OFFICIAL: 4.2 Update Notes (LIVE!)

[Tsukiakari]

I just got into 2 Rift battles and my god the AI, they use Special right away and frequently, some specials can easily punish like battle butt but many are dangerous, I got big band cymbal bash me at the start of the match and bella gorila me out of nowhere. And with that Burst is another problem, a Blue Screen Burst me like 4~5 times a match and nearly make me time out, plus they break throw after just one grab. Burst will be a must for every defense pieces on RIft.

Another thing, I know you need people to buy in the Fukua's moveset and skill points, but does it have to be double the prize in the cabinet, and I don't see it mention anywhere in the update note.


And does anyone encounter crash? My game get crashed like 3 times each Rift battle, fortunately right after the match end. It feel like the game get more sluggish and lagging, more than usual. Or my phone was just too old to play the game now?

 

[Liam]

Hey everyone, hopefully this message finds you well. I have a few updates!

First, the Moves and Fighter collection expansion only applies to players who had less that 300 Fighters and 500 Moves before the update. If you already went over that, your collection space wasn't adjusted. Sorry for the confusion! We'll be looking into making this space increase more airtight for a future update.

Second, I know a lot of us are experiencing connection issues with the server right now, as the large influx of players has put quite a strain on things. We're working on resolving this as we speak - things seem to be doing much better this morning and we're closely monitoring the situation. If you don't receive a reward from watching an ad (which is another known issue) after the time of this message being posted, please let us know!

 

[Izarck]

I'm the only one with vs mode problems

 

[Lililira]

Does anyone have any tips for dealing with Scratching Post post-update?

It was powerful before, but without grab cheese it's straight up broken, since that was the only reliable way to lock her down.

There's no way to prevent Fortune from attacking you and getting stunned, since you can't intercept when her head is biting at your ankles every time you try it, so that doesn't work once she has her head off. Immunity is only a temporary solution that never lasts long enough to make a real difference, and typical counters like Silent Kill and Doublicious can't manage more than one or two combos before they get stun-locked.

For real though, really common nodes centered around Scratching Post MnF with other common Light allies like AG, LH, Dreadlocks, or other Fortunes are going to be straight up unfair unless Scratching Post gets nerfed. It's way too powerful with these AI changes, especially since they're way more unpredictable and like to use special moves and BBs randomly.



Also, has anyone noticed that grabs in general are really likely to fail against high level AI? Even when being used for the first time? It's not that bad of thing since it's a good way to reliably bait the opponent into attacking you while you're blocking, but still, I feel like they fail way more often than they succeed, which is not great for grab-based characters like Cerebella and Beowulf.

 

[Whyaccount2viewimage]

((OMG IDK WHAT HAPPENED WHAT THE HECK
so I'm just deleting the whole thing but it is a response to Lililira last paragraph))

I'm kind of terrible at the game so I'm still in the lower section never had a streak higher than 30.
In this pf especially I've been doing pretty bad and at keeping streaks. I've been in the lower regions of pf and I have to say it's just as impossible to grab now too even with the dumber AI.
I've tested it out on maybe 30 matches and all of them I have had my grab broken on the first try.

 

[Lililira]

Oof, that's rough. I don't tend to use regular grabs that often (I only ever tended to grab cheese on Scratching Post since it was the only reliable strat to counter it), but I could still feel something was odd about the new AI. In some ways, it's almost too good now.

Like, I understand needing to get rid of cheese strats and degenerate play, but I think we might've gone too far in the other direction?

 

[Robokit]

Maybe the best bet is to use Eliza infinite to lock fortune down?(but you gotta intercept fortune first, and that's surely tricky with Eliza) But Even then, infinites could be easily broken by burst( could burst interrupt Sekhmet mode and hurl Eliza across the screen? I don't know about that. But if not, Eliza infinites are still somewhat viable against Scratching Post)

I have a SP node and it's most often beaten by Squigl/Parasoul.

Parasoul is nerfed hard with the new throw teching logic as we all know, and Squigly is not much better since she needs to have her Wyrm's tail charged to be a threat, and with the new AI, not even intercept throws are likely to succeed, so it's no mean feat to create space to charge wyrm's tail multiple times in a fight.

I guess If you use Squigly/Parasoul, you may have to have both burst and immunity taunt equipped, and use intercept rather than grab lock. But with SM spam, fortune could switch to some other SM midway through her dash, so difficulty of intercepting has also spiked.

 

[ZeoW]

Does anyone have any tips for dealing with Scratching Post post-update?
There's no way to prevent Fortune from attacking you and getting stunned, since you can't intercept when her head is biting at your ankles every time you try it, so that doesn't work once she has her head off. Immunity is only a temporary solution that never lasts long enough to make a real difference, and typical counters like Silent Kill and Doublicious can't manage more than one or two combos before they get stun-locked.

For real though, really common nodes centered around Scratching Post MnF with other common Light allies like AG, LH, Dreadlocks, or other Fortunes are going to be straight up unfair unless Scratching Post gets nerfed. It's way too powerful with these AI changes, especially since they're way more unpredictable and like to use special moves and BBs randomly.

At the start of the match, I usually move back quickly and use Egret Dive to stun MnF. This gives me time to setup an Immune Taunt and proceed with a combo that ends with a launcher and dash attack. Or outtake if needed.

 

[Thatonevalentineuser]

In the words of soviet announcer yessss let robot think its superior

 

[Tsukiakari]

There are two ways to deal with scratching post node that I use. That's intercept with Filia (with drill tempered if they have a MnF) or Immunity taunt with Parasoul and try to burst them down as soon as possible (tho it may be harder now with Burst and throw tech). The 2 Rift I fought yesterday have a double scratching node and I fought them both with Parasite. Haven't encounter 3 scratching so I can't give assessment yet. There is one strat that I saw people use with triple scratching and that's use a sp sketchy and self tag out to get immunity, I haven't try that out yet but it would be more viable now. And I think Silent Kill strat still work, I mean it's harder for Val to intercept but still possible, and there is no grab during her combo, a well built Silent Kill can burst down Fortune pretty quick with Countervenom combo.

Also there is a way to trick the AI to get the constant throw corner back. Right after getting throw, they will standing up blocking, attack at their block ( not a full L5 or you'll get punished), that would be enough time for them to forget they're getting throw.

The dev think of a way to prevent cheese strat but brought back up an old problem, cheese defend. With how frequent the AI use burst now, any Fighter with 3 burst equiped will be a nightmare to fight. A triple Valentine node with Burst equip will be cancerous. Maybe tone down how frequent the AI use burst could solve it?

 

[ZeoW]

Or potentially limit the use of Burst like in Comp/Versus?

 

[xcapibara]

Also, has anyone noticed that grabs in general are really likely to fail against high level AI? Even when being used for the first time? It's not that bad of thing since it's a good way to reliably bait the opponent into attacking you while you're blocking, but still, I feel like they fail way more often than they succeed, which is not great for grab-based characters like Cerebella and Beowulf.

Yes, but it had to be done: those 10 or so people complaining about parasoul grab spam on the discord needed satisfying, no matter if baiting the ai into attacking while your blocking is terrible if you’re fighting a neuromancer painwheel, or if it severly nerfs double’s grab into special moves combo potential or if it messes with grab based characters as you mentioned...

What are the odds for each of the rewards for when you watch an ad?

 

[Robokit]

((OMG IDK WHAT HAPPENED WHAT THE HECK
so I'm just deleting the whole thing but it is a response to Lililira last paragraph))

I'm kind of terrible at the game so I'm still in the lower section never had a streak higher than 30.
In this pf especially I've been doing pretty bad and at keeping streaks. I've been in the lower regions of pf and I have to say it's just as impossible to grab now too even with the dumber AI.
I've tested it out on maybe 30 matches and all of them I have had my grab broken on the first try.

I'd also rank myself rather low on skill level, I only do the most basic combos.

What i enjoy most about fights is actually intercepting and not chaining combos
( maybe that has sth to do with the type of real-life sports i like most, making a move to intercept an incoming object
and launching a projectile to hit a target: tennis, badminton, table tennis etc)

So challenging as it is, I actually like the new AI, coz it feels like you're put up against a real human opponent and it hightens what I like about fights. Maybe the pf cutoffs will be lowered as a result, or not finishing rift maps become the new normal, but hey if that's the case, I'm not complaining lol.

Fights aside, I like the the RNG aspect of the game with regard to finding moves with good stats and rare rift catalysts.


I hope you stick with the game and find new fight strategies or find new sources of satisfaction with fights or otherwise.
And don't forget we still have a whole slew of guild-related features to look forward to in addition to brand new character(s).

I'm sure the devs will adjust the game according to broad-based player surveys. Plz stay

 

[Okmonkey]

There is huge bug with futile resistance and heavy metal where u do 0 e.g. but it still does 5% dmg back etc same with frost armour and futile resistance plus the increase ai aggressiveness makes unbeatable rift node doesn't matter in which node

 

[ZeoW]

So I was rewatching my recorded rift video and noticed that as a Big Band was dashing towards me, I use a BlockBuster and they managed to block it mid-dash! I can't remember whether this was possible before but surely not? Someone correct me please.

 

[Robokit]

So I was rewatching my recorded rift video and noticed that as a Big Band was dashing towards me, I use a BlockBuster and they managed to block it mid-dash! I can't remember whether this was possible before but surely not? Someone correct me please.

I think this was also possible prior to 4.2. Still Need a definitive answer from a dev though.

 

[GreatTiny]

So I was rewatching my recorded rift video and noticed that as a Big Band was dashing towards me, I use a BlockBuster and they managed to block it mid-dash! I can't remember whether this was possible before but surely not? Someone correct me please.

This was possible before. If you didn't time it well, the AI could perfectly defend the BBs you threw at it.

I just faced a couple of rift Scratching posts. My main strategies against it continue to work fairly decently, altough with some caviats:
1) Against an standard SP, my main stragegy always was a fighter with an immunity taunt. Mainly Parasoul. I would start with a grab (and if done correctly, the AI would always start defending), taunt, then keep the pressure up. You could call it cheese grab, but it wasn't actually needed as the immunity is up. So you can just wait and punish. Evergreen Evil is really useful as support in this scenario.
The core of this strategy still works, but now the AI starts attacking and not blocking. So you may miss the throw and will have to intercept once at least to be able to procc the taunt.

2) Against a boss SP with only MNF and then the rest standard light boss. This happens so often that needs to be addressed. And it's actually easier to deal with this than the other (because usually isn't accompanied by Super Slo Mo). I use Fly Trap with a take out, and if I weren't to have it, then BuzzKill would be the next option. Basically a heavy hitter Painwheel with grudge. I know, this doesn't REALLY takes care of the SP, but mantaining pressure with Painwheel in general is still easy. And if you need to intercept, pinion dash is a thing that exist. Even if you can't start grabbing as before. And the advantage in this case is that MNF usually has precision, which proccs grudge and you don't receive (A lot of) damage if you messed up. It's not a perfect method, but it worked well enough for me.

It's harder to deal with it now, but no MsFortune is sturdy enough to live through a well placed Para or Painwheel combo. So you only need to chain it one time per fight, TBH...

 

[jamar]

What are the odds for each of the rewards for when you watch an ad?

I'd like to hear the answer to this too, because 2/4 times I've watched an ad, I got no rewards. One time the ad didn't even play. I just waited 6 hours to be told to wait 6 more hours.

 

[Disasterrr19]

I second GreatTiny's suggestion about Grudge Fly Trap - one grab into combo is enough to take more than 10% of MnF's HP and then the Precision stacks would make PW almost invincible due to Grudge armor. Any damage you still take would be quickly healed after you put the cat to rest and get your regen. If you manage to land at least one Death Crawl, then Ms.Fortune is basically a toast - I've never seen her avoiding PW's Charge attack reset, and one combo is usually enough to recharge Death Crawl. That was my usual strategy: three Death Crawl into Charge cycles and then finishing with Buer Overdrive near the moment Last Stand expires. Dunno how it's going to work now, only played three Rifts after the update and only faced SP once. With 3-slot SP nodes, bringing Sketchy and costantly juggling fighters is probably the most convenient solution, just don't use Big Band - for some reason Ms.Fortune almost always intercepts his Tag-In attack.

I feel like this thread is turning into "How to counter Scratching Post" thread. IMO, new AI is way more interesting than before, it is more unpredictable and there is a huge improvement in SM usage (in my countless fights agains Mummy Dearest at Peacock's Master Exp Farming Node, I've literally NEVER seen her using SMs before 4.2, so her SA1 was totally useless). Bravo, HVS!

However, if the idea behind these changes was to make AI act more "naturally", then some changes should be introduced to how the opponent starts to break every throw after the first one. In most fighting games, landing two or three grabs in a row is a part of mindgame and opponent conditioning - essentially, a way to punish constant blocking. Opponent has to guess if you're going to throw again or do some block pressure. Therefore I would suggest that the algorithm of AI grab breaks should follow something like "25% chance of breaking first grab, 50% chance for the second one, 75%-100% chance for the third ond consequent ones". This way we can try and RISK throwing them again to get some good reward (PW, Double, Parasoul in the corner, etc.).

 

[GreatTiny]

Talking about Peacock master story, I just remembered.
Parasoul AI is now insanely good. It was decent before, but not having defense variants made her lackluster in defense. Now it just spams special moves and BB3 whenever they are loaded. And it's really usual for it to throw a napalm shot and consider it as "you are blocking" so BB3 right after. Same with the motorcycle SM.
Peacock is also better now, but the improvement isn't as notorious as Para's.