If there is one thing i find to be absolutely infuriating when it comes to games like this, its getting pulled around by different flinches and staggers, its a game that rewards precise movement and being able to dodge around attacks and enemies.
So when i am getting flinched, staggered and thrown around by ranged damage it feels so jank, i would compare it to the feeling you get when you are lag stuttering due to connection or fps issues. It is very jarring and just kills the game flow.
And while i enjoy most of my experience so far playing the game, all the movement staggers is by far the worst thing i have experienced so far.
I get that ranged attackers needs to be a threat, but surely there is another way to do it besides making the game feel like its actually stuttering due to performance issues.
I agree, the staggering is not fun at all in this game, especially coming from VT2 where only certain heavy enemies will stagger you. Having riflemen able to spawn next to you and just stagger/slow you while you are in the open is the most infuriating thing in this game. I really dislike how much fire/pox flamers slow you and instantly drain your toughness. This enemy exists in VT2 and it has a knockback but not a stagger so you can take cover better.
If they insist on having this as a mechanic, maybe have some kind of cooldown or something, getting chain staggered and bullied by two shotgunners, a boss and random ranged mobs is not gucci.
Also getting staggered by ranged makes it very hard to recover a game if you end up being the last man standing since we dont have the benefits of more drastic movement or stealth abilities like we did in VT2.
All in all it just makes the game feel really bad to play.
It’s like getting 3 rattling gunners from different flanks sometimes. Impossible to get yourself out of a vulnerable spot if you get caught out by a pack of gunners or any ranged special. I know there are more ranged counter-attack options in this game than VT, but it still doesn’t feel good to take half your health in damage within 1 second before you can even react, and then on top of that it slows/staggers you. I have yet to see a team effectively use their ranged weapons for their intended purpose of taking out priority ranged targets. Most people dump all their ammo and then we get caught out by any pack of gunners.
I’ve started playing Zealot just so I have the handmaiden dash to force myself into melee with gunner packs.
Perhaps having some suppression resistance/exposures built in to certain actions and behaviors in game could be beneficial?
I.E.
Tucked neatly into cover would make your character more suppression resistant.
vs.
Dashing across a hallway while under heavy fire would make your character more suppression susceptible.
Mechanics that reward a player for making tactically sound decisions while punishing blunders would be a very interesting and enjoyable idea.
It’s really awful. Considering that you can generally not suppress a full group of ranged mobs with most guns and that even a single basic rifle mob can basically completely arrest your movement through melee mobs, it’s damn annoying. Cover also seems to work inconsistently.