BambooEarpick
Member
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2017
- Messages
- 88
- Reaction score
- 74
- Points
- 18
- Age
- 39
Hello everyone. Hopefully I am not just shouting into a void.
This is a large update with a lot of changes and I wanted to discuss a few points.
1. Offer Tuning
I think that this is definitely a step in the right direction for SGM. It provides better value for the players and will, in turn, entice them to purchase them. Making offers inline with a 10+1 pull is a great idea.
Of these new offers, I think the “Fighter Variety Pack PLUS” is great for players that want to quickly fill out their roster.
One dimension which I think is untapped is also selling rarity relics. To combat the ‘feel bad’ of pulling all bronzes, maybe make certain bundles or pulls include a Shard to Get Relic to guarantee at least a silver for the player. With the introduction of Diamond characters I don’t think that this kind of rarity inflation (more people getting silvers) should be problematic.
2. Fight Assist and Economy Adjustments
Great ideas, both of them. Fight Assist change is a great quality of life improvement and actively encouraging players to level up (as passive as it is) to gain rewards is a great feedback loop for them.
3. In-Game/Combat Adjustments
The change to Cerebella’s Marquee Ability is a drastic one. True, with Pummel Horse counting at a (blockable) command grab, it would completely drain the opponent’s BB charge and completely fill up your own. This is obviously too strong. However, the MA becomes lackluster – outside of Pummel Horse shenanigans – without the transfer of meter.
My own proposed change would be to change how Pummel Horse is handled. If Pummel Horse is no longer is counted as a throw there’s no need to demolish Cerebella’s MA. I’m not certain if maybe the coding for this is too hard to change leading to this MA change but it seems that the only reason why Cerebella’s MA is too strong is its interaction with Pummel Horse.
The stagger changes for Eliza are a long time coming and are fair. I am slightly surprised by the change to her charge attack recovery. I personally found her charge attack to be only moderate in difficulty to punish. However, I find Painwheel and Squiggly to be near impossible to punish consistently. Maybe their charge attack can be reviewed next.
4. Fighter Specific Adjustment
Untouchable Peacock change is great. Unflinching can be very frustrating to fight against; especially when launcher does not allow for combos if unflinching is triggered on launcher.
Ivy League Parasol change is very, very strong. This is basically BB denial for as long as Ivy League is able to put out tears and detonate them. Is this too strong? I’m not sure yet but it is a LOT of wither.
Rage Appropriate change is a step in the right direction but I’m not sure if this will actually put her into contention as a usable character. Still, though, much better than nothing.
Finally, the biggest adjustment to a character this patch. The assassination of Parasite Weave. Haha, that’s a joke. However, I do think the change nerfs her too hard. First I’d like to examine what her proposed change means for her.
Let’s suppose that someone has built Parasite Weave to have 50% crit – a non-negligible amount. That means she has a 50% chance to crit, or a 25% chance to inflict (10s) slow and (3s) stun. This doesn’t sound too bad but we should examine this a bit more. While an enemy is being hit they are unable to react as they are in hit-stun. So, if this ability procs early or even midway through a combo, by the time the combo is finished the 3 seconds of stun is over. So, really, the stun is inconsequential and Parasite Weave is only inflicting slow. The second part of her Signature Ability also means she’s inflicting bleed, though, right? That is a 15% chance on a 50% chance on a 50% chance – and only for a span of 3 seconds. To make matters worse, the bleed is only 5 seconds long.
There are other ways to approach this problem without having such a strong blow to her usability. One example is to keep the first part of her Signature Ability and change the second part of her ability to “15% chance on HIT to inflict BLEED for 5 seconds if the opponent is debuffed.” This allows a constant stream of bleed to be applied. The 3 areas for tweaking this could be % chance on hit, the length of the bleed, or the status of the opponent to allow the SA to trigger (slow instead of any debuff).
Another change could instead be done to the first part of Parasite Weave’s SA. I think it would be more interesting to have it read “50% chance to CRITIAL HIT to inflict SLOW for 10 seconds. When SLOW expires, STUN the opponent for 3 seconds.” This allows for the stun to happen while the enemy is not actively being comboed and is a defensive play just incase you are being comboed yourself. This does not always create a permanent lock down situation as the opponent can tag out, activate immune, or be mid-air combo or BB while attacking.
Lastly on the topic of Parasite Weave, while I believe that being a bleed based character is a defining trait of Filia, that does not mean that Parasite Weave must be married to Crit or Stun. I am sure there are other ways to approach the problem. However, as it stands, the new Parasite Weave seems less powerful than Bad Hair Day at higher streaks.
5. Bug Fixes
Bug Fixes all seem fine. The timer change to block busters (reverting to how it previously worked except for when the lock is at 0:00) will make it much more difficult to win at higher streaks. This will be especially felt by characters with long BB3s that don’t deal a great amount of damage. I can understand dropping the timer pause on BB2s but the change for BB3s feels like a step back. However, this is only my opinion on the matter and if the devs see fit to revert to a non-pause timer on BBs then so be it.
One “fix” I would like to see is i-frames on certain BBs. I don’t have an exhaustive list but as Double there are a few BBs that are easy to get hit out of. Beowulf’s Airwulf also has this problem. The reason I bring this up is that this does not seem consistent across the board. If all characters could be interrupted during BB start up then I would think it’s fine. However, some characters having invulnerable reversals makes those that do not stick out.
6. Closing Thoughts
This new patch brings interesting changes, both good and maybe not as good. I look forward to its release. I also hope that HV will keep an open mind about player feedback on the character variants that were changed.
This is a large update with a lot of changes and I wanted to discuss a few points.
1. Offer Tuning
I think that this is definitely a step in the right direction for SGM. It provides better value for the players and will, in turn, entice them to purchase them. Making offers inline with a 10+1 pull is a great idea.
Of these new offers, I think the “Fighter Variety Pack PLUS” is great for players that want to quickly fill out their roster.
One dimension which I think is untapped is also selling rarity relics. To combat the ‘feel bad’ of pulling all bronzes, maybe make certain bundles or pulls include a Shard to Get Relic to guarantee at least a silver for the player. With the introduction of Diamond characters I don’t think that this kind of rarity inflation (more people getting silvers) should be problematic.
2. Fight Assist and Economy Adjustments
Great ideas, both of them. Fight Assist change is a great quality of life improvement and actively encouraging players to level up (as passive as it is) to gain rewards is a great feedback loop for them.
3. In-Game/Combat Adjustments
The change to Cerebella’s Marquee Ability is a drastic one. True, with Pummel Horse counting at a (blockable) command grab, it would completely drain the opponent’s BB charge and completely fill up your own. This is obviously too strong. However, the MA becomes lackluster – outside of Pummel Horse shenanigans – without the transfer of meter.
My own proposed change would be to change how Pummel Horse is handled. If Pummel Horse is no longer is counted as a throw there’s no need to demolish Cerebella’s MA. I’m not certain if maybe the coding for this is too hard to change leading to this MA change but it seems that the only reason why Cerebella’s MA is too strong is its interaction with Pummel Horse.
The stagger changes for Eliza are a long time coming and are fair. I am slightly surprised by the change to her charge attack recovery. I personally found her charge attack to be only moderate in difficulty to punish. However, I find Painwheel and Squiggly to be near impossible to punish consistently. Maybe their charge attack can be reviewed next.
4. Fighter Specific Adjustment
Untouchable Peacock change is great. Unflinching can be very frustrating to fight against; especially when launcher does not allow for combos if unflinching is triggered on launcher.
Ivy League Parasol change is very, very strong. This is basically BB denial for as long as Ivy League is able to put out tears and detonate them. Is this too strong? I’m not sure yet but it is a LOT of wither.
Rage Appropriate change is a step in the right direction but I’m not sure if this will actually put her into contention as a usable character. Still, though, much better than nothing.
Finally, the biggest adjustment to a character this patch. The assassination of Parasite Weave. Haha, that’s a joke. However, I do think the change nerfs her too hard. First I’d like to examine what her proposed change means for her.
Let’s suppose that someone has built Parasite Weave to have 50% crit – a non-negligible amount. That means she has a 50% chance to crit, or a 25% chance to inflict (10s) slow and (3s) stun. This doesn’t sound too bad but we should examine this a bit more. While an enemy is being hit they are unable to react as they are in hit-stun. So, if this ability procs early or even midway through a combo, by the time the combo is finished the 3 seconds of stun is over. So, really, the stun is inconsequential and Parasite Weave is only inflicting slow. The second part of her Signature Ability also means she’s inflicting bleed, though, right? That is a 15% chance on a 50% chance on a 50% chance – and only for a span of 3 seconds. To make matters worse, the bleed is only 5 seconds long.
There are other ways to approach this problem without having such a strong blow to her usability. One example is to keep the first part of her Signature Ability and change the second part of her ability to “15% chance on HIT to inflict BLEED for 5 seconds if the opponent is debuffed.” This allows a constant stream of bleed to be applied. The 3 areas for tweaking this could be % chance on hit, the length of the bleed, or the status of the opponent to allow the SA to trigger (slow instead of any debuff).
Another change could instead be done to the first part of Parasite Weave’s SA. I think it would be more interesting to have it read “50% chance to CRITIAL HIT to inflict SLOW for 10 seconds. When SLOW expires, STUN the opponent for 3 seconds.” This allows for the stun to happen while the enemy is not actively being comboed and is a defensive play just incase you are being comboed yourself. This does not always create a permanent lock down situation as the opponent can tag out, activate immune, or be mid-air combo or BB while attacking.
Lastly on the topic of Parasite Weave, while I believe that being a bleed based character is a defining trait of Filia, that does not mean that Parasite Weave must be married to Crit or Stun. I am sure there are other ways to approach the problem. However, as it stands, the new Parasite Weave seems less powerful than Bad Hair Day at higher streaks.
5. Bug Fixes
Bug Fixes all seem fine. The timer change to block busters (reverting to how it previously worked except for when the lock is at 0:00) will make it much more difficult to win at higher streaks. This will be especially felt by characters with long BB3s that don’t deal a great amount of damage. I can understand dropping the timer pause on BB2s but the change for BB3s feels like a step back. However, this is only my opinion on the matter and if the devs see fit to revert to a non-pause timer on BBs then so be it.
One “fix” I would like to see is i-frames on certain BBs. I don’t have an exhaustive list but as Double there are a few BBs that are easy to get hit out of. Beowulf’s Airwulf also has this problem. The reason I bring this up is that this does not seem consistent across the board. If all characters could be interrupted during BB start up then I would think it’s fine. However, some characters having invulnerable reversals makes those that do not stick out.
6. Closing Thoughts
This new patch brings interesting changes, both good and maybe not as good. I look forward to its release. I also hope that HV will keep an open mind about player feedback on the character variants that were changed.
