Replace stab with charge swipe

TriggerHappyBroTriggerHappyBro Ohio Join Date: 2016-05-23 Member: 217383Members, NS2 Playtester
edited June 2016 in Ideas and Suggestions
Stab doesn't get used hardly ever due to its un-cancel-ableness (in conjunction with it preventing blink) and its difficulty to land.
I have an idea to make stab a bit easier to use.

Imagine you have to keep left click pressed down to "charge" the stab, the more you hold it the more damage it deals when released (with a damage cap).

It would be easier to use because the release timing can vary, but it would also keep its current mechanic because you would still not be able to blink while using it.

Also it probably wouldn't require an excessive amount of rework of the current animation.
@RevanCorana what happens if you just press and release? Would that do normal swipe damage?

If it does then I propose we scrap stab altogether and just have researching "stab" allow fade's to charge up swipe (but still not blink while charging).
Sounds good, switching to stab in fight also makes it more difficult to use and isn't particularly fun.

I see two benefits to this
1. Stab is easier to use in and of itself
2. You don't have to switch to it mid-fight
2 1/2. You don't run the risk of switching to metabolize by accident

Summary

Researching "stab" now replaces swipe with a chargeable variant like how advanced metabolize replaces metabolize once researched.
Scale the damage done by charge swipe proportionally to how long it is charged (after it's been researched, beforehand it should just swipe repeatedly)
0 charge = swipe damage
max charge = stab damage
Disallow blink while charging

Afterthought: It may be advantageous to leave charge swipe as a separate ability in case a player prefers to hold LMB to rapid fire normal swipes.

Whadda ya think?

Edit: There's this, too. https://feedback.userreport.com/19e981d4-394e-46de-997e-8913cc04aff2/#idea/124211

Comments

  • RevanCoranaRevanCorana Join Date: 2015-08-14 Member: 207125Members
    100% agree, this is the kind of gameplay simplification that is healthy for the game as it makes things more intuitive without compromising on the skill ceiling.
  • cooliticcoolitic Right behind you Join Date: 2013-04-02 Member: 184609Members
    No, the ability just needs to be replaced completely.
  • RevanCoranaRevanCorana Join Date: 2015-08-14 Member: 207125Members
    edited June 2016
    Should also be mentioned that the fade should be able at least to jump while using stab.
    Not being able to blink is 1 thing, not being to jump on top of that is too restrictive, the fade should be able to keep momentum at all times..

    coolitic wrote: »
    No, the ability just needs to be replaced completely.
    No, the ability doesn't just needs to be replaced completely.
    I love arguing with this kind of person that does nothing but states an opinion. xD
  • FrozenFrozen New York, NY Join Date: 2010-07-02 Member: 72228Members, Constellation
    @RevanCorana if i can jump i then bunnyhop and control my movement and animation timing. It would make stab pretty damn strong
  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    Frozen wrote: »
    @RevanCorana if i can jump i then bunnyhop and control my movement and animation timing. It would make stab pretty damn strong
    For late game tech, biomass 7 or higher, I am ok with that. I just don't like that it would have such a high skill ceiling.
  • cooliticcoolitic Right behind you Join Date: 2013-04-02 Member: 184609Members
    edited June 2016
    I love arguing with this kind of person that does nothing but states an opinion. xD

    I love how you can tell what kind of person I am from just one post.


    But to elaborate, since you asked so nicely, stab is a slow ability that doesn't seem to fulfill any role whatsoever. Thus, it needs to be replaced completely.
  • RevanCoranaRevanCorana Join Date: 2015-08-14 Member: 207125Members
    No m8, I've seen this behavior in a few other posts of yours as well :P

    Fade is the assassin lifeform, stab is supposed to be the ultimate assassin upgrade.
    You can see it has in fact a very defined role within the class, maybe you just failed to see because it's not used very much because it is too hard to use properly.
    Hence this thread.
  • FrozenFrozen New York, NY Join Date: 2010-07-02 Member: 72228Members, Constellation
    If fades walked faster than marines sprint after activating stab then it'd be usable.
  • SchnirkeSchnirke Germany Join Date: 2014-08-11 Member: 197921Members
    I think at this time stab is useless.
    I am not the best fade player. I spent the most time with the other lifeforms. But the fact that you are not able to blink AND jump makes me never using this ability. (And I also almost never see other people using this ability)
    If you are playing against some good marines it becomes horrible for the fade. Two practiced w3 rifle marines (not to mention the fact what w3 shotgunners will do) can kill you as fast as you are charging for the stab (and while u are charging you are an easy target). Furthermore, unless u are using celerity, marines (even w/o jetpack) will be faster than you (when you are not able to blink or jump). That means a marine will be able to dodge easily when the marine detects you before you are start with the stab charge.
    The only chance I have with stab is to try to attack marines from behind (silence) when the marine is standing still. But this will almost never happen.
    I agree with RevanCorana. At least you have to be able to use jump while charging.

    Perhaps I am too noobish with the fade to use this ability properly, so what do you (those who are good fade players) think about stab?

  • SherlockSherlock Join Date: 2012-11-09 Member: 168595Members
    Stab should work like it does in The Hidden: Source. You can still move whilst you use it, it just "charges" it so you need to time it right.

    Why is this so hard?!

    https://youtu.be/PtK6u0l9hFg?t=1m52s
  • RevanCoranaRevanCorana Join Date: 2015-08-14 Member: 207125Members
    edited June 2016
    I also think pressing down spacebar should chain jumps automatically like in Quake (only for fades I know it causes an issue with lerks and skulks).
    Too many new players save for Onos because Fade feels "too hard" so they walk a lot and die a lot which causes onosplosion late game (not the definition of fun)

    Chaining jumps doesn't make fade more fun to play.
    Moreover I dont think it would reduce the skill ceiling.
  • RedSwordRedSword Join Date: 2006-12-07 Member: 58947Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Supporter
    Stab definitely got "nerfed" in the sense that focus can now do the job of stab (bypass med spam to kill), but it is still useful to hit RTs and surprise attack marines unaware of your presence (quite deadly with focus, as it stacks iirc). It just requires a too-high biomass to be practiced, practical, and appreciated. It is now a bit less wanted as you can now get the old focus ability, meaning you don't need 3 hives to get 1 hit-kills, making stab not required to 1-hit kill.

    I like stab =D. Just a very poorly presented ability (the worst one?) .
  • The_Welsh_WizardThe_Welsh_Wizard Join Date: 2013-09-10 Member: 188101Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    There is no medspam anymore since medpacks got nerfed.
  • YojimboYojimbo England Join Date: 2009-03-19 Member: 66806Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    There is no medspam anymore since medpacks got nerfed.

    You can still medspam, it is just not as pronounced.
  • The_Welsh_WizardThe_Welsh_Wizard Join Date: 2013-09-10 Member: 188101Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    Yojimbo wrote: »
    There is no medspam anymore since medpacks got nerfed.

    You can still medspam, it is just not as pronounced.

    You can't because it takes too long to heal now.
  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    No, you can still spam meds. Whether or not it will do anything is a concern. Also, just last night I kept a marine alive alive through 5 skulks that he would not have survived without medpacks.
  • xen32xen32 Join Date: 2012-10-18 Member: 162676Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    I really loved original Vortex. One, which allowed to vortex arms lab and make marines upgradless for a while, or disable exo and kill marines welding him, etc.
  • RevanCoranaRevanCorana Join Date: 2015-08-14 Member: 207125Members
    edited June 2016
    well yea since the pickup time has been almost halved, medspam is even more required (and more effective against things like lerk spikes or spores as the HoT stacks).

    @RedSword I couldnt agree more, stab is borderline unusable to most people because of how unpractical and unintuitive it is to use, plus being a biomass 7 upgrade, at the time you get a 3rd hive you automatically put all your res into biomass 9 to unlock Xenocide and Stomp instead.

    Fix is: move Stab to biomass 6 and make Stab block either jumping or blinking but not both.
  • BicsumBicsum Join Date: 2012-02-27 Member: 147596Members, Reinforced - Gold
    edited June 2016
    I think I would replace Stab completely. Even when making it easier to use, it doesn't really make it more needed. Swipe already does the job well enough. There is no reason to give the fade just another attack. Especially with the introduction of focus, it doesn't make much sense to keep it. It could turn out way too strong, when making slight adjustments like giving the ability to jump/blink while winding up stab. I think it currently does 240(?) dmg with focus, which is quite a lot. You can instantly kill an armor3 marine with a stab+swipe combo.

    What a Fade in mid / late game could need is a mean for splitting groups of marines in order to fight them isolated. A slow moving energy ball, that deals damage over time and passes through all entities, like the Symmetra photon projector ball, as shown here, could work:
    0:22s

    1:40

    Compared to the Symmetra ball, I would make it a bit bigger, but a lot slower. The ball keeps moving in the same direction without drop.

    You would cast it before the fight as an initialiser. Idially you would try to cast it between a group of marines so that the marines will move to different sides when trying to avoid it. The stab animation would work as the cast animation, so that you gather energy between your claws and then throw it. It wouldn't be spammable and it wouldn't be leathal, but you wouldn't want to stand in it for too long.

    The old Vortex model could work as the projectile:
    lgzkpelvjc1c.png

    I think it would fit the Fade pretty well and it could actually be useful.
  • The_Welsh_WizardThe_Welsh_Wizard Join Date: 2013-09-10 Member: 188101Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    Bicsum wrote: »
    I think I would replace Stab completely. Even when making it easier to use, it doesn't really make it more needed. Swipe already does the job well enough. There is no reason to give the fade just another attack. Especially with the introduction of focus, it doesn't make much sense to keep it. It could turn out way too strong, when making slight adjustments like giving the ability to jump/blink while winding up stab. I think it currently does 240(?) dmg with focus, which is quite a lot. You can instantly kill an armor3 marine with a stab+swipe combo.

    What a Fade in mid / late game could need is a mean for splitting groups of marines in order to fight them isolated. A slow moving energy ball, that deals damage over time and passes through all entities, like the Symmetra photon projector ball, as shown here, could work:
    0:22s

    1:40

    Compared to the Symmetra ball, I would make it a bit bigger, but a lot slower. The ball keeps moving in the same direction without drop.

    You would cast it before the fight as an initialiser. Idially you would try to cast it between a group of marines so that the marines will move to different sides when trying to avoid it. The stab animation would work as the cast animation, so that you gather energy between your claws and then throw it. It wouldn't be spammable and it wouldn't be leathal, but you wouldn't want to stand in it for too long.

    The old Vortex model could work as the projectile:
    lgzkpelvjc1c.png

    I think it would fit the Fade pretty well and it could actually be useful.

    I think that kind of abilites should belong to lerks and it already does, when I understand you correctly spores pretty much fill that role already.
  • warbrand2warbrand2 Join Date: 2010-12-13 Member: 75657Members
    truthfully I think stab should have teh ability to cripple exo suits.

    IT would give it a role and a really good one, if a fade gets behind an exo and stabs it the hud on it should go black and movement should lock up, so you don't know your heat level, you can't flee and you don't know how much armor you have left.
  • BicsumBicsum Join Date: 2012-02-27 Member: 147596Members, Reinforced - Gold
    Bicsum wrote: »
    I think I would replace Stab completely. Even when making it easier to use, it doesn't really make it more needed. Swipe already does the job well enough. There is no reason to give the fade just another attack. Especially with the introduction of focus, it doesn't make much sense to keep it. It could turn out way too strong, when making slight adjustments like giving the ability to jump/blink while winding up stab. I think it currently does 240(?) dmg with focus, which is quite a lot. You can instantly kill an armor3 marine with a stab+swipe combo.

    What a Fade in mid / late game could need is a mean for splitting groups of marines in order to fight them isolated. A slow moving energy ball, that deals damage over time and passes through all entities, like the Symmetra photon projector ball, as shown here, could work:
    0:22s

    1:40

    Compared to the Symmetra ball, I would make it a bit bigger, but a lot slower. The ball keeps moving in the same direction without drop.

    You would cast it before the fight as an initialiser. Idially you would try to cast it between a group of marines so that the marines will move to different sides when trying to avoid it. The stab animation would work as the cast animation, so that you gather energy between your claws and then throw it. It wouldn't be spammable and it wouldn't be leathal, but you wouldn't want to stand in it for too long.

    The old Vortex model could work as the projectile:
    lgzkpelvjc1c.png

    I think it would fit the Fade pretty well and it could actually be useful.

    I think that kind of abilites should belong to lerks and it already does, when I understand you correctly spores pretty much fill that role already.

    Kind of, but spores are pretty much instant, don't deal not enough damage to actually make you want to dodge it and is spammable, which makes dodging pointless in many situations. Late game Lerks are usually better off using umbra anyway. That Vortex ball would float slow enough to fight around it.
  • NordicNordic Long term camping in Kodiak Join Date: 2012-05-13 Member: 151995Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow
    Late game when I have both spores and umbra available I have a routine I follow.
    Since lerks late game are a bit squishy I try to do support where I am needed. Typically where the strongest onos is.
    I will umbra the onos/aliens as they lay some spores down while the marines are distracted, then umbra as the aliens escape/stay, then spore the escape path so marines won't follow.
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