Hm, making the high counter not cover mids seems like it would’ve been the kinder nerf. Seems like they really wanted to push Hisako in a different direction.
6-8 more characters with complex abilities pushes everyone in a different direction.
Yeah I totally get that it’s good. I really like it, actually. I just don’t like the getting locked in part if I accidentally enter it. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that I should get a free pass out of it if I accidentally lock in to autobarrage. I’m more saying that I’d like it to be harder to accidentally get locked in to it to begin with.
Back+button is a great idea. Anything that’s a slight tweak, that allows me to be more deliberate in entering in to it would be perfect. I’m not asking for a full redesign of how autobarrage works or what it does. I like both of those parts a lot actually. Just a small layer on the front end to help prevent the occasional unintended entrance in to it. That’s all I’m asking for.
Agree 100% that Diving Slash needs work in the animation department. I really hope Season 3 doesn’t ship with that move looking that way, as it seems a bit awkward to say the least, though I must say that I love what the move does.
As for his instinct, I’m personally not happy about it at all. I get that he got more stuff in other areas and that from a utility standpoint, his tools are pretty awesome. I actually didn’t mind losing the damage nerf on his instinct, but I still feel like they should replace it with something regardless of the bigger picture.
The reason for that is him hulking out and doing extra damage was something both tangible and fun for players of all levels, while his feral cancels are a great tool for mid and higher level players. It’s not like you can just tell the lower mid and lower level players to “get better” and enjoy the higher level stuff because that’s simply not realistic.
I’d argue that it’d be nice to replace his damage nerf with something smaller, like a contextual damage buff. I’ve mentioned the ability to manually tack fire bats on to the end of his enders (up to four depending on ender level) while instinct is on. Now maybe each one does less than chip level damage, but that doesn’t overly matter. What matters is that it’s something people of all skill levels can see and do.
Now, I’m not one of those that are married to the idea of fire bats being in the game because had them 20 years ago. It’s just a suggestion. But I do think that he should have something visible and tangible and fun to use that people of all skill levels can enjoy and have fun with. To me, that’s not really solved by a “wait for the bigger picture” approach. Just my opinion though. You make some great points here.
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They really shouldn’t have reworked spinals sucking ability as it takes away a lot of his uniqueness (he does what omen can do now derp) and his fun factor. They can nerf his vortex and the skulls disappearing thing but getting rid of his main ability and nerfing the vortex was a bad move. Doubt I will continue to play him if he doesn’t feel fun to play anymore.
This is incorrect. Omen locks out your USAGE of Shadow, but you can still gain meter while the bars are locked.
Spinal is going to freeze BOTH your Shadow and Instinct meters where they are (with two different curse types obviously) while the curses are in effect, meaning that no matter what he does to you, you won’t be earning that extra bit of meter you need for a Shadow Counter or Instinct activation. This is critical, because now that he can curse people mid combo, he can really cost you large chunks of both meters at once because you won’t get the meter gain from his enders.
Big big difference, and I’m not even a Spinal player.
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In some situations, a good Spinal can finish a fight and his opponent can have less than a quarter of his instinct bar…
Thats mean, bro
It still feels extremely similar, I’m not a fan at all.
That’s supposed to be apart of the threat of playing spinal. I’d much rather his vortex get nerfed more than lose such a unique/fun ability.
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IMO, even before, both of them were OK.
I’m ok with some changes(skulls ender it’s for skulls, not for adittional curses, skulls dissapearing on hit, etc…), but I feel that both the mix up games and curses(as they are or as they used to be) have to stay
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For the most part I agree exactly with your sentiments but I do personally value the Sucking curses over his Seth like vortex. So I’m definitely will to make his vortex slightly less effective (still there but less options or easy setups) for him to maintain his unique skill because as it is in S3 ATM he really seems not that fun and far less competitive.
I dunno I think spinals new curses are going to be ridiculous. I have a feeling that good players will starve their opponents of a lot more instinct and shadow now than they did before. The fact that you can combo after shadow skull and beat on your opponent without them gaining any instinct at all is insane. These changes also make him far less braindead to play. Instead of finishing every combo with skull juggles you’ll now want to incorporate his other enders much more often. I think that’s the general gist of a lot of the changers, opening up these characters to be more dynamic and making it less linear as to what ender you choose to use.
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I’m sure high level will make him work he’s just a lot less fun now for sure. I prefer the draining mechanic verses a braindead vortex. But all that means is spinal is not for me anymore luckily KI has a lot of other cool characters. But I will miss Spinal. (This is one of the very few instances where I prefer Double Helix’s train of thought compared to Iron Galaxy.)
I’m curious how you say you prefer Spinal meter-stealing to his vortex - the former is what fueled the latter to make it so potent. What would you suggest be done to let Spinal keep stealing meter while also lessening his vortex? Being able to quick rise doesn’t fix all that much - spinal still gets left/right/high/low mixups off soft knockdowns now. The damage ender is the only ender that doesn’t automatically wind you back up into his vortex, which again, is fueled by all the curses he’s stacking on you.
Genuinely curious - how would you have gone about reducing the effectiveness of Spinal’s vortex, while simultaeneouslt letting him keep the meter stealing mechanic?
I just assumed some adjustments to somethings on startup, frame data or where certain actions may leave an opponent may occur to make his vortex worse. But it doesnt matter, Keits has already confirmed this is something that will not revert.
I’d be happy if they balanced out all the sabrewulf nerfs with something else. Atm his instinct isn’t cool like the rest. The 10% damage boost would give him a fair boost in instinct like the rest have. I also don’t get this new focus on juggling. This is killer instinct, not marvel vs cap on. No wonder that guy walked out
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Maybe there will be a character in Season 3 that focuses on stealing resources and is less mix up heavy.
This could be like how IG said “we wanted to make a trap grappler for Season 2 (Kan Ra) but we already had one; Glacius. So we turned Glacius into a premiere zoner and moved the emphasis away from trap grappling with shatter”
They could have done this to keep spinals vortex stuff but make the stealing stuff specific to a new character
They could be doing it to appeal to a more broad fighting game audience. Most combos in fighting games revolve around juggles, so having it as an option for most characters could increase accessibility or appeal. Or maybe it does nothing, I don’t know…
I literally fell of my chair laughing when keits said about Maya’s new dagger assault:
“I’m regularly getting like 80% of off people with crazy mixups during this. …I think it’s great”
Relax guys, I get the context, it was just so funny to me when discussing character nerfs.
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Like a vampire with meter/life drain enders. I have thought this. After trying to destroy those mechanics on Spinal im gonna bet on the Vampire having a life drain ender and a life drain command grab.
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One can only hope 