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Junior Member
Jumping, Dodging, The Goal, and Home Field Advantage
Love the game. I have a few suggestions though.
1. Home Field Advantage: Fans need a use. I believe the team with the most fans in total should start with the ball. Just like Roller Derby, teams should start mixed. Have teams start the exact same way they do in Acapulco except the 3 players are a mix of 2 players from the first team and 1 player from the second, with the solo standing in the middle. The team with the most fans has Home Field Advantage (think of the cool fan tallying graphic at the beginning of a match! Like a versus screen) and so their solo player would start with the ball. I believe this to be more balanced than the ball spawning on turn 4 and whoever starts on that side has an advantage.
I imagine fans will also be used as a customization tool for cosmetics and profile cards, but I think they can be put to use in a cool way like this. Since fans do not reflect individual skill I do not see a problem with this.
2. Jumping: It seemed like jumping was mostly useless. I could jump over the occasional knocked down player and that was about it. I tried to use jumping with dodging (see #3) in order to make it useful. Jumping should be given a purpose.
3. Dodging: To echo other sentiments, dodging with and without the ball seems a bit over-powered. I do not believe the spam-ability of the move is the issue. When you dodge, it feels like the Commando Pro perk from Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. The distance you travel when dodging is too far. I would love for the frequency of being able to dodge stay the same, but have the lunge or the spin distance nerfed.
Additionally, if you jump and dodge at the same time, especially off of a wall, you are able to cover huge distances. Because you lose your momentum when doing so, it seems like this is an unintended feature. I believe there is no reason to have a ball carrier speed nerf if I am allowed to jump+dodge as a defender and have my momentum preserved when i hit the ground. This would give a purpose for the jump button. Just as the wave-dash mechanic was found in Rocket League to preserve/increase momentum, I think jump dodging should be the same way. It would definitely increase the skill ceiling for optimized movement in the game.
4. The Goal: The goal is well placed and the perfect size. In my playtime, I found it too easy to shoot a ball by hugging the wall and having the ball coast or bounce on the side of the wall into the net. I love the fact that aiming your shot takes a degree of skill. I love the chaos that is created when a shot bounces off the rim, just like in basketball. The rim of the goal should go all the way around and the goal should be a perfect circle. The way it is now, it is too east to just aim at the wall somewhere near the goal and have it bounce in because there is no lip. I would love to see the goal changed.