Hey guys, after extensive testing I have come to a few conclusions about the combat which I find a bit concerning. I'm an NA player averaging 120 ping at any given time. I have probably spent 60 hours engaged in actual combat with TheTyGuy alone who I believe stays under 30 ping. The more time I spend fighting him the more I realize the difference in ping directly alters our fighting styles.
Ty is a great player and has an extremely quick reaction time. When you mix someone who is incredibly fast at parrying with low ping it is nearly impossible to land hits on them with traditional attacks as a player with higher ping. After many hours of fighting Ty, I came to the conclusion that as a mid-high ping player, I have 3 routes I can take to deal damage to a skilled player with low ping.
1. Quick tracking to sticky back if the player turns away to move out of range
2. Trading hits
3. Chivalry like camera tactics (ballerina spins) on a counter attack in order to confuse the player
Options 1 and 2 are great routes to take and personally I enjoy Mordhau and Chivalry camera tricks so I appreciate option 3 as well.
However, my concern is not about my personal game play experience but the experience of new players. Let me just point out that the percentage of population who loves camera spinning in games like Chivalry is FAR LOWER than the percentage who despise it.
Currently a player with low ping has a few additional routes of dealing damage against a player with high ping. Due to the latency, feinting is a truly effective tool against a high ping player especially when mixed with camera manipulation. Next, a low ping player is able to trade far more efficiently than a high ping player. We are unable to rely on animations from the low ping player to determine whether or not we may catch them in a swing and effectively trade blows. On the low ping players screen they have already struck you and are ready to land a parry which will then be followed up a high speed counter attack. This forces us to play the game a couple seconds ahead instead of watching the player. Lastly, low ping players who are skilled at parrying are able to reliably incorporate the "parry game" into their fighting styles. This means a skilled player with low ping is able to reliably block your counter attacks (maybe with the exception of lightning fast weapons i.e. warhammer) with the intention of successfully regaining momentum in the fight by returning massive damage.
As a long time MO1 player I'm used to learning the janky little tricks required to be effective in PvP but MO2 is being designed for the masses. I'm extremely concerned that the wider audiences will be turned off of the combat/game once they see a skilled player spam feinting and spinning while simultaneously parrying every attack. I have not conducted any research regarding low ping vs. low ping so I can't speak for that game play experience. My concerns are purely based on players with sub-optimal latency vs skilled players with optimal latency.
I'm aware that my concerns are much more prevalent in 1v1 scenarios but I'm fairly confident that as the game progresses, we will see this style of play incorporated into specific group fight situations as well.
This was not a complaint post. Other than the direct disadvantage I feel from ping differences, I really enjoy camera tricks and anything that raises the skill ceiling. I'm purely basing these concerns on the new player experience. I want to see this game flourish!
TL;DR - High ping players are forced to use camera manipulation in order to damage skilled low ping players. Trades are far more dangerous. Parrying counters is far less reliable for a high ping player. Concerned that new players will be turned off by this.
Ty is a great player and has an extremely quick reaction time. When you mix someone who is incredibly fast at parrying with low ping it is nearly impossible to land hits on them with traditional attacks as a player with higher ping. After many hours of fighting Ty, I came to the conclusion that as a mid-high ping player, I have 3 routes I can take to deal damage to a skilled player with low ping.
1. Quick tracking to sticky back if the player turns away to move out of range
2. Trading hits
3. Chivalry like camera tactics (ballerina spins) on a counter attack in order to confuse the player
Options 1 and 2 are great routes to take and personally I enjoy Mordhau and Chivalry camera tricks so I appreciate option 3 as well.
However, my concern is not about my personal game play experience but the experience of new players. Let me just point out that the percentage of population who loves camera spinning in games like Chivalry is FAR LOWER than the percentage who despise it.
Currently a player with low ping has a few additional routes of dealing damage against a player with high ping. Due to the latency, feinting is a truly effective tool against a high ping player especially when mixed with camera manipulation. Next, a low ping player is able to trade far more efficiently than a high ping player. We are unable to rely on animations from the low ping player to determine whether or not we may catch them in a swing and effectively trade blows. On the low ping players screen they have already struck you and are ready to land a parry which will then be followed up a high speed counter attack. This forces us to play the game a couple seconds ahead instead of watching the player. Lastly, low ping players who are skilled at parrying are able to reliably incorporate the "parry game" into their fighting styles. This means a skilled player with low ping is able to reliably block your counter attacks (maybe with the exception of lightning fast weapons i.e. warhammer) with the intention of successfully regaining momentum in the fight by returning massive damage.
As a long time MO1 player I'm used to learning the janky little tricks required to be effective in PvP but MO2 is being designed for the masses. I'm extremely concerned that the wider audiences will be turned off of the combat/game once they see a skilled player spam feinting and spinning while simultaneously parrying every attack. I have not conducted any research regarding low ping vs. low ping so I can't speak for that game play experience. My concerns are purely based on players with sub-optimal latency vs skilled players with optimal latency.
I'm aware that my concerns are much more prevalent in 1v1 scenarios but I'm fairly confident that as the game progresses, we will see this style of play incorporated into specific group fight situations as well.
This was not a complaint post. Other than the direct disadvantage I feel from ping differences, I really enjoy camera tricks and anything that raises the skill ceiling. I'm purely basing these concerns on the new player experience. I want to see this game flourish!
TL;DR - High ping players are forced to use camera manipulation in order to damage skilled low ping players. Trades are far more dangerous. Parrying counters is far less reliable for a high ping player. Concerned that new players will be turned off by this.
