3.5 Patch Notes - Combat Balance

News
162

I don’t even have an Xbox One stick, but I was brainstorming reasons why they would make us update to Win10 Anniversary, aside from conspiracy theory reasons about “MS wants to force people to update to the latest version of their software by whatever means necessary”. And one reason I came up with is that it might help improve controller support.

So yeah, if this latest version doesn’t do that, then I can’t think of any reason why they would force people to update to the otherwise broken Anniversary update. And because we haven’t heard any explanation from the MS guys, I don’t know what they want us to think.

1 Like
163

Dunno. I can see your concern though. Why suddenly upgrade forcefully, if it doesn’t do what is planned?

164

And again, it’s not so much that I’m asked to update that’s the problem. It’s that I’m asked to update to a version of Windows that has given many users lots of trouble, and breaks very important features for gamers (for example, all PS4 controller support is broken on anniversary update, something I use often with friends). I think it is irresponsible of them to force us to update for KI, and I don’t think I will be updating until I build a new computer (which might be this year), or Windows fixes these crucial problems.

165

It could be that the Win 10 Anniversary update has new API’s that the game depends on.

I can’t speak for XBone controllers but my PS3/PC HitBox still doesn’t work.

166

Hahahaha

3 Likes
167

Holy ■■■■

1 Like
168

This is exactly why I’m freaked out because of Bass… XD

169

Friendly reminder that blocking these skulls also builds you a ton of meter, and if you use a projectile invulnerable move and hit Spinal, all Skulls vanish. Find your opening and attack!

8 Likes
170

Plus the string’s not totally tight; going from medium skull to crouch MK is going from +3 to a 9 frame move with a low hitbox. I haven’t tested it (kind of a pain to set the dummy up for block-specific stuff) but I imagine a handful of moves would be able to blow that up either through fast startup or low crush. Though, the skull coming from behind him on the startup at that point may mean that only a projectile invul move will work.

171

So, as inspired by @MaruMDQ , I decided to do some rudimentary tests for Wulf’s damage buffs.
Using raw Light and Heavy Ragged Edge as my opener and doing Opener>Linker, these are the numbers I found.
Pre-Patch:
Light Hamstring Linker: 6-9% Total
Heavy Hamstring Linker: 9-12% Total

Medium Leap Slash Linker: 7-10% Total
Heavy Leap Slash Linker: 8-11% Total

Medium Ragged Edge Linker: 7-9% Total

Post-Patch:
Light Hamstring Linker: 7-10% Total
Heavy Hamstring Linker: 10-13% Total

Medium Leap Slash Linker: 9-12% Total
Heavy Leap Slash Linker: 10-13% Total

Medium Ragged Edge Linker: 7-10% Total

The conclusion I’ve drawn is that you can expect about a 1-2% boost in damage when using these linkers early in combo. Will need to test to see the effects of longer combos, but I don’t have notes on that so it’d be best if someone else did that. I expect big numbers, though .

Long story short, though, these are going to be pretty useful.

2 Likes
172

They also add more PD than they did so your eventual cash out will see a few percent increase as well. Depending on combo composition this can be somewhere between meaningless and an extra 5 to 6%

3 Likes
173

And with the PD changes coming in 3.6…
Oh boy!

2 Likes
174

(The following is my obviously personal opinion. I simply wish to give an objective view on the changes. I will skip characters that only have counterhit windows fixed.)

JAGO:
This was a Needed fix. It let Jago players (who were aware of said bug) to play a layer deeper into his already great mind game neutral. Giving him the capacity to punish whiffs & jumps from a longer range.

SABREWULF:
Sabrepup was in need of buffs since season 3 started. I expected the damage increase somewhere for him, but the amount far exceeded my expectations. I’m excited to see & face more Pups in the world, but I’m concerned that these increases will make his instinct mode too oppressive.

GLACIUS:
A very specific fix that was needed. Although I believe he needs more to make him more viable. Perhaps some flip outs?

SADIRA:
Definitely needed fixes. Charlotte has always been The go to character when you talk about “Best Instinct” & her jump cancels in said instinct made pinning her down, or stopping her offense, feel vigorously oppressive. Although I will say the widow’s drop fix, while understandable, is a sad one. I personally liked the idea of catching fresh landings with a ground bounce.

ORCHID:
Why can’t they let her have nice things? I comprehend that she is the best footsies character in the game, but she’s always been a straightforward Street Fighter character in a world full of abusive gimmicks. I believed this bug wasn’t one at all because it allowed her to have more of a fair fight against faster minds.

SPINAL:
Dear lord… the Lich King returns!!!
He was in dire need of buffs due to the overhauls in season 3, but man oh man. If you were thinking of playing Spinal, now’s the time to join the Lich King’s army. A shadow to gain momentum & a buff to keep momentum is definitely going to ramp Spinal back to his top tier glory.

FULGORE:
Needed fixes. I’m sure the eye laser glitch was driving Robot players insane.

TJ COMBO:
This was a much needed fix to his arsenal. Now the king of flip outs has more consistency to stay in.

MAYA:
Needed fixes for the counter hits. As a Maya player, the risk of Dagger Assault still heavily outweighs the rewards of proper placement. As much as having this enders start up shortened will help the overall use of it, I believe it’s the wrong buff. Building pips is a mini game of its own that requires proper placement & time. Once fully stocked, the projectile always yielded more fear & respect than the ender. The issue that they need to address is the fragility of the assault.

RIPTOR:
Needed fixes all around. Having flamey wamey juggles both in & out of instinct will add new layers to her damage.

OMEN:
Pre patch Omen was an extremely oppressive character that was, on the ground, was mechanically simple. These were long overdue nerfs to his kit that will normalize him somewhat to the rest of the cast.

AGANOS:
Needed fixes. Having the flying club no longer whiffing point blank will immeasurably help his “get off me” game plan. Especially since the pushback from it is so high.

ARIA:
Definitely needed fixes. Now sweep is a proper punish button.

SHADOW JAGO:
Needed fixes all around. The dash ambiguity was nerve racking on the receiving end & inconsistent on the giving end.

KIM WU:
Needed fixes. The ground bounce fix is the secondary theme in this patch so no surprise. The Dragon cancel buff is quite great. I’m looking forward to fighting more of Kim Wu.

TUSK:
Needed fixes. I believed the backstab cancel was intentional. Oh well lol.

MIRA:
Needed fixes all around. Even playing with her I felt that the grounded Mist cancels were unintentional so I’m glad that they’re finally addressing it.

GARGOS:

Needed fixes all around. I’m glad that they aren’t changing his tactics & helping his portal punch game.

GENERAL RAAM:
Heavy autodouble fix was a concern of mine in learning him, so now that it’s addressed, there should be more consistency to his murder tactics.

EYEDOL:
Needed fixes for sure. Back telestrike was always unusually good. Definitely glad they’re addressing it.

TLDR: Spinal is the king again. Sabrewulf is a damage powerhouse again. Maya still is in a weird place. Suck it Omen. Hurray to Aganos. Orchid is still Meh. P.S. Gargos & Eyedol can suck it too :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

175

Nice! I did a video of that prepatch and pospatch, got the same numbers. The problem is I forgot to try the ender to cash out potential damage because I focused on the linkers raw damage. My bad…But of course I think it will be noticed at the end of the combo more than anything, it may not be huge, but it’s something.

176

Are you sure about this? A quick google search on the subject turned up a bunch of Reddit and GAF threads that claimed that PS4 controller support was only broken for some games, only those that use exclusive mode as far as I can tell, and that the issue has since been addressed by various mapping tools just asking for admin privileges.

I don’t know what other issues you’re talking about, and I don’t want to break out the sanctimonious “works on my machine” line (not least because I’ve had my share of issues with Win10), but I can’t tell whether you’re talking about substantial widespread issues that are likely to affect you, or if you’re just buying into the ambient PC gamer FUD surrounding Windows 10 in general. Regarding MS Studios/IG’s reasoning for forcing the Anniversary update requirement, I think you know that it makes sense for Microsoft to try to get everyone onto the most up-to-date version of their platform so that developers and customer support can work with a more known and complete feature set and don’t have to account for platform bugs from several versions ago.

177

Mostly just feedback I’ve seen on twitter of people having to reinstall Windows from scratch on their machines because the anniversary update triggered massive driver failures across all sorts of important things. I know Maximilian (FGC streamer) had to spend a full day sorting through the mess it left his machine in. I did random googling back when it first dropped and found lots of similar stories. Maybe it has improved since then.

It sounds like a lot of the Win10 experience, to be honest… take a gamble and hope your machine isn’t too adversely affected. Maybe I could update and not see any meaningful problems, but I’m just kinda sick of taking those risks with my personal machine that I use for tons of things. If I could be guaranteed my machine would have no problems, then of course I’d have no problems updating.

I’m pretty on the fence about updating. I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to update (without a new machine + fresh install), but I dunno, maybe I’ll talk myself into doing it.

178

Yep! Fun stuff. It started with controller drivers failing, then the windows store freezing when being opened, then my start menu no longer working, and eventually my computer couldn’t load windows at all. Had to go for a fresh install.

PS4 controller support is iffy. After I reinstalled it automatically applied the anniversary update, and I was able to use my dualshock 4 again. It seems like they fixed it pretty quickly; or, at least, I’m not aware of any of those problems persisting.

@Fnrslvr the issues with the anniversary update are pretty well-known at this point. Many, many people ran into a wide range of issues when it rolled out. It seems that many of them are fixed now, but that doesn’t really help the people that had their computers bricked at the time.

1 Like
179

I gotta be honest, I had to do a fresh install of windows 10 due to the anniversary update…not because it caused a driver issue, but because I already had one and it wouldn’t update amongst several other issues) I think it was tcpip.sys, if I’m remembering right. Probably the only side effect is, oddly enough, I had to find another version of Mame to run KI 1 and 2 off of because they suddenly stopped working with my current version.

180

“What kind of sorcery is this?” o.0

-Kan-Ra

181

No complains on the game but i’m super pissed you are forcing me to install the upgrade to the whole spyware suite called windows 10, loving KI is suffering.

I suppose you have your hands tied, so no hard feelings.