Feats Shouldn't End a Fight, They Should Enhance It.

TL;DR Current active feats deal too much damage, and ruin 4v4s. I propose changing feats to enhance a fight, not end it.

This is most likely gonna twist into a rant but here's my reasoning. First, some background knowledge!

Here are all the active feats that insta-kill:

• Catapult
• Last Laugh
• Senbonzakura

Here are all the active feats the deal at least half-health:

• Arrow Strike ^{(If all hit})
• Flaming Arrow
• Fire Flask
• Arrow Storm ^{(If all hit})
• Nail Bomb
• Igneus Ember
• Spear Storm

Here are all the other active feats that deal damage:

• Fiery Tusk
• Bear Trap ^{(Traps, potentially confirming more damage})
• Kunai
• Shooting Stars
• Caltrops
• Qilin Ruse
• Pugno Mortis
• Longbow
• Crossbow
• Pugio ^{(Traps, potentially confirming more damage})
• Neptune's Wrath
• Boleadoras ^{(Traps, potentially confirming more damage})
• Throwing Axe
• Javelin
• Hand Axe
• Zealot's Bolt
• Fire Trap
• Infection
• Twilight of the Gods
• Scorching Deluge
• Oathbreaker ^{(Included only because follow-up damage on the gank situation is most likely high})

At least half of these active feats deal too much damage, and at least half of the characters have access to these. Multiply that across 4 other players, and being ganked or even in a 1v1 is no longer fun in Dominion/Breach. Many fights now are not determined by player skill, the number of players in a fight, or by team strategy but by who can spam press a button first. Oathbreaker, although it doesn't deal any damage, effectively does because it destroys a players chance of stalling for help any longer. Might I add, frustrating for a last stand while breaking.

Take Zhanhu, he can first deal 10 damage with fiery tusk, then add 30 damage from qilin ruse, and then add another 50 (direct + fire) damage from his last feat. That makes an overall of 90 damage, assuming all of them hit and registered and he didn't pull out a Longbow, which deletes 3/4 of a Peace Keepers entire health bar. In the heat of battle, you most definitely won't have full health bar which makes the threat of someone with a full renown bar even scarier.

Hell, come across an orochi and he'll zing you off 65 damage with kunai and longbow if he's feeling dirty. That's at least half the health of many heros. The worst offender is Hitokiri -and any character with catapult- who can simply wait for you to get caught in a teamfight/oos punish then hit you with that Press Key 4 on Keyboard. Poof, health bar gone.

Now yes, many of these feats can be dodged. Catapult has a 3 second delay, Senbonzakura has a really telegraphed animation, and virtually all projectiles can be dodged. But these feats ruin the most dynamic and best feature of the "Art of War" mechanic which allows for 3D battles, instead of Mortal Kombat 2.5D 1v1s.

Proposal:

Feats should not end a fight prematurely. Therefore, any feat that deals over 25 damage is a no go.

Kunai and Fiery Tusk are my examples of perfect active feats in 4v4 situations. Traps are fine, as they can be (mostly) avoided or baited, and they make encounters more interesting. Projectiles should generally not deal more than 25, they're a cheap way to end a fight. Last laugh shouldn't deal more than half health, enough to kill an even match up. Bombs should not deal more than 40, they have AOE so they're power is still strong. Catapult and Senbon. shouldn't deal more than half health, I actually wouldn't mind having them permanently removed.

Oathbreaker, while not a damaging feat, should reduce revenge meter by 50% on a non-revenger and if used on a revenger lower it to 75% and remove revenge on them. This is to still give hope to the player in the gank situation.

^{Side Note: How bout they just remove revenge?}

The perfect world would have only passive/non-damaging feats that make a fight more exciting. But alas....

Realization:

This most likely won't change much. It's only a rant and the developers seem to have their mind set on beefing the feat game. The new heros have shown that. They seem to rely heavily on their feats to show their true power. While BP and Zhanhu have actually original ideas flow, Jormungandur and Hitokiri (Jorm especially) need to have their feats to show what they actually have. I will admit, however, that very good Jorms/Hitos can bring out the power behind the character, but lower play has trouble actually delving into those depths.

This is generally a more casual focused discussion since competitive play is either in Duels or non-revenge non-feat Dominion Tournaments. But I think it's proper to discuss this here as more ideas can be developed.

What'd ya think? ^{(Be kind on the formatting/evidence, its my first full-fledged rework/discussion post})

Submitted November 26, 2019 at 09:24AM by Hephaestus1233 https://ift.tt/2QPI2SY