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GF Block is BROKEN as of most recent patch

keshavexkeshavex Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 8 Arc User
edited June 2013 in The Militia Barracks
Easy to test. Stand anywhere, Protector's Realm, or safe area in a dungeon or zone.

1) Hold down Shift, your shield goes up and stays up, blocking.
2) Let go of Shift, blocking ends.
3) Quickly hold down Shift again. Shield goes up again, but then inexplicably drops, even while Shift is down. Blocking just stops working. Damage incoming. 1 or 2-shot boss with knockdown, dead GF. Wipe.

This is our class defining mechanic and it doesn't work as of the last patch. The reason, apparently, was because they moved this mechanic server-side to avoid hacks that were altering client side values. The one thing that Ralf Koster taught about MMO design in 1998 was that "The client is your ENEMY. Never put ANYTHING client side". This is still true 15 years later, it's hard to understand why blocking AND stamina regen were implemented client side. Sure, it is more responsive, but look what happens. The inevitable.

Now that blocking has been moved server side, it doesn't work. That's obviously not a workable solution, so I hope PWE is aware of this issue and is working hard to fix it. Meanwhile, please bump this thread GFs to keep the issue front and center.

Thanks

Edit: given all the confirmation in the latter part of this thread, please note that some of the following posts that deny a problem exists have since confirmed the bug in subsequent posts.
Post edited by keshavex on
«13456710

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    nullwolf1nullwolf1 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    I'll have to double-check... I didn't seem to have an issue when I played a Skirmish this morning...
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    eidamaeidama Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Just logged in, Protector's Enclave. Works for me, could not duplicate the problem described in OP.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    > http://mopp4.net/ <
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    dhavrumdhavrum Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 14 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Well I dont play Fighter Defender, but their blocking looks to be working, half day of PvP yesterday and they blocked most of my spells just fine.
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    nullwolf1nullwolf1 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Just tested in the Graveyard, no issues.
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    regnorvexregnorvex Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 44
    edited May 2013
    I am out of game now and will go check again later. Since it is server side, perhaps they have already fixed it. Others in game chat were still reporting it when I logged and I was able to re-create it at will at that time in PR. I assume you folks are following the steps as OP outlined. Several posts about this in the class forums, OP brought it here to get more Dev visibility (and i posted a bug report in game, tho that resulted in a redirection to PWE customer support).

    I hope it is indeed fixed, that would be great news, but interested in hearing from others.
    "Men do not stop playing because they grow old. They grow old because they stop playing." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
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    preludeiipreludeii Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Its not just a problem with a block its with all dodge mechanics. Sometimes when you dodge out of an attack you rubberband back into it after whatever change was made. Never happened until recently and its not just me.
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    sophismsophism Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    I've been having this issue with my GF alt the last couple of days, much like the OP.

    The first time you block in a fight, it works. Since it's no longer client-side, the latency can let one hit in perhaps, but the shield does go up. If I drop my guard to throw an attack and quickly block again, no matter how far ahead of the next enemy attack, the shield doesn't actually block anything. In fact, not only will my character be holding her shield up, but she's using her guard at-wills... and yet attacks are still getting through.

    Happens 100% of the time if I block something at first, drop guard to do anything else and quickly put it back up. It almost feels like there's a "minimum cooldown time" in place.

    Before people suggest it, the attacks that are going through are not DoTs or coming from behind me, and I do have guard meter.
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    eidamaeidama Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Tried this again, it does happen depending on the speed of consecutive Shift key presses. Tending to agree with sophism about possible latency.

    Any consecutive presses roughly a second (think "one mississippi" then press shift) apart seem to work fine, any consecutive presses faster seem to duplicate the "bug".
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    > http://mopp4.net/ <
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    gaerolthgaerolth Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 289 Bounty Hunter
    edited May 2013
    sophism wrote: »
    I've been having this issue with my GF alt the last couple of days, much like the OP.

    The first time you block in a fight, it works. Since it's no longer client-side, the latency can let one hit in perhaps, but the shield does go up. If I drop my guard to throw an attack and quickly block again, no matter how far ahead of the next enemy attack, the shield doesn't actually block anything. In fact, not only will my character be holding her shield up, but she's using her guard at-wills... and yet attacks are still getting through.

    Happens 100% of the time if I block something at first, drop guard to do anything else and quickly put it back up. It almost feels like there's a "minimum cooldown time" in place.

    Before people suggest it, the attacks that are going through are not DoTs or coming from behind me, and I do have guard meter.

    Seems common to me but I agree that sounds annoying. By common I mean there's always a delay between server side and client side in any game. Just if you're aiming to block quickly it's a bit too late.
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    keshavexkeshavex Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 8 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    I agree that it's likely a latency issue and appears only when the 2nd press follows rapidly (hence, the less-than-precise step 3)'s direction of "quickly"). Travel time from client to server and back is the probable culprit.

    It occurs to me that there is another possibility that may explain why some are not "seeing" this. I know most of your experienced GFs of course know this, but on the off chance that some may not be aware of this, there is a difference being the combat stance where you are holding your shield in one hand and your sword in the other, and the blocking animation where the shield goes up high and center. Being in combat mode puts your shield in hand and has it raised to mid level. When you then block, your shield is raised high and center. Let go of shift, and it drops back down to combat mode, but still your shield is in hand. I thought I'd add this in the event anyone trying to test this is concluding that the shield is still "up" while shift is down based on this misunderstanding.

    It's also possible that the bug only affects certain people who are affected by the latency issue, but I'm less inclined to believe this since I'm in the same area as the servers and have excellent network performance otherwise. Trying playing around with the delay variable to see if/when you're affected by this, as eidama reports.
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    gunbahahagunbahaha Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 139
    edited May 2013
    The stamina fix ****ed over all shift abilities for all classes.
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    raffaalaraffaala Member Posts: 4 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    keshavex wrote: »
    Easy to test. Stand anywhere, Protector's Realm, or safe area in a dungeon or zone.

    1) Hold down Shift, your shield goes up and stays up, blocking.
    2) Let go of Shift, blocking ends.
    3) Quickly hold down Shift again. Shield goes up again, but then inexplicably drops, even while Shift is down. Blocking just stops working. Damage incoming. 1 or 2-shot boss with knockdown, dead GF. Wipe.

    This is our class defining mechanic and it doesn't work as of the last patch. The reason, apparently, was because they moved this mechanic server-side to avoid hacks that were altering client side values. The one thing that Ralf Koster taught about MMO design in 1998 was that "The client is your ENEMY. Never put ANYTHING client side". This is still true 15 years later, it's hard to understand why blocking AND stamina regen were implemented client side. Sure, it is more responsive, but look what happens. The inevitable.

    Now that blocking has been moved server side, it doesn't work. That's obviously not a workable solution, so I hope PWE is aware of this issue and is working hard to fix it. Meanwhile, please bump this thread GFs to keep the issue front and center.

    Thanks
    I have been having this issue as well, it is very frustrating and have to keep toggling block until it stays up, but if you drop it to use an ability you have to go through same process to make sure block is up. I spend more time trying to get my block ability to stay up than I do attacking the mobs. I agree, it seems to happen when you drop your shield and try to reapply it that this problems happens.
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    balosarbalosar Member Posts: 6 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    This problem has left me so frustrated I decided to not log my GF in until it is fixed. Just found out I can't log my alt in at all as the game gets stuck on the loading screen...
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    mustgofartmustgofart Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 25 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    balosar wrote: »
    This problem has left me so frustrated I decided to not log my GF in until it is fixed. Just found out I can't log my alt in at all as the game gets stuck on the loading screen...

    Blocking now honestly isn't even worth trying just buy more pots and try to GTFO of the way. It seems to cause rubberbanding (without blocking ever) if you press it in a hurry or put you into this bugged stance, where you don't block.


    It sucks.
    20.jpg
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    keshavexkeshavex Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 8 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Edited OP to refect confirmation of the bug, lest any devs see it and dismiss it prematurely.
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    tehjrowtehjrow Member Posts: 7 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Happens to me also, GF that can't reliably block
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    mavalonmavalon Member Posts: 88
    edited May 2013
    Half the feats are already broken.
    Now the class is completely broken.

    The name open beta was not a bad choice however open alpha might have been more convincing.
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    fondlezfondlez Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    gunbahaha wrote: »
    The stamina fix ****ed over all shift abilities for all classes.

    Ah, so that was what caused it? Because I have been having massive rubberbanding since this week whenever I use my Shift movement on any class.

    It is definitely not a general network problem because I do not and have not suffered from network lag or latency at any other times.

    This makes kiting strategies basically a nightmare or even impossible, at least for certain people.
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    regnorvexregnorvex Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 44
    edited May 2013
    My understanding is that Cryptic left some client side control over certain values (e.g., stamina) in order to facilitate the responsiveness required for an "action combat" game. Hackers quickly developed programs to exploit this and created infinite stamina, infinite blocking, etc. This is why classic MMO design has always warned against putting ANYTHING significant client side. Ralf Koster was warning about this in Ultima Online in 1997. All action combat games have to deal with this problem (see, for example, the "de-synch" threads in Path of Exile forums) and the solutions inevitably wind up compromising important game values somewhere along the line. It's a very tough problem to solve. But putting control of values in the client is not a valid solution, Cryptic should have seen this coming. So putting it back on the server was done probably quick and dirty without the kind of testing that would reveal all the problems that are now popping up (as evidenced by some of the early responders in this thread who missed it even after having it documented).
    "Men do not stop playing because they grow old. They grow old because they stop playing." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
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    agrementosagrementos Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    There is a bug about Blocking, That is certain. After the blocking problem, while i am in combat i always do a test for check that ami realy guard next incoming attack?

    1) Press Shift and Hold : Shield Up Guard on. ( Guard Stance)
    2) Let go Shift : Shield Down (Combat Stance)
    3) Press Shift again and Hold : Shield Up but guard is off.. ( But we still see Guard Stance as animation)
    4) Press Down to move backward : So your character will move.. nope.. will run!(Not slowly as it should be) At there the fake animation is removed.
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    bloodysausagebloodysausage Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    This glitch happens to me every time I press shift more than once in short order: which I do in every encounter to be able to move around the battlefield. Any form of attempt to block directly after using encounter/daily/at-will powers will result in the animation where my GF is half stuck into the guard, being able to use the guarded at-will attacks, but not being able to block incoming damage at all.

    This renders the game unplayable in my book, as I need to feel that I am in control of things, which I definitely am not. Counting "Mississippis" and standing around taking free hits before even attempting to block after using any form of powers simply feels utterly ridiculous.

    Trying to manage mobs and larger foes at the same time? Without knowing whether or not your GF will block any wind-up swing while trying to keep the small ones in check, based on what feels like Russian Roulette with the odds 60/40 against you, each encounter has caused me to cough up more vile language than I'd like to admit.

    Please, you need to adress this issue ASAP.
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    meitranmeitran Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 30
    edited May 2013
    Same problem. Please fix!
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    eagles9595eagles9595 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 66
    edited May 2013
    I noticed the same problem !! really anooying as I took useless damages while I thought I was in guard mode.

    My tank is actually 53 so it's manageable.. but I agree on T2 fight.. it's a mess.

    This has to be fixed fast as the GF class is already not that mandatory on T2 runs (based on what I read)... so if he's the reason of the group wipe it'll be the end of the class on high end dungeon.

    later
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    vheraunvheraun Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 180 Bounty Hunter
    edited May 2013
    Confirming this. Tolerable gameplay-wise, but it's just annoying to be knocked down when you knew you could avoid it.
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    klangeddinklangeddin Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 882 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    I had this problem too.
    The fact is that it seems that the guard meter "lies".
    It says it's full, you raise your shield, you stab, the enemy attacks you and *BAM* you take the full hit. (which can also mean knockback or knockdown)
    It doesn't happen always, but it's rather frequent in epic DD runs. I'd say 30-40% of the time, this can be potentially game-breaking and requires a sort of a fix.
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    panderuspanderus Member, NW_CrypticDev, Cryptic Developer Posts: 1,007 Cryptic Developer
    edited May 2013
    Theres actually a short cooldown and activate time on block and other Shift powers. Its better to keep block up than let it down if you are going to need it again so quickly.

    They are also all predicted client side, so if theres a bit of latency and you get hit when trying to dodge/block something late it will rubberband you back, but most times it just lets block and roll feel smoother, which is critical for these sorts of abilities to feel and look better in more cases.
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    pezizgoodpezizgood Member Posts: 42
    edited May 2013
    Why are we generally unable to queue a block? Every time I get knocked down in PvP, I hold down shift immediately so that I can block as soon as my character stands up, and it never works. I have to spam block while my character starts getting up, in hopes that I can trigger the block as quickly as possible, but then you end up triggering this block cooldown that panderus talks about. This also happens after using some powers.
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    mavalonmavalon Member Posts: 88
    edited May 2013
    panderus wrote: »
    Theres actually a short cooldown and activate time on block and other Shift powers. Its better to keep block up than let it down if you are going to need it again so quickly.

    They are also all predicted client side, so if theres a bit of latency and you get hit when trying to dodge/block something late it will rubberband you back, but most times it just lets block and roll feel smoother, which is critical for these sorts of abilities to feel and look better in more cases.

    Its strange that there are 4-5 different topics opened about this after the patch.
    So if you speak for the devs it means: 1000's of you are imagining things and whatever it is we wont fix it?
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    sweetjersweetjer Member Posts: 33
    edited May 2013
    panderus wrote: »
    Theres actually a short cooldown and activate time on block and other Shift powers. Its better to keep block up than let it down if you are going to need it again so quickly.

    They are also all predicted client side, so if theres a bit of latency and you get hit when trying to dodge/block something late it will rubberband you back, but most times it just lets block and roll feel smoother, which is critical for these sorts of abilities to feel and look better in more cases.

    Woah wait so Cryptic is claiming working-as-intended on this mechanic? ::deletes Guardian Fighter; Rolls Cleric::
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