Beta Update 10 Thread - Megabyte Punch

Hey Reptile! It's me again. Let me get right into it:
I'm very happy with this new update! Going back to the stunning shield break was for sure the right move. I feel like it's a bit long, but then it is meant to punish, so I think it's warrented. The wall sliding is a great addition. It makes wall jumps more generous and it feels natural. Thank you for taking my "lets see into the houses" suggestion to heart! It's a really convienient way to access my parts and colors, and it feels natural to go home to do these things. It also makes me realize that I am a member of the tribe, and helps motivate me through the story, because now I'm also fighting to protect and save my home. I think there's a bit of a bug with part numbering in the selection screens. I haven't had much time to play around with it any more lately because school is important, but once I have time to explore the rest of the update I'll give you my feedback. But I just wanted to tell you guys great job with this one.

I'll be honest, after the shield break knockback mechanic was put in place I told myself I wouldn't pick up the game until the next update. And when i picked it up to test the new update I was delighted with all the new changes and additions and especially the fix of the feature that I personally felt was game-breaking.

Thanks for all the hard work guys! I can't wait to see what's next.

Thanks for the kind words Tolma, it's good to have you back!

Looking forward to hear your feedback! And goodluck with school!

POSITIVES:
I really like the running moves, it feels more agile. The walljumps are much nicer, too, with the wall-sliding animation showing when you're actually going to walljump or not.
I've also noticed NPC Idle animations and a blocking animation, which are nice touches. While doing a 2-player duel, none of us have had our shields broken yet, so I can't really give any feedback on the stun.
I like the new Paint terminal, though I kinda wish it had a different model rather than being a recolor of the Collection. But it's nice to see previews and names of all of the colors, especially if you're using a multi-colored bot, like mine. (Invisible wings and legs FTW!)
Overall the update seems to add a bunch of neat little updates and details, which is really nice. Also, I love the improvement on the village, so there's no pit of doom on the left side anymore.
NEGATIVES:
I've noticed a longer stun while being knocked back. It's kind of annoying and makes 2-player duels more one-sided if one player can trap the other in a corner. Plus, if you get knocked off a platform slightly close to the death pit (happens a lot in Grass arenas), then there's absolutely no escaping it, no matter your damage.

Also, this doesn't really apply strictly to this update, but either buff Teleport/Launch or nerf Swoop. Having the wings equipped makes my bot pretty stubborn with both the Swoop and a drill dash.
And still on the topic of rebalancing moves, either buff Spinkick or nerf Pound. Both are finishing moves, but Pound has a much shorter windup than Spinkick while only dealing 2 less damage.
Also nerf Scoop. That move has probably killed me the most in any of the stages. I'll only have 100 damage but that move is powerful enough to activate the slo-mo of death.

Edit: Another note, turning around mid-combat can be a little sticky, often causing either of us in the duel to perform a combo (or several) in the wrong direction. Perhaps you could have some back-facing kicks that turn your bot around?

Edited by: Giik

I bought the game and started playing in update 9, so this is the first update to the game I've experienced. I have to say, I am amazed that you're actually listening to our feedback and acting on it. I guess I'm just used to monolithic game companies that don't really interact with their community, but wow. You guys are great developers, and I'm glad I preordered this game.

Good Stuff:
The new Horizontal-Z attack is a good thing for the game; combat feels more mobile now, and it makes for a fast interrupt attack for parrying finisher moves with long wind-ups. I think it might have a bit too much stun on it, because I can often just juggle the AI off the walls and they're stunned until they die or the knock-back flings them out of range. Other than that, it's a very well-balanced move and a good direction for the game in general.

I'm fairly sure that Uppercut now has a larger hurtbox; it's a lot easier to hit with and a much more viable ability, at any rate.

The wall-slide is awesome. Walljumping is more forgiving, and the wall-slide lets you carefully descend a shaft you think might be a bottomless death pit.

Along those lines, the barriers on the ceiling in campaign mode are nice. You can't become a digital Icarus anymore, which didn't make sense in the first place.

The changes to Digital Fortress in particular are really well done. The platforming is harder, but less bullshitty. I'm dying a little bit more than before, but the deaths are good deaths, deaths that I deserve fair and square. It must have taken a while for you guys to get the layout right, but it's definitely one of the best changes in this update.

The New Parts Screen: I love it. It's the best thing ever. The left Arm part is oriented to the right, which looks weird, but that's a minor quibble with an awesome new feature.
Not-So-Good Stuff:

Spinkick is now near-useless. Pound is basically Spinkick but much faster and slightly weaker, and the new Horizontal-Z attack makes trying to use Spinkick against anything with faster reflexes than my Grandma counter-productive; you're not ever going to be able to kick them, you're just going to get punched in the face. It's still good for one-shotting those little head-and-legs AI bots, but Pound does that anyway. The only real reason to use Spinkick is if you want to blast the campaign AI bots to bits, but can't spare an Arm slot for Pound for some reason.

The new Unknown Head. I mean, wow, 40% faster standard attack speed. There's no other part that does anything else like it in the game. I mean, at least the Giganto Missile has lower-power cousins in the Missile Revolver Arm/Chest, but the Unknown Head is now the only part in the game that increases attack speed. It is now the go-to head for multiplayer unless you're doing something weird with Giganto Missile or you need both Swoop and Virus Immunity. That 40% attack speed lets you interrupt finishers, dart about the map with the new Horizontal-Z, and generally makes the regular Z-attacks very powerful even without bonus damage parts. I like the idea, but I think the bonus speed should be lowered and given to other parts as well; there's still a whole lot of leg, hip, and shoulder parts that do the same things, so maybe some of those parts and the Unknown Head could get 10-20% attack speed instead of just getting 40% from a single head?

Bug: If you equip two Virus Immunity parts, then remove one, you'll be vulnerable to Virus Clouds even though you have a Virus Immunity part on. I tested this with the Khepriogram Core's "Plant Virus Mine" ability, the Zomzom Shoulders, and the Khepriogram Head in the tournament waiting area.

Thanks for your feedback guys! I'm glad it's more positive than last update!
I'll try to comment on the negative feedback:

@Giik:
I can be short on your points, I agree with them! It's part of the balancing and tweaking we have to do. Turning around in combat is indeed something tricky we'll have to "fix" or at least make more smooth.

@Ercr:
Thanks man, we are also glad you pre-ordered the game!
I think the pound is overpowered rather than the spinkick being near-useless. Nonetheless, both abilities have to be balanced more correctly indeed!
The idea idea for the + attack speed was indeed to add about 10-20% per part. This stat was actually added one day before we launched the update and the 40% on one single part was basically for testing purposes to see what happened. So in the next update this stat (which is quite nice I guess) will be distributed and balanced among multiple parts.

Thanks for pointing out that bug! We should give away badges for people who find bugs we were unable to find!

As always we appreciate your feedback! Thanks!