Well if you haven’t checked out the gameplay video at gamespot.com go there and check out the action, link at the bottom. There are a few things that you can plainly see being used in the gameplay video; target locking, using cover and crouching. I know what you beta nazis are thinking, that I’m violating the NDA..  Well think again, all of these things have been talked about in the podcasts from the site.

Let’s look at what target locking does for you. It will allow you to track a target even while moving around the environment. That’s pretty much the easiest way to explain it. I don’t see it working like setting your focus in WoW. I think it will only work on your active target meaning you won’t have a box for your target and one for your focus, but we will have to wait and see.

Now cover and crouching can go hand in hand, other wise you will be running around like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Cover is similar to that age old factor from tabletop RPGs (e.g. AD&D). Cover is used as a mechanic to stop or mitigate damage. In this case the game AI will actually allow the mobs to take cover as well. It should make ranged combat very interesting if  everyone is entrenched. It will also mean that using real combat tactics will become the norm in this game (e.g. flanking).

So with crouching let’s say you run into a fire fight and you see a 55 gallon drum. Now a 55 gallon drum is sorter the the average human adult. This means about half of your target is exposed to damage. So how are you goign to decrease the chance for a mob or player to hit you, how about cruching behind the barrel. I’m not saying sit on the ground so you are completely covered but crouching decreased the exposed area of the body and make you a smaller profile to attack or maybe even target.

Podcast – Developer Q & A – Episode 1, Developer Q & A – Episode 2, Developer Q & A – Episode 6 and Developer Q & A – Episode 7