Vulcan Hades
Champion
As of right now, everything in the game seems to do like no damage at all. And I have some problems with that.
I swear I look back at the KI footage that was shown in the last few days and Jago's fireball for example does like 1% on hit. I'm not even exaggerating.
From what I've seen so far:
-Throws seem to be around 10%
-Shadow reversals are around 20%
-Optimal combos are around 30% (45% if meter/trait is used)
Everything else (normals, specials, AAs, A2As) does 1%. And I honestly hope that is going to change because there is no way in hell a zoning character can win via zoning with 1% projectiles. To me that's like Green Arrow trying to zone without ice/fire arrows. I mean, imagine if Dhalsim's limbs all did 1% on hit. He would suck because he already does no damage and wasn't designed to have strong mixups, combos or escape options.
Also, the game is so fast paced and rushdown oriented that I doubt we are going to see a lot of time outs, which is a good thing for the casual crowd. But obviously it also hurts any zoning character trying to lame it out / protect their life lead.
Therefore, the way I think they are going to design zoning characters in KI is by giving them "pop up" or "capture" type projectiles that lead into combos on hit. Kind of like Reptile's force ball and Sub-Zero's ice blast/ice clone.
If they just make all zoning characters like that, that's fine with me. It would be a simple and effective way to make zoning characters viable in KI. But I also hope other zoners or even grapplers can get decent damage outside of combos. Just for the sake of diversity. I want to see characters with quick projectiles that do 8-10% on hit. I want to see grapplers with shadow/chain command throws that do 20-30%.
I guess what I'm saying is that I don't want the entire cast to be only about "guess mashing" auto-doubles over and over back and forth. Because that's gonna get old real quick and turn off many players I think.
EDIT:
I'm aware the game is pre-alpha and a lot of things could and will probably change. I'm just voicing some concerns from what I saw so far. I just don't want all character archetypes to be ONLY about combos even if KI is supposed to be about combos. Combos should obviously play an important role but it should not be "the only way" to inflict any sort of damage. Because then all characters are going to be basically the same despite trying to be different archetypes.
On Cross-Counter live I heard that zoners would use projectiles to start their combos. And a grappler's command throw would basically be his combo starter.
So again, no matter if you play a balance, rushdown/mixup, grappler or zoner, it's going to be about landing your starter and mashing/guessing your auto-doubles. So then, the only characters that are going to matter in the end are the ones that will have more safe opportunities to start their combo nonsense.
I think we ought to think for a second about what KI with zoners and grapplers cculd mean for balance and how they could/should be designed to fit with the KI mechanics. I mean do we really want Deathstroke to be able to land 30% from a single projectile? Or should it just do 6-10% on hit and knockdown? Do we really want Zangief to have command throws that lead into 30-40%? Or should he just do 20% guaranteed? Is 20% guaranteed aka unbreakable damage too good? (it could be, I don't know)
Maybe I'm wrong and it's better to keep all character archetypes more or less the same for the sake of balance.
But the more balanced aka uniform/bland KI3 is, the less diversity and interesting/unique characters it will have. And the less players will be interested to keep playing it. Basically, the KI community could end up being 1/3rd of what it could be.
I swear I look back at the KI footage that was shown in the last few days and Jago's fireball for example does like 1% on hit. I'm not even exaggerating.
From what I've seen so far:
-Throws seem to be around 10%
-Shadow reversals are around 20%
-Optimal combos are around 30% (45% if meter/trait is used)
Everything else (normals, specials, AAs, A2As) does 1%. And I honestly hope that is going to change because there is no way in hell a zoning character can win via zoning with 1% projectiles. To me that's like Green Arrow trying to zone without ice/fire arrows. I mean, imagine if Dhalsim's limbs all did 1% on hit. He would suck because he already does no damage and wasn't designed to have strong mixups, combos or escape options.
Also, the game is so fast paced and rushdown oriented that I doubt we are going to see a lot of time outs, which is a good thing for the casual crowd. But obviously it also hurts any zoning character trying to lame it out / protect their life lead.
Therefore, the way I think they are going to design zoning characters in KI is by giving them "pop up" or "capture" type projectiles that lead into combos on hit. Kind of like Reptile's force ball and Sub-Zero's ice blast/ice clone.
If they just make all zoning characters like that, that's fine with me. It would be a simple and effective way to make zoning characters viable in KI. But I also hope other zoners or even grapplers can get decent damage outside of combos. Just for the sake of diversity. I want to see characters with quick projectiles that do 8-10% on hit. I want to see grapplers with shadow/chain command throws that do 20-30%.
I guess what I'm saying is that I don't want the entire cast to be only about "guess mashing" auto-doubles over and over back and forth. Because that's gonna get old real quick and turn off many players I think.
EDIT:
I'm aware the game is pre-alpha and a lot of things could and will probably change. I'm just voicing some concerns from what I saw so far. I just don't want all character archetypes to be ONLY about combos even if KI is supposed to be about combos. Combos should obviously play an important role but it should not be "the only way" to inflict any sort of damage. Because then all characters are going to be basically the same despite trying to be different archetypes.
On Cross-Counter live I heard that zoners would use projectiles to start their combos. And a grappler's command throw would basically be his combo starter.
So again, no matter if you play a balance, rushdown/mixup, grappler or zoner, it's going to be about landing your starter and mashing/guessing your auto-doubles. So then, the only characters that are going to matter in the end are the ones that will have more safe opportunities to start their combo nonsense.
I think we ought to think for a second about what KI with zoners and grapplers cculd mean for balance and how they could/should be designed to fit with the KI mechanics. I mean do we really want Deathstroke to be able to land 30% from a single projectile? Or should it just do 6-10% on hit and knockdown? Do we really want Zangief to have command throws that lead into 30-40%? Or should he just do 20% guaranteed? Is 20% guaranteed aka unbreakable damage too good? (it could be, I don't know)
Maybe I'm wrong and it's better to keep all character archetypes more or less the same for the sake of balance.
But the more balanced aka uniform/bland KI3 is, the less diversity and interesting/unique characters it will have. And the less players will be interested to keep playing it. Basically, the KI community could end up being 1/3rd of what it could be.
