Dysfunctional Counter Mechanics

I agree man, what I was talking about was not connection speed...but fluxuation in connection speed. ya know, those momentary drops in down speed that can cause animations to last .5 seconds too long and thus create problems for reacting to combat.

Would you then agree that the counter mechanics are subject to circumstantial variables which are beyond the players and devs control? It turns the rps into a hope and prayer.

How many of you set the Screen to Game Mode, and disabled all post-effects?

The video lag added can be great, even over 100ms if you use standard screen settings.
So, your PS/PC is getting real-time online data, real-time input (the important part), however you are looking at a time-delayed video.
You see where I am going?

If player A has no video lag while player B has, you get all the strange things pointed here.
For example, if player B press block, the info will reach player A in a bunch of ms, he will see it on screen in another few ms, and he could counter-block even before that player B sees on his own screen that he was blocking!
I leave other examples as a mental exercise.

I noticed this 1st when I was playing FFX HD, unable to get the lightning trophy, even if I was pressing X at correct time. After querying the holy internet, I found it was due to the video lag: when I was seeing the hint to press X, in reality it was already over "inside" the PS3, so I had no chance to get it in time. All because my TV was holding the frames to get that nice sharpening filter...

Solution:
Change your screen settings to game mode / no video lag mode, and disable all post-processing.
This applies to all screens, both PC monitors an TVs.

However, keep in mind that using the console WIFI leads to a lot of problems, because both PS3/PS4 have some ****** integrated antennas, and you lose a lot of packets. This is an independent issue to video lag, but still can break counters.

Yesterday was the worst it's been in a long time. I was dueling my league boss in the Hall and 1 out of 3 counters were even registering as such.

It's so bad now that immunity comes even without the actual counter.

I throw a bb against a blocking opponent and gained immunity even though they were never block broken and knocked down, the same can be said for myself not being countered and my opponent still gaining immunity.

When will it STOP!
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

The hours of footage of legends at SOE Live seems to say otherwise about counters being bugged

If counters themselves were bugged, everyone, regardless of platform and internet connection would be having these same issues.

I am not sure that is true. I have tried to capture the bugs a few times through my video capture device, and I have yet to have a bug occur while recording. It's much like taking your car to the mechanic because you hear a weird noise, and the mechanic doesn't hear it because it magically stopped.

Thankfully, with the ability to break out of counters, I no longer get as annoyed when bugs occur. I have noticed a new one since breaking out became possible, though. I'll get countered, the sound and animation show for it, but I actually never end up on my back needing to break out. It's very odd.

Which is exactly my point. If the bug was with counters, it would mean there is a bug in the coding that, under circumstances, would be something one could replicate. Consistently.

However what we have here are lots of people claiming they do not have them (with hours and hours of video footage to back it up) versus a significantly smaller group of people with no evidence and claiming it happens randomly and cannot be perfectly replicated. If it could be replicated that means anyone could perform it at will.

That leads me to believe it has something to do with internet connection and latency issues. Whether it is on our side or DCUO's side remains yet to be seen, however it is not an issue with the coding of combat mechanics for those very reasons.

I had the same exact issues you were describing a while back actually. Then I realized it was because I had stupidly been trying to upload a YouTube video while playing. I stopped the upload and everything smoothed right out.

Believe me, if counters were bugged it'd be a race between me and Clutchmeister to see who could get a video in first.

Fair enough. I do have some counter points to make (pun intended):

1. A lunge should not interrupt me if an enemy does not enter my space. That has nothing to do with latency and I feel is an actual bug or at least poor design on the mechanics.
2. If I lunge an enemy who is blocking, and some object gets in my way, that enemy should not block my lunge. I would be fine with having my character have a tripping animation due to running into an object, but to be blocked from 20 feet away is silly.
3. Some enemies can move while blocking. I saw Circe do so in Trigon's Prison most recently. It may have been latency, but it still looked odd.
4. Enemies can switch from one form of combat to another faster than we can. It is almost like they feint without the actual feint tell. I do not consider this to be a latency issue since I have seen it occur very often.

S

Some spatial elements would be nice.

I'm speaking exclusively about the PvP side of things so I can't comment on PvE counter mechanics. I can most definitely say points 3 and 4 do not happen in PvP unless it is an extreme case of lag or lagswitching or speed hacks.

I somewhat agree with points 1 and 2. Initially I completely agreed however then I thought of this:

In PvP it would give flying characters such a massive advantage over everyone else it wouldn't even be funny because unless you were a flying character you would not be able to interrupt them and they would be completely free to spam their block breakers.

Hell, due to hand blasters increased range where they can attack from outside the range of most other weapons (rifle being the exception) can already do that. And it is ridiculously unfair towards other weapons.

Changing that, while it would make things a bit more realistic it wouldn't be realistic this late in the game from a development perspective given how many other issues there are with the game.

It would be nice to add realism to the game with 1. and 2., but I see your point. As always, the best case scenario would be to have PvP and PvE respond differently to mechanics. Depending on how those are coded, that could be as simple as creating a new class or as difficult as changing the logic for each individual scenario...

Pretty sure a player from every server has made a case for funky counter mechanics. This whole, "pics or it didn't happen" attitude is getting old. These assertions are on an observational basis only, I've made it clear my inability to capture video or photographic evidence, if your not willing to take me at my word then you have no place in this thread as all assertions not relative the problems that exists with combat mechanics detract from rooting out what many will agree is a prevalent issue. Assuming the majority of players do not experience such issues doesn't negate the fact that some of us are not having the same, sucka free experience. Now, if you have anything to shed further light on the problem then by all means, enlighten us. If you're of the opinion, things are good and well, then this is non issue to you and I fail to see any validity in your assertions as you've never experienced both ends of the spectrum. If you'll care to reread my OP, you'll discover the discrepancies and how consistently inconsistent this issue is. Some daysare good, some bad, others it's working like a well oiled machine or not at all.

I completely agree that they should be kept completely separate. PvE adjustments can have a massive impact on stuff in the PvP side of things that throws everything out of whack and vice versa.

That's part of the reason I'm so big into legends. With the exception of wespon adjustments almost almost nothing going on with the rest of the game effects it.

I don't know if they respond to different mechanics. I haven't really done any PvE since GU36 so once again I'm not going to comment on something I currently lack the knowledge of to give an assessment.

Seth said the same thing to me about the consistency issue. Read my reply to him about that whole thing as typing that out again would be a bit if a waste of time.

In short if it was a bug in the coding of combat mechanics the issues would not only be more frequent, but capable of being replicated consistently. So it's latency of some sort.

I am curious: Do you think the inconsistency on the PvE side may not be latency but an actual bug? I don't PvP much, but I do not recall facing any counter issues when I did PvP. It seemed very consistent in PvP, but my PvE experience has been anything but consistent.

This is going off of months old information so I could be way, way off here but:

I remember there being bugs in PvE wherein opponents would be blocking (no idea if they were just trapped in the animation or were actually mitigating damage as it was too long ago for me to take notice of) and the window was simply not open to block break them.

I've got no idea if that was fixed though.

Managed to actually break counters entirely with dual pistols and WM. While alternating between counter windows I managed to successfully block break my opponent who also lunged and countered me out of my block break before he fell...

Some weapons are more vulnerable I noticed due to animations which results in counters after a successful hit has landed which makes some sense but still a bit odd as I've already caught you off guard, all you gotta do is block within the animation to get the counter as opposed to countering the INITIAL attack.

There's gotta be a better way, devs. Something just isn't kosher as counters are right now.

Does this video show the broken mechanics? I was running the Temple of Crime instance and fighting Bruno. I had been ranging him, and when I saw him about to lunge, I switched to block. We both fell down due to countering each other. His lunge countered my range attack about half a second before my block countered his lunge, but I was in blocking position at the same time he lunged.

This is just a supposition, but could it be intended to have the windows open long enough for players to react in PvP, and it is affecting PvE in a strange manner? PvP players who react fast enough may also be seeing this strange window where both counters can apply at once.

How long ago was that filmed? PvE counter mechanics are another issue entirely wherein something will be blocking and not fall, or hit someone who is blocking 3 times and not fall either.

As per the PvP bit, a lot of that has to do with latency.