Hello, Liam here. Welcome to day 1 of the next beta balance patch cycle. IMPORTANT NOTICE: As you know, weve been providing fairly frequent updates over the past couple of months. However, in light of the holidays, the next update likely wont occur until late January. Thanks for your patience! [hr][/hr] This first update focuses on the changes that are likely to be the most contentious, to give players more time to adapt and discuss these changes. Since Annie is the newest complete character, she will be the focus for this update. Expect other changes in the future! Also, to make some of these changes easier to read for existing players, we'll be using some community nomenclature instead of some in-game terms for mechanics. (Blockbuster Super, etc)

UMBRELLA

Just bug fixes for now! There are more outstanding bugs and tuning that still need be made in the new year.

• Fixed a bug where Bobblin' Bubble's bobble jump was not possible.
• Fixed a bug where Cutie Ptooie's butterfly eating was increasing fullness even as an assist.
• Adjusted trip and wallsplat hurtboxes to fix some combos not working on Umbrella.

ANNIE

Annie is a great all rounder, but some of her tools and mechanics go a bit beyond their intended strengths. Annie's gameplan and the range of things that she's capable of should more or less be unchanged, but the effectiveness that she these things has been toned down. Remember that new characters usually receive a lot of tuning in the first update after their release, with Annie being no exception:

• North Knuckle
  • As an assist, Annie will no longer perform the follow-up slam on block, unless it's the L version.
  • Hitstop and blockstun reductions for all North Knuckle punches, and follow up slams.
  • Increased recovery of North Knuckle (H) slam. (.. Yes this impacts corner combos)
  • As an assist, the first punch of North Knuckle applies 1 extra hit of damage scaling, like Big Band's similarly hard hitting Brass Knuckles (H) assist.
• Pillar of Creation
  • Moved 250 damage from the first hit to the second hit. (750 500, 1000 1250)
  • On DHC only, the first hit scales to 70%. (The second hit continues to scale to 70% on point just as it did before.)
  • Reduced active frames on the first hit.
  • Increased start up before Super Flash freezes time.
  • Increased recovery, and recovery is increased further if the opponent blocks it. Advantage on block reduced.
  • On DHC, the Super Flash freeze ends slightly earlier, giving the opponent a bit more time to recover or act. (... Note, hitstop was never applied on DHC, but hitstop from the previous super could sometimes carry over. This change makes that less likely.)
  • Second hit has had its hitstop reduced and velocity adjusted.
• Reduced Meteor Strike hitstop if the opponent is not in hitstun, reducing the extreme range that the opponent is completely unable to act before Annie hits them. Combos and conversions should be unchanged.
• Sagan Beam (air version) goes into a vulnerable (but not counter hit) falling state if the opponent blocks it, much like Big Band's Tympany Drive. If the opponent is hit after blocking, she can still act.
• JHP hitbox has been normalized to be more in line with other arcing swing hitboxes like Parasoul, Valentine, etc.
• JHP only spawns stars during Star Power once per jump.
• Reduced JMP hitstun.
• Reduced sMP hitbox to match the art shown during active frames.
• cHP damage adjusted: 1300 1200.
• sHP [2nd Hit] damage adjusted: 700 600.
• s.F+HP damage adjusted: 1500 1300.
• s.F+HP step forward before swinging slightly reduced. (~20%)
• Slightly reduced movement during dash start up, and reduced second phase dash speed by 5%.
• QOL - s.F+MP no longer produces a star during Star Power, allowing her to get the Stagger.
• QOL - cHK in Star Power now has a buffer into sLP, making the link much easier.
• Re Entry has slightly less hitstop than before. (... Mostly intended to speed up her Re Entry combos slightly)
• Fixed a bug where Destruction Pillar VFX could show up in the wrong location for a moment when Annie is thrown.
• Fixed a bug where Annie couldn't cancel cLP into itself during the active frames of the first punch, like every other self repeating normal.
• Fixed an issue where Annie's Destruction Pillar blockstun and hitstop values were not adjusted correctly as an assist, like all other DP assists (Updo, Napalm Pillar, etc). Blockstun and hitstop is reduced across all versions as an assist.

ROBO-FORTUNE

Slightly reducing the effectiveness of pressure and mix up speed during Systemic Circuit Breaker, and a long outstanding "H Beam" experiment.

• Increased Instant Air Dash (IAD) lockout from 5 frames to 8 during Systemic Circuit Breaker.
• Reduced Air Theonite Beam (M) bonus recovery speed from Systemic Circuit Breaker. (8F > 5F)
• Reduced knockback on Theonite Beam (M) during Systemic Circuit Breaker, for both air and ground versions.
• Theonite Beam (H), as an assist, will now remain on camera as Robo-Fortune is firing, instead of hiding off camera firing from off-screen if the point character is moving forward quickly.

PEACOCK

Continuing with a few more changes from the last beta balance changes that didn't have enough time to be completed and tested - this is likely the full list of Peacock changes.

• Adjusted "The Hole Idea" (H), AKA "H Teleport"
  • H Teleport will become M Teleport if an assist is being called and has not landed, just as before.
  • However, H Teleport will also now become M Teleport up until:
    • The assist attacks the enemy point character and puts them into blockstun or hitstun. An assist hitting armor does not count.
    • The assist performs their assist taunt and begins to leave.
    • The assist enters hitstun.
    (.. This allows Peacock to switch sides, escape, or combo using the blockstun or hitstun of her assists, but does not allow it before the assist makes contact, outside of a few telegraphed set ups with projectiles.)
• Boxcar George appears 5 frames later into the summoning animation.
• George at the Airshow appears 1 frame later into the summoning animation. (.. These last two changes revert Peacock's M and H George start up back to what they were during Robo-Fortune initial's release patch.)
• If Peacock goes into hitstun at any point during L, M or H George travelling, that George now forces follow-up damage scaling to 70%.
• Shadow of Impending Doom (level 2 charge) lasts for 20 additional frames before Peacock can perform the special move again.

MS. FORTUNE

Changes to make Ms. Fortune slightly easier to hit, especially when jumping away. Providing another option to beat her main meterless reversal. Light tweaks to the range of JLK, and how contestable it is.

• Fiber Uppercut (all versions) are now strike invulnerable, and can be thrown.
• Fiber Uppercut (all versions) has no invulnerability when headless.
• JLK - Adjusted animation timing so that Ms. Fortune's leg is stretched out for longer immediately before and after the active frames. Frame data completely unchanged.
• JLK - Adjusted hurtbox to fill in the empty space between her legs.
• JLK - Removed hitbox from the tip of her toes. (.. Ms. Fortune's ever oppressive JLK should hopefully feel slightly easier to contest.)
• Expanded Ms. Fortune's jumping hurtbox while she is tucked into a ball.
• Added hurtbox around her tail below her for the first few frames after jumping off the ground.

[hr][/hr] (Build version 3.3.16)

[ 2021-12-21 22:44:27 CET ] [ Original post ]