
Fall: LDoG
and now — DotA, I suppose (it's more like action, but still AA + Aimable / Auto abilities, which fits my definition perfectly)

Oh, almost forgot, most of MUDs (all the MUDs I saw, I saw a lot of them, not all) have traditional combat system (IMO).

 

Tab 1-5 and repeat.