Match of the Millennium

The two following adjustments to balance have been made: ADAPTABLE --------- - The rate that the grazing hit range grows has been buffed from [8]% to [20]%. This trait has continued to be lackluster and it might still be even with this buff, but we'll evaluate it with this change. The issue has always been that by the time a character that uses it has accrued enough grazing hit bonus to matter, a grazing hit will probably KO them anyway, rendering the benefit useless. Since this trait went live, it has never once actually benefitted those who have it over hundreds of fights. Maybe now it will. PROJECTILES ----------- - The PROJ penalty to poking no longer stacks with PRIORITY. Before now, if you threw a PROJ with PRIORITY on it, the target would have a -[25]% chance to poke it. Maybe this made since back when PROJs cost more reserve, but now that they don't, this bonus feels like overkill. If you throw a PRI PROJ, the PRIORITY will work just like any other PRI attack, but the PROJ debuff to poking ([10]%) will no longer apply. PRIORITY PROJs still have the PRI bonus to poke and are still harder to REFLECT and COUNTER(catch) if the counter or reflect lacks PRIORITY, so the combination is not useless, just not so utterly immune to poking. Ultimately, this wasn't a very common tactic, so it shouldn't really affect very many people. -GLaDOS

The following two new traits are now available and can be selected via the Dojo: BOLD ---- Bold characters have no hesitation in combat. When they fight, they fight all-out immediately, holding back nothing and aiming for immediate victory without the slightest show of fear. While some people save resources for an extended conflict, or slowly warm up to a fight, bold individuals burn bright and hot and surviving that initial surge is much more difficult. - Start fights with a [5]% Trait bonus To Hit and React. - This bonus decays at [1]% per turn taken. - This trait cannot be taken with PATIENT. PREPARED -------- Preparation is the key to success, at least according to some fighters. These characters know that having the right tool at the right time makes the difference between victory and loss. By taking the initiative to strategically prepare themselves before each and every fight, they are able to adapt to their opponents, and use just the right trick to overcome and succeed. - Pick your DMs at the start of a fight. - Can use: 'pick/dm random' or 'pick/dm last' as alternative options. The Traits page on the website has been updated to include them. -GLaDOS

Two new effect flags have been added for your consideration. These flags target the same general design space as PROJECTILE, offering similiar benefits but with different underlying mechanics. The goal is to afford the same zoning, spacing, and setup mechanics of PROJECTILES to characters that simply don't have them due to being FCs that lack them or due to having fighting styles where projectiles don't fit the flavor of their fighting style. DASH ---- DASH moves are an explosive rush intended to close distance or bypass an enemy's attacks with aerial dashes, movement techniques or rolling. As a result, DASH moves are more difficult to interrupt while not stacking with the interrupt protection of PRIORITY. Because of the inflexible movement and the assault coming at the end, DASH moves cannot be used to interrupt. In the round following the use of DASH, the attacker gains a bonus to all interrupts from positioning. The attack does not need to hit to earn this bonus. Using DASH makes the user much more vulnerable if predicted, and PREDICTABLE counts nullify the interrupt bonus while also raising the risk of taking more damage. - [15]% harder to interrupt but does not stack with PRIORITY. - Cannot be used to interrupt. - On the round after DASH, gain +[8]% to interrupts. - DASH cannot be applied to PROJECTILES or SHIFT attacks. - Cannot be applied via CONTROL or VARY. - Can be used with the INT+ flag, but the extra [5]% to INT gained by hitting cleanly will not be applied, similar to how PROJECTILES work. - Gain [2] stacks of PREDICTABLE per use. - PREDICTABLE PENALTIES: - If dodged, defender receives +0.6PL damage per stack and the [8]% interrupt bonus is not granted. - If blocked, defender receives +0.3PL damage per stack and [4]% interrupt bonus is lost per stack. Hitting 0 means no bonus. - Otherwise, defender receives +0.15PL damage per stack and [1]% interrupt bonus is lost per stack. SHIFT ----- SHIFT moves incorporate a movement technique, disengage, or repositioning into an attack. Often the damaging portion is done at the very start or very end, and SHIFT moves are very inflexible. As a result, they cannot be used to interrupt an opponent's attack, and in the round following the use of SHIFT, recovery from the movement further makes interrupting impossible. The looser stance also makes dedicating full force to hitting more difficult, slightly reducing damage. However, the motion offers global bonuses to all reactions and is not required to hit the opponent. Using SHIFT is easily punished if an opponent expects a defensive movement, and contributes to PREDICTABLE in the same way as projectiles do. - As long as the attack is not successfully interrupted, receive +[8]% to dodge, block, and endure on next turn. However, you will not be able to interrupt on that turn. This reaction bonus stacks with all mechanics. - Attack deals [0.5] PL less damage. - Attacks with SHIFT cannot be used as interrupts. - Cannot be applied via CONTROL or VARY. - Cannot be applied to PROJECTILES or DASH attacks. - Stacks with the EVD+/DEF+ flags but does not gain the extra [5]% if the move connects, similar to projectiles. - Gain [2] stacks of PREDICTABLE per use. - PREDICTABLE PENALTIES: - If dodged, defender receives +[4]% to-hit per stack. - If blocked, the SHIFT Bonus is reduced by [4]% per stack, if the result is negative, the defender gains that as a to-hit bonus instead. - Otherwise, the SHIFT bonus is reduced by [1]% per stack. NOTES ----- Yes, I realize the SHIFT effect overlaps with the name for the MINDSET sigabil, 'SHIFT'. It's possible the name for the MINDSET sigabil will change if this ends up mattering overly much. With the introduciton of these new effects, FC attacks that are non-damaging dashes can be added to attack lists as long as damage component is added to them to make sense. For example, Rock's aptly named 'Rage Run - Shift' could have SHIFT... or teleports like Vega's or Raiden's. This is similar to the allowance we made for FCs to apply CAPTURE to non-damaging 'capture' style attacks as well. These two new effects open up some pretty extreme options for re-evaluating your current attack list. As such, attack list updates are free for the next 30 days as long as your final attacks count is the same as when you start. Consult with a staff member before starting your dojo session if your intention is to update your attack list with these new effects. DO NOT make other changes or add additional attacks during said updates, however, or your update will be denied. Enjoy rethinking your attack lists! -GLaDOS

More updates! First off, just as SIG Toughness gives immunity to projectiles, it also gives immunity to SHIFT and DASH. If you have SIG toughness: - You will not have a penalty to interrupt DASH attacks. - When you react, SHIFT attacks will not give the user their reaction bonus. - When you react, DASH attacks will not give the user their int bonus. This can get a little fuzzy in group fights. If someone AOE attacks with a SHIFT attack against someone with SIG Toughness and someone with some other less badass SIG abil, then they will get their SHIFT bonus when the other person reacts. This change isn't live yet, but will be shortly. Another note regarding group fights - PROJECTILE penalties only ever applied to the person you hit with projectile. SHIFT and DASH are bonuses on your own character that apply no matter who attacks you next. Again, this only matters outside of 1v1, but just a little nuance to keep in mind. As soon as the next code update goes live, you will see that an attack is a SHIFT or a DASH in 'check' just like how you see 'Projectile' for projectiles. Going forward, the following flags are not available for use with PROJ, DASH, and SHIFT: EVD+ DEF+ INT+ The challenge here is that while mechanically, there were valid reasons not to apply defensive flags to every projectile ever, there really was little reason not to apply EVD+/DEF+ to every SHIFT and INT+ to every DASH ever. As we wrestled with this problem for a while, we came to the conclusion that since PROJ/DASH/SHIFT are already setup moves, it doesn't make sense for them to stack with EVD+/DEF+/INT+, which are also setup moves. EVD+/DEF+/INT+ will continue to exist and still have a few advantages. - They can be applied via control/ or vary/ unlike PROJ/DASH/SHIFT. - They do not announce their presence like PROJ/DASH/SHIFT do. - They can be used on interrupts, unlike DASH or SHIFT. That said, it is okay with us if these flags are largely overshadowed by PROJ/DASH/SHIFT and will not be making an active effort to make them more competitive with the new flags. They still serve a purpose on their own as currently tuned. You won't be able to combine the flags in the dojo going forward. As for old projs that combine them, the defensive flag will simply no longer work, so feel free to clean them off or leave them, I don't care. -GLaDOS

A few minor updates from last night: - DASH and SHIFT now no longer give their bonuses vs SIG Toughness. - The Dojo no longer lets you apply EVD+/DEF+/INT+ to PROJ/SHIFT/DASH. - You will be allowed to CONTROL EVD+/DEF+/INT+ onto PROJ/SHIFT/DASH, but not VARY them. We decided to retain the option for CONTROL as it is an ability investment and its overall relevance has declined as attack lists have gotten longer. -GLaDOS

Brace for some nerfage in this round. Sometimes it just has to go this way. DM/RECOVERY ----------- DM/RECOVERY has had its effect reduced. It now starts at [4] health and goes down from there (4/3/2/1/). We nerfed BRACE and DM/Guard in the reboot but hadn't taken a serious look at DM/Recovery as it compares to those mechanics and that was a mistake. Upon review, DM/Recovery easily mitigated around 1.5~2x the HP per use that DM/Guard could ever possibly mitigate. Chugging DM/Recovery charges was simply providing too much heath as a defensive mechanic compared to DM/Guard, which has been performing right about where we wanted it to. With this change, DM/Recovery returns [10] health, which will still be more HP returned than a DM/Guard. RUSH ---- Rush now costs [3]% reserve to activate, up from [2]%. This is just a minor balance adjustment. RUSH is providing overall too much pressure game to be that low in reserve cost. DASH ---- DASH has had its defense vs interrupts lowered from the [15]% PRIORITY effectively gives to [10]% to be in line with PROJECTILE. You can add PRIORITY to dash now if you want, in which case you will get the benefits of PRIORITY and not DASH (just like with PROJECTILES), but that will be [10]% super for just [5]% reduced chance to get interrupt, so it is not a particularly advised tactic. The primary motivation of changing DASH in this way was to make the DASH supers/maxes everyone is grabbing up a bit less interrupt proof while retaining the proj-like defense we wanted it to have. We are continuing to review DASH, of course, and are considering another potential cost for using it. ATK+ ---- ATK+ doesn't help you with interrupts, but it does apply a next-turn penalty if you use ATK+ attacks to interrupt. That penalty has been increased from [2]% to [5]%. This is mostly just to lightly discourage PRIORITY ATK+ attacks. CAPTURE ------- So CAPTURE has turned out to be pretty good. Really good, actually. A bit too good. Some builds can spam it with little concern over the Attack Speed bonus their targets get, especially considering the damage reduction they're generating by landing captures. The following change is meant to add a bit more risk to the use of throwing capture out: - If a Capture flagged attack gets dodged or blocked, the attacker picks up a [5]% reaction penalty for 1 turn (this includes interrupts). This penalty is also applied if you fail to interrupt with a capture attack. We think with a bit more risk on the table for using capture, more thought will have to go into when it gets thrown out. That's all the fun ruining and Daniel nerfing for tonight! -GLaDOS