Considering how tight flinch, combo, and lockout timings already are to each other (hence why 1h'ers can sometimes seemingly steal initiative even when you're basically just comboing), yes, you have to be more specific. Right now, no one can even visualize what you're saying unless you literally mean make stabs get stuck in players for like a quarter of a second and make the flinch time/lockout also longer by the same amount lol. If that's literally what you want, I don't think anyone sees what benefit that adds to the game compared to now, but it'd make the pace of fights slower and mess with XvX as well.
That and the guy who stabs still gets the option to morph his followup attack after hitting someone without having to telegraph the possibility by waiting for strike recovery, all with sharp weapons instead of blunt ones that do like 10 dmg on a stab.
Hitstop is an overall buff to stabs because you get faster strike recovery rather than comboes, which are more limited due to lack of morphing, and stabs aren't good at hitting multiple people for the most part (only the holy trinity of spear halb zwei do it on any consistent basis). Just think of fighting a quarterstaff - due to hitstopping on every hit, the QS can always morph its attacks except for whiffed comboes.
Without hitstop, your attack still is in release after hit. If you want to be able to morph, you have to wait until recovery passes.
Health regen won't really matter in higher level 1v1 ranked when we get proper dueling arenas (think of the center arena in Camp, or the one in the very first Melee dev blog) because you'll eventually hit a wall where you can't backpedal anymore. You'll never have the opportunity to natural regen if the other guy doesn't want you to, let alone bandage.
So for duels, it's kind of irrelevant whether regen remains or not - and because of this, if you take Stouty's side, it's basically a matter of "if HEALTH regen and healing items will be irrelevant in duel arenas, give me a reason why we should keep them anyways".
For comp LTS 2+v2+, it's a little more complicated.
I've been told that the challenge with insta turncap removal is making it look good animations-wise.
What if instead of outright instant-turncap removal, it just halves it during the time period where it would look too spazzy, and be 0turncap the instant it wouldn't look weird anymore, kind of a compromise.
And/or parrying after landing a successful parry/hit doesn't get normal parry turncap, so you can aim the hell out of that second parry (and it'd convert into revenge parry too). A no turncap parry.
Also, forgot that one of the biggest difficulties in 1vX is that, with non-hitstop weapons, your attacks cleave through and are still in active release after hitting someone.
How about this: pressing feint while in release AND after hitting someone stops your release. This prevents you from comboing (it will look like a hitstop weapon halting upon hit) and you'd have to wait until strike recovery timing to queue up your next attack. However, this also removes turncap, returning you to normal sensitivity so you can aim your parry.
This would also have the double bonus of being able to halt your giant Execzweihalb LMB if you want to hit one guy but stop it before it cleaves into your teammate as well.
1vX stuff, both planned and suggestions. I've lost track of which ones are planned, but I figure it's nice to discuss thoughts onboth anyways.
The aforementioned AP at the start of ripostes, short enough that you'll want to PiP (parry into parry) staggered attacks, but long enough to be able to deflect near simultaneous attacks. Upon AP deflecting an attack, the riposte is now feintable (normally it is not) at no extra cost. Not sure what would feel best for AP window and post-AP-riposte-feint window. Riposte feint still nonexistent for duels because it is impossible to trigger the AP of a riposte in a 1v1 due to parry lockout.
Parry-into-parry (PiP), or parrying again within 350ms after first parry (impossible to achieve in 1v1), already costs no extra stamina.
Successful chamber into a successful FTP refunds some stamina.
Morph off a successful chamber has an AP. A successful AP deflection refunds some stamina.
PiP, Chamber-FTP, parry-during-kick-clash-recovery, parry-after-hit (e.g. you LMB through enemy and parry incoming attack), and parry-after-flinched (you parry an attack shortly after getting flinched, carving knife and friendly fire do not apply) activates new status, currently named easy parry but I like the sound of "revenge parry", lolrevengemechanic.
"Revenge parry" mechanics:
Has a sharper, higher pitched sound distinct from normal parrying and chambering.
Revenge ripostes can be feinted and morphed. Maintains other normal riposte properties: mini-AP, will/should unflinchable still be a thing?
Supposing you don't opt for an immediate riposte. Any attacks made within ~350ms after a revenge parry has a free chamber cost should you chamber with that attack.
Revenge riposte has a notably increased knockback on whoever parries it. Enemy chambers ignore knockback, be careful. Creates space on target of your choice if they opt to parry, and more space = more time.
Revenge riposte kicks are significantly faster. Normal riposte and chamber morphed kicks remain as they do now. Chamber-feint-W key-kick is already hard to read but doesn't do super damage + is very high risk due to the reach and whiff lag, so I don't think it needs to be buffed or nerfed since chamber into kick is possible in duels. I don't think I've ever been hit by riposte kick even when using short weapons like axes.
Hell, revenge kicks in general are now faster and can be comboed off of even if whiffed (albeit not without stam cost) and/or have less lag upon whiff. This applies to any non-morphed kick made within 350ms after activating revenge parry.
Make the stamina bar flash orange during the 350ms window after initial parry/getting flinched to activate revenge + violently pulsate orange during the 350ms revenge window so that players can literally see and learn/memorize the time.
Revenge parry activates mini-Rush, you gain a decent sudden burst in movement acceleration. Or instead a sudden overall movement boost that gradually fades over a 1.5s period, so lateral and backpedaling is affected too. Helps to position yourself, avoid sandwiches, and evade/generally outplay via movement. All the crazy ninja walljumping kickflipping nonsense in Mirage: AW was actually quite neat when it came to chasing and 1v2ing because of this, fights would take place across the arena like some dojo fight in Bruce Lee's diary entry.
I am in 100% agreement with the short spear change. 2/2 would be perfect but necessitate an increase in cost. If they ever add a parry-functioning buckler, I'd probably play this weapon a lot.
There have been boatloads of discussion around CFTP and some internal tests, I wouldn't expect this to change.
I've been able to gauge weapon ranges for quite a while, even when lunge was much greater. Now it's even easier than ever. This is one of those things where you just have to grind some time matrixing greedily and dying + remembering when you are too greedy. Eventually you remember and internalize the distances, just like a musician not looking down at the keyboard/fretboard. I've always disagreed with comments about it being inconsistent or too "impossible" to read.
Estoc is superior to LS in teamfights as aforementioned. One of the best stabs in the game and one of the fastest strikes among 2hers which gives it very good flinching ability. Also heavily rewards accuracy because stabs can 2shot plate and strike headshots on plate still do yellow damage.
List your favorite looking weapon skin(s) and why.
Estoc with the blocky blade. Despite trying multiple times, I can never find myself "main switching" to the weapon. However, I do think that with this blade, this is one the cooler looking weapons in the game. Of course, everyone else just uses the invisible sewing needle one instead. I haven't determined which guard I like most.
Zweihander default blade, the first unlockable guard I think. I fell in love with the Zwei's look when we got a first peek of it FPOV in Teripper's interview video so many ages ago. On the other hand, I always found the flamberge wavy blade kinda hideous.
Engraved Longsword - I think this looks really nice in TPV and on other people, #3, but it just looks too thicc at the blade when I loot and wield it myself in FPV. Not a big fan of the guard either. For using it myself, I'd bump it down to #4 or 5 maybe. Still, the engraving is pleasing and the weapon is rightfully an incredibly exclusive one, giving it both a regal look and in-game status.
Horseman's Axe - Very slick look, almost looking more ceremonial than intended for heavy use. I don't really use the 2pointers or secondaries in my melee-focused/tryhard builds, but this weapon's beauty really makes me want to use it.
Engraved Bastard Sword - A beautifully engraved blade, fancy guard that looks way cooler in action than on inspection in the Armory, well proportioned. This weapon just has a regal look about it, obviously similar to the engraved Longsword in that sense. Honestly worthy of having even higher unlock requirements or even be exceptionally exclusive (e.g. must be an active top 0.1% contender in 1v1 or 3v3 ranked by the end of a season). I will gladly purchase this the instant I hit 27 on Live if it remains as is, however. It's always remained among the best dueling weapons, I'm wondering if it's better off with Second Wind 1/3/0 (or 2/2/0 or 1/2/1) or Dodge + Plate. Jesus, you must be able to spam feint and morph mixups like a monster with Second Wind. Gamble everything, cancel if they wind up before you, parry if they didn't feint. I really want to make an Assassin/Rogue build based around this weapon + silent footsteps, but FL Camp was not a map to test that playstyle in. Basically, the weapon is so pretty that I want to use it, kinda the reason why I learned Zwei too despite hardly ever using it in Chivalry.
Agree with OP and Cswic. You only have one chance to make a first impression. This is the whole philosophy behind why the devs are taking their time to release, no? Why then launch a mode that is so obviously rushed? I feel like the people who seem fine with it being released as is are the ones who really, really love dueling. Cool, but I think that will disappoint most people and their expectations of a BR game such as my friends I have told about Mordhau + it recently having been revealed to have a BR mode. "Wow, that sounds cool. Can you carry me in it?" No, sorry dude. You can queue in, wait to load, wait a minute, then die a few seconds in due to the guy next to you getting a weapon first in your randomly chosen spawns, then spend another few minutes with the same result. Oh, and the one time you managed to get fair equipment, turns out the other guy had 2000 hours in Chiv/Mordhau and is possibly even teaming against you, so good luck with that. Oh, but at least there will be skillbased matchmaking... which takes a lot of games to calibrate and will be irrelevant in the game's launch days of which afterwards you will never play the game mode (and possibly game) again because of the sour taste it left. But at least the few 0.01% of players who consistently 45 - 6 pubs and 30 - 2 duelyards can have a blast winning these solo BRs that feel just like a "single life FFA".
Someone suggested giving the horde itself objectives. I think that's a great idea. Most of the horde would have a path and pursue anyone within a certain radius, but otherwise return back to the path to their objective if you try to kite them too far. The exact behavior would vary depending on the enemy variant, e.g. archers would just shoot at you so long as they have visual. Additionally, the players themselves may get a special objective in special or "boss" waves, e.g. repair the beacon within ten minutes, destroy the horde outpost to stop the infinitely spawning wave, an invincible Giant chases you until you capture all three flags, Slenderman haunts you until your team finds all 8 notes, etc.
You would have to defend multiple towers and then a core that ends the game if destroyed. The towers' behavior could vary upon map: some refresh to full between waves, some must be manually repaired, some lose permanent health and are gone forever. Losing a single tower makes the core vulnerable from that lane. The incentive to split and defend all towers in a given wave could also vary: maybe the tower holds a super powered but long cooldown ballista, a catapult, a single-use-per-wave hot oil cauldron, or auto-turret fires enemies.
I do not remember if it was done this way, but having the Horde continually spawn in as squads and as a stream rather than dumping all 80 of them in one wave would be better for gameplay and possibly FPS purposes too, so long as there is good enemy variety. The horde would feel more "unending" rather than just one clump of zombies, and stray members would backdoor and try to flank and such.
Some additional humanoid enemy suggestions:
Undying - Has modified Flesh Wound perk. Will not die until both legs are sawed off, both arms are sawed off, or decapitated/head bashed in. Like a zombie.
Wraiths - Invisible until they are nearby their target, can be heard coming with their distinct footsteps. Any damage will permanently reveal them (firepots and bear traps good against them). Prioritizes player hunting over objectives. Spooky.
Skirmisher II: The Backstabber - Not only is he able to chase and catch up to sprinting players, he will constantly try to circlestrafe around and backstab players unless pathing is not available (e.g. cliffs, cornered, etc.). Still mingles with the general horde, prioritizing objective over player killing.
Mighty Strike (new attack) - Some giants and bosses will possess aurally (and perhaps visually) telegraphed attacks that will straight up disarm you. A dangerous situation if you have no backup weapons or are already occupied with others!
Bandit - Rat perk-equipped, lightly equipped hoodlums whose punch will disarm you and take your weapon. Upon taking your weapon, they will attempt to run away. Scripted to flank you when you least expect it in Dungeons (e.g. midfight with a trash mob). In Horde, they will spawn mid-wave in designated bushes and trees and backdoors and come after you halfway through, prioritizing player killing.
Blink - Frozen and suspended mid-animation (including reload and swing release) whenever looked at by any player. 3x movement speed and audible superspeed footsteps when active. Equipped with either melee or crossbow. No grunt, pain, or other vocal noises. Gray like a statue, reduces all damage from non-blunt and non-fire sources to 1. Special Blinks can be completely impervious and require some special means to bypass e.g. destroying an outpost objective that respawns every new Horde wave. Yet another new threat for solo kiters, prioritizing player killing.
Bomb Holders - Rather than strapping TNT to their backs and pursuing you in melee combat, these boys merely hold the bombs from FL Camp and thus are less dangerous. They are slow, cannot fight back, and march towards the objective no matter what. However, should they reach your base's tower/core, they will deal immense structural damage. Completely deadset on blowing up objectives.
Slendie - Rare spawn. Unarmed and passive. Disfigured, discolored, blood-eyed, and hooded, he merely stares at any nearby player and doesn't move around. Only spawns in remote locations, e.g. far out of base in Horde mode, and does not count as part of the Horde wave required to kill to proceed. Once you enter his active radius, your sound will get more and more jumbled, game music faded and replaced with ominous ambience, and the screen will be increasingly distorted the closer you are until you step out or kill him. Harmless on his own, but he acts as a "radio jammer" of sorts if he pops up in your "farm path" and can disable you audiovisually. His appearance and Silent Hill-esque vibe of him can be spooky. May drop a special reward if found before despawning.
Smoker II - Horde mode already has smoke pot throwers. These guys instead poof into a cloud of smoke upon death. Doesn't hard force you to relocate like fire, but being blinded by smoke makes you quite vulnerable to enemies. A dangerous enemy whenever immobilized. A part of the normal horde.
Demented Bard - Hollow eyes without pupils, rotting skin, these bards play insidious scales emphasizing minor 2nds and tritones. Different Bards control different things according to their outfit. Some continually raise undead until killed. Some control tornados that push players away, dangerous in locations like bridges! Some maintain a firewall restricting access to a crucial path that stays active until they are killed. And so on. Can be passive on the outskirts of the map or part of the normal horde.
The key thing about what Horde did that the others didn't: it met or exceeded expectations. With AI tweaks and variety, more different enemy types, and designated "boss waves", it only goes up from here even before diving into things like potential objectives or a dungeon crawling/raiding mode as opposed to just Horde.
Hell, imagine that if you kept running away, the Horde diverted their attention to hitting your base's towers/core instead. So, actual tower defense. The Horde's objective would be to destroy four towers, and the normal mooks would only turn to kill you if you were within a certain proximity, though the archers, assassins, and other specialists would axt differently. Some would be carrying bomb objective barrels, some would have it attached to their back and try to melee you, etc.
FL improved a lot, but I think Camp itself is doomed to be a bit boring for me for the same reason Battlefield was a boring TO map for me: it's just a wide, open field. Nothing too interesting about that gameplay wise, but it exacerbates the things I dislike about the games most: boring spawn runs, no cover from archers, no clever flanking or outmaneuvering especially in 1vX, and no hiding from horses. I think a smaller, tighter map with more story-connected objectives, way more areas with interesting geometry rather than pure open fields, and consistently short spawn runs would be better both aesthetically and gameplay wise. And the "illusion/aesthetics" part is hugely important. Yeah, TECHNICALLY things like carts or escorting flag holders are just moving capture points or rehashed game modes from 1998, but it does a lot to immerse and have you feel like an actual video game character/m'Knight and they do dynamically change where the focus of the fighting is, i.e. use more of the map's space as time passes. While increasing max running speed with an additional 3 seconds of acceleration + Rush'ing straight from spawn will help reduce run times, I think adjusting spawns themselves to be no more than 50m away is still critical to preserve the video game illusion aspect that you're always only a moment from fighting. Whether that's achieved with dynamic spawn points disconnected from capture points you must fight for, or just pushing all spawns closer and making capping faster to compensate for defenders spawning closer, I am curious to see what will happen.
I think the dev's philosophy for Mordhau BR is just not what I'd prefer, so I probably won't like the mode even if it was perfected. I only ever played BR with friends for that war combat pacing where 90% of it is shooting the shit, casual scavenging, calm Walking Dead moments but with third eye ever slightly open and 10% pure anarchy where skill, positioning, communication, and strategy go a long way but are still under the mercy of some dumb luck too. Mordhau BR seems to be gearing for an incredibly fast but also heavily dueling skill-based focus, all solo. The fast pace clashes a lot with waiting for a new BR to start, spawning in, then getting Zwei'd the first second in, especially when you have a weaker computer.
What would I have preferred? Duos or trios. Games are more fun when social, and Chiv and Mordhau make better team games than duel games anyways. Would also prevent a lot more ridiculous teaming. Being downed and having to be revived means fumbling and getting insta'd isn't an auto game over if your teammate(s) clutch. I never touched the game, but Apex Legends also lets you revive actual dead teammates by capturing some beacon or something, so even dying outright 1 minute in while your friends are still alive doesn't mean you should just leave the lobby. Sharing loot means stumbling upon yet another Bardiche isn't a total waste.
I didn't get to test this FL because it was literally unplayable, some infinite loop of blacklisting the server I was trying to join lol. But concerning the loot table from the first test... Way more emphasis of shitty peasant weapons. Getting something otherwise insignificant in normal modes like an Arming Sword in your first ten seconds should feel like winning the lottery. Vast majority of loot in the cold zones should be rakes, scythes, daggers, rocks, poop, level 1 armor, etc. Level 2 armor, arming sword, falchion, warhammer would be the good stuff here. A rare Bastard Sword spawn here is something that could last you to the end of the game.
The plane dropping system in other BG games meant that going to your favorite hot drop zone immediately wasn't always a possibility. Some games, you should get scrappy with peasant weapons, dung flinging, and getting into a complete prey survivalist mindset against the lucky bastard who got a recurve a minute into the round. Other games, you may not get into a fight until you're decked with some tier 2 pieces and a billhook.
Dubaxe feels very true to its Chivalry roots with the general speed and feel, abysmal range and whiffing included. I like it.
New map buildables are cool and useful. Very nice to have "baseline" fortifications that don't require a toolbox, only a mallet or smithing hammer. These are useful enough as general cover and to force enemies to funnel into a choke or smash them.
I like how completing the bomb objective permanently alters the mid playing field. Really cool concept.
The pacing is sometimes really bad. When teams are generally evenly matched and mostly contesting for middle, the walk to the fight is horrendous and the game feels incredibly stale/like a more boring version of TDM. These portions really need some sort of contestable forward spawns or something. Belmez had those optional objectives to burn the outpost/granary. Maybe a non-permanent version of this for the centerfield, one on east and one on west, would be good. Either make them start off as a realistically soloable/ninja-able point to give rats/assassin's creeds an actual impact in this extremely open battlefield of a map, or tie different TO for the teams before they become a permanent capture point for that team (again, easily ninja'd/solo-capped as opposed to the main points which are slow to cap).
On the other hand, the final cart objective as Blue pushing into Red has great pacing (at least from Blue's POV) because you get into the fight so fast, kinda like Chivalry TO pacing at this point. Some say it's way too hard for Red to recap since Blue spawns quite close to it. I don't have an informed opinion on the balance. The spawn timings/distances are great, perhaps Blue's spawn location must be moved without compromising the former.
Catapults are absolutely obnoxious. The trebuchet fire is also still really obnoxious. Combined with long walks, this just becomes utter hell. Evading them isn't exactly a thing in mind when you're in a fight. There's really no other way to go about it, these things are annoying. Catapult vs a caste wall sounds like it could be interesting and strategically important. Catapult in Camp is just one guy YOLO firing away and getting casino AOE kills and TKs.
At any rate, my grievances are more map-specific than mode-specific now.
@Pred said:
Yeah, sorry but your main game mode at the moment is some fighting sprinkled on top of excessive walking, constant interruptions, getting shot and RNG deaths while the cata guy and the horse guy go for 40-5 each.
I'm hoping it's more the map's fault than the mode. Battlefield suffered the same pacing problems as an Agatha player. Now that FL is like a dynamic TO, I see potential in the mode for maps tjat get you in the action without tedious spawns.
I'm guessing 8, the stab is atrocious and is one of two things that will keep it from eclipsing Eveningstar (the other being no comboes, aka whiffing is a death sentence).
Executioner will probably be my favorite among the plate 2-shotters because I like the current feel but not damage of it, but the new Dubaxe may be a contendor.
Smoke bombs should be putting out fires, it's probably a problem with collision if it isn't.
Toolbox is certainly getting reworks in the future as mentioned by devs. How? I don't know. But they do want Engineer to be an actual important role in the same vein as Knight, Support, Archer, and Cavalry as opposed to just being cancermeme-gineer, and they've admitted that the Toolbox feels more like an afterthought at the moment while melee, archery, and horses are already much more fleshed out.
Let's see, we already have spikes, wall with archer hole, and ballista.
Wall and ballista upgradable to level 3. Walls become more reinforced with additional materials, level 3 has just enough health to withstand a full firepot duration but will crumble to a tickle to an old man's cane afterwards without repairs. Ballista upgrades increase turn radius, health, and max shot by 1/2 while altering appearance.
Camp tent, Frontline exclusive. Requires a bit of real estate, long construction time, construction can be sped up with mallet/hammer. Players can opt to spawn from the tent.
Ammo dispenser. Costs 3. Starts off closed, must wait for replenish duration.
Now we Team Fortress Engineer.
Weapon racks, mining, wood chopping, and blacksmithing is already coded in, so there's potential for more.
@Stumpy tbh, 10 hours of instructional Batman Begins-esque training with a top player will probably make you way better than another 600 hours of YOLO solo pubbing and dueling since you'd be getting instant feedback and direction. Those 10 hours would be about as fun as 10 hours of school though, i.e. YMMV on whether it's a good use of your time.
If the Firebomb meta becomes too strong, you Engineers will need to start carrying pocket Smoke Bombs to douse it and protect your hard work. Toolbox (8) + Smithing Hammer (2) + Smoke Pot (1) + Repair (1) = 4 spare points for armor. But of course Bear Trap or Pavise or a real weapon + mallet is superior when you don't have to worry about fire (e.g. fortifying an elevated spot where they can't really ignite your foundation).
Right-click with bandage to heal teammate that roots yourself and channels so long as he doesn't move out of range when?
Still crossing my fingers for equippable hay you can deploy and barrels you can hide in.
Apparently they're adding more buildables in Frontline 2nd/4th points, so that's exciting.
20 Apr
dasConsidering how tight flinch, combo, and lockout timings already are to each other (hence why 1h'ers can sometimes seemingly steal initiative even when you're basically just comboing), yes, you have to be more specific. Right now, no one can even visualize what you're saying unless you literally mean make stabs get stuck in players for like a quarter of a second and make the flinch time/lockout also longer by the same amount lol. If that's literally what you want, I don't think anyone sees what benefit that adds to the game compared to now, but it'd make the pace of fights slower and mess with XvX as well.
That and the guy who stabs still gets the option to morph his followup attack after hitting someone without having to telegraph the possibility by waiting for strike recovery, all with sharp weapons instead of blunt ones that do like 10 dmg on a stab.
20 Apr
dasHitstop is an overall buff to stabs because you get faster strike recovery rather than comboes, which are more limited due to lack of morphing, and stabs aren't good at hitting multiple people for the most part (only the holy trinity of spear halb zwei do it on any consistent basis). Just think of fighting a quarterstaff - due to hitstopping on every hit, the QS can always morph its attacks except for whiffed comboes.
Without hitstop, your attack still is in release after hit. If you want to be able to morph, you have to wait until recovery passes.
18 Apr
das@Digganob
Health regen won't really matter in higher level 1v1 ranked when we get proper dueling arenas (think of the center arena in Camp, or the one in the very first Melee dev blog) because you'll eventually hit a wall where you can't backpedal anymore. You'll never have the opportunity to natural regen if the other guy doesn't want you to, let alone bandage.
So for duels, it's kind of irrelevant whether regen remains or not - and because of this, if you take Stouty's side, it's basically a matter of "if HEALTH regen and healing items will be irrelevant in duel arenas, give me a reason why we should keep them anyways".
For comp LTS 2+v2+, it's a little more complicated.
17 Apr
dastimestamped
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJCSNIl2Pls&t=1m34s
I don't have an opinion on the matter atm.
17 Apr
dasI've been told that the challenge with insta turncap removal is making it look good animations-wise.
What if instead of outright instant-turncap removal, it just halves it during the time period where it would look too spazzy, and be 0turncap the instant it wouldn't look weird anymore, kind of a compromise.
And/or parrying after landing a successful parry/hit doesn't get normal parry turncap, so you can aim the hell out of that second parry (and it'd convert into revenge parry too). A no turncap parry.
17 Apr
dasAlso, forgot that one of the biggest difficulties in 1vX is that, with non-hitstop weapons, your attacks cleave through and are still in active release after hitting someone.
How about this: pressing feint while in release AND after hitting someone stops your release. This prevents you from comboing (it will look like a hitstop weapon halting upon hit) and you'd have to wait until strike recovery timing to queue up your next attack. However, this also removes turncap, returning you to normal sensitivity so you can aim your parry.
This would also have the double bonus of being able to halt your giant Execzweihalb LMB if you want to hit one guy but stop it before it cleaves into your teammate as well.
- 2
17 Apr
das1vX stuff, both planned and suggestions. I've lost track of which ones are planned, but I figure it's nice to discuss thoughts onboth anyways.
The aforementioned AP at the start of ripostes, short enough that you'll want to PiP (parry into parry) staggered attacks, but long enough to be able to deflect near simultaneous attacks. Upon AP deflecting an attack, the riposte is now feintable (normally it is not) at no extra cost. Not sure what would feel best for AP window and post-AP-riposte-feint window. Riposte feint still nonexistent for duels because it is impossible to trigger the AP of a riposte in a 1v1 due to parry lockout.
Parry-into-parry (PiP), or parrying again within 350ms after first parry (impossible to achieve in 1v1), already costs no extra stamina.
Successful chamber into a successful FTP refunds some stamina.
Morph off a successful chamber has an AP. A successful AP deflection refunds some stamina.
PiP, Chamber-FTP, parry-during-kick-clash-recovery, parry-after-hit (e.g. you LMB through enemy and parry incoming attack), and parry-after-flinched (you parry an attack shortly after getting flinched, carving knife and friendly fire do not apply) activates new status, currently named easy parry but I like the sound of "revenge parry", lolrevengemechanic.
"Revenge parry" mechanics:
Has a sharper, higher pitched sound distinct from normal parrying and chambering.
Revenge ripostes can be feinted and morphed. Maintains other normal riposte properties: mini-AP, will/should unflinchable still be a thing?
Supposing you don't opt for an immediate riposte. Any attacks made within ~350ms after a revenge parry has a free chamber cost should you chamber with that attack.
Revenge riposte has a notably increased knockback on whoever parries it. Enemy chambers ignore knockback, be careful. Creates space on target of your choice if they opt to parry, and more space = more time.
Revenge riposte kicks are significantly faster. Normal riposte and chamber morphed kicks remain as they do now. Chamber-feint-W key-kick is already hard to read but doesn't do super damage + is very high risk due to the reach and whiff lag, so I don't think it needs to be buffed or nerfed since chamber into kick is possible in duels. I don't think I've ever been hit by riposte kick even when using short weapons like axes.
Hell, revenge kicks in general are now faster and can be comboed off of even if whiffed (albeit not without stam cost) and/or have less lag upon whiff. This applies to any non-morphed kick made within 350ms after activating revenge parry.
Make the stamina bar flash orange during the 350ms window after initial parry/getting flinched to activate revenge + violently pulsate orange during the 350ms revenge window so that players can literally see and learn/memorize the time.
Revenge parry activates mini-Rush, you gain a decent sudden burst in movement acceleration. Or instead a sudden overall movement boost that gradually fades over a 1.5s period, so lateral and backpedaling is affected too. Helps to position yourself, avoid sandwiches, and evade/generally outplay via movement. All the crazy ninja walljumping kickflipping nonsense in Mirage: AW was actually quite neat when it came to chasing and 1v2ing because of this, fights would take place across the arena like some dojo fight in Bruce Lee's diary entry.
14 Apr
dasI am in 100% agreement with the short spear change. 2/2 would be perfect but necessitate an increase in cost. If they ever add a parry-functioning buckler, I'd probably play this weapon a lot.
There have been boatloads of discussion around CFTP and some internal tests, I wouldn't expect this to change.
I've been able to gauge weapon ranges for quite a while, even when lunge was much greater. Now it's even easier than ever. This is one of those things where you just have to grind some time matrixing greedily and dying + remembering when you are too greedy. Eventually you remember and internalize the distances, just like a musician not looking down at the keyboard/fretboard. I've always disagreed with comments about it being inconsistent or too "impossible" to read.
Estoc is superior to LS in teamfights as aforementioned. One of the best stabs in the game and one of the fastest strikes among 2hers which gives it very good flinching ability. Also heavily rewards accuracy because stabs can 2shot plate and strike headshots on plate still do yellow damage.
I think they're buffing GS soon.
- 1
11 Apr
dasbye bye counterchamber
Probably.
9 Apr
dastbh explains most "how u feint beat my chamber" instances too, and then when u try to explain any further, they say "no wrong"
3 Apr
dasList your favorite looking weapon skin(s) and why.
Estoc with the blocky blade. Despite trying multiple times, I can never find myself "main switching" to the weapon. However, I do think that with this blade, this is one the cooler looking weapons in the game. Of course, everyone else just uses the invisible sewing needle one instead. I haven't determined which guard I like most.
Zweihander default blade, the first unlockable guard I think. I fell in love with the Zwei's look when we got a first peek of it FPOV in Teripper's interview video so many ages ago. On the other hand, I always found the flamberge wavy blade kinda hideous.
Engraved Longsword - I think this looks really nice in TPV and on other people, #3, but it just looks too thicc at the blade when I loot and wield it myself in FPV. Not a big fan of the guard either. For using it myself, I'd bump it down to #4 or 5 maybe. Still, the engraving is pleasing and the weapon is rightfully an incredibly exclusive one, giving it both a regal look and in-game status.
Horseman's Axe - Very slick look, almost looking more ceremonial than intended for heavy use. I don't really use the 2pointers or secondaries in my melee-focused/tryhard builds, but this weapon's beauty really makes me want to use it.
Engraved Bastard Sword - A beautifully engraved blade, fancy guard that looks way cooler in action than on inspection in the Armory, well proportioned. This weapon just has a regal look about it, obviously similar to the engraved Longsword in that sense. Honestly worthy of having even higher unlock requirements or even be exceptionally exclusive (e.g. must be an active top 0.1% contender in 1v1 or 3v3 ranked by the end of a season). I will gladly purchase this the instant I hit 27 on Live if it remains as is, however. It's always remained among the best dueling weapons, I'm wondering if it's better off with Second Wind 1/3/0 (or 2/2/0 or 1/2/1) or Dodge + Plate. Jesus, you must be able to spam feint and morph mixups like a monster with Second Wind. Gamble everything, cancel if they wind up before you, parry if they didn't feint. I really want to make an Assassin/Rogue build based around this weapon + silent footsteps, but FL Camp was not a map to test that playstyle in. Basically, the weapon is so pretty that I want to use it, kinda the reason why I learned Zwei too despite hardly ever using it in Chivalry.
1 Apr
dasAgree with OP and Cswic. You only have one chance to make a first impression. This is the whole philosophy behind why the devs are taking their time to release, no? Why then launch a mode that is so obviously rushed? I feel like the people who seem fine with it being released as is are the ones who really, really love dueling. Cool, but I think that will disappoint most people and their expectations of a BR game such as my friends I have told about Mordhau + it recently having been revealed to have a BR mode. "Wow, that sounds cool. Can you carry me in it?" No, sorry dude. You can queue in, wait to load, wait a minute, then die a few seconds in due to the guy next to you getting a weapon first in your randomly chosen spawns, then spend another few minutes with the same result. Oh, and the one time you managed to get fair equipment, turns out the other guy had 2000 hours in Chiv/Mordhau and is possibly even teaming against you, so good luck with that. Oh, but at least there will be skillbased matchmaking... which takes a lot of games to calibrate and will be irrelevant in the game's launch days of which afterwards you will never play the game mode (and possibly game) again because of the sour taste it left. But at least the few 0.01% of players who consistently 45 - 6 pubs and 30 - 2 duelyards can have a blast winning these solo BRs that feel just like a "single life FFA".
- 3
1 Apr
dasSomeone suggested giving the horde itself objectives. I think that's a great idea. Most of the horde would have a path and pursue anyone within a certain radius, but otherwise return back to the path to their objective if you try to kite them too far. The exact behavior would vary depending on the enemy variant, e.g. archers would just shoot at you so long as they have visual. Additionally, the players themselves may get a special objective in special or "boss" waves, e.g. repair the beacon within ten minutes, destroy the horde outpost to stop the infinitely spawning wave, an invincible Giant chases you until you capture all three flags, Slenderman haunts you until your team finds all 8 notes, etc.
You would have to defend multiple towers and then a core that ends the game if destroyed. The towers' behavior could vary upon map: some refresh to full between waves, some must be manually repaired, some lose permanent health and are gone forever. Losing a single tower makes the core vulnerable from that lane. The incentive to split and defend all towers in a given wave could also vary: maybe the tower holds a super powered but long cooldown ballista, a catapult, a single-use-per-wave hot oil cauldron, or auto-turret fires enemies.
I do not remember if it was done this way, but having the Horde continually spawn in as squads and as a stream rather than dumping all 80 of them in one wave would be better for gameplay and possibly FPS purposes too, so long as there is good enemy variety. The horde would feel more "unending" rather than just one clump of zombies, and stray members would backdoor and try to flank and such.
Some additional humanoid enemy suggestions:
Undying - Has modified Flesh Wound perk. Will not die until both legs are sawed off, both arms are sawed off, or decapitated/head bashed in. Like a zombie.
Wraiths - Invisible until they are nearby their target, can be heard coming with their distinct footsteps. Any damage will permanently reveal them (firepots and bear traps good against them). Prioritizes player hunting over objectives. Spooky.
Skirmisher II: The Backstabber - Not only is he able to chase and catch up to sprinting players, he will constantly try to circlestrafe around and backstab players unless pathing is not available (e.g. cliffs, cornered, etc.). Still mingles with the general horde, prioritizing objective over player killing.
Mighty Strike (new attack) - Some giants and bosses will possess aurally (and perhaps visually) telegraphed attacks that will straight up disarm you. A dangerous situation if you have no backup weapons or are already occupied with others!
Bandit - Rat perk-equipped, lightly equipped hoodlums whose punch will disarm you and take your weapon. Upon taking your weapon, they will attempt to run away. Scripted to flank you when you least expect it in Dungeons (e.g. midfight with a trash mob). In Horde, they will spawn mid-wave in designated bushes and trees and backdoors and come after you halfway through, prioritizing player killing.
Blink - Frozen and suspended mid-animation (including reload and swing release) whenever looked at by any player. 3x movement speed and audible superspeed footsteps when active. Equipped with either melee or crossbow. No grunt, pain, or other vocal noises. Gray like a statue, reduces all damage from non-blunt and non-fire sources to 1. Special Blinks can be completely impervious and require some special means to bypass e.g. destroying an outpost objective that respawns every new Horde wave. Yet another new threat for solo kiters, prioritizing player killing.
Bomb Holders - Rather than strapping TNT to their backs and pursuing you in melee combat, these boys merely hold the bombs from FL Camp and thus are less dangerous. They are slow, cannot fight back, and march towards the objective no matter what. However, should they reach your base's tower/core, they will deal immense structural damage. Completely deadset on blowing up objectives.
Slendie - Rare spawn. Unarmed and passive. Disfigured, discolored, blood-eyed, and hooded, he merely stares at any nearby player and doesn't move around. Only spawns in remote locations, e.g. far out of base in Horde mode, and does not count as part of the Horde wave required to kill to proceed. Once you enter his active radius, your sound will get more and more jumbled, game music faded and replaced with ominous ambience, and the screen will be increasingly distorted the closer you are until you step out or kill him. Harmless on his own, but he acts as a "radio jammer" of sorts if he pops up in your "farm path" and can disable you audiovisually. His appearance and Silent Hill-esque vibe of him can be spooky. May drop a special reward if found before despawning.
Smoker II - Horde mode already has smoke pot throwers. These guys instead poof into a cloud of smoke upon death. Doesn't hard force you to relocate like fire, but being blinded by smoke makes you quite vulnerable to enemies. A dangerous enemy whenever immobilized. A part of the normal horde.
Demented Bard - Hollow eyes without pupils, rotting skin, these bards play insidious scales emphasizing minor 2nds and tritones. Different Bards control different things according to their outfit. Some continually raise undead until killed. Some control tornados that push players away, dangerous in locations like bridges! Some maintain a firewall restricting access to a crucial path that stays active until they are killed. And so on. Can be passive on the outskirts of the map or part of the normal horde.
1 Apr
dasThe key thing about what Horde did that the others didn't: it met or exceeded expectations. With AI tweaks and variety, more different enemy types, and designated "boss waves", it only goes up from here even before diving into things like potential objectives or a dungeon crawling/raiding mode as opposed to just Horde.
Hell, imagine that if you kept running away, the Horde diverted their attention to hitting your base's towers/core instead. So, actual tower defense. The Horde's objective would be to destroy four towers, and the normal mooks would only turn to kill you if you were within a certain proximity, though the archers, assassins, and other specialists would axt differently. Some would be carrying bomb objective barrels, some would have it attached to their back and try to melee you, etc.
FL improved a lot, but I think Camp itself is doomed to be a bit boring for me for the same reason Battlefield was a boring TO map for me: it's just a wide, open field. Nothing too interesting about that gameplay wise, but it exacerbates the things I dislike about the games most: boring spawn runs, no cover from archers, no clever flanking or outmaneuvering especially in 1vX, and no hiding from horses. I think a smaller, tighter map with more story-connected objectives, way more areas with interesting geometry rather than pure open fields, and consistently short spawn runs would be better both aesthetically and gameplay wise. And the "illusion/aesthetics" part is hugely important. Yeah, TECHNICALLY things like carts or escorting flag holders are just moving capture points or rehashed game modes from 1998, but it does a lot to immerse and have you feel like an actual video game character/m'Knight and they do dynamically change where the focus of the fighting is, i.e. use more of the map's space as time passes. While increasing max running speed with an additional 3 seconds of acceleration + Rush'ing straight from spawn will help reduce run times, I think adjusting spawns themselves to be no more than 50m away is still critical to preserve the video game illusion aspect that you're always only a moment from fighting. Whether that's achieved with dynamic spawn points disconnected from capture points you must fight for, or just pushing all spawns closer and making capping faster to compensate for defenders spawning closer, I am curious to see what will happen.
I think the dev's philosophy for Mordhau BR is just not what I'd prefer, so I probably won't like the mode even if it was perfected. I only ever played BR with friends for that war combat pacing where 90% of it is shooting the shit, casual scavenging, calm Walking Dead moments but with third eye ever slightly open and 10% pure anarchy where skill, positioning, communication, and strategy go a long way but are still under the mercy of some dumb luck too. Mordhau BR seems to be gearing for an incredibly fast but also heavily dueling skill-based focus, all solo. The fast pace clashes a lot with waiting for a new BR to start, spawning in, then getting Zwei'd the first second in, especially when you have a weaker computer.
What would I have preferred? Duos or trios. Games are more fun when social, and Chiv and Mordhau make better team games than duel games anyways. Would also prevent a lot more ridiculous teaming. Being downed and having to be revived means fumbling and getting insta'd isn't an auto game over if your teammate(s) clutch. I never touched the game, but Apex Legends also lets you revive actual dead teammates by capturing some beacon or something, so even dying outright 1 minute in while your friends are still alive doesn't mean you should just leave the lobby. Sharing loot means stumbling upon yet another Bardiche isn't a total waste.
I didn't get to test this FL because it was literally unplayable, some infinite loop of blacklisting the server I was trying to join lol. But concerning the loot table from the first test... Way more emphasis of shitty peasant weapons. Getting something otherwise insignificant in normal modes like an Arming Sword in your first ten seconds should feel like winning the lottery. Vast majority of loot in the cold zones should be rakes, scythes, daggers, rocks, poop, level 1 armor, etc. Level 2 armor, arming sword, falchion, warhammer would be the good stuff here. A rare Bastard Sword spawn here is something that could last you to the end of the game.
The plane dropping system in other BG games meant that going to your favorite hot drop zone immediately wasn't always a possibility. Some games, you should get scrappy with peasant weapons, dung flinging, and getting into a complete prey survivalist mindset against the lucky bastard who got a recurve a minute into the round. Other games, you may not get into a fight until you're decked with some tier 2 pieces and a billhook.
1 Apr
dasmordhau burger
31 Mar
dasGoing to omit criticism of technical issues.
Dubaxe feels very true to its Chivalry roots with the general speed and feel, abysmal range and whiffing included. I like it.
New map buildables are cool and useful. Very nice to have "baseline" fortifications that don't require a toolbox, only a mallet or smithing hammer. These are useful enough as general cover and to force enemies to funnel into a choke or smash them.
I like how completing the bomb objective permanently alters the mid playing field. Really cool concept.
The pacing is sometimes really bad. When teams are generally evenly matched and mostly contesting for middle, the walk to the fight is horrendous and the game feels incredibly stale/like a more boring version of TDM. These portions really need some sort of contestable forward spawns or something. Belmez had those optional objectives to burn the outpost/granary. Maybe a non-permanent version of this for the centerfield, one on east and one on west, would be good. Either make them start off as a realistically soloable/ninja-able point to give rats/assassin's creeds an actual impact in this extremely open battlefield of a map, or tie different TO for the teams before they become a permanent capture point for that team (again, easily ninja'd/solo-capped as opposed to the main points which are slow to cap).
On the other hand, the final cart objective as Blue pushing into Red has great pacing (at least from Blue's POV) because you get into the fight so fast, kinda like Chivalry TO pacing at this point. Some say it's way too hard for Red to recap since Blue spawns quite close to it. I don't have an informed opinion on the balance. The spawn timings/distances are great, perhaps Blue's spawn location must be moved without compromising the former.
Catapults are absolutely obnoxious. The trebuchet fire is also still really obnoxious. Combined with long walks, this just becomes utter hell. Evading them isn't exactly a thing in mind when you're in a fight. There's really no other way to go about it, these things are annoying. Catapult vs a caste wall sounds like it could be interesting and strategically important. Catapult in Camp is just one guy YOLO firing away and getting casino AOE kills and TKs.
At any rate, my grievances are more map-specific than mode-specific now.
31 Mar
dasI'm hoping it's more the map's fault than the mode. Battlefield suffered the same pacing problems as an Agatha player. Now that FL is like a dynamic TO, I see potential in the mode for maps tjat get you in the action without tedious spawns.
29 Mar
dasI'm guessing 8, the stab is atrocious and is one of two things that will keep it from eclipsing Eveningstar (the other being no comboes, aka whiffing is a death sentence).
Executioner will probably be my favorite among the plate 2-shotters because I like the current feel but not damage of it, but the new Dubaxe may be a contendor.
29 Mar
dasSmoke bombs should be putting out fires, it's probably a problem with collision if it isn't.
Toolbox is certainly getting reworks in the future as mentioned by devs. How? I don't know. But they do want Engineer to be an actual important role in the same vein as Knight, Support, Archer, and Cavalry as opposed to just being cancermeme-gineer, and they've admitted that the Toolbox feels more like an afterthought at the moment while melee, archery, and horses are already much more fleshed out.
Let's see, we already have spikes, wall with archer hole, and ballista.
Wall and ballista upgradable to level 3. Walls become more reinforced with additional materials, level 3 has just enough health to withstand a full firepot duration but will crumble to a tickle to an old man's cane afterwards without repairs. Ballista upgrades increase turn radius, health, and max shot by 1/2 while altering appearance.
Camp tent, Frontline exclusive. Requires a bit of real estate, long construction time, construction can be sped up with mallet/hammer. Players can opt to spawn from the tent.
Ammo dispenser. Costs 3. Starts off closed, must wait for replenish duration.
Now we Team Fortress Engineer.
Weapon racks, mining, wood chopping, and blacksmithing is already coded in, so there's potential for more.
29 Mar
das@Stumpy tbh, 10 hours of instructional Batman Begins-esque training with a top player will probably make you way better than another 600 hours of YOLO solo pubbing and dueling since you'd be getting instant feedback and direction. Those 10 hours would be about as fun as 10 hours of school though, i.e. YMMV on whether it's a good use of your time.
If the Firebomb meta becomes too strong, you Engineers will need to start carrying pocket Smoke Bombs to douse it and protect your hard work. Toolbox (8) + Smithing Hammer (2) + Smoke Pot (1) + Repair (1) = 4 spare points for armor. But of course Bear Trap or Pavise or a real weapon + mallet is superior when you don't have to worry about fire (e.g. fortifying an elevated spot where they can't really ignite your foundation).
Right-click with bandage to heal teammate that roots yourself and channels so long as he doesn't move out of range when?
Still crossing my fingers for equippable hay you can deploy and barrels you can hide in.
Apparently they're adding more buildables in Frontline 2nd/4th points, so that's exciting.