Perfect Block

[Apex]

I've brought this up a few times since the cyan/purple saber system was introduced and here I am once again because I've had it with this perfect blocking system. I don't want to go writing paragraphs about this as I have numerous times in the past, but I feel the need to voice my opinion regarding this matter once more. I get a lot of people agreeing with me when I talk about this in game or via TeamSpeak, to put it simply, dueling has become a spam fest. This pblocking system has ruined dueling.

Remember when dueling servers were more popular than open mode? I mean, I prefer open mode anyway but ever since the pblock system was changed (whenever cyan/purple was introduced, forgot the version) dueling servers took a drastic drop in population and have been on a steady decline. I believe that alone speaks for itself and should be taken notice of. Why would this happen if the system was "improved"? Because it wasn't.

Anyway, getting a bit off topic here, I have too much to say about this current saber system. Perfect blocks happen about 70-80% of attacks, whether it be intentional or accidental pblocks occurring. Perfect blocks should be on the low end of the percentage compared to body hits, not the other way around! What this is doing is encouraging a spam-centric dueling system. There's what, essentially 3 angles to perfect block at now? This used to be one of the most intricate mechanics in dueling and separated the boys from the men. Now, it happens WAY too often both on accident and intentionally.

What I'm proposing here is to revert the pblock system back to what it was pre-cyan/purple patch. You can keep the stances and what not, but this pblock system took the style out of dueling and the skill. Not to say that it doesn't still require some skill, because it does, it's just a really dumbed down version of what it used to be. There used to be multiple angles you could swing at, not just low medium high. You used your blade to defend your body requiring proper distancing and angling of your saber, NOT your crosshair. Skilled opponents could get around a strong defensive player by switching up the angle of each swing because there were more than just 3 crosshair placements to block every swing. Dueling now has become who can outswing the other, not who can outplay.

I ended up typing paragraphs anyway but this system truly has taken the fun away from a system that was nearly perfect before this drastic change. I would like to hear opinions from you guys, although I have a feeling the majority will defend the current for some odd reason.

 

[Supa]

The whole saber system needs a complete revamp.

Complete revamps are how we got into this mess in the first place. All of the elements to make a functional, fluid system have been there, just not all at the same time. More changes will just take us farther away from what the saber system was intended to be years ago.

Unless you want more katas and butterflies. That can be arranged.

 

[SeV]

I don't like Ben's idea of simplifying PB and I would much rather prefer going back to the previous PB mechanic than even trying out his idea. It simply makes PB, which is a good chunk of skill, redundant and furthermore encourages spamming, running, dodging etc, thus vastly decreasing the skill-ceiling.

I think the current PB mechanic is very clear and easy to grasp, but it's just not that easy to master unless you've got a good knowledge of the game (Experience). The previous PB system on the other hand, would fit your description of being obscure and hard to understand far better. It was only myself and a very few other top duelists who actually made any sort of effort to use it occasionally. Mostly people just relied on nudging, dodging and swings for defense. Now, defense and attack are both areas that, if invested in, will pay off. Skipping PB now makes a huge difference, and landing some PB's can be life-saving. It is functioning well atm, though there are a few issues.

The Mblock anim for blocking attacks was only in RC1 as far as I remember. RC2 I didn't play cause it was utterly horrible, and it wasn't in RC3 when I came back.

I like your thoughts on bringing it back in some way stassin, as RC1 block anims was one of the things I enjoyed alot with that build. It made RC1 seem especially good too, because of the fact that it was preceded by a shitty build. If implemented correctly, I think it would improve the saber system alot actually and I'm totally for atleast testing and trying it out to see if it can work. If it was coupled with making counters stronger it would change the system in a positive way imo.

Also, how about making it possible to PB special attacks in some way? The PB would only negate some of the damage, not all of it. I don't know why the hell you can't PB a simple attack like RDFA or YDFA by looking up. You'd still take dmg, get knocked down or staggered, but the dmg would be considerably less and the opponent wouldn't get an ACC from the attack. I'd also like the idea of PBing Butterflies but again I'm unsure about how to accomplish this, just that in the previous PB system you could do it and it keeps messing with my head even after all this time maybe the idea is worth investigating since by now the amount of activated attacks in the game is ridiculously high and alot of those attacks drain alot of BP. It would be nice to be able to negate some of that dmg with a well-aimed block or two instead of dodging like a chicken or counter-special attacking.

 

[Hels The Ronin]

Resurrecting an old thread. Wanted to signal something. Maybe adding more BP damage to the strikes at the final half of the swing + revamping the game system next way might help somehow. Instead of having to look at the space around enemy model, which is quite wide but he can move it and wiggle it, why not using saber placement While looking at the Saber hit box ? What I mean? Same that looking player model for a while gives concentration against him, looking the saber for like .5 seconds before impact would trigger a defensive animation that you would need to place properly, that would depend on the enemy direction of the swing. That way, enemy could try to still move in the last second his saber to get past that animation and land a body hit.

And if you feel like revamping more the sabersystem, just add two features more. Interrupting movements with half swinging by transforming the swing into a manual block position and... This the best part... Make possible to attack from manual blocking position without triggering windup phase of the attack, just the strike phase. By adding these you should be able to use attacks literally as faints, transitioning in the last momment in an attack from the other direction, and thus giving the possibility to do very fast combos of several attacks. To avoid spam of this maneuver you could make it loos one point of ACM or simply not sum ACM for an attack made from a guarding position (meaning here that you have to go through windup to sum ACM or be the second attack of a combo).

This just an idea I bring, do not know how much possible it is. This would bring down the problem of needing to stretch your body as mad to make an attack impossible to pb, face hugging would stop to be an annoying thing most of time since you would need to land your hits on the final half of the swing, although it would be functional sometimes, specially with high ACM, and keeping distance would help a lot to give you time to look and trace enemies attack. It would also help manual blocking to be more useful, and would bring blocking by attacking the enemy saber a thing since you could control much better your attacks without having to time the windup.

I only see pros to the system.

 

[Hels The Ronin]

Ah, and also, remove nudging to start attacks without windup since you would do that with mblock, instead.

 

[Chaos the Chaotic]

4 years later. Still the same shit. What others called progress, was actually regress.

The degeneracy lives on. A pox on your houses of EU!