Former World of Warcraft lead speaks out on the problem plaguing MMO combat – the "bajillion buff and debuff icons"

MMO veteran Greg Street has spoken out about the problem plaguing combat systems in MMOs, and he says it's not tab-targeting, but instead the "bajillion buff and debuff icons" used in an attempt to convey information. 

Street has been on the MMO block for quite some time, so it's safe to say he knows his stuff. From serving as the lead systems designer on World of Warcraft, to joining Riot Games and working on its League of Legends MMO, and becoming the studio head of Fantastic Pixel Castle, which is currently working on a fantasy MMORPG codenamed Ghost, he's done plenty within the genre. Speaking on Twitter recently, it sounds like he and the rest of his team have been discussing what they think the biggest problems are in MMO combat systems.

"This is the kind of thing we will iterate on a lot, but we don’t think tab-targeting is the problem in western MMO combat," he writes. "We think it’s the focus on a bajillion buff and debuff icons to convey info and produce depth."

While I think we've probably all been left overwhelmed by an onslaught of icons flooding our screens at one point or another, plenty of people in the replies are standing firm in their hatred of tab-targeting, which sees combat play out by targeting a nearby enemy and unleashing a string of attacks without manually dodging incoming moves. Responding to one user who says tab-targeting makes things feel too stationary, Street replies: "What tab-targeting buys you is the ability to choose a target (friend or foe) without relying completely on 'affects nearest.' There is no reason the combat also needs to be stationary, predictable or rote."

Despite being JRPGs rather than MMOs, he also praises the Xenoblade Chronicles series' tab-targeting combat system, which notably encourages players to move around their targets to perform different moves like Back Slash (you'll never guess where you're supposed to land that), rather than remaining in one place. He explains: "What I like about the Xenoblade combat is [that there are] reasons to hit a target from the back, side, or front, and combinations that can be executed with multiple abilities (e.g. the second step can be a variety of actual abilities)."

For now, Street's next game is still in the early stages of development, so it's not clear what sort of combat system it'll use. It was announced right at the end of last year, so it seems pretty likely that we still have quite a wait ahead of us before we can expect it to be released.

In the meantime, be sure to check out our roundup of the top 10 best MMORPGs.