Auto block in 1.19

Printable View

10-01-2011, 06:08 AM
animeprime

Auto block in 1.19

According to the patch notes the days of manually actiavting your shield are now gone. Honestly, I will miss this a little bit but its going to make things so much more easier. I'm wondering how this will effect our playstyle and at what rate we'll be blocking. I know heavier shields like Scutums would block more often and fall quicker, so how will they balance that? Its probably not a good indicator but the "Self-Preservation" trait has changed to giving you a straight 5% extra chance to block instead of increasing the time you keep your shield up by 50%. The old version was considered essential to keep yourself alive so will the base chance of blocking be fairly low, about 15% perhaps?
10-01-2011, 06:15 AM
AeraLucis

Base block rate chance will depend on the stats of the specific shield.
10-01-2011, 11:36 AM
AlexSag

I'm worried about this as well, if the rate of blocking is dramatically decreased to compensate for the fact that the shield will now always be up, people like me who made sure to ALWAYS keep his shield up will be getting shafted. We'll see how it plays out though, hopefully the rates will be about the same especially with Self-Preservation factored in. 30 seconds on shield abilities are also always welcomed.
10-03-2011, 12:41 AM
Seikninkuru

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexSag

I'm worried about this as well, if the rate of blocking is dramatically decreased to compensate for the fact that the shield will now always be up, people like me who made sure to ALWAYS keep his shield up will be getting shafted. We'll see how it plays out though, hopefully the rates will be about the same especially with Self-Preservation factored in. 30 seconds on shield abilities are also always welcomed.

Self-Preservation is going from 50% duration to 5% chance... Anyway you look at it, it's a huge nerf to the non-retard.
10-03-2011, 08:00 AM
Forerunner

I wanna know whats this means for phalanx.
10-03-2011, 02:26 PM
Viridiana

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forerunner

I wanna know whats this means for phalanx.

That it'll be just like Jarring Strike and Fracture.
10-05-2011, 04:34 AM
Fiosha_Maureiba

I wonder if our Sentinel rank will factor into our ability to block in anyway (i.e. block rate against enemies of the same rank).

I always thought that we should have an auto-block passive that could be the equivalent of an evasion or parry, but Guard would be that "Oh, I DO want to block actively and will do so at a cost to stamina" (which went away once stamina disappeared-ed).
10-05-2011, 05:26 AM
Gidonoidon_Sur

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiosha_Maureiba

I wonder if our Sentinel rank will factor into our ability to block in anyway (i.e. block rate against enemies of the same rank).

I always thought that we should have an auto-block passive that could be the equivalent of an evasion or parry, but Guard would be that "Oh, I DO want to block actively and will do so at a cost to stamina" (which went away once stamina disappeared-ed).

I would assume Sentinel would go away, just guessing. Anyone confirm or deny this based on info. given?
10-05-2011, 12:54 PM
animeprime

Sentinal is still there. Honestly, I'm not liking the new system much. I'm hoping its because my gear is out of date but I'm hardly ever blocking at all. I've also noticed that with the removal of physical levels I'm doing awful melee damage which means very low TP. I'll work on my gear and see where it goes from there.
10-05-2011, 01:29 PM
Fanzeron

It's not your gear, pal, SE practically killed soloing by downing the melee. As for blocking, there's no auto-block. More like a 50%-50% chance to block. I had to use all my blocking skills and yet the enemy keep hitting me as if I wasn't using a shield...and I have one with the highest blocking stat!!???
10-05-2011, 01:38 PM
KRose

Well... on top of whatever they did to stats (I haven't logged in yet) they also played around with the mob stats too right? Maybe that has something to do with it. I guess this would make Ambidexterity pretty good in a pinch though.

Since there is no Guard 'stance' so to say anymore, does this mean that maneuvers get indirectly nerfed as well? Because that would suck =/
10-05-2011, 02:33 PM
AlexSag

The new block rate on my Dated Decorated Iron Scutum is 75 and not 99...
10-06-2011, 02:32 AM
Fiosha_Maureiba

Manuevers have a trade off. They last longer, but now require the autoblock to go off.

I think SE has tailored the solo encounters of equal rank to be forty to sixty seconds. Updating equipment, wearing optimal, having mateia, and using our accessory slots may be playing a larger role than before.
10-06-2011, 12:56 PM
AlphaDragoon

I'm finding Guards coming out a lot less frequently than usual, as a result Aegis Boon and Outmaneuver got kinda ganked.

On the other hand, enemies miss a lot more now and Jarring Strike/Haymaker now work off Miss and not Evade, so I threw that on my Glad and have been doing a LOT more damage. With Jarring Strike II/Haymaker II and the Seasoned Veteran skill they even outdamage Phalanx II, for my L41 Glad. And they come up WAY more often from my experience thus far.
10-06-2011, 02:44 PM
KRose

Well... if Jarring Strike II outdamages Phalanx II than is there even a reason to have it equipped due to the fact that JSII not only has a +enmity but also stun effect? I haven't played Gladiator since the patch yet because I've been trying to build materia for PGL but it seems like you'd be able to build off that.

I'm still curious about how effective it would be to pop Ambidexterity on top of a maneuver now. I know it has a fairly long cooldown but iirc the duration 30secs just like the new maneuver duration so theoretically it should work really well in a pinch or maybe even as an opener.
10-07-2011, 07:37 AM
Fiosha_Maureiba

Enemies have been missing more. if jarring strike works off of a miss, I might swapping out some shield skills for those.
10-07-2011, 01:51 PM
AlphaDragoon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiosha_Maureiba

Enemies have been missing more. if jarring strike works off of a miss, I might swapping out some shield skills for those.

I'd recommend it. My damage output has doubled with my Glad since I put Jarring Strike and Haymaker on.
10-10-2011, 07:30 AM
Fixy

outmaneuver hardly gives a tp boost, and aegis boon does absolutely nothing.
10-14-2011, 12:43 AM
Sterne

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fanzeron

It's not your gear, pal, SE practically killed soloing by downing the melee. As for blocking, there's no auto-block. More like a 50%-50% chance to block. I had to use all my blocking skills and yet the enemy keep hitting me as if I wasn't using a shield...and I have one with the highest blocking stat!!???

I've noticed that my blocking rate has significantly dropped as well.

Skills like Deflection still work pretty well - but in monster clusters it doesn't feel like it's doing what it used to for sure.

I need to look into the stats some more (been busy with moving and bad internet), but from what I've been reading it seems like the advantage Kite Shields used to have are now pointless. I would prefer longer shield time (kite) to higher rate of block (scutum) any day. But now that it's up all the time, what advantages is there in a kite? Should I just move to Scutum?

I have a lot of purchasing and testing to do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fixy

outmaneuver hardly gives a tp boost, and aegis boon does absolutely nothing.

I'll reiterate for emphasis that what /I've/ found is that it does work, but not even close to its former effectiveness. Really disappointing, though I still have yet to do any extensive tests on my own.

---------

Hey Dev's! Maybe an animation for skills like Aegis Boon to show that it's working when we get hit? Sometimes your HP fluctuates as a tank so much it's hard to tell if Aegis Boon is absorbing anything at all.