First things first thank you very much to the team for working on updates for the game!
Subjective feedback from a player point of view
Please consider adding distinct visual and/or audio effects during PBGC situations to communicate more info to the player.
Please also consider giving the person getting hit during small gap air left/right resets more ways to defend against them if they know the timing of the reset, perhaps by giving more characters more options to challenge them or avoid them with movement. I'm referring to setups such as Double jLP jMP jHK, Parasoul jLP jLK jMP, Peacock item drop setups, Bella's 2MK runstop setups, etc. I feel it's a common sentiment that people like SG because it has defense options vs fast mixups, but that's not the case in these situations with most characters. If setup correctly, only characters with air supers or really small double jump or airdash hurtboxes can escape without guessing block against a very fast mixup. This is in contrast to ground resets where everyone has some type of reversal option, or you can reversal tag if you have other characters. The RPS of meaty air crossunders, falling air buttons, and burst baiting / air throwing already exists with 'weaker' resets that have more of a gap. I think it would be more fun, especially for experienced players who know how to set these optimal air reset situations up as much as possible, to shake these situations up a bit. I think the good air setups should still feel strong, but still have that conditioning and risk/reward emphasized and take precedence over forcing a tough guess with no reversal options on every single hit.
In the same vein, I think giving a 3f reversal buffer for double jumps out of air hitstun would make escaping air resets feel more consistent with the existing movement options.
Please consider adjusting the speed, active frames, hitboxes, and confirm ability of anti air moves across the cast to feel more reliable against average jumpins. The whiff recovery of them could be adjusted to or maybe extra scaling to compensate. I think this would make the neutral poking game feel a lot more controllable.
Lastly, please consider adjusting the cancel windows on certain moves that allow the person who would normally eat a punish to attempt to punish the punish, even if they break the normal cancel window rules (like Beowulf chairless 2HP > arm, Band beat extend on assist hit, etc). These strategies have counterplay depending on your character, but it doesn't feel fun when you feel like you baited the move out. Also, I think cancels such as Parasoul pillar > bikes and Fukua drill > fireball super could be toned down (especially on chicken block where its very hard or not possible to punish), even if there's technically still a way to punish those moves. In this game it often feels like a punish on a risky thing is harder than it should be.
A crucial bug that comes into play often in real matches
If you input PP during blockstop, but not on the very first frame an attack connects, and if another attack connects before blockstop completes, pushblock won't come out. This can be seen on moves like Valentine jMP and Parasoul's level 3.
Feature requests
A training mode option to delay the dummy's pushblock by X number of frames after blocking something, similar to the delay burst option. This would help a lot while testing chains against PBGC.
An option in lobbies to flag yourself as a spectator, so that if only two people are playing they can rematch as if no one else is in the lobby. This would be very helpful for online tournaments where there are streamers and commentators in the lobby who aren't playing.
I also think the assist input swap feature brought up earlier would be helpful, because I have definitely found combos that only work when the assist is in a certain slot.
Subjective feedback from a player point of view
Please consider adding distinct visual and/or audio effects during PBGC situations to communicate more info to the player.
- When someone blocks an attack during their pushblock animation, a modified or more emphasized version of the red blocking circle effect could be shown. It would be even more helpful if it also communicated a degree of how late or early in the pushblock animation the attack connected (such as making the effect a bit bigger/louder when it connects late, to indicate the blocking character will be able to reversal very soon).
- When the actual PBGC window arises at the end of the pushblock animation, another effect could be shown on the blocking players so the player knows they can do longer PBGC and are back to a neutral state. Maybe it could reuse the air recovery spark animation. It could only be shown if an attack was connected during pushblock, and not if they simply push the character away without the opportunity for PBGC.
Please also consider giving the person getting hit during small gap air left/right resets more ways to defend against them if they know the timing of the reset, perhaps by giving more characters more options to challenge them or avoid them with movement. I'm referring to setups such as Double jLP jMP jHK, Parasoul jLP jLK jMP, Peacock item drop setups, Bella's 2MK runstop setups, etc. I feel it's a common sentiment that people like SG because it has defense options vs fast mixups, but that's not the case in these situations with most characters. If setup correctly, only characters with air supers or really small double jump or airdash hurtboxes can escape without guessing block against a very fast mixup. This is in contrast to ground resets where everyone has some type of reversal option, or you can reversal tag if you have other characters. The RPS of meaty air crossunders, falling air buttons, and burst baiting / air throwing already exists with 'weaker' resets that have more of a gap. I think it would be more fun, especially for experienced players who know how to set these optimal air reset situations up as much as possible, to shake these situations up a bit. I think the good air setups should still feel strong, but still have that conditioning and risk/reward emphasized and take precedence over forcing a tough guess with no reversal options on every single hit.
In the same vein, I think giving a 3f reversal buffer for double jumps out of air hitstun would make escaping air resets feel more consistent with the existing movement options.
Please consider adjusting the speed, active frames, hitboxes, and confirm ability of anti air moves across the cast to feel more reliable against average jumpins. The whiff recovery of them could be adjusted to or maybe extra scaling to compensate. I think this would make the neutral poking game feel a lot more controllable.
Lastly, please consider adjusting the cancel windows on certain moves that allow the person who would normally eat a punish to attempt to punish the punish, even if they break the normal cancel window rules (like Beowulf chairless 2HP > arm, Band beat extend on assist hit, etc). These strategies have counterplay depending on your character, but it doesn't feel fun when you feel like you baited the move out. Also, I think cancels such as Parasoul pillar > bikes and Fukua drill > fireball super could be toned down (especially on chicken block where its very hard or not possible to punish), even if there's technically still a way to punish those moves. In this game it often feels like a punish on a risky thing is harder than it should be.
A crucial bug that comes into play often in real matches
If you input PP during blockstop, but not on the very first frame an attack connects, and if another attack connects before blockstop completes, pushblock won't come out. This can be seen on moves like Valentine jMP and Parasoul's level 3.
Feature requests
A training mode option to delay the dummy's pushblock by X number of frames after blocking something, similar to the delay burst option. This would help a lot while testing chains against PBGC.
An option in lobbies to flag yourself as a spectator, so that if only two people are playing they can rematch as if no one else is in the lobby. This would be very helpful for online tournaments where there are streamers and commentators in the lobby who aren't playing.
I also think the assist input swap feature brought up earlier would be helpful, because I have definitely found combos that only work when the assist is in a certain slot.
