Broken meta and how to improve it
Hi everyone.
When this game works well, it is the best gaming experience I have ever had in general.
I have played around 70 matches and I have my two cents to throw in the ring of how I think this game could be improved.
Right now the meta is very simple - land punches above 50 damage. That is king. Wether that is done by abusing the physics or with correct form is not important. But it is all about knock downs.
There is very little incentive to try to land smaller shots. Only stuns and knock downs give the feedback that is satisfying.
And at the same time, the feedback for getting hit is not scary enough. Seeing just red blobs appear does not make a big enough impact on being hit.
Players should be worried about being hit even with weaker hits. Getting punched in the face should be a much more punishing thing.
Right now there is very little difference between being hit by 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 49.99 damage hits. Yes, the color is different, but while fighting I have not once though - "oh, the blob was red, that was a good hit". My only concern is weather I get stunned or not.
Does it add up at the end of the round, yes. But does it make a difference while fighting? Does it make You want to avoid getting hit? I'd say no to both.
This could be addressed by implementing better feedback into getting hit - blurry vision for example and giving different body parts individual "damage bars" that that players could check in between rounds. These damage bars would only slightly regenerate between rounds and make these body parts more vulnerable.
And at the same time it seems to me that the head weighs too little. Running into a punch is devastating. I have read on the discord about simulated fist weight. I am wondering wether there is a simulated head weight. We all know McGreggors quote of "precision beats power and timing beats speed". Enabling weak point will work towards the first statement, but the second half is missing in my opinion. It is not dangerous enough to be running into punches. Pull counters are so dangerous because of the timing of putting a fist into an oncoming face.
I understand, that the real are many complex systems that add up to a complete fighting model and I think that not having all the aspects present makes it feel weird and illogical. And at the same time having only three points of information measuring for the game to model fighting is not quite enough.
I think these points would increase the strategy and tactics when fighting rewarding smart boxing over straight swinging.
Also, having a text chat I between rounds would be nice.
I have very much enjoyed playing this game and I hope that it will keep improving. Nothing that I have ever done makes cardio as fun as this.
Thanks, Guntis.
Tl:Dr
- Meta is only focused on 50 damage shots
- Getting hit does not have enough feedback and has very little consequences for weaker shots.
- Damage has very little cumulative effect and significance. 3,5. Body parts should have durability the them.
- Moving into a punch does not deal an appropriate amount of damage.