The Stance Update
Last month had a couple small, yet substantial changes to mechanics for stance-based character actions. This included improved input logic, actual hitboxes, as well as various individual mechanical adjustments like better stamina/damage reduction calculation for blocking and variable stagger time for successful parries.
Block/Parry Hitboxes
Andrew Brook
Following the hit logic overhaul we implemented in May, we have adjusted blocking/parrying detection to use a more physics-based approach. Until now, identifying if an attack was blocked or parried was mainly just a state/position-based check. This worked pretty well, but led to a couple false positive cases. The new system is a bit more simplified, and relies on similar hitboxes to the character's, which allows it to smoothly integrate into the new hit evaluation system. This still needs some tweaking, but it does tend to be much more accurate than our old system.
Block Adjustments
In addition to adding actual hitboxes for shields, we've also made a couple improvements to blocking mechanics. Defensive-based vessels now have two additional stats that affect how an attack is blocked: stability and damage reduction. Stability dictates the stamina cost of blocking an attack relative to its force, while damage reduction determines what percentage of incoming damage to negate.
A character's stamina will also regenerate slower when they are blocking and if it drops below 0, their guard will be broken, putting them into a Stagger state. While a character is in a Stagger animation it will take guaranteed Critical damage from any damage source, so defensive characters should be careful about their stamina when considering to block an attack over simply dodging it.
Parry Adjustments
Similar to blocking, Parrying has received some notable mechanical changes. The most notable adjustment we made is making the Stagger state inflicted by a successful Parry vary depending on how long the stance was held. The shorter the stance is held, the longer a target will be in the Stagger animation if a parry succeeds.
This may seem like a small change on paper, but we've found that it offers a lot more reward for skillfully timed parries while still making it an accessible mechanic for players still getting used to enemy timing. For example, if you were to hold a Parry stance for 2 seconds before releasing it you would still inflict a Stagger that would last around half a second, allowing you to land at least one good hit on your target while it's weak. However, if you were to instead quickly press and release the stance, your Parry would guarantee a Stagger lasting much longer. This would give you a greater window to perform some extra attacks and deal much more damage.