Guard Break Balancing | Forums

[Lezllo]

Hello my fellow gamers and devs today I will talk about guard breaks and how they kinda ruin the game for a lot of people at the moment. Me being one of them, as a beta player making it up to rep 1 with Orochi I watched my duels turn from intense sword slashing and blocking to worrying about when to try to counter a guard break. Since 1v1's were all I played I slowly watched this tactic starting to be more and more abused to the point where in the beginning of the game I could tell within the first 3 strikes if this was going to be a FIGHT or who can land the most guard breaks. Keep in mind I love what the move stands for and it is a MUST have for the game but it is wayyyyyy to spamable. Not only is it that but it's also very hard to time an actually counter from pure reaction alone. I found myself spaming attacks just to stop the ones who abused this move taking ALL the fun out of my duels and the game, BUT there is an solution! I feel the best way to balance guard breaks is to either make it cost stamina so it won't be spamable or add a 2-3 sec cooldown or limit of amounts you can do in one fight - it will force players to use them more wisely. This move bridges the gap between high skilled players and low skilled players. You can say all you want on how to stop or negate as much as you want, but no one can deny the spam of this move.

[Rainbowsix876]

Yes stamina or 2-3 seconds cooldown or just boh. I don't think it RUINS the game but it sure is boring when you meet heroes who just trying to GB you all the time.
I noticed as well that GB benifit M+K much more because you can block while doing GB at the same time. This give you not faster reaction but faster time to hit the GB key.
On a controller you have to leave your guard stance hand to move to another key. This takes time, while on M+K you can still block incoming hits and perform GB with the other hand.
This is something I've been critizing but nobody cares. I do think it's a serious issue when developers of a AAA company cannot make an option of re-binding and un-bindning controllers.

[Drazard_TCR]

If someone guard breaks all game, you have full range to attack with any and every combo you see fit, like hitting a rag doll..

If you are some-how implying that the game needs to be changed, because you dont like fighting against uneducated players that are just plain stupid and dont know how to play, then you sir are delusional.

I would hate to see this games mechanics changed because a few players find it boring to get an easy win. Because thats what a player that guard breaks all game is, an easy win. You dont need to spam anything to beat these playes, literally any attack you want to throw at them will have a 100% hit chance. Soon enough these GB players will wisen up and figure out how to play the game properly.

that said, sometimes guard break spamming is needed against players that are noob enough to block all day or use their *block form all angles attack* The counter to a player that is stupid enough to stand infront of you within striking distance and hold in their guard button is to break their guard every chance you get and punish them for being so passive.

Additionally players that spam attakcs like a 6 year old thats just gotten their very first light saber toy is hard countered by good guard techniques.

Are you seeing a pattern? oh snap, its rock paper scissors the core fundamentals of the game, you have just cracked the games combat on its simplest level! Congratulations!

If this style of combat bores you then this isnt the game for you, because that is the core game-play laws that this game rely's on to function the way it does. You cannt change one without the other, doing so will disrupt the entire games flow.

TLR

If you nerf/change guard break, you break the core of the game itself. and ultimately shatter what this game is all about.


Drazard.

[Lezllo]

If someone guard breaks all game, you have full range to attack with any and every combo you see fit, like hitting a rag doll..

If you are some-how implying that the game needs to be changed, because you dont like fighting against uneducated players that are just plain stupid and dont know how to play, then you sir are delusional.

I would hate to see this games mechanics changed because a few players find it boring to get an easy win. Because thats what a player that guard breaks all game is, an easy win. You dont need to spam anything to beat these playes, literally any attack you want to throw at them will have a 100% hit chance. Soon enough these GB players will wisen up and figure out how to play the game properly.

that said, sometimes guard break spamming is needed against players that are noob enough to block all day or use their *block form all angles attack* The counter to a player that is stupid enough to stand infront of you within striking distance and hold in their guard button is to break their guard every chance you get and punish them for being so passive.

Additionally players that spam attakcs like a 6 year old thats just gotten their very first light saber toy is hard countered by good guard techniques.

Are you seeing a pattern? oh snap, its rock paper scissors the core fundamentals of the game, you have just cracked the games combat on its simplest level! Congratulations!

If this style of combat bores you then this isnt the game for you, because that is the core game-play laws that this game rely's on to function the way it does. You cannt change one without the other, doing so will disrupt the entire games flow.

TLR

If you nerf/change guard break, you break the core of the game itself. and ultimately shatter what this game is all about.


Drazard.

-Person who relys one guard breaking

You can't just attack it out when you run out of stamina. you're logic that's it's part of the game is just talking about the broad view of what the move is used for and I understand but you can't NOT say that's it's not spamable if you think guard breaking is perfect the way it is you either haven't played enough or are one of the people who depend on this move. Only solution you provided is to attack but you run out of stamina attacking and they don't for guard breaking. If anyone thinks this move is fine right now THEY are delusional

[Drazard_TCR]

Actually no.. you dont win as many games as i do by simply spamming guard break. like i said, you need to read the situation.
Guard breaking is fine, it being spammable is fine because its needed in order to counter guard break instantly at any moment.
If you mess with guard break you open the game up to people spamming guard and/or pamming attacks all day and you lose the skill element.

Its exciting to play this game and be able to block or dodge any attack the opponent sends your way, while also in the back of your mind being scared that as yo block at any time he can also break right past you.
this game is about defense. like i said, if someone spams guard break on you all day your doing something wrong... spamming guard break will LOSE you a match, against me anyway.

I dont claim to be a god at this game, but i have a pretty deep understanding of the mechanics and can maitain a 80% winrate with my main character accross over 200 games (on said character, not in total) So dont tell me im "that type of player" or "havent played enough" because you will look like quite the fool.

[killerstar737]

but the thing is, is that there at those certain kids that just roll in GB heavy attack roll out and if you say miss the light attack or dont get the counter GB then theres a good portion of your health and at a high level they shouldn't be so passive or aggressive so making GB cost stamina would be good for pro level fights or a timer.

[Jordan5680]

yes to costing stamina. Nicely put Lezllo

[CaptainPwnet]

but the thing is, is that there at those certain kids that just roll in GB heavy attack roll out and if you say miss the light attack or dont get the counter GB then theres a good portion of your health and at a high level they shouldn't be so passive or aggressive so making GB cost stamina would be good for pro level fights or a timer.

In high lvl fights guard breaks rarely work anyways lol. GB all you want againsta good player but probably 8/10 of those will be countered or you will be punished by lights before you even get to use that many.

GB's are an issue for noobs who don't want to accept they need to get better. But for anyone who's actually good and wants to get good at thi sgame GB is not an issue at all, in fact at high lvl GB almost needs to be harder to counter.

[ZuivrZilvr]

Hello my fellow gamers and devs today I will talk about guard breaks and how they kinda ruin the game for a lot of people at the moment. Me being one of them, as a beta player making it up to rep 1 with Orochi I watched my duels turn from intense sword slashing and blocking to worrying about when to try to counter a guard break. Since 1v1's were all I played I slowly watched this tactic starting to be more and more abused to the point where in the beginning of the game I could tell within the first 3 strikes if this was going to be a FIGHT or who can land the most guard breaks. Keep in mind I love what the move stands for and it is a MUST have for the game but it is wayyyyyy to spamable. Not only is it that but it's also very hard to time an actually counter from pure reaction alone. I found myself spaming attacks just to stop the ones who abused this move taking ALL the fun out of my duels and the game, BUT there is an solution! I feel the best way to balance guard breaks is to either make it cost stamina so it won't be spamable or add a 2-3 sec cooldown or limit of amounts you can do in one fight - it will force players to use them more wisely. This move bridges the gap between high skilled players and low skilled players. You can say all you want on how to stop or negate as much as you want, but no one can deny the spam of this move.

LOL, so typical. You play Orochi, so you want to nerf a tactic that works very well against the Orochi. If it bothers you, then simply change your fighting style or class. Truth is, if you know your enemy will spam GB, beating him is like taking candy from a baby.

[Yggdrasil_67]

Don't GB already cost stamina to perform?
If you can't learn to anticipate a guard break when you're at point blank range you could just throw a light attack whenever you're up close or watch your spacing during combat. Don't just block when you're right next to your opponent without expecting to be guard broken.

Protip: double tap the square button as soon as you see the guard break icon. If you're waiting for it you'll see it coming, the timing is just right.

I noticed as well that GB benifit M+K much more because you can block while doing GB at the same time. This give you not faster reaction but faster time to hit the GB key.
On a controller you have to leave your guard stance hand to move to another key. This takes time, while on M+K you can still block incoming hits and perform GB with the other hand.

>>> I beg to differ
I wouldn't mind being able to remap controls on console but I love when there's an advantage to clawing the controller.