A change in the anti-oneshot code


Arcanaville

 

Posted

I'm sure many people who play lower HP ATs like dominators or defenders have noticed that the anti-oneshot code works fine... IF you're at 100% health. But if you take 1 point of damage from a passive damage aura, the next enemy attack could easily kill you and you have no ability to prevent it. I don't think it's reasonable to expect players to start to worry about their HP the second they tick down to 99%.

Instead, an idea from Bayonetta: No matter what your HP is, the most any attack can do is reduce you to 1 HP, then the next attack you take will kill you. That's the way it works in that game, though naturally it needs tweaking in CoH to take into account the fact that HP regenerates. Instead, I suggest that any HP value that's not in the "Flashing red" zone (i.e. any HP >10%) is "safe", in that the most damage any single attack can do is to reduce you to 1 HP (Or maybe something like 0.5% of max, so you don't just get ticked down by a damage aura immediately with no chance to recover).

The key point here is that it shifts responsibility for a player's death from random chance to the player; being killed from 99% is just the computer deciding to roll a hit on a massive damage attack. There's nothing the player could reasonably do about it except pop a green every time they take even the smallest amount of damage (and obviously that's not reasonable at all). Meanwhile, if the player is killed under the changed system, they had plenty of warning: Flashing red HP means "YOU ARE GOING TO DIE" and it's a clear indication to the player that they need to either heal or run right now or the next attack could easily be fatal.

Big, scary damage attacks are still just as threatening as they used to be, because they still have the ability to drop you into that critical zone, and any small damage follow-up attack could finish you off. But the player wouldn't get the unavoidable situation of taking a small, near-harmless attack followed by a big damage attack and dying without any way to prevent it.


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Posted

/Unsigned. Leave it the way it is. It is Working fine.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharker_Quint View Post
/Unsigned. Leave it the way it is. It is Working fine.
gonna go with Sharker's call. Unsigned, works fine right now.


 

Posted

I'd never noticed the anti-oneshot until now. Usually, if i get attacked by a boss when playing a squishy, i get flattened, to which i wholly expect to happen ..


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Posted

I came into this thread being happy that someone was gonna suggest to get rid of this "easy button" and that I wasn't alone in hating the "anti-oneshot" system. I was wrong.

Defeat is already so incredibly meaningless in this game. It's worse when you know that if you're at 100% HP, you can walk up to Hamidon and burp in his face and nothing would happen until you get shot TWICE. Don't even get me starting on not being able to die by taking a long fall.

What kind of logic is that?!

And now you wanna make it EASIER?! Very much unsigned. Call me a masochist. But I enjoy reasonable challenge.


 

Posted

Well, if you're *not* at 100% health, that means you've already - er-taken a shot. So it is, really, working as it's meant to. And that ("WAI") also goes for things like the Rikti swords that do two "hits" of damage (Lethal and Energy.)

Besides, at what point would this kick in? You mention being "in the red," but that just isn't all that logical. If I'm in the yellow, I have 1000 max HP (for instance,) and am down to 450, it makes sense that, gee, that 800 point attack will kill me - not take me to 1 HP.

Going to have to go with /unsigned here, as well.


 

Posted

I have to /unsign this, but I understand where the OP's coming from when you CAN be oneshotted if you're using a -HP on self power.

Just hit Absorb or Share Pain? ONE SHOTTED! (This can be a bit acceptable, at least with defenders and controllers using Emp's AP and MMs using SP)

Used energy Transfer? ONE SHOTTED! (Although in this case, you really shouldn't have been using such a power against something that could one shot you in the first place)

Have oppressive gloom or ink aspect toggled? ONE SHOTTED! (This is where it can be kind of bad for people with those powers, especially since those who normally have them are the crunchier sort of ATs)


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharker_Quint View Post
/Unsigned. Leave it the way it is. It is Working fine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by je_saist View Post
gonna go with Sharker's call. Unsigned, works fine right now.

I'm gonna agree here.


 

Posted

The only foes capable of defeating anyone, even a petless mastermind, with a single attack are other players, AVs and Monsters (GMs can't one-shot you, even at a 49 level differential, because they're coded to scale to the player's level in regard to damage taken and dealt). None of which you face unless you choose to, and if you chose to fight something capable of defeating you with a single attack, then you chose to risk that defeat. You. Not the game, not a random hit roll, you.

It's also highly disingenuous to say that a control-heavy, buff-heavy or debuff-heavy AT can't do anything but use Respites to mitigate incoming damage.

This suggestion has no merit.


 

Posted

That's not exactly true. A foe that does multiple instances of damage in one attack can still oneshot you. Energy Blast does Smashing and Energy damage. If the total of the two is more than your total health, you're oneshotted.

In any case, I don't think any foes should have the power to oneshot any heroes. I really don't know why there's a discrepancy in health totals. Tanks, yes (and maybe Brutes). Their defining attribute is resilience. I don't see why everyone else can't have the same health.

I think the suggestion has merit.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ultimo_ View Post
That's not exactly true. A foe that does multiple instances of damage in one attack can still oneshot you. Energy Blast does Smashing and Energy damage. If the total of the two is more than your total health, you're oneshotted.

In any case, I don't think any foes should have the power to oneshot any heroes. I really don't know why there's a discrepancy in health totals. Tanks, yes (and maybe Brutes). Their defining attribute is resilience. I don't see why everyone else can't have the same health.

I think the suggestion has merit.
Can I get a big old facepalm for this post please?


 

Posted

I get the impression that a lot of people responding here are PvPers. The intention was that this would apply to PvE, not PvP. PvP is inherently broken anyway and this would most likely break it further rather than have any positive effect.


Astoria in D Minor, a horror arc. Arc ID: 41565 - The Beating Heart of Astoria: A Play in Five Acts. Arc ID: 170547 - Ignition of the Machine, a story with robots. Arc ID: 318983
Captain Skylark Shadowfancy and the Tomorrownauts of Today. Arc ID: 337333 - Signal:Noise, where is everybody? Arc ID: 341194
@The Cheshire Cat - Isn't it enough to know I ruined a pony making a gift for you?

12 second horror stories - a writing experiment.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Cheshire_Cat View Post
I'm sure many people who play lower HP ATs like dominators or defenders have noticed that the anti-oneshot code works fine... IF you're at 100% health. But if you take 1 point of damage from a passive damage aura, the next enemy attack could easily kill you and you have no ability to prevent it. I don't think it's reasonable to expect players to start to worry about their HP the second they tick down to 99%.

Instead, an idea from Bayonetta: No matter what your HP is, the most any attack can do is reduce you to 1 HP, then the next attack you take will kill you. That's the way it works in that game, though naturally it needs tweaking in CoH to take into account the fact that HP regenerates. Instead, I suggest that any HP value that's not in the "Flashing red" zone (i.e. any HP >10%) is "safe", in that the most damage any single attack can do is to reduce you to 1 HP (Or maybe something like 0.5% of max, so you don't just get ticked down by a damage aura immediately with no chance to recover).

The key point here is that it shifts responsibility for a player's death from random chance to the player; being killed from 99% is just the computer deciding to roll a hit on a massive damage attack. There's nothing the player could reasonably do about it except pop a green every time they take even the smallest amount of damage (and obviously that's not reasonable at all). Meanwhile, if the player is killed under the changed system, they had plenty of warning: Flashing red HP means "YOU ARE GOING TO DIE" and it's a clear indication to the player that they need to either heal or run right now or the next attack could easily be fatal.

Big, scary damage attacks are still just as threatening as they used to be, because they still have the ability to drop you into that critical zone, and any small damage follow-up attack could finish you off. But the player wouldn't get the unavoidable situation of taking a small, near-harmless attack followed by a big damage attack and dying without any way to prevent it.
So let me be sure I have this correct. It's ok to get hit with 99% of your health then finished off with 1% but not ok to get hit with 1% and finished off with 99%?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ultimo_ View Post
...discrepancy...


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ultimo_ View Post
That's not exactly true.
Yes it is exactly true.

Quote:
A foe that does multiple instances of damage in one attack can still oneshot you. Energy Blast does Smashing and Energy damage. If the total of the two is more than your total health, you're oneshotted.
Which, in reality, is not the case for any GM, elite boss, boss, lieutenant, minion or underling in the game. Not a single one of these critter classes has even one attack which can defeat a player in one shot. Not one. Even if the attack deals multiple types of damage or has an additional DoT after the initial damage is applied, the total is still less than a mastermind's base HP.

Nothing below AV/Monster status has the capability to one-shot player characters, in any way. They just don't deal that much damage.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Cheshire_Cat View Post
I get the impression that a lot of people responding here are PvPers.
Nope.


 

Posted

What?

No that's silly.

You can't take more then your max health -1 in any single boost of damage. Even when the game reports more you only took MH-1. Any more protection then that you should provide yourself.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Luminara View Post
Nothing below AV/Monster status has the capability to one-shot player characters, in any way. They just don't deal that much damage.
If you're looking at "With a single application of a single damage type," that's what the one shot code prevents. I got into an argument with Alpha about this a ways back, took a very low level into the RWZ, put them in rest, and let something that did a single damage type (think it was a drone) hit them.

Result, 1 HP. Even though the shot exceeded their HP. (And as a note, this is exactly what the one-shot code is designed to prevent dying from.)

Healed them up, let one of the energy blades hit them. Damage, shot of Energy, shot of Lethal - they died. (As pointed out, yes.)

Now, yes, this is an extreme example, but with enough of a level difference, non-AV NPCs can do enough damage where a PC would die from one shot. And you did say "In any way."


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Cheshire_Cat View Post
I get the impression that a lot of people responding here are PvPers.
Which has jack-all to do with the responses. I PVP, yes. I mostly PVE. I responded specifically for PVE. Quit looking for an excuse for the idea being shot down on the grounds of anything but "It's a bad idea."


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill View Post
If you're looking at "With a single application of a single damage type," that's what the one shot code prevents. I got into an argument with Alpha about this a ways back, took a very low level into the RWZ, put them in rest, and let something that did a single damage type (think it was a drone) hit them.

Result, 1 HP. Even though the shot exceeded their HP. (And as a note, this is exactly what the one-shot code is designed to prevent dying from.)

Healed them up, let one of the energy blades hit them. Damage, shot of Energy, shot of Lethal - they died. (As pointed out, yes.)

Now, yes, this is an extreme example, but with enough of a level difference, non-AV NPCs can do enough damage where a PC would die from one shot. And you did say "In any way."
I addressed that situation in my original response, but it disappeared in one of my edits before posting. Cest la vie.

Regardless, the solution to this scenario is, as with every other, already available. If your low level *** is being handed to you in a high level zone, grab it with both hands and carry it back to a zone more appropriate for your level. It's that simple.

Bottom line, you can't be one-shotted outside of extreme scenarios, such as running a TF solo or meandering around the RWZ with a lowbie, and players who do put themselves in those types of situations aren't doing so ignorantly, they actively choose to face that risk. So redesigning the game to prevent that risk from existing at all is a waste of development resources.

If you don't want to risk being defeated with a single attack, don't fight AVs solo, don't fight Monsters solo, don't fight +4 or higher enemies solo, don't try to spawn the Hamidon solo (is that even possible?). If you choose to do these things, you accept the risk.

Not snarling at you, Bill, just making sure that it's clear this time.


 

Posted

This is completely unnecessary. One-shots are pretty rare even the way things are now.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Cheshire_Cat View Post
I don't think it's reasonable to expect players to start to worry about their HP the second they tick down to 99%.
o.O
Who worries about that?


And what a fail in logic (as has been pointed out): if you are at less than full health already then by definition you aren't being killed in one shot.

edit: (except in the fine example provided by Bill. hhmmm. still an unneeded idea.)



/unsigned and frowning face for silliness


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Cheshire_Cat View Post
I get the impression that a lot of people responding here are PvPers. The intention was that this would apply to PvE, not PvP. PvP is inherently broken anyway and this would most likely break it further rather than have any positive effect.

Nope. not a fan of the PvP... pretty much PvE only.

Another frowning face for leaping to erroneous conclusions


City of Heroes was my first MMO, & my favorite computer game.

R.I.P.
Chyll - Bydand - Violynce - Enyrgos - Rylle - Nephryte - Solyd - Fettyr - Hyposhock - Styrling - Beryllos - Rosyc
Horryd - Myriam - Dysquiet - Ghyr
Vanysh - Eldrytch
Inflyct - Mysron - Orphyn - Dysmay - Reapyr - - Wyldeman - Hydeous

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharker_Quint View Post
/Unsigned. Leave it the way it is. It is Working fine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SkarmoryThePG View Post
...because nothing screams "logic!" like my blaster taking a 10k damage blast with his 10 health left and surviving.
Quote:
Originally Posted by firespray View Post
This is completely unnecessary. One-shots are pretty rare even the way things are now.
I can understand all sides of this argument. I can see merit in the "change the one-shot code" position, the "leave the one-shot code as is" position and even the "remove the one-shot code completely" position.

Ultimately I think the current version of the one-shot code is the workable compromise between all these points of view. Is it strictly realistic? Not really because if a character gets hit for 10,000 HPs of damage that "realistically" should kill him/her instantly. But having the one-shot code in place does give players a slim chance to manage a proverbial "Saving Throw vs. Death" against scenarios (either PvE or PVP) that would otherwise be pointlessly frustrating.

Basically I believe the current one-shot code is more positive to the game than negative. Changing it how The_Cheshire_Cat suggests would probably make it too good and removing it completely would be more annoying than simply leaving it alone as is.

P.S. As a quick anecdote I almost managed to fail a Master of Statesman's Task Force one time because I stupidly let my squishy Controller get tagged by the Arachnos Flyer in the last mission. The one-shot code keep me alive for the half-second I needed to pop a green and back away from it. Let's just say based on that event alone I don't think there's really any reason to change how the one-shot code works one way or the other.


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Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Luminara View Post
Nothing below AV/Monster status has the capability to one-shot player characters, in any way. They just don't deal that much damage.
Not entirely true. In the main game, yes, but in AE it's possible to make bosses with the ability to one-shot. It's happened to me from 100% to 0% by a boss using Build Up + Energy Transfer (or was it Aim?). Outside of AE, it can probably happened against even-con bosses under rare circumstances, such as perhaps a Rikti Chief getting damage buffed by multiple Guardians and then whacking a squishy who has no resistances or +HP. But those instances are going to be very few and far in between so may not be worth considering on the whole.