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Now I acknowledge that in the grand scheme of all the terribad decisions that Ubisoft has made regarding this game, this is a fairly minor gripe.
But, that said, I find it pretty irritating that zone attacks are as powerful (for some characters) as they are.
When you get up into the higher tiers of play, almost every competitively viable character, with the exception of conqueror, is competitive largely because of their zone attack.
Why are these sweeping area of effect designed moves so fast and difficult to defend against? Why do certain ones (such as Nobushi's) deal absurd amounts of damage while others deal less than a light attack?
In my opinion area attacks should be slow and broadcasted dealing minimal single target damage with the idea that they are there to kill soldiers. Not to be a staple for dueling or to absolutely wreck enemy teams in revenge mode.
Now I'll just head this off before some a$$hat states the obvious, yes zones always come from the same side. So yes if you guard that direction you can mitigate them. However there are several heroes that have extremely fast attacks from other directions. Zone attacks being absurd make certain characters that much harder to deal with because they have that one more cheesy fast attack that hits into that additional zone. To me it seems like a character's competitive viability is induced by factors outside of Ubisoft's intention.
It's the non-intuitive garbage like abusing your zone attack that is driving players away from this game. Right now, the game is just a big pile of cheesy garbage. You don't beat your opponent with skill. You bet them with abuse. Abuse of non-punishable techs. Abuse of unintended use of zone attack. Abuse of GB and parry mechanics. This abuse is non-intuitive and hence it drives new players away. And more importantly it is non-immersive. You lose that resemblance of a medieval sword-fight, which is what we were drawn to when we first purchased this game, as soon as cheesy garbage starts dominating over the base mechanics.
It seems like the characters who are working the way they were intended to work, such as Kensei, are just terrible because they don't have any cheesy stuff to abuse.
In my opinion, light heavy and tech attacks need to be the bread and butter of the game. Guard break needs a substantial tone down. GB should guarantee only the damage equivalent of 1 light attack. There should be second opportunity for the player to defend against a throw. Parry can still exist in it's current form but it would be nerfed thanks to GB being toned down. Zone attacks should be for killing soldiers, not for dueling. I'd nerf them substantially to make them exactly that.
Revenge needs to be nerfed in general. Gear stats need a complete overhaul. Direct damage feats and feats that boost damage need nerfs.
To me the issues with this game are so glaring. The right fixes seem so obvious.
I know that the majority of my friends have either already abandoned the game or will be leaving this week when Ghost Recon and the LEGO game release.
This is pretty much my final plea to Ubisoft before I leave to play other games.
I'm hoping that after a few months of allowing this game to wallow in it's filth the Dev team figures out and fixes the things that were obvious to me and many of the streamers back in the Betas...
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Senior Member
As opposed to what, 3 people should be able to mercilessly batter the crap out of one player while they have no chance of fighting back?Originally Posted by Shinimas Go to original postWhat are you talking about? This is exactly how I envisioned this game would play.
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All they had to do was stop being a bunch of bloodthirsty maniacs.
So many people basically saying 'but we want to be able to smash peoples faces in 3 on 1 and you aren't letting us ...'
Yeah because that would be fun.
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/facepalmOriginally Posted by Gray360UK Go to original post
There are just better ways to play this out. Skillful ways to balance 3v1 situations that are much more realistic and immersive.
Yes, revives need to be addressed too. That would be a fair way of balancing out situations when you are outnumbered. They shouldn't be able to just revive their fallen teammates indefinitely in 4 seconds flat for full heals right under your nose.
Winning 3v1s should be difficult, rightly so. Players should be punished for getting themselves into a 3v1 situation in the first place. Honestly that's fine. If you have 3 players on you, your teammates should be doing something somewhere else on the map. In elimination, winning your duels SHOULD greatly increase your chances of winning the round. You shouldn't win your duel only to be in a disadvantage due to being in a 3v1 at the end.
Turning up the friendly fire damage and heavily punishing players for hitting teammates (with negative renown and heavy self staggering or even a self-knockdown when you hit a teammate) would also help. That would also bring a new layer of dynamic to the table. If you force players to not hit their teammates then you can position yourself into areas where only certain attacks can be used against you (overheads for instance) and then you can block the overheads should they follow through and get revenge fairly and skillfully.
We are just asking for more realistic combat. Spamming revenge and uninterruptible AoEs is not realistic.
The defending player needs to defend against the incoming attacks, not completely ignore them and just hit them back multiple times harder with an AoE attack.
Senior Member
To state that the top 4 are their specifically only because of their zone attack only speaks volumes about your lack of knowledge in the game.
the top 4 are the top 4 do to their entire kit. The zone is an added bonus.
Also i'm pretty sure all zones come from the same direction. and all can be reasonably parried or blocked. even pk's if you leave your guard to the right as often as possible.
Senior Member
To state that the top 4 are their specifically only because of their zone attack only speaks volumes about your lack of knowledge in the game.
the top 4 are the top 4 do to their entire kit. The zone is an added bonus.
Also i'm pretty sure all zones come from the same direction. and all can be reasonably parried or blocked. even pk's if you leave your guard to the right as often as possible.
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Wrong. Warden, Raider, Berserker and Nobushi will hit on your left. I believe the Lawbringer does as well. Oh, and Conquerors too.Originally Posted by Knight_Raime Go to original post
Anyways, the point is more apparent on PK because it's awfully safe on a character known for not being too shy with light attacks and it's also half bugged too.
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Not really...Originally Posted by Knight_Raime Go to original post
Let's look at the top 3 characters.
Warden: Warden has a fast top light attack. A solid sprint attack (hits lleft). A solid zone attack (hits right). A solid top counter attack. And shoulder charge tech.
If you were to take away Warden's zone attack you could much more easily defend against Warden as long as you could play around the should charge tech/tech cancel because you could guard top against the top light unless he is sprinting.
Warlord: For offensive options, he really only has zone attack for fast attacks and his headbutt in LA. He has solid defensive options but his zone is his best offensive option for penetrating defenses outside of his headbutt. If it weren't for zone his headbutt would be much easier to deal with and Warlord would be on the same tier as conqueror as a 1 trick pony.
PK: PK has light attack spam and zone attack. If you take away zone attack you only have to play around the light attack spam.
The rest of the cast of characters are either one trick ponies or they are not competitively viable.
Zone attack is a huge factor for how competitively viable a hero is. Which is exactly what I said in my OP.
So STFU DIAF.
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Warlord headbutt is an actual problem. No other unblockable slam comes from an instantly cancellable dash, giving you far less time to do anything about it if your character has poor mobility (such was warden). Zone attacks are also largely unreactable, but can be guarded passively by having prior knowledge of which direction they come from. Can you guard against a largely unreactable unblockable? Not so much. If you have extreme mobility, its more possible.
The existence of such an attack forces a warden to be aggressive to stop it, in a game where offense gets punished severely. Not a good thing.
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