I dont think anyone has reacted positively to the fact that npcs can just randomly block and parry when charging up an attack
unless thats purposely added to make them harder idk
4 Likes
Iām of the opinion that if theyāre blocking, it should be during a dedicated block and not during any action theyāre capable of. Iām already not a fan of them breaking rules such as hybrid build NPCs being maximized in point distribution (not fixed yet). or not even pretending to have a limit on stamina in regards to the ocean or movement during combat.
If the concern is longevity- just remove their ability to block entirely and bump up their health.
9 Likes
yeah im in line with letting npcs block when theyāre like, actually blocking
stats and otherwise i dont really mind
i just hate the feeling of landing an attack and the npcs just saying āhaha noā and parry for 2 damage
2 Likes
This is what particularly bothers me. If the worry is npcs will die too quickly without it- simply give them larger base healths. Donāt essentially ālieā to the players. There have been plenty of fights Iāve had against npcs where I thought I could go incredibly aggressive- only for them to parry all my damage and whallop me right back. There is no āreadingā, no āpredictingā, they just do it out of nowhere and sometimes it can cost you way more health then you regularly would have lost- in the worst case for learning players, it unfairly punishes them by leading to their deaths.
And worse yet- multi hit attacks are incredibly ineffective against npcs. They donāt just randomly decide to block/parry an attack. They enter a sort of āblock/parry modeā where all your attacks in that span of time will be blocked/parried. So if your multi-hit attack has done 40% of its damage total, it can suddenly just drop off because the enemy enters a parry/block state.
I shouldnāt have to play a gacha game roulette every time I attack. There should be no gambling in any sort of skill based fighting system. I shouldnāt get occasionally screwed over by getting unlucky. There are a plethora of other, more engaging ways for enemies to block attacks.
21 Likes
Whoah, yeah letās make humanoid npcs easy to kill frfr
Make them fair, not easy. Donāt give them luck mechanics where they can suddenly and randomly get a free 90% damage reduction lasting 2 seconds.
It has always been fair, you can block/parry their attacks, it just so happens that humanoid npcs have accurate blocking/parrying 100% of the time
The only problem is that they dont show any visuals of them blocking
3 Likes
my ass being forced to snipe them with single blasts instead of multi like world of magic
1 Like
Your argument would hold a bit more weight if the NPCs couldnāt block while flipping attacking.
2 Likes
you telling me that managing to parry every instance of damage under a grab is fair
Either make them have large health or at least visualize us they are blocking and make them unable to parry/block when they are in attack end lag.
Players are punished with the end lag if they choose the wrong move, enemy NPC should also be punished for that and used by player advantage.
@Crimsonpants
Love and Peace!
3 Likes
Damn I didnāt know that I could block mid attack- or during any animation for that matter (They can block while climbing).
Itās not āfairā. You have simply been kicked enough to think its in any way fair or fun. Itās detrimental to learning players. I have a plethora of friends Iāve streamed into AO over the last few months to get fresh opinions. When I explain this mechanic to them, every single one greets it with the same disgruntled āReally?ā, one of them even complained āThe npcs actually have to cheat to be difficult?ā
Mechanics that arenāt that troublesome to us due to overexposure can be incredibly annoying, unfair and offputting to new players. Plenty of people just quit the game and call it garbage because Calvus, the boss that DEMANDS you have mechanical skill, ocassionally just randomly deletes your damage. In the learning process for Calvus I lost several more times than I should have because of this mechanic.
@Bluemin_Night (Based Trigun picture)
(SAY IT WITH ME: LOVEEEE AND PEACEEEEE)
1 Like
Is it fr like that? The only times I see them blocking or parrying my attacks is after they finish their attacks
Calvus for example, I have never seen him block my attack while he charges up the deadly sun laser but he blocks my attack after he throws his spear
Same thing goes for atlanteans as well in my experience
Iāll be damned
gotta say youāve had a very lucky and enjoyable AO experience so far
It do be like that 
It is. Calvus can block while charging any of his attacks. Or rather, as I explained before, I am certain npcs have a āblock stateā. Rather then ACTUALLY blocking, they enter a state where temporarily they reduce damage by the block/parry amount and it SAYS they have blocked or parried your attack, when in actuality they just got damage reduction briefely.
Have had Cernyx take almost 2500 health worth of damage to kill before because he kept entering the parry state consistently in our fights.
1 Like
this block state thing is especially noticeable when using quickdraw/rapid fire, managing an opportunity to use the skill just to be met with BLOCKED! 
Ngl, might need to see a video of that happening since Iāve never experienced that
But well, ig vetex needs to add a way to separate blocking and attacking for humanoid npcs
I hate how unviable rapid fires are to humanoid enemy as they will just block every bullet.
When the enemy is spamming placed magic all the time when you think them getting end lag , and in the perfect moment for you to damage them, but nopeā¦ THEY CAN STILL BLOCK/PARRY IN THAT STATE.
2 Likes
I absolutely agree that they shouldnāt block like this.
Blocking npcs makes dame cassenia and feremius lurco some of the most annoying npcs in the game right now - both have high damage Aimbot attacks and are much tankier than they naturally should be due to random blocking, often forcing the player to deal over 2k damage in attacks to beat them just because of it. Npcs parrying you deincentivizes you from being close to them knowing they could shut down your great combo at any moment.
2 Likes