Rivals of Aether - Official Thread

[Death By Hugs]

By dont double post he meant dont post twice in a row... like you just did... again. You can edit your posts so its not nessessary to post a second time.

As for his smashes charging faster, I am not sure why you think that? are you trying to buff him, or nerf him, or are you just thinking about consistancy? It already increases his speed in so many other ways I could see the arguement that its for consistancy, but personally I think its fine as it is now. In my mind the wind Increases his movement, I would think charging is not movement, because... he is not moving. I also really dont think he needs it, but I dont know that it would really effect balance at all.

1. So you're saying I should say everything I want to say in 1 post?
2. I just think the rest of the cast is superior to Wrastor and he needs some buffing.

My ROA Tier List Opinions
S: Zetterburn
A: Orcane
B: Forsburn
C: Kragg
D: Wrastor

Also:
I've noticed that the randomness of a random character is not random. A random character tends to be the character you play as and the most common stage for random is Fire Capitol. Please fix this when you get the chance.

I've noticed that the randomness of a random character is not random. A random character tends to be the character you play as and the most common stage for random is Fire Capitol. Please fix this when you get the chance.

 

[bdeink]

I would really like to try this game for myself. It definately looks like a game that I would play seriously alongside the other smash games I play! Is it possible for me to get my hands on the game, or are the play testers more or less an exclusive club until release?

 

[Death By Hugs]

I would really like to try this game for myself. It definately looks like a game that I would play seriously alongside the other smash games I play! Is it possible for me to get my hands on the game, or are the play testers more or less an exclusive club until release?

Because online play is not currently avalible and playtesters ar not allowed to distribute the game, you'd have to join a playgroup if you want to play the game for yourself.

 

[Cirby64]

My character suggestions are on pg 44

Please, in the future use the 'Edit' function to add text to your post. Don't just start a new one 2 minutes after you made the last. Cases in which double posting is OK, is when it's been a while since you posted, and nobody is answering. Not a few minutes, or even hours after you posted something.

 

[Death By Hugs]

Please, in the future use the 'Edit' function to add text to your post. Don't just start a new one 2 minutes after you made the last. Cases in which double posting is OK, is when it's been a while since you posted, and nobody is answering. Not a few minutes, or even hours after you posted something.

OK.

 

[Shadic]

A week is probably the minimum amount of time you should post multiple times in a row. As @ Cirby64 said, please stop.

Thanks!

 

[RoA_Zam]

1. So you're saying I should say everything I want to say in 1 post?
2. I just think the rest of the cast is superior to Wrastor and he needs some buffing.

My ROA Tier List Opinions
S: Zetterburn
A: Orcane
B: Forsburn
C: Kragg
D: Wrastor

Also:
I've noticed that the randomness of a random character is not random. A random character tends to be the character you play as and the most common stage for random is Fire Capitol. Please fix this when you get the chance.

As a Person who actually has people to play with who are all competitive melee players and RoA playtesters, my tier list is as follows:

1. Orcane
2. Wrastor
3. Zetterburn
4. Forsburn
5. Kragg

Orcane has the most versatility of any character. With a great dash dance for spacing puddle strong attacks, a realy solid ground combo game with every aerial, down Strong, dtilt, utilt, and dash attack which allows other moves to work as finishers. He forces opponents to respect space with bubbles as a hazard and extended strong attack range ontop of a puddle. His recovery is questionable until you learn how to properly use sideSpecial, air-dodges, and wall jumps to your advantage and only use the puddle when you absolutely need to.

Wrastor definitely does not need any buffs. He was so overpowered before that he got heavily nerfed with end lag on strong attacks, and even then, he's still a huge threat. I have a difficult time as any character against Wrastor except orcane who makes use of up Strong attacks as finishers more on Wrastor than any other character. Wrastor has an amazing combo game even without the air stream side special. With it, his dash attack is big trouble for anyone who can't parry consistently, and he is the only character as of now that can do double aerials out of a shorthop, which allows for ridiculous combos starting with dair or bair. In the next build which features custom controls, I have set the right analog stick to aerial attacks instead of strong attacks and set one of the bumpers on an Xbox 1 controller to trigger strong attacks and immediately I got so good with wrastor. He's definitely no where near the worst if you have a good understanding of how to link attacks into strong attack finishers. His strong attacks KO as early as 75% with a sweetspot. His recovery is easily the best in the game and also the safest in the game.

Zetterburn has a problem with fire being too powerful. It'll be dimmed down in later versions a bit once dan experiments more with balance. If it was still as ridiculous as it was a few months ago, he'd definitely be my number one pick. His recovery is his huge setback right now, but his combo game is great. His recovery gets kind of shizd on by Kragg and orcane.

Forsburn is only above Kragg because Kragg is so slow that he has a hard time getting combo's started on opponents who know how to dash dance and bait out attacks. My tier list is based on actual human players instead of playing against CPU's or new players.

Kragg sucks @ 4nace . Personal opinion, even though most new players seem to use him. He has tactics but not as many as other characters have to use against him. I'd say his only good matchup is against Zetterburn barely, and possibly a neutral matchup with forsburn since they're both pretty slow. Kragg's specials are super important to use to win anything with Kragg.

-----

As for the random character select/stage select, that's already been noted. Dan used a method for RNG that's not very random at all only to reduce the time spent by the computer to randomly select things (I THINK). I've complained about it before and I don't think he really cares as of now with other stuff being more important to get done, like stages, new characters, music, new modes, online, etc. He'll probably get to it eventually though.

 

[Death By Hugs]

As a Person who actually has people to play with who are all competitive melee players and RoA playtesters, my tier list is as follows:

1. Orcane
2. Wrastor
3. Zetterburn
4. Forsburn
5. Kragg

Orcane has the most versatility of any character. With a great dash dance for spacing puddle strong attacks, a realy solid ground combo game with every aerial, down Strong, dtilt, utilt, and dash attack which allows other moves to work as finishers. He forces opponents to respect space with bubbles as a hazard and extended strong attack range ontop of a puddle. His recovery is questionable until you learn how to properly use sideSpecial, air-dodges, and wall jumps to your advantage and only use the puddle when you absolutely need to.

Wrastor definitely does not need any buffs. He was so overpowered before that he got heavily nerfed with end lag on strong attacks, and even then, he's still a huge threat. I have a difficult time as any character against Wrastor except orcane who makes use of up Strong attacks as finishers more on Wrastor than any other character. Wrastor has an amazing combo game even without the air stream side special. With it, his dash attack is big trouble for anyone who can't parry consistently, and he is the only character as of now that can do double aerials out of a shorthop, which allows for ridiculous combos starting with dair or bair. In the next build which features custom controls, I have set the right analog stick to aerial attacks instead of strong attacks and set one of the bumpers on an Xbox 1 controller to trigger strong attacks and immediately I got so good with wrastor. He's definitely no where near the worst if you have a good understanding of how to link attacks into strong attack finishers. His strong attacks KO as early as 75% with a sweetspot. His recovery is easily the best in the game and also the safest in the game.

Zetterburn has a problem with fire being too powerful. It'll be dimmed down in later versions a bit once dan experiments more with balance. If it was still as ridiculous as it was a few months ago, he'd definitely be my number one pick. His recovery is his huge setback right now, but his combo game is great. His recovery gets kind of shizd on by Kragg and orcane.

Forsburn is only above Kragg because Kragg is so slow that he has a hard time getting combo's started on opponents who know how to dash dance and bait out attacks. My tier list is based on actual human players instead of playing against CPU's or new players.

Kragg sucks @ 4nace . Personal opinion, even though most new players seem to use him. He has tactics but not as many as other characters have to use against him. I'd say his only good matchup is against Zetterburn barely, and possibly a neutral matchup with forsburn since they're both pretty slow. Kragg's specials are super important to use to win anything with Kragg.

-----

As for the random character select/stage select, that's already been noted. Dan used a method for RNG that's not very random at all only to reduce the time spent by the computer to randomly select things (I THINK). I've complained about it before and I don't think he really cares as of now with other stuff being more important to get done, like stages, new characters, music, new modes, online, etc. He'll probably get to it eventually though.

1. I am a competitive melee player, but I don't have people to play with. My tier list is mainly my opinion and how good I am at each character contributes to their number on the poll. Yes, I do agree that a pro ROA player would likely agree with your tier list, but for the somewhat competitive players i think mine makes more sense.
2. Thanks for letting me know about the RNG.
3. And lastly, how do you have the new build? I'm a playtester and I can't set the controls yet. I wasn't given the link.

 

[Cirby64]

I feel as though tier lists are kinda unwarranted right now. Not only is the game not finished, both content wise and balance wise, but there are still 3 characters to go that could entirely change the balance of other characters. Not saying you shouldn't be saying who you think to be strong and who isn't, but right now so many people just plain disagree with each other on who is the best/worst. I look at both of your tier lists, and I don't agree with either of them, especially with Kragg being low on both of them. I say that we should at least wait until all characters are able to be played, and we maybe got a few professionals from the Smash Bros. community to give their input.

 

[jhunter_d]

Orcane had two puddles at once. It was Wrast v Orc on the air map.
View attachment 53389

I've had that happen to me when facing Orcane CPUs at the beginning of a match multiple times. This is something that should be fixed, IMO. I don't know how to reproduce it though.

 

[steak4prez]

I feel as though tier lists are kinda unwarranted right now. Not only is the game not finished, both content wise and balance wise, but there are still 3 characters to go that could entirely change the balance of other characters. Not saying you shouldn't be saying who you think to be strong and who isn't, but right now so many people just plain disagree with each other on who is the best/worst. I look at both of your tier lists, and I don't agree with either of them, especially with Kragg being low on both of them. I say that we should at least wait until all characters are able to be played, and we maybe got a few professionals from the Smash Bros. community to give their input.

This. I would hold off on tier lists at least until we get networking in the alpha. I also disagree about Kragg being worst character, he's almost tied for best with Zburn from what I've seen. Once we get networking we'll all be learning new things about each character and each matchup.

EDIT: Orcane having 2 puddles is a known bug and should be fixed next build.

 

[Mum]

I feel as though tier lists are kinda unwarranted right now. Not only is the game not finished, both content wise and balance wise, but there are still 3 characters to go that could entirely change the balance of other characters. Not saying you shouldn't be saying who you think to be strong and who isn't, but right now so many people just plain disagree with each other on who is the best/worst. I look at both of your tier lists, and I don't agree with either of them, especially with Kragg being low on both of them. I say that we should at least wait until all characters are able to be played, and we maybe got a few professionals from the Smash Bros. community to give their input.

Tier lists have value in providing perspectives on balance. Definitely take them with a grain of salt, but they are an important gauge for all kinds of things that aren't just balance, such as character concepts and stage design.

I say, let people make tiers all they want, people just need to put the ideas behind why they ordered it as they did. Otherwise they are useless.

I particularly like Bones' comment about Kragg's versatility. I think this touches on my opinion that Kragg's kit needs some redesigns. It seems to me that some of his moves are zoning oriented, while some of his special and almost all of his smashes are rushdown oriented.

 

[Cirby64]

This. I would hold off on tier lists at least until we get networking in the alpha. I also disagree about Kragg being worst character, he's almost tied for best with Zburn from what I've seen. Once we get networking we'll all be learning new things about each character and each matchup.

EDIT: Orcane having 2 puddles is a known bug and should be fixed next build.

Agreed. Having Online will hopefully help to get a more general view on character strengths and weaknesses.

Totally off-topic and definitely shameless self promotion, but whenever the Online build drops I'll be streaming a lot at http://www.twitch.tv/thegoonhaus If you want to, come around and hang out or even play against me. I'll also be uploading all of my streams to the RoAHub channel, including highlights and the like.

 

[CaptainCrisb]

I was playing a ton of this today, and made me realize how epic it'd be to see KO animations again. Are they going to reappear? (For those who don't know what I'm talking about, I'm referring to when the enemy hits the screen or twinkles out into the distant sky when being KO'd at the top of the stage) (Also, sorry if this has been asked already) I'd also like to see some newer ones. Maybe something like them soaring with a trail of smoke in the background or something silly like that haha

 

[RoA_Zam]

3. And lastly, how do you have the new build? I'm a playtester and I can't set the controls yet. I wasn't given the link.

I'm the only one with a build past March besides Dan himself and people on the team. I've helped a lot with bugs before wifi release.

 

[jhunter_d]

I'm the only one with a build past March besides Dan himself and people on the team. I've helped a lot with bugs before wifi release.

Damn, that's pretty neat. I assume you're gonna get your name in the credits? Either way, cool stuff.

 

[HermitHelmet]

I'm the only one with a build past March besides Dan himself and people on the team. I've helped a lot with bugs before wifi release.

How solid is the networking right now and what issues need to be ironed out thus far?

 

[4nace]

How solid is the networking right now and what issues need to be ironed out thus far?

Desyncs. Getting rid of them soon hopefully. Then reconnecting for follow-up matches with the same person is the next issue. Will probably stream with Ryan sometime this week to see if I have improved it over the last week or not.

-Dan

 

[HermitHelmet]

Desyncs. Getting rid of them soon hopefully. Then reconnecting for follow-up matches with the same person is the next issue. Will probably stream with Ryan sometime this week to see if I have improved it over the last week or not.

-Dan

Holy balls, hype is through the roof.

How are lobbies and/or matchmaking going?

 

[someonetookjacob]

I would really like to try this game for myself. It definately looks like a game that I would play seriously alongside the other smash games I play! Is it possible for me to get my hands on the game, or are the play testers more or less an exclusive club until release?

There are directions to apply to be a play tester on the first page, I am not sure if they will be accepting new testers for the next build or not, but if you care enough, its worth applying. (Death by Hugs's responce neglected to mention this.)

 

[Death By Hugs]

I'm the only one with a build past March besides Dan himself and people on the team. I've helped a lot with bugs before wifi release.

LUCKY!

 

[jhunter_d]

Desyncs. Getting rid of them soon hopefully. Then reconnecting for follow-up matches with the same person is the next issue. Will probably stream with Ryan sometime this week to see if I have improved it over the last week or not.

-Dan

So what you're planning is a centralized matchmaking system opposed to direct-connecting/semidirect-connecting like what is used with Dolphin? That's really cool. What service are you using for server hosting?

 

[Cirby64]

So what you're planning is a centralized matchmaking system opposed to direct-connecting/semidirect-connecting like what is used with Dolphin? That's really cool. What service are you using for server hosting?

What makes you think he isn't using peer to peer? The way it sounds is that he is using something very similar to Dolphin. Not sure if GGPO is used by Dolphin, but that would be another option. I don't think that if Nintendo decides that peer to peer is the way to go cost wise, that Rivals of Aether, an indie game has any option but that.

Correct me if I'm wrong though.

 

[4nace]

It's peer to peer.

We aren't planning lobbies for launch (we'll have a 2 person lobby for 1v1 ahaha). Haven't started on matchmaking just yet. Right now we are simply doing direct connect with IPs.

We are running into issues with the game not being fully deterministic. Trying to pinpoint the reason exactly. Could be my fault, could be the way Game Maker Studio is set up. So right now I am doing a lot of adjustments on the engine before building up the infrastructure around networking.

-Dan

 

[Cirby64]

It's peer to peer.

We aren't planning lobbies for launch (we'll have a 2 person lobby for 1v1 ahaha). Haven't started on matchmaking just yet. Right now we are simply doing direct connect with IPs.

We are running into issues with the game not being fully deterministic. Trying to pinpoint the reason exactly. Could be my fault, could be the way Game Maker Studio is set up. So right now I am doing a lot of adjustments on the engine before building up the infrastructure around networking.

-Dan

While you're here, I have a couple questions that I hope you can answer. My b if these have been answered before.

- Are you planning to release Rivals on Steam? Considering how easy it is nowadays to get a game on Steam with greenlight, I think it'd be a really good idea.

- Something I would find amazing, is if there was a team match making queue. As in 4 different computers/Xbones connect to each other. It would be great if you could invite a friend and then queue. I do understand that fighting games are kinda iffy in this sort of situation, since if one person lags, the others will as well.

- Any estimate on when the next build is dropping?

Thanks!

 

[someonetookjacob]

While you're here, I have a couple questions that I hope you can answer. My b if these have been answered before.

- Are you planning to release Rivals on Steam? Considering how easy it is nowadays to get a game on Steam with greenlight, I think it'd be a really good idea.

- Something I would find amazing, is if there was a team match making queue. As in 4 different computers/Xbones connect to each other. It would be great if you could invite a friend and then queue. I do understand that fighting games are kinda iffy in this sort of situation, since if one person lags, the others will as well.

- Any estimate on when the next build is dropping?

Thanks!

The answer to the first question is yes. Steam and XBox are the two platforms it will lanch on.

The second, Idk.... but I think he said on a reddit thread that he wanted to include that, how much of a priority it is I do not know?

As for three, Again... Idk... but I have heard next month. (thats not saying much at this point though)

Maybe Dan will answer better?

 

[4nace]

While you're here, I have a couple questions that I hope you can answer. My b if these have been answered before.

- Are you planning to release Rivals on Steam? Considering how easy it is nowadays to get a game on Steam with greenlight, I think it'd be a really good idea.

- Something I would find amazing, is if there was a team match making queue. As in 4 different computers/Xbones connect to each other. It would be great if you could invite a friend and then queue. I do understand that fighting games are kinda iffy in this sort of situation, since if one person lags, the others will as well.

- Any estimate on when the next build is dropping?

Thanks!

- That's our target platform for PC. Just haven't gone through the greenlight process yet.

- We want to do team match making but plan on having it be 1 Xbox/Pc vs 1 Xbox/Pc with two players on each. This is the easiest way to keep the lag reduced and keep the mode competitive. If we do an exhibition version we will look into 4 different devices, but no promises.

- June sometime. Not sure 100% of the features in it. Char 6 and balance updates are the most likely features.

-Dan

 

[bdeink]

There are directions to apply to be a play tester on the first page

Thanks!

 

[Death By Hugs]

Orcane had two puddles at once. It was Wrast v Orc on the air map.
View attachment 53389

Also, Orcane killed me and I didn't come back. Orcane was going crazy as if I were invisible.

 

[Death By Hugs]

Looks like we've got a lot of new content in this next update! Online, naming, updated pause screen, and a ripple effect when KO'ing opponents!

Don't forget the new tree character!

 

[theopenlink22]

I would definitely recommend a particle affect when hitting an opponent, it will feel just more crisp. Same with sounds, maybe add a sound to charging a strong attack? (Im still supporting a Rivals of Tether mode XD)

 

[akf09]

hey sorry i havnt been on in a while i broke my C stick and i didnt have internet for like a week haha, gunna buy a cheapie 15 dollar controller soon.

 

[CaptainCrisb]

Oh, keep forgetting to say this, is it possible to have an option where, while running and pressing the c-stick, it does a dash attack instead of a strong move? I'm so used to it that way in Smash, it's kinda weird whenever I'm playing against someone and then I realize I'm about to do a strong move instead.

 

[theopenlink22]

Well isn't a running dash attack easier to just do with your regular normal attack button?

 

[jojr123]

I agree with captaincrisb. When i approach my opponent i sometimes like to use the c-stick, so if I see that my opponent is in ending lag, i can do a jump-cancel usmash, but if they recover in time, i can dash attack.

 

[CaptainCrisb]

Well isn't a running dash attack easier to just do with your regular normal attack button?

For the people who like to use the attack button a lot I'm one of those people who get C-stick happy sometimes haha

 

[likiji123]

Don't forget the new tree character!

Wait what?!
Tree character??
what have i missed

 

[Death By Hugs]

Wait what?!
Tree character??
what have i missed

I'm pretty sure it's a tree. Read my character suggestion on pg 44. Dan said one of my ideas were similar to the next character, and since treetop lodge is a new stage...

PS: That's a lot of mains.

 

[RoA_Zam]

Oh, keep forgetting to say this, is it possible to have an option where, while running and pressing the c-stick, it does a dash attack instead of a strong move? I'm so used to it that way in Smash, it's kinda weird whenever I'm playing against someone and then I realize I'm about to do a strong move instead.

Setting attack to c-stick instead of Strong moves will allow you to do that. But it then limits your options while running to only either dash attack or upStrong with the c-stick. Switching from strong to attack for the c-stick is only really even useful on wrastor for his aerials with the c-stick. I then just set one of my bumpers to be strong attacks so that I can hold down a direction and press/hold RB (I'm using Xbox one controllers) to use/charge a strong attack.

 

[theopenlink22]

I think there should be a life/plant elemental warrior, I was thinking that maybe hi down special or something could plant a seed that takes a long time to grow, and can be attacked to be destroyed by the opponent, but when grown is a fruit you can eat to heal yourself, maybe make him a projectile based character because there isn't one yet. Just an Idea...