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u/pavelbulanov — 2 days ago
Damage feels different in 1.6.0, not clear why, hard to understand from game
I've played a number of matches in 1.6.0 (around 20 per week, so 80+ by now), trying to get used to it and understand the changes. Unfortunately, while the damage feels different, it's not clear what is the major changed factor.
Observation - inflicting damage on opponent results in less effect, both in terms of stun-KD (which became much rare to me), but also in terms of opponent reactions. More opponents tend to neglect the incoming damage and just keep going, as they know I can't put them down. I had several matches where at the end of the round opponent would just stand with hands down, exhausted or arrogant, and I land punches on his head, and he would still stand.
The round would end with 2000+ damage dealt, but there was no chance of KD. Would be OK if it's symmetrical, but couple of wide floor body swipes would quickly turn my vision to white. Before, good counter to the head would stop an opponent, now it just piles up the damage number. There are also random hits - to be fair from both sides - where unexpectedly the single punch gets a stun.
From 1.6 release notes, no idea what is the cause. Most relevant note is counter damage reduction, but it's no described as massive, and I can silll inflict damage. Jab damage is slightly reduced, but most of my hard hits aren't jabs.
The game doesn't have clear mechanisms to inform player of why the damage is good or bad. That's why so many posts on damage and pillow hands - you can't say from playing, what contributes to the damage that game values.
I hear "grunts" from landing on opponent - with delay, so confirmed registry, but have little understanding why hitting head 5 times in a row has less effect than two wide body slaps.
Not a basic feature, but I feel sort of "damage analyzer" after match would make sense - like "your punch had X for velocity, Y for alignment, Z for body effort but damage output is 30 due to ABC". Not dummy-style where you just see parameters (but no explanation), and also including all in-match factors like move-in.
To be fair, I sometimes face opponents who have "iron fists", with almost every their punch resulting in big damage, and like 2 hits is a stun and 3 hits is KD. Zero idea how they achieve this, it's hard to guess from the in-game delayed rendering.
PS. I tried reverting to basic calibration, and re-doing advanced several times. It's hard to know what the game expects from calibration in terms of valuing damage. Quest 3, playing "green" matches.
u/pavelbulanov — 6 days ago
Explain damage changes in 1.6 - feels different and confusing
The damage feels very different for me, and I can't match what change from 1.6.0 release is the reason.
Before, with the exception for body effort, I could mostly recognize the inflicted damage, based on the "ooh" confirmation sound and subjective feeling of the punch power. Quite often, if I land a good strong punch on opponent in a low-latency match, it would give an impact, sometimes stun. I was relying on good punches, knowing that if I'm able to land enough to opponent (overcome his defense), it will be recognized.
Now, it feels like the effect of damage has changed, and I can do more landed punches with less effect on opponent. I can still do damage, sometimes solid amount (1500+ per round), but the effect feels different, like opponent doesn't care any more. More opponents (subjectively) will practice face-blocking, and don't get any adverse reaction (not even a sad face) after multiple hits.
I can't figure out what is the change - were the reaction thresholds adjusted, so every slight punch now causes a black flash, but next thresholds were raised, e.g. strong punch isn't counted as strong enough in 1.6. Like lower range of reactions could have been "transferred" to new flash effect, but it's only visible to opponent? I'm speculating as I can't find any explanation for the change.
Maybe the damage registration has changed due to whatever physics update? e.g. my virtual hands tend to "stuck" around opponent for longer with new version
The only changes directly related to damage in 1.6.0 are jab system (which could lead to more damage, not less), counters de-buff and slight reduction of jab damage. Long-term punishment update should not impact how single punch counts but only aggregated damage.
Based on other posts, calibration could be the reason - but it feels like impact (result) of punches has changed, not obligatory the damage output of a punch. I had matches where I felt - based on in-game observations - that I'm winning, only to discover -200dmg at the end. And it could end up as 800-1000, or 1000-1200, or 1600-1800 round -> like there is a random varying multiplicator in place (I know there is not).
The frustration is that with more damage formula factors (e.g. +jab system), with different audio and visual signals (e.g. new flashes and blots, different to previous visuals) some of which comes with time lag, and hidden punishment logic, it becomes harder to recognize whether the effort in match is rewarded.
For me to keep regular exercise, it's important to have reinforcement of my efforts. If I feel I was doing better this match, I would expect to see an outcome - not obligatory a win, but e.g. a higher damage number. It feels weird to put more efforts, subjectively land more punches (as visible in match), but not feel the result from the game.
u/pavelbulanov — 13 days ago