Underwhelming hand to hand combat

  • As has been mentioned, combat amongst all weapon types is actively monitored and constantly being reworked. The idea that combat was perfect and significantly better at launch is not only false, but shows a complete lack of understanding of weapon balancing.

    Double gunning was objectively broken: that was fixed by both fixing the quick swap mechanic and overall nerfing pistol and eye of reach, as well as buffing sword and blunder.
    The realized they took the sword buffs a bit too far with the perma-stun, and dialed it back.

    Of course the changes to weapons they've made are far more numerous and nuanced than this, but the main idea is that balancing weapons goes back and forth constantly with balancing. Yes, the current mechanics might feel a bit watered down, but thats because your comparing them to previous updates wherein you were able to spam exploits. It's definitely not perfect, but its being worked on, and I would say that overall, its significantly better now. There will always be a meta, but at least now, its more based on the skill level of the user and what specific type of engagement you're preparing for, rather than there being one overpowered loadout that you have to run in every scenario. A good player can use pretty much any combination of weapons in the current meta and be proficient in combat, rather than being railroaded into double gunning or cutlass/blundering. As well it should be.
    If you can think of any game that has managed to perfectly balance its weapon system with no problems whatsoever, I will happily eat my words, but until that time, please consider that this is not an exact science.

  • @justign0reme Who could possibly ignore you after such a great post like that?

  • @dashing-jack434 Sword-stunning is a bad idea, IMO - at least when it's used to the extreme. Being hit once shouldn't automatically mean game over. A while ago, that's exactly what was happening.

    You should always have a means of countering or making some sort of comeback. A good example of this comes from another game made by Rare - Killer Instinct. It revolutionized fighting games by adding a mechanic that allowed you to break a combo, which was never done before. Later games in the series added counter-breakers and further deepened the mechanics. This allowed both parties on offense and defense to continue besting one another without ever having to just sit there and watch themselves lose. It ramped up the excitement and tension. I think that's what Rare is going for here. They are trying to achieve a semblance of balance, and I commend them for that.

  • @dashing-jack434 you honestly don't see the difference ? wow okay then haha.

    I am not necessarily saying that stun lock should return (even though I personally don't mind) but I mean what does it matter when you can literally spam one button and stay on someone the whole time lol... I dunno imho sword is a mess..

    Also it's not so much that I am complaining that I can't kill "good" players with a sword I am speaking from more of a competitive sense. Like does it really make sense to take a sword and fight someone wielding 2 guns ? well maybe yea if they can't hit their shots but against a good player you're not going to win unless they get hit reged on you... The only time a sword can maybe work anymore against a good crew is after a lot of naval pressure (which is what should be done before boarding any good crew anyways) and just m1 spamming/lunge spamming the stairs if they are frantically bailing. Who knows though maybe with the sword buffss even THAT will be easier. When it comes to good crews it's pretty much whoever has better naval in some sense unless you get a cheeky board at the right moment.

    hopefully you can make sense of what I am saying if not I dunno what to tell you :/ .

  • You are spot on.

    Hand to Hand is wonky at best and bad on a normal day. Ship vs Ship has huge potential to make this game a real stand-out classic for years to come!

    Rare needs to play to their strengths by putting the onus fully on Ship combat and hide their shame by pushing hand-to-hand as far back into the shadows as they can.

40
Posts
27.9k
Views
37 out of 40