Active blocking suggestion

Malva

Active blocking has a very high cost: not attacking, not using skills, walking slower and consuming stamina per blocked blow. Therefore it should be something extremely efficient to offset all the cost of you actively raising the shield.

My suggestions are:

1) Perfect guard
A passive in which if we block at the exact moment of the enemy's attack, we would mitigate 100% damage and have a reduction in the stamina cost for blocking this specific attack

2) Battle exhaustion
In the first 3 seconds of blocking attacks, our stamina cost will be reduced. However, from that time on, our stamina cost becomes progressively higher until it becomes a continuous cost (like when we run) of stamina, forcing us to lower the shield again.

I believe that these two changes would bring more significance to active blocking and more action elements for combat, which is precisely AoC's proposal, to have a hybrid combat

IustinusShiva

Your solution to block being already bad is to give me more reasons to micro-manage it (which result in me using it less because path of least resistance)

If I'm in a pve group, me holding block a non-issue as long as IA is running, so I wonder if the real concern you have is people spamming block in pvp (especially because point 2)

That said, active blocking is inferior to dodge-rolling, so something has to change for it to even matter. Lately I've been using a 2h Spellsword because shields seem pretty meh.

Malva

IustinusShiva wrote: »

Your solution to block being already bad is to give me more reasons to micro-manage it (which result in me using it less because path of least resistance)

If I'm in a pve group, me holding block a non-issue as long as IA is running, so I wonder if the real concern you have is people spamming block in pvp (especially because point 2)

That said, active blocking is inferior to dodge-rolling, so something has to change for it to even matter. Lately I've been using a 2h Spellsword because shields seem pretty meh.

I actually play tank and I wanted this mechanic to be not only more impactful, but also something more dynamic.

Well, look, if I just improve active blocking, without bringing any negative points, the tank meta could just be raising the shield and being a damage sponge. Games like NW are like that and fail to provide interesting tank gameplay.

These two suggestions together not only significantly improve active blocking, but also prevent a possible "goal" of just keeping the shield up.

The idea is that the good tank raises the shield at the right time to guarantee the "perfect guard" or alternates between raising the shield and lowering it so that it always remains within the 3 seconds of "Battle exhaustion".

In other words, it will benefit the experienced player and punish those who just want to raise the shield and nothing else.

j3thr01

What about a stacking buff for blocking attacks to enable thorns or increased stats?

Perfect blocking or blocking a certain number of attacks in general (25?) could also trigger an explosion in a cone before the tank that damages enemies and generates threat or taunt enemies hit by said explosion (taunting could be an issue in big scale PvP).

odishy

The problem turns into, get a perfect block or 1 shot. Which the tank is already dealing with death penalties that are brutal.

Bribzy

odishy wrote: »

The problem turns into, get a perfect block or 1 shot. Which the tank is already dealing with death penalties that are brutal.

On the topic of tank busters, there are quite a few existing skills that can help with mitigation of damage from big bursts as is. The entire point of tank busters as a concept is to encourage reactive and proactive play from the party, and from the tank themselves. The least desirable outcome is one where tanks hold a single button and turn their brains off. Making blocking a more interesting and proactive mechanic doesn't preclude fixes for the already existing issue of death penalties.

Imbustin

I like the current mechanics a bit, there already is quite a bit to manage, especially with larger pulls of mobs and you reaction to those pulls depends on what mix of mobs are in those pulls. if there are numerous melee mobs its much easier to mange you can increase you defense to manage your damage taken with fortify, using trips like tremoring strike or aoe trip ground pound when combined with shield assault or use reflect with oppressive reflect to trip them, double block mitigation and reflect incoming attack.(reflect has 3 second for an attack to hit it, and with good timing it can trip multiple enemies.) then you also have dodge rolls to dodge powerful attacks or get out if you've taken a big hit and need a second to recover(with the help of the healer), the self heal shake it off and with indomitable spirit used at the right time with your healer you can go from almost dying back to full in those difficult times. I rarely ever use the a block, I manage the damage i take and when i take it. I don't want to stand there and hold block, the tank at the moment is very interactive.