Block cancelling is completely broken

Lephrel

The block changes that were introduced with the harrowstorm patch (I think) were poorly implemented at the time, leaving us with a frustrating, unfinished and completely inconsistent mess when it came to block cancelling abilities. As of right now, there's still a number of abilities that can be instantly block cancelled (e.g. rally, shadow image, trap beast, camo hunter, merciless resolve bow proc, etc.), while other abilities can't be cancelled anymore or they can only be cancelled after letting part of the animation play.

I think the best solution would be to allow all skills to be cancelled like before. In my opinion, combat felt more dynamic back then, it was a fun mechanic and I think many people in the community felt similarly, as nearly all veteran pvp and pve players used it pre-harrowstorm.
There is of course a part of the community that dislikes animation cancelling in general, but I think as long as it doesn't offer a tangible gameplay advantage, there is no downside to it - everyone should be free to do what they like.

Either way, block behaviour needs to be fixed in some way. I know this isn't a top priority issue, but they have failed to address this issue for years now and I think it is high time that something is done about it.

Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo

Lephrel wrote: »

The block changes that were introduced with the harrowstorm patch (I think) were poorly implemented at the time, leaving us with a frustrating, unfinished and completely inconsistent mess when it came to block cancelling abilities. As of right now, there's still a number of abilities that can be instantly block cancelled (e.g. rally, shadow image, trap beast, camo hunter, merciless resolve bow proc, etc.), while other abilities can't be cancelled anymore or they can only be cancelled after letting part of the animation play.

I think the best solution would be to allow all skills to be cancelled like before. In my opinion, combat felt more dynamic back then, it was a fun mechanic and I think many people in the community felt similarly, as nearly all veteran pvp and pve players used it pre-harrowstorm.
There is of course a part of the community that dislikes animation cancelling in general, but I think as long as it doesn't offer a tangible gameplay advantage, there is no downside to it - everyone should be free to do what they like.

Either way, block behaviour needs to be fixed in some way. I know this isn't a top priority issue, but they have failed to address this issue for years now and I think it is high time that something is done about it.

It does feel off, I agree. And if you are a returning player you'll see a definable difference from before to now.
It would be nicer if it was a tad faster for all and especially in laggy gameplay environments.
Bringing back full cancel animation -> Not so sure it's a good idea. When people can cancel animate and others can't there is a 'time' advantage which will either show in your duels or in your overall DPS in PvE.

50/50, but yes the current gameplay is a tad sluggish in comparison.

tsaescishoeshiner

Are you talking about canceling the animation or the actual skill usage?

Didn't that patch decouple the animation from the skill usage? It seems like skills go off even when you block (except for cast time skills). The animation for many skills can no longer be canceled by blocking, making it look smoother, but having no bearing on when the next skill can be used.

That's my understanding, anyway.

Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

Are you talking about canceling the animation or the actual skill usage?

Didn't that patch decouple the animation from the skill usage? It seems like skills go off even when you block (except for cast time skills). The animation for many skills can no longer be canceled by blocking, making it look smoother, but having no bearing on when the next skill can be used.

That's my understanding, anyway.

It's way slower, which is what he/she's getting at I believe. Well it's my sentiment anyway...It also feels like skills are on a sort of queue, it didn't in the past, things were lightning fast.

Bradyfjord

It needs to be one or the other, in my opinion. Being inconsistent is not good.

Lephrel

@Bradyfjord Agreed. Obviously I'd rather have them restore block cancelling than remove it, but anything is better than the half-finished mess we have atm.

Lephrel

Youyouz06 wrote: »

Lephrel wrote: »

The block changes that were introduced with the harrowstorm patch (I think) were poorly implemented at the time, leaving us with a frustrating, unfinished and completely inconsistent mess when it came to block cancelling abilities. As of right now, there's still a number of abilities that can be instantly block cancelled (e.g. rally, shadow image, trap beast, camo hunter, merciless resolve bow proc, etc.), while other abilities can't be cancelled anymore or they can only be cancelled after letting part of the animation play.

I think the best solution would be to allow all skills to be cancelled like before. In my opinion, combat felt more dynamic back then, it was a fun mechanic and I think many people in the community felt similarly, as nearly all veteran pvp and pve players used it pre-harrowstorm.
There is of course a part of the community that dislikes animation cancelling in general, but I think as long as it doesn't offer a tangible gameplay advantage, there is no downside to it - everyone should be free to do what they like.

Either way, block behaviour needs to be fixed in some way. I know this isn't a top priority issue, but they have failed to address this issue for years now and I think it is high time that something is done about it.

It does feel off, I agree. And if you are a returning player you'll see a definable difference from before to now.
It would be nicer if it was a tad faster for all and especially in laggy gameplay environments.
Bringing back full cancel animation -> Not so sure it's a good idea. When people can cancel animate and others can't there is a 'time' advantage which will either show in your duels or in your overall DPS in PvE.

50/50, but yes the current gameplay is a tad sluggish in comparison.

Yeah the difference is really noticeable if you look at old game footage. I stumbled across this old clip from Legendary Mage the other day, and seeing the cancelled crushing shock and frags just looks so good imo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtCfOdH8ovI&ab_channel=LegendaryMage-GamingGuides

I agree that players shouldn't be forced to use block cancelling and afaik it doesn't increase your dps in pve. You can cast one skill in every GCD even without cancelling the animation, so it would be an optional mechanic to use.