Junior Member
Hey all! Just a warning, this post is gonna be a bit long, but I promise it's in good faith and spirit! Not just an essay of pure salt
I couldn't decide whether or not to put this post in Discussion or the Suggestions/Feedback. True, some of these are suggestions, but for the most part I'm actually looking for a discussion and opinions/answers; I don't want people to read this and be like "oh man this guy's got it right". I don't know **** about **** >_> I;m legitimately looking for input, so I figured this was the better spot. If I'm wrong, I apologize!
As we're pushing towards Marching Fire, which has made me THE most hyped and ******* ready-bodied I've been since this game was announced, I wanted to take some time here to ask questions that have been on my mind either recently or in the long-term; I've been playing this game fairly consistantly since Open Beta, so I've seen the changing of the Meta Tide, as well as all of the improvements that have been periodically applied to this game. All of the hard work at Ubisoft has taken it from the buggy, horribly-balanced, loveable chaos it was on release, to the awesome, tactical, epic fighting game it is nowadays (probably the most fun I've had on a fighting game since my friends and I would play Tekken 3 in my basement back in the day).
But still, there are many things that I either feel are oversights that have been ignored or simply never considered before, and other things that I've tried to think about rationally through my endless Saltiness (I'm not too proud to admit that I tilt sometimes XD) but can't seem to find a decent answer.
I don't want anyone to think that this is one long series of complaints. Nor am I trying to be Martin Luther; I'm not nailing this **** to Ubi's door and telling them they have to change everything. What I'd love is if I could get serious input from people discussing my questions and hopefully answering some for me in the process! I'm no game designer, nor an expert at this game despite how long I've been on it. So this is legitimately me looking for discussion and answers!
1. When queueing into a Brawl match from a Lobby (aka replaying with people), if 3 people ready up and 4th dodges, the game loads in with an AI partner for one player. Is there any reason it doesn't cancel the match and requeue the players? Or queue all 3 players left, looking for a 4th, so they can still replay each other? In my experience, these situations almost always end in the solo player dodging the game, which they can't even do until all of the players are on the map. Why hasn't this ever been changed?
2. Why doesn't "Find New Players" prioritize "new players"? I understand that the community, and more importantly the currently-playing players, are only so large. I know sometimes people choose this option just because it's fastest for the next match (instead of waiting for your opponent/s to accept as well). But, in my case at least, when I look for a new match straight out of the lobby I'm generally not interested in playing with the other player/s in there, and I know others have found me again in Duels feeling the same way. People leave because the other player is either too toxic, too skilled for them, playing a champion that frustrates them, or, believe it or not, because their opponent isn't skilled enough. Shouldn't this option then look for OTHER players? Naturally that would increase queue length by whatever amount, but I feel like players will gladly take that option if it means avoiding certain situations repeatedly.
3. Why is there no more-obvious warning for an AFK timer activating? I know something appears towards the top of the screen (I think >_>), but why not make it an invasively-obvious warning? I understand the purpose of it is to shut out AFK players in 4's, or people who may for some reason just want the match but not the win so they walk away or tab out; either situation ruins the fun for other players, either opponents. But if these players are really dedicated to being "that guy" then they'll look for that small warning regardless. I don't know if this happens in 4's (I only ever really do Duels/Brawls), but I know that sometimes when I'm in a Brawl (with honor, as opposed to real 2's), I like to sit and watch the epic duel between the other players if I've beaten my opponent quickly. But, because I'm so caught up in the fight, sometimes I get booted for being AFK >_< I know that's my fault, and Ubisoft is NOT responsible for my stupidity. But if I'm really watching a fight, sometimes I just don't think to check the top of my screen! I don't know if this happens to people in 4's, maybe guarding a point and watching something in the distance.
4. Are there any plans to take Conq's dueling capabilities down a notch? Currently my strategy if I see a Conq on the dueling screen is to just forfeit and try again. And I actually know I'm not the only one who does it, because I've tried to play Conq in duels and people dodge on me constantly. I'm sure this isn't the case with higher-level players, but currently for most of the player-base Conq's Shield Bash is just overwhelming. It can't be punished by dodge->GB (unless you're something like a Raider) and it's lightning fast with a semi-50/50 aspect to it. I've seen and played multiple duels where the Conq's strategy is to just spam the ability until their opponent's stamina is gone, then just 50/50 them to victory. There's almost no counterplay to it except winning the 50/50, and combined on top with their superior block ZA and amazing shield stance counter, it just feels like Conqs are a little too overwhelming in a 1v1 situation.
5. On the opposite side of that, are there any plans to give Shugoki some love when it comes to 1v1? I know it's a different story in 4v4, and I understand that this game is really balanced around those game modes over Duel/Brawl, but currently Shugoki in duels is just... terrible. Once the Beanbag lost his charge knockdown (which was way overpowered, as we saw in earlier tournaments), he still managed a bit, but once GB off of parry was taken out, he kind of lost it all. At the moment, his strategy is to trade a hit for a GB or a light->headbutt, drain his opponent's stamine, and then... nothing.True, if someone is good enough to really feint that unblockable and play those Fat Man Mind Games, this can be enough. But the problem is that Shugo's feint->GB input is so slow that if you simply see his indicator light up and dodge backwards, you're out of his GB range before he can use it, make his stam punish game non-existant. And yes, of course, if Shugo trades for a GB, he can wallsplat->hug (which still remains the most satisfying thing in this game to pull off), but there's also the issue that if you're positioned too closely to the wall then the hug isn't guaranteed; your opponent's splat animation fades too quickly for the delay between the throw->hug and can dodge it. So shugo is also punished for being TOO close to a wall. Are there any plans in the works to help the Beanbag out? It could maybe even be something as simple as allowing his charge to knockdown out of stamina opponents, rewarding him for landing headbutts and giving him a real strategy to play around.
6. Valkyrie is another champion that feels like it needs a lot of love. Now, I do hear that apparently there's a huge difference between playing a Valk while using a controller and using a mouse/keyboard (I'm personally one of the latter). But regardless, valk seems to be a slave to light attacks and gets punished for it painfully. Being forced into a L/L opener and a L off a shield slam means that any opponent knows that the next attack will be a light and can freely parry it. Combine that with how punishable her shield slam and sweep are (dodge->free GB), and any experienced player can turtle a Valkyrie to her death. Valk had some options when she could Out Of Lock tech, allowing her to whiff her 2nd light in a chain and go into heavy/sweep/slam mixups, but that's obviously gone (and for very, very good reasons from other champions, God knows lol). Will Valk be seeing a rework like Kensei? Or simply some tuning to make her more competitive? Personally I feel like simply giving her L/HL, L/H/H, and H/L/H combos would make her excellent again, allowing for some serious mixup potential; combine that with an increase in stamina costs to certain parts of her kit so she won't be overwhelming and maybe she'd be a force to be reckoned with.
7. This part I can't claim to be any sort of expert on, so I'll just combine 2 into 1: Centurion and Warlord. Neither are underpowered nor overpowered, but it feels to me like both of them have bad kits. With Centurion, his Tekken-eque juggle combo he can pull off a wall splat is just ridiculous in duels, turning a hard-won round into a loss if he managed to get a single parry. But like I said earlier, I don't really play 4's, so I can see how that might not be a bad thing if you simply always try to 2v1 a Cent so you don't get roflstomped by having someone to interrupt his chain. But I see other people complain about it, and I don't want it to feel like I'm saying "OMG CENT OP NERF UBI WHAT ARE YOU DOING". I actually love the rest of Cent's kit, and the recent changes (just giving him a L/H combo even) made him feel REAL fluid and fun to play against. But being so severely punished on a single parry just kinda... saps all of the fun away. As for Warlord, it just feels like he's way too reliant on his Charge/GB 50/50. He doesn't really have a kit to speak of; it's a real short one, his move list. Are there any plans to mix up him, sort of like the Peacekeeper mini-rework, to make his kit feel more fleshed out? Again, I don't really play these champions, so maybe the Cent/WL communities have an opinion!
8. Shaman. I'll let all of the Shaman mains tilt a little bit, knowing what's coming, and everyone else just have a small emotional breakdown...... Ok, so! I actually LIKE how overwhelming Shaman's leap game is (normally). She sort of always felt to me how Orochi SHOULD have always been; her leap heavy is like the 2.0 of Orochi's new Storm Rush, despite it coming out earlier. With her cannonball->light double tap, she feels like an Assassin should. All you've gotta do is shove that pressure back in her stupid face and you've got yourself a match! But I find that the issue is her ability to soft feint between the heavy and the slam, and mostly because of point 2.... Yes, her leap. I think it's a damned cool move, mechanically and thematically. But... massive damage, a massive heal, full stam recovery, hardcore tracking, AND the ability to hit people mid-roll? It's just way, way too much. At the very least, take away the full stam regen and ability to hit people mid-dodge roll. But that's not the problem; the combination of the 2 is. Feinting the leap heavy into a leap will almost ALWAYS land; the only counterplay is to just keep swinging at her until you stop bleeding, but that's impractical. If a Nobushi puts a bleed on me, it doesn't necessitate me screaming and spamming light attacks trying to survive. It just feels like the leap strength/tracking and the soft feint mixup need to be tuned down.
9. On that note, just real quick: why in God's name does Shaman's leap proc off of other bleeds? I mean thematically and practically it makes sense, but anyone who's fought a Nobu/Sham combo in brawls knows it's tilt city. Maybe just... maybe just don't do that? :3
10. Backing away from champions again (sorry, this is more stream of consciousness rather than a well-planned post XD), are there any more changes to the gear screen planned? The previous changes, allowing item appearances to be saved, was AWESOME, and I spent hours making costumes for my mains and loving it :3 What I'm saying is, we who are true nerds want more! Has the possibility of being able to change appearances by set, rather than individually, been considered? For instance, if you gather all 3 parts of a weapon or armor skin, wouldn't it be easier if you had the option to just automatically apply the full skin to your weapon/body? That way people could switch up their appearance quickly and at-will. Plus, having a screen which shows completion %'s on certain appearance collections may encourage people to use/buy more crates in order to get that 1 or 2 to a 3; gamers are crazy about filling in blank spots on a screen :3 Showing them what % of 3 (or maybe even 6 in the future!) they have for an appearance would vibe well with the community, I think, especially as the game continues are more awesome cosmetics come out!
11. On the note of toxicity in the community, is there any consideration about improving the reporting system? Note that there are other games that are way, way worse, and I think anger/salt/tilt/toxicity is just an inevitability in a highly skill-based game such as this. But still, there's a big difference between someone having a meltdown about how overpowered a champion is and someone getting angry and just screaming racist **** at you >_> There are 2 points here I'd like to raise: the first, I think, is a major oversight on Ubisoft's part. Currently, if someone leaves a game before the final scoreboard is shown, they don't show up on it and therefore can't be reported. This has allowed players to say/do whatever they want without fear of punishment since other players have no means to report their behavior. This should probably be fixed. And secondly, I'd like to give a shout out to a great system implemented by Riot Games in League of Legends. LoL is just infamous for its toxic community. It's been a huge problem for the game over the years, and many systems have been put into effect by Riot to deal with toxicity and griefing. Now, I don't think For Honor is at that point. Or even in that Galaxy. But there is one system I think was a genius idea and would help greatly: If someone you report in League of Legends is punished, you're informed about it. You're not told who it was, when you reported them, what it was for, or what the punishment was; no proviate details are given out to protect the punished player's privacy. But simply knowing that their voice makes a difference has been a huge impact on the LoL community. There have been so many times on For Honor when someone has a Swastika for a sigil or just yells the N word repeatedly in chat, and I've reported them, that I've just been dying to know whether or not my voice was heard on it. Maybe a similar system might be good for this game!
And I think that's everything XD I know 90% of people will just look at this and either skip it or just write some grief on it, some will pick a fight, others will mock me, w/e. But I'm hoping some people read some of it and can have a serious discussion with me or provide me with some rational answers! I love this game so much and am so excited for Marching Fire; I just wanted some clarity for some of the things on my mind
Community Manager
1. To my knowledge, the intent behind this is for players to spend less time in the lobbies and more time in-game. The AI serves as a placeholder for the potential 4th player to join as everyone begins to ready up and load into the next match.
2. This is a relatively common thing that's brought up to us. The intent is certainly for players to play with a new opponent, but assuming you both enter into queue for brawls immediately after a game, the matchmaking will again see you both as the most balanced matchup as it did when it initially matched you both together. The team is aware that this is a problem for players, but there isn't any other news to share beyond that.
3. An AFK warning is again something that players have suggested to us and is something the team is interested in looking into. There is not yet any news on if or win one will be released.
4. Per the data we shared in our Season 5 State of Balance blog post, we have definitely seen that Conqueror is strong pick in 1v1. We are considering some small nerfs, like the damage nerf in patch 1.22, but there aren't any upcoming balance changes to the hero to announce at this time.
5. We definitely seen the concerns around Shugoki. While his data shows he has a rather balanced win rate in Duels, his pick rate is rather low, as is his win rate in 4v4. We are still in the process of reworking original heroes so they can better compete with the other members of the hero roster, but no news to share on a possible Shugoki major balance update or rework right now.
6. A Valkyrie rework is currently in pipeline for release for Season 7. Once finalized patch notes are made, we'll look to share with everyone.
7. Centurion always seems to be a very controversial hero when it comes to balance conversation, as one side of the community sees him as weak and the other side says he's still too strong. As always, we're open to hearing feedback from players about this so we can find correlations in the date to make appropriate changes. The same goes for Warlord as well.
8. Shaman is again a rather controversial balance topic, but most players would agree that she is very strong. Again, we are open to hearing feedback about the hero and will look to share it with the team.
9.No planned changes for that at this time.
10. At this time, there aren't changes to announce for the Visual Collection. We're glad players would like to see more from it and we'll continue to investigate additional ways we can improve upon it.
11. The report system had a rather large overhaul during Season 5 and it wouldn't surprise me if the team was looking at ways to improve upon it further. We're always looking for ways to promote a constructive, healthy community within the game.
Sorry if some of the answers don't have the exact details you were looking for. If I get any new info shared to me, I'll make sure to loop back around to this thread to let people know.
