Anyway to view a combat log?

[mikeydsc]

So I was tooling around the cultist area and ran into a starred (boss/champion) outside on the main map. All I know is he was throwing some kinda red fire bassed attacks at me and 1 hit me a couple different times. I have great equipment as this is my 6th toon to run thru the game and 80% max fire resist. I am pointing physique on level up and was level 18ish when this happened.

I was thinking since his spell was red it should be fire based but with max resist how/why did he 1 hit me? Thought maybe it was a glitch, exited game and reloaded and same thing happened. Maybe the 1 hit bug is still active?

Would love to see the logs to know for sure what it was that killed me.

[sultryrose]

those cultist dudes hit HARD with chaos damage, not fire

[jamesc70]

I'd love to have a combat log also.

Ever since I've played some MMO's and could look back and see what exactly killed me, I couldn't understand why this wasn't in all of these type of games. You have all this detailed information about your character and their damage and defenses, but zero information about what that character does with them.

It would be a simple addition.

[Fendelphi]

Originally posted by jamesc70:

I'd love to have a combat log also.

Ever since I've played some MMO's and could look back and see what exactly killed me, I couldn't understand why this wasn't in all of these type of games. You have all this detailed information about your character and their damage and defenses, but zero information about what that character does with them.

It would be a simple addition.

Part of the reason for that is, you have(typically) many more monsters hitting on you(or you hitting them). Most MMOs wont deal with more than 2-5 monsters on you at the same time(ofc, that is not always the case, but generally, the density is much less than ARPGs).

Just imagine running into a group of 15-20 enemies and then have the game keep track on everything that happens(both damage dealt and damage received) and added to a log.

Even if it wont cause a slow down, the sheer wall of log you would get out of a single engagement would make it basically useless.
Throw a flashbang? Make a log entry for 15-20 enemies getting slowed/confused.
Throw and AoE, make a log entry of 10-15 enemies taking different amounts of damage(and some would miss and some would crit).
Enemies heal allies or uses an ability? Log it.

By the time you have done killing all enemies(10 second engagement), you might have 100 lines of logs that you can look through and try to find that one guy that critted you.


That being said, a log on the guy that killed you should be feasible, as the game already tracks highest damage received, what monster that hit you last(and that you hit last) etc.

If it is possible to make such a log system, I would rather have it as a mod(ie, not something the devs need to invest time and resources on).

[mikeydsc]

Most logs today have a few options of what is/can be logged. When WOW did them in a 40 man raid its the same only reversed. Its quite possible to implement with minimal coding.

[Traveller]

scroll bar works wonders in a log file too. i think fends points were pretty much a non issue in terms of a log being viable or not.

[Fendelphi]

Originally posted by Traveller:

scroll bar works wonders in a log file too. i think fends points were pretty much a non issue in terms of a log being viable or not.

Combat logs was used(in olde times) because you didnt have flashy numbers showing how much damage you did, and the combat was largely turn based or the pacing was slower(so each instance of damage stayed in the log long enough for you to read). You would see that in old MMORPGs and old RPGs in general.
These days, you get immediate feedback in a lot of different ways(number shown, colour coded, HP bars) and a combat log in fast paced games simply adds so many numbers that you would have to spend a few minutes to find the numbers you are looking for after the fight.

Within half a second of combat in GD, the "log" might write 20 lines(you hitting/missing and damaging enemies, enemies hitting/missing and damaging you, abilities used etc.).
In a longer engagement(15-20 seconds) where you fight around 30 or so enemies, you would probably have 2-300 lines of log.


As I said, if you want to scroll through hundreds of lines of logs after each combat to see who hit and who missed you, how much damage they did, how much damage you did etc, fine by me.

I can see the benefit of being able to see who killed you and with what, especially in HC mode and the survival mode. A "last 5 second damage taken" would be a cool thing in that case.
And if there is an easy way to filter through the logs by categorize. Cool. I just still think that it shouldnt be something the devs need to spend time and resources on to implement, and if it is easy to do, then let a modder do it. Then people can add the log to their game if they want.

[powbam]

Yeah while it would be interesting/slightly handy for some instances they would definitely need to add a variety of filters to help parse that much data.

If I had it I would probably want it able to filter every thing except crits and anything that causes your death. Those would be the most important but having a variety of different filters would come in handy for min/maxers that like to get a good idea of the numbers their characters are receiving/giving against a variety of foes.

So it could be useful as long as it was highly configurable and didn't negatively impact game play.

[Traveller]

oh thanks fendelphia it is refreshing to get a programmers viewpoint onto whether or not a feature is feasible or not to implent. Crate should hire you immediately. Also the way you grasp how long it will take to write a feature like this [which is a feature that a lot of folks would appreciate!]
It is refreshing to get a view point from an expert programmer such as yourself as well as being able to determine the costs/resourses/ time involved in implementing such a feature. You Sir could be the president/ manager/ producer and programmer on a project such as this. such varied talents all in one person is wealth unimanageble!
What is really amazing that with all your talents you have time to manager someone elses company and tell us why they cant implent a log!
If i ever start a gaming company i only pray that you are availble to be president/ceo/producer/time manager in my company. You must have what 10 degrees? how many masters do you have?
I am amazed that you have any time at all to be able to pipe in and tell us how stupid we are for wanting a log!
we are not worthy of your awesomeness!!! thank you for taking the time out of your busy day and speaking for crate to us!
in the future can we direct all ideas to you first before suggesting them to crate? i realize this may take time out of your busy life but think of all the time you can save them!

[Aysling]

*old thread apology*

Personally, I find the "immediate feedback" of flashing numbers and/or color coding to be 99% useless. There is no way for me to actually process that information. All it does is let me know that my abilities are hitting - I get the same amount of feedback by just watching the enemies die.

I also dislike the immersion-breaking aspects of it. If I punch a pillow I don't see giant numbers flashing around me =p Different people like different things - having a combat log option would be fantastic, as is having the ability to toggle the damage numbers on and off.

You also mention that there would be so many things to log - but whether or not there is a visible record of those numbers, the calculations still have to be made, which would be more resource-intensive than simply creating a record of them.

I would love to have a log or a DPS type meter so I could examine exactly how gear, skills and devotions interact. With 18(!!) different types of damage, plus up to 8 (not including skills/devotions) ways to modify that damage, it seems like it'd be hard to evaluate anything beyond 'things die faster when I wear this' or 'I die faster when I wear that' as the game stands now.

[powbam]

Originally posted by Aysling:

*old thread apology*

Personally, I find the "immediate feedback" of flashing numbers and/or color coding to be 99% useless. There is no way for me to actually process that information. All it does is let me know that my abilities are hitting - I get the same amount of feedback by just watching the enemies die.

I also dislike the immersion-breaking aspects of it. If I punch a pillow I don't see giant numbers flashing around me =p Different people like different things - having a combat log option would be fantastic, as is having the ability to toggle the damage numbers on and off.

You also mention that there would be so many things to log - but whether or not there is a visible record of those numbers, the calculations still have to be made, which would be more resource-intensive than simply creating a record of them.

I would love to have a log or a DPS type meter so I could examine exactly how gear, skills and devotions interact. With 18(!!) different types of damage, plus up to 8 (not including skills/devotions) ways to modify that damage, it seems like it'd be hard to evaluate anything beyond 'things die faster when I wear this' or 'I die faster when I wear that' as the game stands now.

Don't punch the pillow then. Instead punch the dummies in Devil's Crossing, Homestead, and Fort Ikon.