Chain and force weapon specials - Before you were locked in to the attack, with reduced movement and a reduced dodge. Now you’re free to dodge, but it cancels the attack. It plays much worse in my opinion. Before, you could use your limited dodge to avoid some attacks if you timed it well. For instance you could (sometimes) dodge an overhead while you’re busy sawing, or manuever around an ogryn to put it between you and incoming fire. Now you’re stuck with only basic movement, which is essentially standing still. I’m finding I take a lot more damage from hoard mobs now without the limited dodge available.
Perhaps this was the design intention, to increase the risk of sticky attacks, but if so I don’t think its warranted. If not, and the intention was to make sticky attacks safer, then I think this has ironically done the opposite. I don’t think there needs to be any escape from a sticky attack, but if there’s to be one I recommend that only a backwards dodge breaks the attack, while lateral dodges behave as before.
I’m sorry, I don’t quite understand how that happens. The ability to dodge-cancel activated attacks is a buff. It doesn’t mean you now need to make all attacks activated and then dodge out of animation lock when they don’t work, losing all your dodges in the process. Such attacks remain situational. This change allows you not to be punished when you, e.g., misread the opening and decided that you have the time to perform the special attack but realized halfway through that you were wrong. Previously you’d get whacked in the face. Now, you simply dodge and move on.
And even when you are out of dodges, you can still ‘dodge’. Just not with the built-in i-frames, but with the hardbox of your character’s model. So no, running out of dodges doesn’t leave you with the basic movement.
Are you talking about the chain special attack that keeps you in place for a short seconds? Personally, I don’t use those weps at all because I hate the concept. Fluidity is so critical for me. But if they allow us to dodge during a special attack now, I think it’s a good thing even tho it cancels the damage. It would be nice if they let the damage registers tho, it would be an amazing combat animation-canceling mechanic. I would certainly pick up these weapons.
I think there’s a misunderstanding here. I agree the new mechanic makes sticky attacks much less risky, as you can now cancel out of them. However, as a result of this dodge-breaking, we lost the ability to dodge while the sticky attack is happening.
Previous implementation: Activate weapon → strike enemy → dodge left/right while the attack is in progress (dodge distance is reduced during sticky attack) → attack finishes and deals full damage.
With this implementation we had the option to dodge to a lesser extent while the sticky attack is in progress.
Current Implementation: Activate weapon → strike enemy → Either A: Finish attack and deal the heavy damage that comes at the end of the attack. Or B: Dodge to cancel the attack.
I prefered the old implementation. It forced you to commit to a strike, which was a fun mechanic, but it also left you with a limited ability to dodge and avoid some damage while maintaining the attack. To my mind this was a more skillful implementation. You knew that the attack would leave you vulnerable, but you had some ability to mitigate that vulnerability.
Now, there is no risk in attempting an attack, you can simply cancel it. But in losing the ability to dodge while the attack is in progress, it is now much riskier to complete the attack.
That to me is a poor exchange. Sticky attacks are fun, but they’re not terribly efficient. I categorize them as more of a flavor thing. It feels amazing to charge a reaper and saw its head off, but you could kill it just as quickly and more safely by simply shooting it. Making it more difficult to get sticky attacks full damage value simply means I won’t use them as often, which is a shame given their high “fun factor”.
