Melee 2.0 Feedback: Megathread (With Template).

[Shimonoki_Ryuji]

Thoughts & Experiences:

 

So, it's now VERY uncomfortable to use melee on "E" and channeling on "LMB". What i suggest is (like some other people already did) to track which weapon is used.
When you have a gun equipped: melee = E, fire = LMB, zoom = RMB
When you have a melee equipped: channeling = E, melee = LMB, block = RMB

 

Another problem i've experienced is that it's again uncomfortable to constantly hold LMB for channeling. Players should have an option to just toggle that by pressing a key once and start mowing. When there's no energy left it toggles off by itself. When you don't want to use it anymore, press the key again. Simple as that!

Supplementary Info:

 

Mouse & Keyboard

[Bes7iA]

i just got a stance mod (on my third mod pack i just buy)  wich says it is for dual swords, i guess daggers dont cout as swords because i cant put it on the fangs

but i guess dual axes does cout since i can use it on my dual zoren

 

anyways

 

i press play solo and go to the menu to the combo list and i found that all the movements you can do with the now installed mod are shown with their respective names on them

 

i feel pretty downed when i realize that those moves (wich i thoght were new ones) were the exact same movements i was able to do before adding the mod exept for 2 movesets wich were the longest ones wich were listed with some red letters on them

 

then i realize it was red because i was not able to do those movements if i did not level up the mod first so i use my last 3 fusion mods and some copies of rare mods to get it to level 2 ( if it started in 0 )

 

and now i was able to use the only 2 moves i was unable to use before

i have to say that you have to follow the perfect order and guide yourself from the buton pressing rather than the moves you see.

 

that can be tricky since this is the first time i need to do that ever, before this i was always able to perform a combo (on other games) by watching my character and reacting to their animations, but now i have to follow the button press and dont focus on the animations shown to make the combos, and it is kinda hard to get it right with all the button mashing im used to

 

the moves i managed to unlock werent that good to waste my mods to see them

 

and yes, aparently they are rare mods (at least the one i get )

 

 

idk but i fell kinda disapointed

[ZESTZKIDZ]

actually you fly twice further at least with Dual ethers, despite spinning slower, I would try Zorens if the game didnt crash

I'm a Melee player type who usually use Dual Ether as my primary weapon sir, because Dual ether give me a high damage as spin attack and 1.8 atk speed with full fury. I didn't just bring melee weapons as my accessories or just make me fly away :( but now Dev nerf speed of our melee weapons and make it hard to fly away different from melee 1.0, anyways I didn't hate that or somethings I will try to love it with new system. :D

[Balduron04]

Weapon(s) used: Dakra Prime, Fang Prime, Galantine, Orthos, Dual Ichors, Dual Heat Swords, Glaive

Faction(s) fought: Grineer, Corpus

Mod(s) equipped/Stance used: Various, No Stances

Thoughts & Experiences: Quick melee attacks still work, but how do I get my charge attacks again? I understand I can only channel while in the melee stance... and I can only charge on the glaive while I have guns out...

 

Removing of the ability to block while wielding guns is TERRIBLE. I actually used this! (although I mostly used it to cancel lengthy reloads when i needed to shoot someone in my face...) Please revert this back!

Approximate Time Spent: 20 minutes

Supplementary Info: Keyboard and mouse, Group play

[TsundereHvyCruiser]

Weapon(s) used: Orthos Prime

Faction(s) fought: Grineer, Corpus, infested

Mods equipped/Stance used:  What was previously a max charge damage and charge speed build, replaced rending strike with pressure point because it was nerfed, No Stance

Thoughts & Experiences: Unless bosses drop rare mods more frequently than before, the Stance mods that are rare drops from bosses are essentially unobtainable.

 

Holding LMB for channeling is bad, and I don't really know what key binding I should change it to to make it comfortable and intuitive.

"When you have a gun equipped: melee = E, fire = LMB, zoom = RMB
When you have a melee equipped: channeling = E, melee = LMB, block = RMB"

+1 to this idea

 

Killing blow, and Corrupt charge were changed from Charge dmg to Channeling dmg, but Rending Strike was changed from Charge dmg/Puncture to Slash dmg/Puncture instead of Channeling dmg/Puncture like you would expect. That seems like an unnecessary nerf.

 

Supplementary Info: Keyboard and mouse

[KazeNoKoe]

Minmaxed Rhino, Dakra Prime, no stance, basic pressure point + rainbow build. Played for a while, didn't time it.

 

Thoughts & Experiences:

 

The animations, the blocking and the channeling are great. I expect some more balancing will be needed but the new melee system is good.

 

Not being able to use mouse 1 for melee attacks is just wrong. This will be fixed for sure, I'm not worried.

 

There are no melee enemies that I could see that can use melee effectively. All of them can be dealt with normally, so I don't now what DE was talking about during the livestreams. We have rifles, they don't. Also, they're not very fast - I'm pretty sure they can't outrun bullets. Maybe they should be able to BLOCK like we do now? So we actually have to engage them in melee? I don't know what to think, I expected changes to scorpions, butchers etc. Well, maybe I misunderstood.

 

 

Now here's why Melee 2.0, while being good, makes everything else worse.

 

 

While the damage has been buffed and blocking works, the mobility of our warframes is an issue. I had enemies shooting in my back constantly while dealing with the ones in front of me, but there was no way to position myself so that it wouldn't happen other than walking somewhere else while being shot at from both directions. Zorencoptering is out because it doesn't necessarily take you to the enemy (it either under or overshoots), it's only good for rushing; parkouring is imprecise like zorencoptering and unreliable since you can't count on having a big box nearby every time you need a boost.

 

If melee must be viable then we need a way to close the distance faster before engaging and then zip from one enemy to the next while fighting. Some games let you do that, see the Arkham games. Others, like DMC, have special moves designed for mobility over damage. As it is now, melee feels like you're always trying to catch up and failing; it makes you want to just switch back to the rifle and bomb everything.

 

This, of course, is not a problem with melee 2.0 itself. It has always been there, but the new melee makes it WAY more obvious.

 

 

I'm disappointed by the fact that DE increased the grind even more by not providing basic combos when not using stance mods. Until now DE hid only weapons, warframes and high level missions behind grind walls; now they're making us grind for basic gameplay features.

 

I'm also told the drop rate for stances is low. I understand this. Once you have a stance you're done; any copies you find are useless. Making them more common would frustrate players like the warframe power mods do (drop table dilution, yadda yadda). DE would never hear the end of it. This just goes to show how bad the reward system DE chose is: rewards become useless after the first time you find them but you do keep finding them and they don't scale with the effort you make (you can play for a month and never see the mod you're looking for while another player will get it on his first try). This reward system isn't a path we can walk; it's something that just happens to us, with almost no relation to our actions. Melee 2.0 has pointed yet another spotlight on this problem (as if it needed any more attention).

 

 

TL;DR:

All in all melee 2.0 shows promise in the sense that it's a foundation on which DE can build something that works. The old system couldn't be improved, it was just dead. I'm glad it was implemented and I'd like to thank the devs for all their hard work. However, it's also the worse thing that happened to the game not because it was badly implemented or badly animated, but because it showcases all of Warframe's bad parts:

 - The most advanced movement warframes can use consistently for the purpose of fighting, as opposed to rushing, is running.

 - Basic game features are now hidden behind grind walls (that are, apparently, quite high).

 - A frustrating and unreliable reward system takes away our motivation and makes the above worse.

 

We did need a new melee, but it wasn't what we needed most.

[AcquisCommunitaire]

Weapon: Machette Wraith

 

Faction: Grineer

 

Mod(s) equipped: Pressure point, killing blow, etc

 

Stance used: Sundering Weave

 

Thoughts and experiences: Stance mods DON'T WORK! Tried placing the stance mod in the stance mod slot, with the UI giving me an error saying that sundering weave was not a stance mod.

      (See thread - Stance mod bugs in feedback forum)

 

 

Time spent: 30 minutes.

[Axterix13]

Weapon(s) used: Orthos Prime

Faction(s) fought: Corrupted & Corpus

Mod(s) equipped/Stance used: A bunch of damage and speed related ones, 7 in total.  Specifics don't really matter due to the mostly trivial mobs I faced.

Thoughts & Experiences:

Used my Volt and carved through a T2E and War (Mars) like a hot knife through butter.  Given the use of Volt (Speed!) and my Orthos Prime though, as well as the level of mobs on Mars, worked about the same as before, with the only change I noticed besides the animations being the staggering of Heavy Gunners.

 

Still have to figure out channeling.  Given the low level of the mobs, well, wasn't much point to it.

 

The reason I went to War is because that's where a pole arm stance drops.  Off the boss.  And it's a rare.  I don't know exactly how many times I killed that boss, but it was a lot.  Got Vortex (another rare) off him.  He dropped Orokin Cells 1x (also a rare of his).  But no stance.  Now, this boss is easy, without any invulnerability states (thankfully, as most of the bosses with that stuff suck due to poorly indicating when and where you are supposed to hit), in a low level map, and I'm running a Volt and well geared so can really zip through that map.  And I spent a couple of hours doing this, with no luck.  Rare drops are too rare off these bosses if you really expect people to farm these things.

 

I hate, hate, hate the finishers/stealth-attacks.  They look cool, sure, but they are slow.  In the time they take, I can execute half-a-dozen attacks and been into the next room already.  I'd be happily zipping along, and then... slow-mo time (and keep in mind, as a Volt running Speed, the slow down is greater for me than others).  It got to the point that I started slide attacks whenever I thought I might do a finisher just to avoid the possibility.  At the very least, any speed changes, both from buffs and mods, should speed those stupid things up.

 

The ability to hit targets above or below you needs work still.  For drones (other than Oxium, which fly nice and low), I usually had to let my Sentinel shoot them.  Likewise, if I was at the top of the stairs or an enemy was knocked down, and I'd imagine if I'd been facing Infested and their crawlers... swing and a miss.

Approximate Time Spent:  From after the patch to now (3 AM Pacific)

Edited April 10, 2014 by Axterix13

[Adamusa]

Weapons Used: Glaive, Hate, Dual Heat Swords, Kogake

 

Factions Fought: Grineer, Corpus

 

Mods Equipped / Stances Used: Fury/Pressure Point/Killing Blow/Reach

 

Thoughts And Experiences: First of all, I like the way the new system plays. It definitely contributes to a much smoother combat flow in my opinion and it works (almost) as advertised. Melee is now much more powerful and I found myself smoothly punching my way through an Earth mission with little to no trouble at all. That said, I have found some issues.

 

First of all, stance mods seem incredibly rare. I played for maybe an hour and didn't have a single stance drop for me. Now, it was my understanding that weapons would come with a default stance which allowed for some very basic combos, but I have none and thus melee for me is still just spamming E. I would suggest either a) increasing the drop rate for stances or b) adding them to the drop tables of more enemies. Either one would work, I believe.

 

Next, I noticed that on the odd occasion (most notably with the Hate) that my block would lower regardless of stamina and button pressing. It was only really noticeable under heavy fire and my initial thought was that I was out of stamina, but when it happened several times against a singular foe this proved not to be the case (as I kept an eye on my stamina whilst doing so).

 

Next, Killing Blow seems to be broken. I noticed no difference in damage when Channelling with it or without it. 

 

Finally, I would say that we definitely need the melee key rebound when we have the weapon equipped. I personally have no problem using E as that's what I'm used to, but I can see how others would find it unnatural.

 

Approximate Time Spent: ~1 hour

 

Supplementary Info: Keyboard & Mouse, Solo

[Saenol]

*Updated*

 

Weapon(s) used: Galatine (rank 8, supercharged, three polarizations), Dual Cleavers (rank 30, supercharged, four polarizations).

 

Edit: Several more weapons, but focusing on Dual Cleavers.

 

Faction(s) fought: All.

 

Mod(s) equipped/Stance used: Variety; charge/channel build on Galatine, Normal attack/speed build on Dual Cleavers. No stances discovered, yet.

 

Edit: Have been using Crossing Snakes.

 

Thoughts & Experiences: Having to switch to melee is more than crippling enough to negate all advantages. Channel builds ineffective. Large degree of added complexity. Minimal added depth. Quickly grew frustrated with new system and mothballed all former charge-attack based weapons in favor of spamming normal attack; about twenty Forma and five Catalysts down the toilet. Unbound block key.

 

Also, the control scheme of melee mode is counter intuitive.

 

Edit: Former charge built weapons still seem to be lacking relative to crit build ones. Switching to and attacking with melee should be done the same way as switching between/firing primaries and secondaries, or at least have an option to be this way. The system is growing on me, but I'm still not liking the combo system.

 

Approximate Time Spent: Three hours.

 

Edit: Closer to 12 hours now.

 

Supplementary Info: Mouse and keyboard.

Edited April 12, 2014 by Saenol

[Pacheon]

Feedback Format: Sound bug, Weapon Hold Idle & Channelling Suggestion

 

Weapon(s) used: Orthos Prime & Jat Kittag

 

Faction(s) fought: All (but doesn't matter)

 

Thoughts & Experiences: Good but could need some adjustment

 

Approximate Time Spent: The whole day (3hours till now)

 

Supplementary Info: Solo mode, Key/Mouse

 

Detailed Description:

 

-Sound bug: Being on channel and getting invisible, will cause a weird "strizzl"-electric sound and will last forever.

 

-Jat Kittag: A heavy hammer-polearm weapon, which has a idle weapon-hold-animation like it were a freaking light Bo staff :D

 

-Channelling Suggestion: Instead of holding down the Channelling Button (Left Mouse), we could need a similar mechanism like the one for crouch - press once, be on channeling-mode unless you repress - a "Channel Toggle" option would be appreciated.

 

 

(I don't claim responsibility, if my mentioned points has been given a call here already.)

Edited April 10, 2014 by Pacheon

[Griever95]

Weapon(s) used: Dual Kama

Faction(s) fought: Grineer and Corpus

Mod(s) equipped/Stance used: None

Thoughts & Experiences:

 

First of all, my 1st impression is that my melee definitely get a great buff in terms of damage. After a few runs....I actually realise no different from melee 1.0. Let me explain this. Seriously? A base system requiring ultimate grinding? I have been playing 2 hourse of melee 2.0 without any sign of those mods! All the time I was just mashing E which make no difference from melee 2.0. Not mentioning most of the stance mods are RARE!!! Then, I also realise that it is still not viable enough when compared to ranged weapon. The mobility when equiping melee is not good enough. It will be better if it actually have some utility type of attack like piercing into enemy face with incredible speed with followed up attacks. That's why most of the time enemies are shooting from my back when i'm slashing the one in front of me, well we cannot block bullets from our back right? To sum it up, utility and the grinding is the biggest problem i see from the new system. There shouldn't be a wall blocking us from enjoying the new system as said in the livestream!

Approximate Time Spent: 3 hours

[Skarmax]

Weapon(s) used: Fang Prime

Faction(s) fought: doesn't matter

Mod(s) equipped/Stance used: Gnashing Payara/Sinking Talon

Thoughts & Experiences: Gnashing Payara and Sinking Talon not equippable on Fang Prime. Although, the Fang Prime are unranked yet, stances should be equippable anyway. Or you put the wrong thing on your U13 Stance Spoiler

Approximate Time Spent: doesn't matter

 

EDIT: Apparently, all stance mod are marked as melee and can't be used

Edited April 10, 2014 by Skarmax

[V0LK]

Weapon Used: Glaive

 

Faction Fought: Corpus/Corupted

 

Mod(s)/Stance: Doesn't really matter/ No Stance

 

Thoughts & Dissapointments: Though I can still throw it by holding "E", it's a pain to use it now. Charge time is horrendous, and damage is a joke. And since we don't have charge attacks now, you can't do anything to it.

 

Even if that super rare stance mod will allow us to do more damage and throw faster with channeling, Glaive will still be obsolete, since we'll be unable to simply throw it when we need some breathing room, without equipping melee.

 

Approx. Time: about 30 minutes

[HvyPainkiller]

Weapon(s) used: Galatine (RIP)

Faction(s) fought: Everyone

Mod(s) equipped/Stance used: Charge build (-.-) RIP

Thoughts & Experiences: Please, please dont hate my... But I really do not like new melee system. It is fun, new system... And this system just have killed smooth and fast "ninja like" gameplay. Now I have to decide which weapon I need to hold. Switching between melee or range weapons takes too much time and brings confusion into battle. Gameplay was about fast thinking and quick reactions... 

 

 

"Fire! Jump! Slash! Fire! Fire! Slash! Slash! Slash! Fire! Jump! Fire! Slash! Slash! Slash!" GO NINJA!!!

"Fire! Jump! SWITCHING WEAPONS! Combo! SWITCHING WEAPONS! Fire! Fire! Slash! Slash! Slash! (not enough), SWITCHING WEAPONS! Combo! Combo! Combo! Combo! Combo! Jump! Combo. SWITCHING WEAPONS! Fire! SWITCHING WEAPONS! Com... too late!!!! SWITCHING WEAPONS! Fire! SWITCHING WEAPONS! Combo! SWITCHING WEAPONS! Fire! SWITCHING WEAPONS! (not needed melee) SWITCHING WEAPONS!

 

I think you get my point guys.Thanks for supporting and sorry for my english

Edited April 10, 2014 by HvyPainkiller

[EllieGray]

Weapon(s) used: Jat Kittag (30, Catalyst) and Kogake (30, Catalyst)

Faction(s) fought: Grineer, Corrupted

Mod(s) equipped/Stance used: Basic damage mods, no "channel damage" mods, no stances

Thoughts & Experiences:

My first letdown was that we had no stance mods at first to try out.  As many said, I expected from the Devstream that we would be getting a basic one for each weapon.  Still, I was willing to try out the new system.  Surprised that Charge Damage was gone, I was confused to see Charge Damage still listed on the Arsenal screen for my weapons.

 

Jumping into the game, we first tried a Survival and Ceres, hoping to maybe get a stance mod.  However, I knew that even if they had the same drop rate as most uncommon mods, it could be days before I'd find one, and I had no information on which faction dropped what, so I'd be shooting in the dark to hope I found one compatible with the grip types I had access to.

 

Holding F to switch to my Melee Stance wasn't too bad.  But I was immediately disappointed with how my character held the Jat Kittag.  It had to be unintentional, because it was so static and unnatural that it could never look right.  My swings were exactly the same as Melee 1.0 because I had no stance...  A terrible sign, because it meant the majority of the content I was looking forward to was off limits to me until I got lucky--  No skill involved.

 

Blocking worked well.  I had difficulty aiming myself however, because I wasn't always being shot at by the people I was walking towards, and blocking while walking backwards was awkward.  I don't mind this, however, it's just the nature of blocking.

 

Channeling was...  Interesting.  The effect was pretty, but as many before me have mentioned, the keybinding was terrible.  Mouse 1 was my first go-to for attacking now that I knew it wouldn't be used to shoot a gun.  Using my normal melee key (E, the default) worked fine, but I for some reason struggled to hold M1 while swinging to use Channel, probably due to my muscle memory of that being a bad idea in Melee 1.0 (where it wouldn't help you during swings, and you'd want to take a moment to aim again after swinging).  Again, as it's been said; please allow them to be changed, or at least swap them around.  Also, a toggle would be greatly appreciated.

 

I tried to see what I could about this new Channel mechanic.  I can only assume it's what "Charge Damage" on the Arsenal UI now means.  A note to all who claim channel builds do not work, channel damage builds off your base damage, increase your base damage first.  Of this I am certain.  Channel Efficiency, however, seemed pointless.  I only use two energy per swing; sure I can reduce it to one, but that's really not at all needed.  If I have Energy Siphon on (which I almost always do), then my energy comes back fast enough that 2 per swing is negligable, and I wouldn't waste mod points on reducing it when I could put them into damage instead.

 

Next I tried my Kogake, again on Ceres.  The attack speed was very nice, and I was dealing rediculous damage with a single attack compared to before.  Also, with the attacks feeling wider and less "pointed" so to speak, I was missing less.  Certainly, this felt like an improvement.  I noticed my swings were rather...  "Rookie" I suppose.  With no stance, they were basically just untrained swipes.  Again I felt punished for not having a stance equipped, but what could I do?  I had no idea how to get one other than "it drops off of enemies".  But the same can be said for things like Metal Auger, and I've still never managed to kill enough Mine Osprey to get it--  And that's with me knowing exactly what drops it, thanks to the wiki.

 

My original build, which I left unchanged, on the Kogake was a finisher build.  I like the viciousness of the "ground-and-pound" kind of attack, and I felt it fit the style of Valkyr.  It seems to have been changed a bit, to be noticably slower.  That was a bit of a disappointment, but meh.  It's terribly, terribly minor and not a real detractor.

 

The only other melee weapon I have is the Gram; I tried it out very briefly and saw it functioned prettymuch the same as the Jat Kittag.  Nothing new to see here.

 

Overall, I felt a bit let down.  I had been pretty hyped about U13, but I suddenly felt like I couldn't experience most of it!  Stance mods were the bread-and-butter of Melee 2.0 and were nowhere to be found.  The method for getting the new warframe was very obtuse and will take me hours to even attempt, and working towards it just meant grinding normal missions on Ceres, with a new tile set that I hardly noticed was different.  All Grineer ships look the same to me, regardless of if there's new hallways added.  And finally, as my clan is small and unprepared, it will likely take days before any of us are able to experience the new Dark Sector content because of the build time required for the room and the solar rail.  So far, U13 has added very little for me to actually enjoy... 

 

Approximate Time Spent:  Three hours
 
Supplementary Info:  Playing on PC with keyboard and mouse, beside a friend who was also playing using the same setup.

Edited April 10, 2014 by EllieGray

[DiabolusUrsus]

Weapons Used: Nikana, Dragon Nikana
Factions Fought: Grineer and Corpus
Mods Equipped: A wide variety; a number of non-specific builds.
Thoughts and Experiences: I've been playing pretty much since the update came out... mostly grinding out Ceres. Why? Because the stance mod I really want, Tranquil Cleave, isn't listed in the Codex as a drop. Mods that drop from enemies I haven't scanned show "???" Five stance mods show nothing at all. Five new enemies were added (as far as I know.) Prosecutors (4 types) and the new Grineer melee unit. Seems pretty straightforward, right? Well, four hours after starting up Update 13, I have all of Hydroids abilities (not that I'll have Hydroid, for a while...) and not one single stance mod. Not one. 

The combo-system was pretty much the one thing I was really looking forward to with Update 13, and it's the one thing I haven't actually been able to experience yet. I would love to give combo feedback, I really would. But I can't, because I can't actually use any combos. You guys acknowledged the prudence of moving ability mods out of the drop tables and into the marketplace. This did not happen. Why is that? 

Okay, fine, so you're making us grind for them. I can understand that, I guess. Partly. Not really. What I definitely cannot understand is why we can't know where to hunt for some of the stances that you should know are going to be in higher demand. Namely, the Glaive and Katana stances. It's irritating.

 

As for actual melee 2.0 feedback, I am strongly disappointed that there isn't any actual timed blocking as advertised. Only channel-blocking for parry opportunities, based off of more random chance. Not really worth it when the finishers themselves take a long time to execute and look a little odd. I am absolutely DELIGHTED that channel-blocking seems to grant immunity to incoming knockdown attacks from the front. YES. THIS WAS NEEDED. The hit counter is fun, and the damage boost is nice. Would really love to be able to combo, though. 

Lastly, please please please improve the color customization on the Dragon Nikana. The scabbard is cool and all that, but it's really boring to have the entire sword be one color. Seriously. Give it the same color template as the normal Nikana. Please. It looks like a hunk of plastic otherwise, and that's not fun. 

[victor_victory]

Can we have mods for melee that increase Combo timer(4 sec is kinda short), increase combo damage multiplier(increase melee's endgame potential)?

[Andrew016]

Weapon(s) used: Prova

Faction(s) fought: Grineer (not needed)

Mod(s) equipped/Stance used: No stance mod (not needed)

Thoughts & Experiences: I thought you will be able to attack with melee with your mouse1 button (like shooting from primary, secondary) and not E, if I rebind my controls from E to mouse1 button I can attack with mouse1 button (not fast attack melee)  but if I have primary or secondary equiped and I click mouse1 it changes to my melee attack. So I would really like to attack with mouse1 button and at the same time when primary or secondary weapon equiped to tap E for fast melee attack.

Approximate Time Spent: 15 minutes

Supplementary Info: Mouse/Keyboard

[IIISTIXIII]

 

Weapon(s) used: Bo, Dakra Prime, Hate, Dual Ichor, Galantine, Scoliac 

 

Faction(s) fought: Grineer

 

Mods equipped/Stance used:  Usually Fury (maxed), Killing Blow (maxed), Pressure Point (maxed), some elemental dmg (corrosive), NO Stance.

 

Thoughts & Experiences: 

 

Overall: There seem to be a lot of potential here, for damage output, variety of gameplay and more. BUT, it is hampered by some essential drawbacks making this potential hard to realise atm.

 

First off: Good that we can customize key binding for melee equip - I immediatly changed that to "Q" as it is more useful than holding "F". Although i myself don`t have a problem with using "f" for attacks and mouse 1 for channel - I agree with those who would like this to be customizable aswell.

 

However, as stated by many already, the changing between melee and guns need to be quicker. As it is now, you tend to end up in a undesired "either/or" situation were you decide beforehand "should I take on these 10 enemies with melee or gun?". The dynamic fighting on various ranges is essential to the effectiveness and fun of combat. I think this will be maintained by simply speeding up the weapon change.

 

This also ties in to the second point, and this is the big one: Timings. Timings, timings timings!

 

Here I mean the timings in between basic melee hits. Basically how fast we have to hit "F" again to trigger the second animation in the melee sequence for a given weapon, before it resets and plays the first animation.

 

You seem to have sped/tightened these timings up quite a bit. NOT a good decision. The old timings allowed some space inbetween these animations for quick adjustments in distance and position. You could basically hit one enemy with the first anim, make a quick step and hit a second enemy with the second anim, etc. This is not possible now.

 

I cannot stress enough how much of a gimp to the system this is, because it effectively makes the melee combat less practical and more shallow. 

Consecutive hits and animations are now only viable against a single enemy, or enemies standing right next to each other. 

That however is not the situation we are most often in, rather, enemies typically have small distance variations that we should be able to adjust for. The old timings allowed for this, there you could even flank a grineer butcher - hitting him and avoiding his strike at the same time - in the midst of a sequence!

 

So yeah, bring back the old / or looser timings ASAP. Ideally there should be room for a quick block inbetween hits also. Regarding weapons, these new timings are less of an issue on heavy swords and whips. Heavy swords seem to have looser timings anyway, and whips have an inherent distance variation between hits  - which is useful.

 

If looser timings somehow conflicts with the way you have set up certain combos - where they have a pause between hits to trigger. Make that pause into something else. This is more important - it is about making the flow of melee useful in combat.   

 

Last: Stance mods seems rare, I have yet to see one..

 

 

Approx. Time Spent: 2 1/2 hours (mostly survival)

 

Supplementary info: Mouse and Keyboard, Solo / group Gameplay

 

 

Edit: I suspect that the timing issue also play into the general sense that the combocounter is not coming into play as it should. But this needs more testing..

Edited April 10, 2014 by IIISTIXIII

[iiSoxSkills]

Weapon(s) used: Heat Dagger

Faction(s) fought: Grineer

Mods equipped/Stance used:  Pointed Wind
Thoughts & Experiences:It was great experience with damage improvements, however the combos were slightly difficulty but I'll get used to it soon.

I've notice a problem while modding

This happens

Approx. Time Spent: 6 min survival

Supplementary info: Mouse and Keyboard, played Online

[CosyPigeon]

Weapon(s) used:  Nikana, dual ether, skana prime, Galatine. 

Faction(s) fought: Corpus, Girneer,

Mod(s) equipped/Stance used: Charge damag mods, damage mods, elemental mods. Can't find stance mods :/

Thoughts & Experiences: Another promising core gameplay mechanic once again hidden behind RNG (making the game frustrating for veteran players, and outright impossible to enjoy for new players). Melee is better now at least, although keybinding options should allow mb1 to be used for melee attack when you have melee weapon equipped.

Nerf to fury seems harsh, if it's only going to give 30% fire rate, make it uncommon instead of rare, and only use 7 energy instead of 9
Nerf to Second wind seems unnecessary, 30 stamina per kill is nice, but it doesn't really warrant adding a negative. 
Cost of charge attacks seems negligible, I can pretty much just swing my sword whilst holding down the charge button and it barely drains my energy at all, not sure if this is intentional or not.?

Galatine nerf was especially hard, the thing barely does any charge damage, and there seems to be no reason to use it, not sure if it was intended to be nerfed so hard, but considering it's now barely better than the skana, anyone who paid plat for it is going to feel cheated. 

Changing the mod drop rates so that we get less mods overall was a jerk move btw, if a group of veteran players is struggling to get usefull mods with all of their elite gear, how do you think new players are going to feel playing this game? If you're having trouble figuring it out, I'll just tell you. They're going to find it NOT FUN.  which is the absolute worst thing a video game can be. For my overall opinion on the mod system, go look at the overhaul of the foundation of war frame thread, you should give that guy a job. 

Approximate Time Spent: 5 hours, mostly farming various survival missions on pluto, ceres, and mercury.  The decrease in mod drops rate was noticeable, and the utter lack of any stance mods dropped after 5 hours of farming killed pretty much all of the hype I had for this update :(

Supplementary Info: I use a mouse and keyboard, have been for over a decade, it's like an extension of my body at this point, it would be nice if we could please have mb1 for melee attack, right click for block, and a thumb mouse button for charge attacks when we have a melee weapon equiped, and revert to regular shooting controls when we don't. 

[Hackoasis]

Weapon(s) used:Fang Prime

Faction(s) fought: Grineer

Mod(s) equipped/Stance used:Sinking Talon as Stance with max mods of North wind, Reach,Pressure Point, Fury, Organ Shatter,Sundering Strike, and Virulent Scourge.
Thoughts & Experiences:I love this new system with fang prime so far! The option to choose normal fang strikes or the combo system works fine.The ability to block rockets can keep the fangs as a primary weapon! I love the multiplier added at 9 hits, which seems highly usable for heavy units. I noticed with 2 other melee weapons that you could melee dash fairly far, which can help with keeping up with most enemies.

Approximate Time Spent: 30 minutes in survival

Supplementary Info: Controller, Coop

[Ziegrif]

Thoughts & Experiences:

 

Hard to give feedback when most of the Stance slots are bugged and all the stances are locked beyond RNG.

 

So as of now?

 

I thought melee 2.0 would be something fun I could get into with minimal fuss with some base stances. I was also thinking this might give my DMC3 memories some waxing and get me interested again.

 

But.

 

NOPE! Grind. Juuuust grind.

 

Enough.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Ziegrif

[pepsi-tan]

Thoughts & Experiences: Really don't see why I can't bind melee to mouse one when I'm switched to it. I'm fine with E when I'm in gun mode, but in melee mode, let's have the mouse do what's suppose to do, eh? Mashing E while maneuvering is stupidly awkward, and part of the reason melee 1.0 wasn't good.