Absorb Heat intermittent cancelling issues

Discussion in 'Old Arkham (Bug Archive)' started by AV, Jun 7, 2019.

  1. AV Loyal Player

    Please fix/address the issues with Absorb Heat block cancelling. It's Fire's most important DPS power and, while clearly intended to allow cancellation, it does so unreliably and makes the power unusable in some contexts. Here are my observations after a thousand hours of using it:

    Observations based on use with Super Speed and Acrobat movement types. Additional notes on Flying will be at the end. All observations were done with movement activated. I just realized I haven't tested with movement mode off but suspect these observations will remain consistent:

    - Can be cancelled by blocking (doesn't always work, resulting in you being stuck in the full animation)
    - You can move and jump without interrupting the ability. Forward and diagonal movement is at normal non-movement mode walking speed or slightly faster but can have a very slow acceleration. Moving backwards or purely sideways is extremely slow. Movement and jumping does weird things to cancellation's "rules"
    - Different factors I can't nail down seem to interfere with cancellation. Tested in a vacuum, cancellation seems more reliable than it is in practice but not a guarantee
    - In practical application, cancellation probability highest if you're moving when you activate Absorb Heat and never stop moving until you hit block. Still not a guarantee. Above average cancellation probability when cancelling at the very beginning of use but still extremely unreliable. ~50/50 chance of cancellation near end of animation. Practically zero probability of cancellation if you jumped or were jumping when you activated Absorb Heat. Low probability of cancelling anywhere near mid-animation.

    Observations from Flying perspective: Seems considerably harder to cancel while flying. Anecdotally, some Flying users have told me that they have never been able to cancel the ability.

    As indicated, the current issues with this power make it unusable in some fights. It's currently suicide to use it in the Crown of Thorns vs Sea Beast, as it ensures you'll be eating some slams, unable to cancel and block in time. Similarly, the inability to cancel it makes it suicide in SM. In the places where you still can (and should) use it, it's more of a liability than your design of the power suggests it should be. We know you want it to be cancellable, it just isn't working properly.

    Suggested solution options:

    1. Fix it so blocking always cancels it, no matter what, even if you've jumped or moved or been healed or taken damage or been given some other effect or anything. Reliable, 100%, skill-based cancellation. This is ideal as it retains the ability to move while using it, preserving the flow and flexibility of play.
    2. Cloke Stoke Flames' movement/cancel behaviour. Stoke Flames is basically Absorb Heat Lite already and is totally clean in terms of use/cancellation. This would make Absorb Heat root you in place during use and cancelled by jumping. Slightly less ideal but this, to me, feels like it could be an easy way to fix the problem.

    Thank you
  2. AV Loyal Player

    Clone* not cloke. Sorry for not catching before edit window closed.
  3. AV Loyal Player

    Throne* not Crown. Derp
  4. AV Loyal Player

    Bump. Any word on this? Even breakout powers/trinkets can't interrupt it. Is Absorb Heat's overall behaviour intentional? If so, it feels very unnatural.
  5. MiLady Well-Known Player

    I have also experienced the randomness of trying to cancel Absorb Heat. Sometimes the cancel works and other times it continues with its animation. In my case, I use it on the adds in open world missions. When an enemy dies (i.e Cursed Gotham(, I want to cancel the Absorb Heat, but sometimes it just stays on that enemy. (Note that some enemies in Cursted Gotham will have a cog on them if you have that specific mission and that absorb heat wont switch to another add because of that. But that is a different issue). I would like to see Absorb heat cancellation work all of the time as well. Please fix when you can.
    • Like x 1
  6. AV Loyal Player

    Is this behaviour intended? If so, why?
  7. TheLorax 15000 Post Club

    Block cancelling Absorb Heat fails if there is no target (ie original target is knocked out), and I believe switching targets causes block cancelling to fail.
  8. AV Loyal Player


    It fails it more situations than those though, ie. it can even fail if you're hitting a single target and nothing else has happened. Also, it can still succeed in those situations. It's essentially completely inconsistent, with the "best" way of getting it to work seemingly being to be moving (but not airborne/jumping) when you cast it and to not stop moving throughout the cast, but it's still not close to a guarantee.