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Will be throwing a few threads up covering some of the busted shit in moviebattles and praying that more outcry = it gets fixed. Figured this was a relatively non-controversial ability to start with. Have to preface this by saying that this is probably going to piss some people off, but if I'm being completely honest, I'm alright with pissing off the people who crutch on the ability to toggle borderline godmode against blasters whenever they get in trouble.
The poll only lists two options to quantify the responses into the categories provided by this post. Please, feel free to suggest other ways to rework dodge - the developers aren't solely going to look at the number of people voting when making a decision on how to deal with the dodge problem. Unique approaches to the problem which solve the core issue in a different way are certainly welcome and encouraged.
Dodge as it currently stands in Moviebattles II functions as a literal godmode ability against blasters, it supposedly doesn't work when projectiles are fired from close range, when aimed at the head or from behind, but all three of these are janky at best and consistently non-functional at worst. The mechanic as it exists is extremely overpowered. You don't need to do anything or implement any skill to overcome your opponent's aim beyond simply pressing the button, which guarantees damage immunity from incoming fire for the duration of the ability whilst you can still fire with no drawbacks.
I shouldn't have to explain why this is an issue in a competitive environment. But to put it simply, the core of the issue with dodge is that it allows a player to negate the effect of an opponent's weapon and thereby ignore their skill with a single button press all the while being allowed to return fire which can be critical in deciding a fight at high level play.
The ability as it stands is far too powerful, and I'd go so far as to say an ability like this is actually incompatible with open gameplay. A skill-based shooter such as this should not incorporate abilities which requires no skill in order to execute, especially when using them gives you what functionally amounts to godmode against blasters.
The way I see it, there are two ways to go about this in order to resolve the ridiculous problem that is dodge.
Option one, remove dodge entirely from all classes that have it. This also includes removing Dash Level 2, which currently acts like dodge while it is active. Replace this removed ability with Dash on all classes which this change affects. If these classes need some sort of dodge ability it should be active, require thought and be counterable by a skilled player. It should not be a one-key-press functional godmode ability that prevents you from taking any damage from gunners. This is the option I prefer, Dash is an ability that gives a lot of movement options to otherwise slow classes and this is a significantly better form of 'manual dodge' than relying on automatic dodging.
If that first one is unappealing because it is basically just copying an ability from one class onto another, then I propose a second solution. I must stress however that this second solution is still not really enough and while it would make Dodge less of a problem it would still be a problematic ability from a competitive view.
Option two, remove dodge from dash level 2, remove the ability to fire while dodge is active and add a windup & cooldown window of 500 - 700ms to the start and end of dodging, to prevent instantly dodging on reaction and prevent instantly firing before & after the dodging period is over. Dodge should not function as an ability you activate in order to push the enemy or to instantly react to being outflanked and if it is to exist in MB2 it should exist entirely as an indirect combat ability designed not for taking an active part in heavy fighting but instead to make an escape from an exposed position, allowing a gunner to avoid incoming fire in general for a short duration but being completely vulnerable for a moment during the windup and cooldown of the dodge ability.
This second solution however I disagree with on the grounds that it still requires no active engagement or skill to implement while providing a huge reward. Even in this second iteration it is still a one button press to make you (almost) completely immune to gunners for a sufficiently long window that you could use it to push angles you really shouldn't be able to as a gunner. In addition, there is also no way to really telegraph whether a player is in the wind up/cooldown period or dodging, which has the potential to be rather irritating.
However on a competitive level this is a significantly healthier form of dodge than the one that is currently in-game, which is a literal godmode ability that allows you to fire ludicrously powerful weapons for a multi-life class without any possibility of retaliation for up to two seconds from most gunner attacks.
EDIT: Food for thought. Some fun suggestions I have heard over the past few years included adding portable turrets to ET/COMM similar to the deployable turrets the clones have on Jedi Temple FA, or the mounted guns that can be deployed on that map by the clone engineers. Something like this could be a fun addition to the game and a viable replacement for dodge, being able to drop an auto turret which can assist in a firefight might be a fun angle to include though a deployable mounted gun is probably not going to be the first choice for the players who build their playstyle around dodge.
The poll only lists two options to quantify the responses into the categories provided by this post. Please, feel free to suggest other ways to rework dodge - the developers aren't solely going to look at the number of people voting when making a decision on how to deal with the dodge problem. Unique approaches to the problem which solve the core issue in a different way are certainly welcome and encouraged.
Dodge as it currently stands in Moviebattles II functions as a literal godmode ability against blasters, it supposedly doesn't work when projectiles are fired from close range, when aimed at the head or from behind, but all three of these are janky at best and consistently non-functional at worst. The mechanic as it exists is extremely overpowered. You don't need to do anything or implement any skill to overcome your opponent's aim beyond simply pressing the button, which guarantees damage immunity from incoming fire for the duration of the ability whilst you can still fire with no drawbacks.
I shouldn't have to explain why this is an issue in a competitive environment. But to put it simply, the core of the issue with dodge is that it allows a player to negate the effect of an opponent's weapon and thereby ignore their skill with a single button press all the while being allowed to return fire which can be critical in deciding a fight at high level play.
The ability as it stands is far too powerful, and I'd go so far as to say an ability like this is actually incompatible with open gameplay. A skill-based shooter such as this should not incorporate abilities which requires no skill in order to execute, especially when using them gives you what functionally amounts to godmode against blasters.
The way I see it, there are two ways to go about this in order to resolve the ridiculous problem that is dodge.
Option one, remove dodge entirely from all classes that have it. This also includes removing Dash Level 2, which currently acts like dodge while it is active. Replace this removed ability with Dash on all classes which this change affects. If these classes need some sort of dodge ability it should be active, require thought and be counterable by a skilled player. It should not be a one-key-press functional godmode ability that prevents you from taking any damage from gunners. This is the option I prefer, Dash is an ability that gives a lot of movement options to otherwise slow classes and this is a significantly better form of 'manual dodge' than relying on automatic dodging.
If that first one is unappealing because it is basically just copying an ability from one class onto another, then I propose a second solution. I must stress however that this second solution is still not really enough and while it would make Dodge less of a problem it would still be a problematic ability from a competitive view.
Option two, remove dodge from dash level 2, remove the ability to fire while dodge is active and add a windup & cooldown window of 500 - 700ms to the start and end of dodging, to prevent instantly dodging on reaction and prevent instantly firing before & after the dodging period is over. Dodge should not function as an ability you activate in order to push the enemy or to instantly react to being outflanked and if it is to exist in MB2 it should exist entirely as an indirect combat ability designed not for taking an active part in heavy fighting but instead to make an escape from an exposed position, allowing a gunner to avoid incoming fire in general for a short duration but being completely vulnerable for a moment during the windup and cooldown of the dodge ability.
This second solution however I disagree with on the grounds that it still requires no active engagement or skill to implement while providing a huge reward. Even in this second iteration it is still a one button press to make you (almost) completely immune to gunners for a sufficiently long window that you could use it to push angles you really shouldn't be able to as a gunner. In addition, there is also no way to really telegraph whether a player is in the wind up/cooldown period or dodging, which has the potential to be rather irritating.
However on a competitive level this is a significantly healthier form of dodge than the one that is currently in-game, which is a literal godmode ability that allows you to fire ludicrously powerful weapons for a multi-life class without any possibility of retaliation for up to two seconds from most gunner attacks.
EDIT: Food for thought. Some fun suggestions I have heard over the past few years included adding portable turrets to ET/COMM similar to the deployable turrets the clones have on Jedi Temple FA, or the mounted guns that can be deployed on that map by the clone engineers. Something like this could be a fun addition to the game and a viable replacement for dodge, being able to drop an auto turret which can assist in a firefight might be a fun angle to include though a deployable mounted gun is probably not going to be the first choice for the players who build their playstyle around dodge.
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