Maybe I am old fashioned, but the video Hessu linked just screams 'git-gud' at me. You should not feel entitled to kills with such low-effort gameplay. Sorry if rude.
Anyway, I think the system in general could use a bit of an overhaul. However, it's pretty much impossible to do anything as a beta tester so I signed off a long time ago and I'm not even on MBII discord any more because why waste my time?
However, if I were to suggest general design direction changes, it would run along the lines of every style being unique in as many ways as possible so that it doesn't feel like you're just playing faster and slower versions of yellow. This can include changing perks, ways of blocking, parrying/countering mechanics for each style and so on. Simply giving back insta counters, PB counters or MBC's is not going to fix the fundamentally flawed design of the current system.
The current aimed PB is not suited to how current moviebattles II does attacks and it does not cohere with open mode gameplay at all. It is pretty much only good in 1v1 dueling scenarios but feels super unnatural in 1vx and open mode. This is because you can run, mouserape to obscure, facehug, etc to bypass the PB. I think the old way of having the blade = PB was more consistent from a coherency stand-point, aka what you see is what you get. But even that is flawed because you got yaw. Since perfection is impossible, a mixture of the two seems reasonable, perhaps with a third way of blocking, like through Manual block, could be good. I mean, it's called manual block, not disarm, right? Why can't manual block, block? If you time an MB, you should be getting a PB or something else like a manual PB. You can change the effectiveness of the different ways of PBing. For example, lightsaber blade 20% dmg redux, normal PB within a small zone 90% within a larger 1.3 style zone 80% and finally Manual PB 100%
For years now, I've been thinking that it would be good to give players different ways to block so they don't have to rely solely on aimed PB. We're talking things like the lightsaber blade being an object to interact with rather than a gummy dildo that can't stop attacks at all. But again, it's pretty much impossible to get any meaningful gameplay changes through as a mere beta tester even though I've wanted a 20% reduction of BP damage if you hit the saber vs the body, so that there is a difference between a bodyhit and a saberhit, for years.
On parrying, there are a few things you can do. First, make it so you cannot do consecutive parries on low BP, perhaps when you are under like 10-15% BP, maybe you flinch back into a brief lock or something. Next, you make someone who swingblocks beat someone that doesn't swingblock in the parry so that both have to swingblock full combos to parry perfectly. This 'beating' could be related to BP drain or it could interrupt the parry and flinch like at lower BP. This also means that you can't truly tell if someone is low BP or they just failed their swingblock parries, which means that you can mindgame a bit better. You can also make the last swing in a combo disarmable. So for yellow it'd be the 4th swing, for red the 3rd. But only if it's a consecutive in a combo, and not if it's just halfswinging. Another possible way is to have different interactions for swingblock vs non-swingblock. Say, if you don't swingblock, u don't get parried by the opponent but u can also get disarmed and interrupts hurt u more. If you swingblock, you're safer but you get parried by an opponent that swingblocks. There are many things you could try, but well, for reasons that escape me, we're stuck with such narrowminded systems.
There are of course many other ways you could change things up, like introducing buyable perks that give you various boosts. Imagine if there was a lightsaber skills menu completely seperate from the Force menu, and in that saber menu you buy things like manual block disarm, improved parry, improved countering, or passive abilities like taking less BP damage on lightsaber blade hit (Maybe the default is 10% and u can increase it to 25% by buying this perk). There are so many things you could do, and I've written many essays on suggestions in the past, so I will leave it at this. Just know that it's possible to reach for the skies, but the devs are afraid to do anything because you people whine every time a new patch comes out (sometimes with good reason, but even on the good patches there's always something that isn't so good, and the negatives get focused on so the devs get depressed and go on half a year hiatus).
You make good points, as always, Sev.
Maybe I am old fashioned, but the video Hessu linked just screams 'git-gud' at me.
HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA
On parrying, there are a few things you can do. First, make it so you cannot do consecutive parries on low BP, perhaps when you are under like 10-15% BP, maybe you flinch back into a brief lock or something.
This would be great, I think you'd have to cripple footwork a bit for this to work correctly though. If I get to 10-15BP, I know I'm going to lockup if I attempt a parry and fail; I'm simply just going to run. It's easier, less risky, and not much the enemy can do about it.
Then again, getting locked up at 10-15BP is going to make duels much faster, and it would make duels feel a bit frustrating imo.
As I mentioned in my previous post though, I don't actually think parrying is problematic whatsoever. I'm slightly baffled as to why people think parrying is an issue in the first place. If someone parries you to death without running like a bitch, I'm sorry but you're shit at this game. But that's just how I see it. (Maybe I'm wrong).
Besides, we have a feature to stop excessive parrying already, it's called slap. Use this correctly please guys.
"But if they're swingblock is good what can I do" they are GOOD at swingblocking. That is the whole point.
Perhaps they lack in other things which is why you managed to get them so low (0-10BP) but their swingblock is great, allowing them to ware/tank you down to their level.
And yes I'm aware swingblock in itself is a bit of a flawed system, but pretty much everything is flawed and can be exploited in this game if done correctly.
Why people would want to add more shit into the mix in regards to parrying is honestly fucking beyond me.
If I am on 0-10BP, and I'm walking/standing/not trying to avoid the enemies swings and just letting the duel play out naturally, it's VERY difficult for me to just parry someone to death. Usually I have to PB the first swing then counter attack, or PB a few swings and attack afterwards etc.
This is what makes me think parrying is not a problem at all. It's the running.
My ideas in regards to potential changes that could be implemented are flawed, but as mentioned earlier pretty much everything in this game is. Nothing's ever going to be perfect and I think we need some very basic but crucial changes to how dueling works right now.
(I mentioned these earlier but I feel like everyone just tl;dr'd me lol)
1. Change counter timing.
2. Lower interrupts even further.
Reasons why this would work:
1. Easy as fuck to implement. Literally just adjusting a couple values (I think. Temp/Stas correct me if I'm wrong about that lol).
2. You will actually be able to counter without having to cross your toes and pray to God it works.
Meaning:
Less interrupts, less chance for enemy to abuse gay running tactics and more BP available in order to chase down pussies.
Working on a patch for 1-2 years just to release it and find out the community fucking hates it is not the way to go imo.
We need regular duel change tests with duelists/beta team or regular patches to the public and focus on feedback from them, rather than working on a system for ages and finding out it doesn't work.
I understand why we are currently not doing this; devs are demotivated since they have worked for a VERY long time on this mod and think the community hates them as Sev mentioned.
But don't let the negative feedback get to you, we are all just EXTREMELY passionate about this game and we really do want it to do well!
With regular small changes here and there, I think the relationship with the community (at least the dueling community) will gradually improve, transparency between devs and community will be better and we'll all feel a bit happier
I think the old way of having the blade = PB was more consistent from a coherency stand-point
This pls.
If you time an MB, you should be getting a PB or something else like a manual PB.
I actually think disarms should be removed from the game entirely. it's a bit retarded/boring once you know how to do it properly and it seems to frustrate a lot of the noobies.
Giving us a manual PB instead would be great. Do dis pls devs.
On the topic of PB, I feel like the system isn't that flawed. Yeah, it's not great in 2v(?) or Open, but imo, due to the nature of PB being that you need to use your mouse to aim at a certain location to perform it, you can never get it to a place where it's perfect.
What about, if you PB one guy, the second guy who hits you deals no damage for that first swing? This way, you'd have a bit more of an ability to stretch the duel out and let oppurtunities present themselves.
Since I have absolutely ZERO knowledge on coding or how saber changes can be implemented, I'm not sure how this would be possible (or if it IS possible).
Imagine if there was a lightsaber skills menu completely seperate from the Force menu, and in that saber menu you buy things like manual block disarm, improved parry, improved countering, or passive abilities like taking less BP damage on lightsaber blade hit
Personally I would completely despise something like this.
I believe everyone should be on the most equal playing field possible when it comes to dueling.
If something like this were to be implemented, I feel like it would crush dueling completely. It'd be so easy to just blame your loss on the fact that the enemy you lost to bought something in the Saber menu and you bought something else that you didn't get to flex in that particular duel (for whatever reason).
Besides, I don't think many active duelists would really care for something like this anyway. Most of us have our own styles or ways of playing that have pro's and cons in their own ways.
Because players have discovered these ways of playing themselves, adding a system like this into the game would take away this feat from duelists.
Now that this fucking essay is finished I can go and take a shit thank u all for listening