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Life as a noob - experiment
Some people probably noticed me today executing the hit-hit-hit-hit-hit-hit-hit-etc. strategy. Here is why. (Sorry for questions category, but it's not an idea, and not a bug.)
So, after ragequitting several times dying to the strategy I described above, I decided to have a little experiment, with the following rules: ruins map, melee weapon, only use hit, move, dash, run, charged and special attacks (i.e. no block, kick or roll), no using items except health potion. I used a sword.
The experiment has several intriguing conclusions:
0. Reflexes make the experiment hard to execute.
1. The difference between a dangerous and a harmless noob is that the dangerous one can and will click the left mouse button very rapidly in succession.
2. The difference between collecting few and many bones is whether you heal before fighting or you just attack recklessly. (This is obvious, the point is that it applies to noob level as well.)
3. You can pretty consistently collect 10-20 bones.
4. You can collect 50+ bones occasionally (and that not by being lucky to be on the spot when someone with 100+ bones dies, but collecting it by hard work).
5. With good maneuvering, the clever use of dash, and the careful choice of when to fight and when to run, you can beat low-ranking pros 30% of the time. (And then they look incredibly frustrated when they are trying to chase you down, and when you kill them again, they tend to disappear... so now at least I know I'm not the only one to ragequit when killed this way.)
6. No chance against ranged opponents.
7. Most deaths happen when you get surrounded by many opponents. NOT when a pro blocks your hit and tries to kill you. Other spam-clicking noobs with speed potions are among the biggest threats, too.
So I suppose there is something wrong with the game? The results I achieved seem to be a bit too high for someone who doesn't even know half of the controls. And beating pros should be out of question. I saw them as they knew what they had to do, and then I managed to stab them in the back twice because of a clumsy move.
I encourage everyone else to try this challenge. There are some players way better than me, I'm especially curious of their experience.
Customer support service by UserEcho
I know you're lobbying for a 'remove the directional block' thing, but that just isn't going to happen. It helps out the bow and wand, which previously a good player had no reason to pick whatsoever.
But anyway, if you can beat people with that, they aren't 'low ranking pros'. They're just mediocre players.
And this isn't how noobs play, either. You're better then the are, even if you're only using attack. This huge extraneous variable in your 'experiment' render any conclusions of yours largely invalid.
I'm not lobbying for removing the directional block. Ask rezoner if you don't believe it. But I have concerns as far as the current balance of combat is concerned, and I have yet to find a tactic that works out well. But I will give it some time.
All of the conclusions are perfectly valid. I did the experiment, and these were the results. It doesn't mean that noobs can do the same.
Maybe they indeed were just mediocre players. Hard to tell where the skill boundaries are.
30% oh well... I tried to give a rough estimate, but I couldn't find an appropriate word in English. What I mean is "a considerable portion that I've found surprisingly high".
Where did you get that 30% stat? and how did you define any given player as a 'low-ranking pro'?
Few good players prefered BOW even when there were no 180 degree block thing ;) Concerning the topic, strategy you described is pretty common. I think you barely have a chance to collect 50+ bones with it even when you fight only melee opponents. And if you achieve so great results I don't understand your point to come here and ask "is something wrong with the game?". Why not to take it as it is? You've found the strategy that lets you win some opponents so why not enjoy your skills and kick some asses in public game or arena then? :)
My point in coming here to ask is to have a discussion about it. Maybe other people have thoughts about it too.
Well, the 50 bones happened on a lucky server with only one ranged player (was it you, if I remember correctly?) and a steady supply of noobs around. But the point is, if I wasn't clear enough, that this strategy can achieve some results, and that is fundamentally bad. Because that's not the game I want to play.
Well, 50 bones is nothing to sniff at, but on average I tend to collect more normally than this way - or at least that was until directional block came about. Now I'm trying to adapt, but I am still often dying an embarassing death to hit-hit-etc. noobs. Hence the experiment: I had to test if that's actually a better strategy :)
I think your experiment was good, it brings some important insight, but lacks a solid conclusion.
Oh, also there is a psychological aspect - players adjust their strategy by judging their opponent - if you see someone named Frodo/Rollo/Ragnar you just assume they will be mindlessly spamclicking. And if you see a named player, with a non-defult weapon and even a clan tag, then you assume they do know what the're doing and will not be utilizing the hit-hit-hit strategy. That might have affected the outcome of your experiment.
Wilds.io has beautiful, complicated controls system giving players a variety of different strategies to utilize.
Long time ago I saw threads online saying that the combat system is shitty, because all you do is mash left click - while maybe partially true at that time it was solved by adding different mechanics and weapons, so mindlessly clicking would get you killed quickly.
Do we want this problem to come back? Should the main effective strategy be spamclicking?
If that's the case, then why not just add an "Autoclick" button, to keep our fingers from getting tired? ;)
There sould be some incentive to keep new players from just clicking left mouse button over and over again - and there was one, back when block was 360 - this strategy was simply uneffective.
Removing 180 deg block is not the only "solution", this "problem" (?), it can be fixed diferent ways: characters could have a 'I got tired, need to rest for 1 second' animation after 5 consecutive attacs during which you wouldn't be able to attack again, or simple attacks could use up stamina, etc.
I play today with all weapons and i can say something about current gameplay. Now the gameplay is more difficult than ever. You can see how many bones are able to gather players. An average person can pick up about 50 bones before he dies. An experienced player can collect about 100-150 bones. My record with the current blocking method is about 180 with a sword and 250+ with an arc. With a wand around 100 because the player now has less stamina or faster finishes and playing the magician has become very difficult.
This is because the defense against several players at once has been extremely difficult. Unfortunately, this prompts the players to spam the basic attack, which translates into undercutting the skill aspect. If a player kills another person just by clicking the left button, he will not learn anything.
Also, the average life span of a single life has been reduced by a much higher chance of dying. In my opinion, maybe the blocking method that is now closer to realism, but also need to look at the minus which it introduces. I noticed a lot of angry and complaining in the game because inexperienced players are able to kick ass really good players. Also, the number of people escaping from combat increased.
In my opinion, this type of blocking too much makes fighting difficult. If you fight with two archers or mages on both sides, the only way out is to escape. The initial assumptions of the whole mechanics of the game were paper, stone and scissors. (The opposite reaction counter another). Unfortunately this system has been shaken and is not working now as it should. Block should block attacks, but in many cases it is ineffective. I think this change too disturbs the basic mechanics of the game.
I know that this is very good for ranged weapons, but it can be strengthened in a different way than the nerf of one of the most important moves in the game, which in my opinion was perfectly balanced.
+1 ! Rock-paper-scissors analogy is very fitting.
Also consider this from gamedesign perspective: more frequent (frustrating!) deaths = more exit points for players = lower retention/avg. gameplay session time.
It's the experienced players who play for 30+ mins at a time, and also they are the ones whose average 'lifespan' (as in time between spawn and death) has been shortened. New players die withing minutes (if not seconds xd) from spawning anyway.