Melee is boring in everquest... you hit the autoattack button and then click a 'kick' or 'bash' or 'flying kick' button when ever it pops up. This has to be made less mindless. In this post I will list numerous ways to make melee combat more intelligent. This will focus mainly on the Monk and Warrior classes but much of it can touch other melee classes as well.

For monks the usage of punches or kicks as their 'secondary attack' is basically left to which is the newest. This should be changed and the kicks given different attributes then the punches other then damage and delay. A monk's 'secondary attack' punches should have a chance to do a critical hit. I would like to clarify by secondary attack I mean skills like Tiger Claw, not normal punches. For the kicks they should have a random chance of stunning the target, this should not start till the level 5 round kick skill but for every kick following (like Flying kick). This would make monks have to chose do they want the chance for extra damage through a critical hit or a chance to stun the opponent.

For warriors they should be given additional moves similar to a monks that mimic special sword techniques. An example would be an overhead smash that trades delay or accuracy for strength or perhaps a 'calculated strike' that while normally doing less damage it greatly increases the chance for a critical hit. Perhaps even a roundhouse swing that would be a shord range point black area effect where the warrior swings his weapon around hitting enemies right next to him but with lesser damage AND accuracy. Of course the more powerful of these would have delays the 'roundhouse swing' type of one perhaps recycling every minute or two.

For the melee classes in general a viewpoint very similar to Asheron's Call should be included in Everquest (I do NOT mean exactly like, there are more similar systems in MUDs to what I am about to say then Asheron's Call). Warriors, Monks, and other melee or hybrid classes should be able to chose what posture they fight in. Normal which is what everthing in Everquest now. Defensive which raises the armor class but makes hits less powerful and perhaps even slower. And Offensive which makes heavier damage, a slight increase in attack speed but a drop in armor class...perhaps even negating special skills like dodge or at least parry (But not riposte since that is more of an offensive defense skill). I do NOT mean a slidebar like Asheron Call has for 'faster less accurate' or 'slow and powerful' just 3 different switches with 'normal' as default.

Rogues should be given some 'down and dirty' fighting abilities perhaps throwing something in the enemies eye to blind them for a moment and decrease their likliness to hit. Have a recycle time of perhaps 2 minutes on it. Give all rogues a kind of 'automatic mini-sneak' where even walking normally they are less likely to draw a dangerous creature's attention. When a rogue backstabs give a random chance that the victim will 'bleed' and have it be a minor DoT that is automatically cured when they are bandaged or healed. Also make it so poison doses on a blade will last longer then one usage... most poisons can last on a blade for roughly 8-10 uses or even more in some cases.

Paladins perhaps should have a hidden guage that measures the damage they take and the damage their group takes... perhaps when it reaches a certain point they gain bonuses that could be considered a 'holy fervor'. A ability that is an area effect mega-taunt that can be used every 'norrathian day' that would make all creatures erase their hate list and frenzie on the paladin that are already in battle. It would be nice if Paladins got Bind Affinity because that would make their heroic acts of bravery much more common. On the reverse I believe that Shadow Knights should be given gate and rangers should be given both.

Those are just a few ideas I came up with... the closer to the beginning the better the ideas in my own oppinion and the more balanced they are.

- Whym Dragonsworn