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BUILD 1215 - Rebalance and Fix Central

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by Geti, Aug 15, 2014.

  1. Geti

    Geti Please avoid PMing me (poke a mod instead) THD Team Administrator Global Moderator

    Messages:
    3,730
    New build for KAG - potentially a little rough around the edges but what’s there needs to be tested with the public before we can move much further.

    [​IMG]
    Now with extra flammable platforms!​

    New build is going out at the moment, should be a long build but out in 30 minutes or so from this post. There will be the usual lull as servers patch over between maps and the client builds aren’t done, and again as the steam build propagates out - don’t panic if you see lower than average numbers in the next few hours.

    Here’s a summary of the more serious changes, split by section:

    Balance Changes:
    • Knight Rebalance
      There have been some long-standing complaints about the knight; this should help to address a lot of them and help reign in some of the more obscure parts of current knight play.
      • Shield Glide is no longer infinite
        Your shield glide will gradually lose its effectiveness as you fall through the air - you can put more wind into your sails with multiple bomb jumps, but this alone makes knights a lot more prone to gravity (like every other class). You can also no longer infinitely climb up walls with wall jumping.
      • Jab does minor stun
        Players from classic era will remember “slash cancelling” with jabs - while this is very ping dependent, we’ve decided to try it out again. It lets you get a quick, reactive cancel to someone charging a slash or double slash in front of you with jabs.
      • Slash doesn’t break shield for as long
        Slashes will not break a knight’s shield stance for as long, giving them a chance to attack back with jabs if you’re “slash surfing” them.
      • Circle of Power
        All of this together helps enforce a circle of power in knight combat options: slash > double slash > shield > jab > slash - there’s still the wildcard of shield bashing and bombs in the mix to keep things fresh of course, but this should make knight combat a little less slash-heavy.
    • Archer Tweaks
      • Reduced stun range
        The range at which arrows stun players has been reduced a little.
      • Special Arrow spam discouraged
        When firing special arrows with legolas, you will automatically switch to normal arrows for the 2nd and 3rd shots. This is to further encourage actually aiming with special arrows instead of just spamming 3 bomb arrows at a tower with triple shot.
    • Drills builder only
      At the request of the community by poll, drills have been made builder only for now. We’ll see how this change affects their use and the builder’s place in the game.
    • Map Borders
      The map borders are active on all edges, including the top of the map - this prevents simply “jumping over” tall structures.
    • Weaker Wall-run
      Wall running has been reduced from 3 tiles to 2, making smaller structures more significant.

    Fixes and Smaller Changes:
    • Platform Fixes
      Lots of issues with platforms have been cleaned up, most notably grappling them, wallrunning on them, and fire spreading through them. They also got a small sprite facelift.
    • Mine Fixes and balances
      Mines explode with much smaller radius, collide with platforms, don’t explode with materials on them, and shouldn’t go invisible any more.
    • Spawning timer no longer resets on click
      This only really applies to CTF - TTH still has wave respawning and some limitations there, though it should fare a little better than it did.
    • Server Fixes
      A memory leak in the server was identified (finally) and fixed.
    • Storage Changes
      The storage is a little more attractive, has damage frames and responds to lantern containment - thanks to community member Skinney for these changes.
    • Saw changes
      The saw spews out a slightly more reasonable amount of wood.
    • Spectator Fixes
      Several fixes to the spectator mode have been made, most notably including it getting “stuck”.
      Thanks to community member norill for these fixes.
    • Interface Fixes
      Some discrepancies with the TDM and CTF spawn time interfaces have been cleaned up.
    • Stun Fixes
      Stun is now respected for picking up/throwing items, and for using drills.
    • Builder Hitting Fixes
      Builders should have a slightly easier time hitting what they want to hit - theres still a few finicky edge cases but overall it should behave more sensibly, especially when trying to mine tiles near objects.
    • Tips on Death
      Some helpful, community sourced tips are displayed while you’re waiting to respawn - you can turn these off (along with other ingame help) with f1.
    • Fixed Builder digging in no-build zone.
      No more undermined tents or halls.
    • Fixed CTF HUD not showing for 1 flag maps.
      Speaks for itself, annoying little bug.
    • Emoticon bindings in Entities\Common\Emotes\EmoteBindings.cfg.
      If you need faster access to some of the emoticons you can now rebind them clientside, though it is a little fiddly.
    • "No Chat Bubble" option and some options fixes
      For those sick of seeing chat hovering over someone obscuring the action, you can now turn these off in the options menu.
      Some other options that were having issues being saved should be fixed now too; let us know if any options still fail to be saved after quitting the game normally.
    • Fixed lots of Larger Resolution Issues
      Larger resolutions now have fixed size cursors and can aim accurately, and work for vertical aspect ratios too if you’re that way inclined.
    • Lots of other fixes and tweaks - changelog too big for tumblr! I’ll put together a changelog to include in the forum post, though it may take a little more time.

    General Concerns:
    • Archer may be too strong
      We’re well aware of the potential for balance changes like this to swing power too far “the other way”. We’ll be watching very closely in the coming week and adjusting things as need be in a follow-up build.
    • A focus has been put on Gravity
      A lot of the changes here have put a focus back onto gravity - we want structures to have more of a purpose, people to need builders a little more, and vertical play to be a little more dicey; we also want to see less of people building giant turtle towers behind their base and flying all the way across the map :^) Keep this intent in mind when you’re cursing at not being able to jump up “measly” 8 high tile walls - players are going to have to adjust to more “grounded” play, and that may take some time (at least a few games).
    Looking forward to seeing you guys in game to put these changes through their paces! I’ll be around tomorrow to make hotfixes if necessary but hopefully they can wait until next week - after the game re-stabilises.

    Have Fun!

    Geti/Max
     
  2. Malitha

    Malitha Shipwright
    1. SIEGE Clan - SIEGE

    Messages:
    131
    Oh no, The jab lords will rule supreme [to an extent] and gone are the days of constant slash-raping people. RIP in peace knights ::(:

    Edit : Tried this out, Not as bad as it seems to be.
     
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2014
    RogueCupcake and Fuzzle like this.
  3. TheDirtySwine

    TheDirtySwine Haxor Staff Alumni Donator

    Messages:
    818
    I'm really hoping we can see some better teamwork between classes such as arrow ladders, shield towers, or better frontline builders. I'm sure we'll just have to get used to these changes. I think the only reason this worked in classic is because of tickets. Teams will now be able to minecraft more than ever now that knights can't carry as hard. This makes tickets a necessity unless you want kag to be a big stalemate or you want to promote more literal underground tunneling.
     
    franek123 and PinXviiN like this.
  4. kedram

    kedram Drill Rusher Tester

    Messages:
    449
    Very interesting... Long standing players will find this update to be a punch in the gut, but its necessary i believe.
     
    SirDangalang, epenow and 101i like this.
  5. Asu

    Asu THD Team THD Team Forum Moderator

    Messages:
    1,580
    Yay, windows version pushed! Restart your KAG!
     
  6. Fernegulus

    Fernegulus Bison Rider

    Messages:
    400
    FUUUUUCK YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

    Also, the best update since the beginning of Beta.
     
    Inferdy, franek123 and Anonymuse like this.
  7. 8x

    8x Elimination Et Choix Traduisant la Realité Forum Moderator Staff Alumni Tester
    1. The Young Blood Collective - [YB]

    Messages:
    1,325
    It kinda feels bad to have paid less than 10euros in 2012 for a game that's being still developed. In the sense that I've played this to death and had so much fun. Thanks for the work, everybody into it.
    Gona check this and add some feedback after some matches.
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2014
    franek123 likes this.
  8. TheDirtySwine

    TheDirtySwine Haxor Staff Alumni Donator

    Messages:
    818
    The only thing I don't understand is why would it seem more fun to turn a basic slash mechanic into a jab spam mechanic. Learning to slash and time your slashes should be something that new players should get used to. Now all new players have to do is run into the battlefield clicking their mouse as fast as they can and hopefully get a kill. Doesn't this remove any kind of skill a knight might have? I'll have to try it out for myself but I feel that with indirect nerfs such as the drill, wall climb, and gravity changes this might have gone a little too far for the knights. I understand that a skilled knight is able to carry a team if he is skilled enough but to nerf a class where all you have to do is click as fast as possible? I don't know.... I don't want to speculate, but I feel as if the archer nerf was to make players feel as if the knight wasn't the only one suffering in this build.
     
    xRush101 and TheAverageMan like this.
  9. DatNobby

    DatNobby Haxor

    Messages:
    157
    prepare for the shitstorm of people yelling "you broke the game"
     
  10. SlayerSean

    SlayerSean FYI: it's pronounced "seen"

    Messages:
    191
    KAGDev have officially grounded us. No more going out to have fun, knights...back to classic gravity rules. I half expect to see a knight falling to their death every minute or so when I next play. Complete with screams, gibs, and all.

    EDIT: Played a round or two, and it's nice. It's nice having to think about gravity again while shield-gliding...makes bomb jumping so much harder and less effective, though.
     
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2014
    Frogskin and Anonymuse like this.
  11. TheAverageMan

    TheAverageMan Shark Slayer
    1. DUCKS - We Love DUCKS

    Messages:
    70
    Mmm, not a huge fan of the knight changes. I guess we'll see how this turns out, hopefully for the better -but I dunno, I super skeptical of this.

    EDIT: no, nope, just no... sorry, this isn't good imho. It felt awkward to be raped as a knight as soon as I joined a server :oops: I'll still try it out again, but atm some things don't seem right.
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2014
    Frogskin, Fuzzle and Knighthart like this.
  12. Fuzzle

    Fuzzle Grand Grumbler

    Messages:
    297
    * Crying * .. Goodbye everyone. I will be back when it have been reverted.
     
    Frogskin and TheAverageMan like this.
  13. SpideY

    SpideY Hear Me Roar Staff Alumni Donator

    Messages:
    511
    This build is really awesome!
     
    franek123 likes this.
  14. Rayne

    Rayne ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ Administrator Global Moderator Forum Moderator Tester

    Messages:
    1,916
    did you even try the new build? just jab spamming will get you killed. the stun added is to stop opponents from just rushing in and recklessly using their slash like everyone was doing before. previously, who cares if you lost a heart, they drop one when they die to your slash right? with this you'll be able to punish opponents that leave themselves open. now it's not about who can slash best, but who can fully use the knight to the best of it's abilities.
     
  15. NinjaCell

    NinjaCell Haxor

    Messages:
    358
    Smaller buildings now more significant!
    Archer may be too strong! heheheh...
    Best update I have seen in a while!25252525
     
  16. Asu

    Asu THD Team THD Team Forum Moderator

    Messages:
    1,580
    Well... I like a bit everything in this update but now knights doesn't require any skill. Jabspammers will win everything.
     
  17. Auburn

    Auburn Prepare Yourself! Forum Moderator Staff Alumni Donator Tester
    1. SharSharShar - [SHARK]

    Messages:
    734
    do you guys even try the game before you post? I personally really like the changes.
    oh, and it finally got added after almost a year >:3
     
  18. Skinney

    Skinney THD Team THD Team Forum Moderator Tester

    Messages:
    468
    If anything, the new build requires Knights to actively react to what other Knights are doing. If you're getting jabbed, use your shield... It's that simple.
     
  19. knight up i quit kag


    geti worst dev dont care bout competive kog
     
    FuzzyBlueBaron, Beef, Piano and 6 others like this.
  20. Asu

    Asu THD Team THD Team Forum Moderator

    Messages:
    1,580
    Well, now it's just slash spam and when you see the other slashing jabjabjab