Wall Attacks: Death By Leap Attacks

[Otenko]

I'm not sure where to put this, but it feels like a system mechanics thing; not really weapons or abilities. Not about aesthetics to be put in art & animation.

 

Anyway, with the advent of the "leap" attack (air slash), wall attacks have all but been obsoleted. Leap attacks are more streamlined in use, they don't have the recovery roll on landing, and they actually go further than wall attacks for heavy weapons.

 

Leap Attacks are even better for mobility, since aiming high enough can have you land on the ground in a slide, which you can jump out of. They can work for better mobility and higher ease of use than wall attacks.

 

So, what do Wall Attacks do that Leap Attacks don't? Well, damage really. But not even much more to warrant their use ( Wall attack damage = 2x leap attack damage at best), worse still they don't even necessarily do more damage for every weapon. Some leap attacks do more damage than wall attacks (Amphis and Bo), making them even worse in some cases.

 

I think it would be a good idea if Wall Attacks were like Kogake's and Obex's pre-melee 2.0, that is, they both had 1,000 damage on wall attacks. Though, I'm not sure if that damage was adjusted by mods. In any case, having a nice beefy hit would make it feel worthwhile, especially for the effort and precision required for it.

 

Also, the landing roll on wall attacks ends up severely punishing players that even attempt to do it, as the roll is unavoidable (I haven't checked, but casting some in-air powers might stop the landing roll) and uncontrollable (you are forced to roll in the direction your character faces during the wall attack).

 

Even worse is that the damage on wall attacks isn't worth the hassle in finding the spot on the wall to run along and then aim at the enemy, which will possibly end up missing because the hitbox for wall attacks isn't very tall. Basically it's a high risk and little reward scenario.

 

I'm not sure how many times I've tried to use a wall attack on a crawler or an enemy underneath my position, only to land harmlessly on their head; sometimes I land in a group.

 

To fix that, Wall Attacks should probably have the same landing animation as leap attacks (or even no landing animation) to fix wall attacks being so punishable as well as having a (vertically) taller hitbox so that every grounded enemy can at least be hit. Hell, it'd be even better if we had standard movement a wall attack so that we can use it to facilitate parkour.

 

I had used Wall Attacks pre-update 15 as basically a makeshift air dash, but now they don't really do much else other than look pretty.

 

Anyway, I'm just hoping someone actually cares.

Edited October 27, 2014 by Otenko