The buffing of Defence in ACR: what has it done? And is it bad or good? | Forums

[sniperfi_97]

Much to the annoyance of some and the happiness of others, Defence in ACR has received a huge buff from the of ACB, in the form of stuns contributing to streaks, the increased stun range and prompt, Contested Kill & Honourable Death, and the shortening of the duration the stun animation.So, what has this done?

On one side, we have people saying it has ruined the cat-and-mouse feel that was ever present in ACB. The constant fear of one's own target has shifted the focus of the game from getting points by going for quality kills to getting points via stun streaks. Contested Kill has made getting quality kills near impossible as any decent player will be able to pick out his/her pursuer with ease.

On the other hand, we have people claiming that the introduction of the increased stun range, Contested Kill, etc, was to promote stealth. Contested Kill was to force players to be stealthy so as to get quality kills. Yet this has led to increased roofing and OSB amongst others.

What do you guys think?

[swiftavenger212]

I think it has ruined the game a bit, but I believe these changes will fix it:

-Stuns should reset your loss streaks, if not then remove stun streaks as well.
-No more boost cooldowns (cutting recharge time to 1/2 or 1/3 is fine).
-No contested kills if incognito only. The only thing that may happen is person slows down like usual but still gets max points.
-Honorable death reduced to 50.
-Nerf smoke bomb.

[FilipinoNinja67]

^ agree with everything except contested kills.

You shouldn't get an incog, silent, or hidden bonus if I spot you and try to stun you.

[swiftavenger212]

^ agree with everything except contested kills.

You shouldn't get an incog, silent, or hidden bonus if I spot you and try to stun you.

If you spot me, you throw your ability to stun me, or try and go for corner stun.

You dont run at your pursuer and hope for freebie points.

This is especially for those peopel that stand in corner without any npcs around them.

-Oh and remove the stun prompt. I guarantee you if that happens more than 75% of kills would be uncontested.

[luckyto]

Honestly, if smoke bomb wasn't so ****ed powerful, then the upgrade to defense would have really forced players to get quality kills. And if the approach meter started at silent and then went up/down, then more players would play stealthy.

The only real problem I have is that Lures, which is an important part of the cat-and-mouse, are worth less than stuns. In ACB, they were equal. In ACB, I will often try for a Lure or Escape if I can. But in ACR, it's virtually pointless. I mean, why take a 100 when you could take 200?

In short, I don't agree that the problem has anything to do with contested kills, or that the problems have to do with an increased stun, or that it has to do with stuns going into kill-streaks; as many people believe. I believe it is simply a combination of an unbalanced point system, the new approach meter and an all-powerful ability which totally upsets the balance of power.

[UrbanSaint]

ACB favored mostly offensive players so I think the buffing of defense was necessary for ACR to try to balance it, but I think it may have taken it a little too far by adding stuns to killstreaks.

The only real problem I have is that Lures, which is an important part of the cat-and-mouse, are worth less than stuns. In ACB, they were equal.

I thought lures were 100 points and stuns were 200 points in both ACB and ACR .

[CheeseLightsaber]

ACB favored mostly offensive players so I think the buffing of defense was necessary for ACR to try to balance it, but I think it may have taken it a little too far by adding stuns to killstreaks.

I thought lures were 100 points and stuns were 200 points in both ACB and ACR .

You're right, they were. Really, they probably should've always been worth as much as a stun. I would welcome any increase in points for lures though. Just needs to make it so that stuns aren't worth twice as much as lures.

And as obliviondoll has said multiple times, when Ubi tried to make ACR a bit stealthier, they had good intentions. But in the end, when their ideas were implemented, they failed to mesh and create an overall better product.

As I see it, they were close on a few ideas:

1. The RDM simply needed to start at silent to work more properly (I don't mind which they implement into ACIII, but if the RDM stays the same, I'd prefer ACB's)

2. Contested kills/honorable deaths. The combo of these was a good idea, but reducing the meter as much as it does (incogs are instantly discreets) was a mistake. I understand removing the hidden from the bonuses, because the target obviously saw you, therefore you weren't really hidden. (also the slow down of the pursuer is fine IMO) However, I don't think reducing the kill as it is helps the cat and mouse feel. It's just another tool that makes the pursuer fear their target. (and you can see how that matters early on in the poll)

3. Stun range/stun prompt. As it is, we all know the glaringly obvious B or circle above solely your pursuers' heads was a big mistake. The combination of this with contested kills is a major factor in the abuse of OSB (among other things, such as how op SB is in the first place) It simply catered to those who are unaware of their surroundings, and few others.
I have toyed with ideas on the stun range myself. As it is, some outrageous stuns can be pulled off. However, I don't think it should be reduced to ACB range either. I've said it before, but I think reducing it just to 75% of the range it has in ACR would avoid some of the crazy stuns (barring lag of course) Keeping the same kill range gives advantage to the pursuer, but still allows targets to catch unaware pursuers off guard without them having to be complete idiots.

I won't say anything special on the matter of streaks, because I'm fine with both ACB's kill streaks (getting stunned doesn't kill your streak being my fav part :P) and ACR's addition of stuns to streaks.

In ACIII, they need to put fear back on the side of the pursuers, not against them. Accomplish that, and I believe (hope really) that we will see a more balanced multiplayer experience offensively and defensively.

[loomer979]

I honestly think the biggest problem is that it's too easy to identify your pursuer. Give it a little push in the opposite direction IMO. Giving players the NPC walking animations would probably be enough. After that, diversify the NPC crowd in deathmatch and majorly rework (read: nerf) smoke bomb. Do those things and I think the game would be a lot more fun.

[Calbitos]

Ok, so I don't think that acr wanted is great, but there's a couple things I do like. When facing runners, I'm glad that I can chose to play defensive and still compete, and the stun range is pretty good, especially for naked stunning. However, I think defense is a little too strong. In acb you had to brave your pursuers and gets kills to keep pace, which I miss. Ac3 needs a better balance between offense and defense. Contested kills need to go, and of course smokebomb should be less op. Maybe just get rid of osb all together by making it only stop your pursuer?

Edit: And what Loomer said

[obliviondoll]

Ok, so I don't think that acr wanted is great, but there's a couple things I do like. When facing runners, I'm glad that I can chose to play defensive and still compete

If you couldn't do this in ACB, I'm sorry, but that wasn't the game's fault.