What will the character death system be like in CoS in regards to your experience, items, body recovery, etc?
Actually, we're not yet releasing all the details about our 'death' system, which is probably why you haven't found anything about it yet.
All I can tell you for now is that death will have a penalty, there must be risk to make survival meaningful. However, like many things, we have a somewhat unique approach to the penalties, and there are ways to choose how to pay your penalty. But that's all I can tell you for the moment.
What kind of combat does the game offer?
The combat system in CoS is still very much under development. It is one of the most critical parts of any MMO game and we are spending a lot of effort in the development of a system that improves the feel and enjoyment of combat in the game while adding lots of strategy choices for those who wish to take advantage.
We have decided to go with an icon based combat system, where you are selecting an opponent and then using your Abliity icons to send your commands to your character. However, in many other MMO games this kind of system becomes what we like to call 'whack-a-mole'. This means that you have a number of attacks and you just keep mashing the one that becomes available next.
It is our intention to add much more strategy into the choice of what Ability you choose to use next. We'll do this with parry and block options, with feint and charade tactics and with other systems that benefit the thinking player versus the 'whack-a-mole' school of play.
