This game is going more and more from skill based into spam nonsense. | Forums

[Jmoyano92]

It feels like the game is being balanced in the wrong direction when they should be adding more ways to mixup and condition rather than faster attacks and bashes that confirm damage.

[Camemberto]

It feels like the game is being balanced in the wrong direction when they should be adding more ways to mixup and condition rather than faster attacks and bashes that confirm damage.

So true. A lot of the combat is very binary. Because of how defense was balanced, attacks are either entirely useless or completely unreactable. This makes character balancing incredibly hard, because heroes with access to good attacks are always going to be stronger than ones without. Giving every hero those moves will turn the game into a spam-fest, if you remove it from all of them, it's a turtle-fest. There's no middle ground.

Attacks in general should be way easier to react to, do way less damage, but defense should be way less rewarding.
For example:
light attacks should be slowed down but blocking should not interrupt the chain. Parrying should only guarantee a light attack.
Heavy attacks should do less damage in general, but do chip damage on blocks and parries should not guarantee anything.

In a best-case scenario, the fight should be able to change back and forth at any moment, or even better yet, be in an intermediate stage, where there is no clear attacker and defender, because both parties attack and defend so rapidly, that they blend into one. THAT is what I want in a fighting game.

EDIT: also if it takes more effort to kill an opponent, I feel like stamina should be increased A LOT across the board. They are supposed to be the best heroes of their time, but they get exhausted after swinging 5 times? WTF? fights should be intense the whole time, right now, they are like bursts of 4-5 attacks and then back to turteling, because stamina is out. One should be able to mindplay someone into mental oblivion with a 20 attacks string of feints and attacks on both sides. Fight should be decided by more than 3 mistakes on one side but literal mental exhaustion after a masterfully executed offensive streak.

I have recently started playing Absolver and the combat does exactly that. Attacks in general are quite weak. And so is defense. This means you have to WORK HARD to defend AND to offend properly. Both of them are balanced, but both of them take effort. This in turn makes the fights way more skill based. I've had fights where in the first 30 seconds (that is long for a consecutive fighting string virtually without pause) I dominated him, because I could read every one of his attacks, defend, attack and feint the f*ck out of him. I played him like a puppet. But then he made a comeback, that confused me sooo hard, that my brain literally couldn't cope anymore, which is why I lost in the end. It was pure skill on both sides, no cheese, no spam, no nothing. I lost due to mental exhaustion