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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Held block vs timed parry vs passive block [Poll]
Anonymous332
Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
Since showcasing basic melee attack animations, discussions came up again about blocks.
There are 3 possible ways to implement a blocking system
Held blocks - the one we saw during the stream of showcasing basic melee attack animations. Will most likely drain X amount of X resource (Stamina/Mana) per millisecond/second and is more friendly to the average player
Timed parry - lasts for a limited time; example 1,5 seconds. More forgiving regarding resource drain, but higher risk assuming there will be a slight cooldown between each parry. Requires more skill to pull off as you have to read the opponents animations and spells to time it right both against other players and mobs.
Passive block - RNG % based. The simplest form and what most players from the genre are used to, it just works!
What do you prefer? Poll link: https://strawpoll.com/polls/NMnQBx4P0g6
NOTE: both held block and timed parry can possibly coexist with passive block chance.
There are 3 possible ways to implement a blocking system
Held blocks - the one we saw during the stream of showcasing basic melee attack animations. Will most likely drain X amount of X resource (Stamina/Mana) per millisecond/second and is more friendly to the average player
Timed parry - lasts for a limited time; example 1,5 seconds. More forgiving regarding resource drain, but higher risk assuming there will be a slight cooldown between each parry. Requires more skill to pull off as you have to read the opponents animations and spells to time it right both against other players and mobs.
Passive block - RNG % based. The simplest form and what most players from the genre are used to, it just works!
What do you prefer? Poll link: https://strawpoll.com/polls/NMnQBx4P0g6
NOTE: both held block and timed parry can possibly coexist with passive block chance.
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Comments
Given how slow MMOs are compared to what I normally play, it feels like an unnecessary raise of the skill floor. These types of things are never 'not meta' because if they are good enough to be worth using, they'll also be too strong in the hands of much faster players.
If they're not good enough for that, then they're just taking a risk for minimal benefit.
So if I assume a 'balanced' Timed Parry, I'll absolutely take it, but the game would suffer, I think.
For reference my SFV secondary has a parry that is active for only 2 frames and others that are active for 11. 1/30th of a second and 1/5th of a second or so, respectively.
I'm unlikely to fail a 90 frame parry.
I think the poll is bugged, at least not showing any results for me.
Thanks for the heads up, should be fixed
I imagine a situation where a pure tank could have all three but he mistimed his parry and a blade dancer weaves in to save the tank with his or her parry. I think for PvE the more fun to use tools the better especially if it gives players the ability to help each other.
For PvP, they can nerf or outright remove aspects of an ability. I.E. Taunts, charms or mind controls, or counters like we have seen in other MMOs. I would enjoy classes that had thematically correct defensive and offensive cooldowns that only had areas of overlap where it made sense I.E. a pure Tank/Tank having all 3 defensive blocking types but a fighter maybe only have 1.
If I could only pick one I would prefer counters but as Azherae points out that has a lot of gameplay issues.
I think the safest bet is passive and active blocking with % increases based on gear and class.
All the other mechanics can be active / passive abilities for primary or secondary tank archetypes.
Does that mean that all three should be available to all classes/weapons?
Passive % block chance is bad. RNG should be minimized in skill-based combat systems. The only RNG that is acceptable in PvP is critical strike chance. RNG defense is detrimental.
I’m about pushing the skill ceiling as high as it can go, players shouldnt be stifled on their mastery of the game. It should be definitive on where a player stands in terms of skill.
They should stay separate from class kits and available to through the weapons system.
Attacks from behind, above or below aren't blockable.
I never said anything about a shield. Active blocking seems to be universal for each weapon and class.
I have no issue with shields providing higher damage mitigation when active blocking or allowing options for specialization in damage mitigation.
I do however believe that active blocking shouldn't inherently or exclusively be focused on damage mitigation.
I have a post on this subject that you also seemed to misunderstand. If you'd like you can read through it again.
https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/52863/suggestion-alternative-to-active-blocking-as-damage-mitigation#latest
Block seems universal, but i don't think all weapons/classes should be good at it and instead should rely more on evasion.
Or, as I suggested, let those that don't specialize in damage mitigation use active blocking as a tool for lessening the effects of knockdowns, knockbacks, staggers and stuns.