Ok, it's almost a staple in MMO's- you're fighting with a "reflexes" based defense. Your foe attacks, would have hit, but your defensive stat causes them to miss. You dodged!
Animation-wise, nothing changed. You're standing there. some text appears. At most, you get a little boxing twitch to one side. Unimpressive.
There are plenty of reasons for this- a dodging animation would interrupt your attack chain, affecting your dps- the all-too-important calculation that seems to dominate MMO battles. the dodge may take you away from where your character is standing, throwing off the tracking and possibly interfering with your planned attack.
... but wouldn't it be awesome to have an acrobatic flip away... or a duck and slide... or something that really demonstrates tthat what makes this hero unique isn't the dishing out of damage, but the ability to avoid it?
So, how do you get around the penalties:
1) Well, you could make these types of dodges associated with attacks that are somehow telegraphed-- you see them coming and you do x to get away from it. This is a form of active defense that requires player action. What about defensive passives?
2) Imagine a passive dodge that moves you. an animation that makes you flip over the attacker, switching places with them, facing their rear. Another that skips to the side and gets to the foe's flank. Another that slides on the ground and back to your feet. Each of these does take some control away from you and interrupts the dps you;d get for spamming an attack, so why would you want them over a "just standing there and punching" situation?
Buffs. Depending on the math geniuses creating on the powers, the animation time lost doing x applies a damage/accuracy/armor penetration bonus to the next attack.
This mitigates the dps issue- maybe evne lets the strategic player hold something in reserve for after just such a maneuver- and gives visual eyecandy, making a fight seem much more alive.
It's one of the things I actually like about DCUO. You have a passive defense score, but you can actually reduce your damage by hitting a 'block' key, and avoid it altogether by dodging (hitting 'block' with an arrow move aside or away). Made me feel more like I was actually *fighting* than just standing outside my character pressing buttons.
On the other hand, I know plenty of MMO players dislike the fast twitch aspect of that. And yes, it disrupts attack strings etc. in games like WoW, an 'active' dodge might even land you in a danger zone. Maybe it depends on your experience as a console vs. PC player. Plus, If we have Collision Detection(Yes, please) what if players try to dodge into the same space?
Still, if it could be done properly, with the right balance and environment design...
One of the goofy quirks about CoX was that once you were targeted, you got hit. Fireballs chasing you around corners, etc. 'Course it worked both ways.
Yeah, I remember superjumping in Independence Port. On my weak PC, the large enemy mob that I was about to land on top of didn't even appear until after I landed and jumped away. I thought "whew... close one..." and then, with a camera rotation, saw all these rockets and firey things arcing along behind me before I started my rapid bellyflop into the harbor.
I ran into a nasty drawback with animated dodging and blocking playing Diablo 2. I spent so much type dodging, I couldn't get off a shot or sword swing! The dodge animations always took precedence.
Any dodge animation would have to be very quick, and not trump attacking.
The plastic tips on the ends of shoelaces are called Aglets; their true purpose is sinister.
So, what if every dodge gave you a STACKING buff on the next successful attack, so you may lose a standard attack or two from your evasion, but its put you in a position to do double or triple damage to make up for it? (numbers and level of stacking subject to balance/sanitycheck)
The idea would be to emulate spider man avoiding the big brute's attacks over and over without striking back, waiting for a moment to get the right tactical hit in for maximum effect.