Ultimate Buzzkills to Patch and Features to Add [6.1 Thread]

[VGFan95]

Edit - See new thread here.

 

[Ryu Myuutsu]

Buzzkill #2 - No Team Attack Toggle for Team Battle [Online]
To remedy this buzzkill, add a Team Attack ON / Team Attack OFF option to the "Preferred Rules" menu.
Team Attack ON is essential for many doubles players, and without it a large segment of the player-base is being ignored.

Hard no on this.

It may be an essential feature for tournament matches but it is not ideal when you are playing with strangers across the internet. There is no way to communicate directly with your teammate and among players of lower skill, they wouldn't coordinate their attacks properly which would easily lead into teamkills. There is also the immense potential for grieving and trolling, like having your teammate turn on you thus becoming a 1 vs 3 match. With Team Attack Off as default, both players are forced to fight together without getting in the each other's way.

 

[Frizz]

I feel like there should be an option in Team Battle arena lobbies that enforces random teams so that two people don't stack the same teams and destroy the entire lobby because they're the only two people who have experience fighting together. That would help me a lot.

 

[VGFan95]

Hard no on this.

It may be an essential feature for tournament matches but it is not ideal when you are playing with strangers across the internet. There is no way to communicate directly with your teammate and among players of lower skill, they wouldn't coordinate their attacks properly which would easily lead into teamkills. There is also the immense potential for grieving and trolling, like having your teammate turn on you thus becoming a 1 vs 3 match. With Team Attack Off as default, both players are forced to fight together without getting in the each other's way.

Then set your rules to team attack off and let those who want team attack on turn it on.

It doesn't matter what tournament rules use. Team Attack is desirable because it reduces projectile and smash attack spam, makes players think about what they are doing, and improves the diversity of the characters seen in 2v2 play.

 

[Ryu Myuutsu]

Then set your rules to team attack off and let those who want team attack on turn it on.

It doesn't matter what tournament rules use. Team Attack is desirable because it reduces projectile and smash attack spam, makes players think about what they are doing, and improves the diversity of the characters seen in 2v2 play.

When you can directly communicate with your partner, I'm sure that that is not much of an issue. But not online. Not every player is skilled enough to coordinate with their partner. And I'm not sure if that really influences diversity.

You also overrate the importance of the feature by saying that a large portion of the player base is being ignored. Let's not kid ourselves. The side of the community that cares about those competitive rules you propose is probably between 5%-10% of the total consumer base.

 

[VGFan95]

This game has sold over 14 million copies. How many players is an acceptable value to ignore? 500 thousand? 1 million?
I do not see the point in that.
Not when an optional feature, that doesn't force current players to play any different than they do now, could be added to bring those players in.

I will repeat myself again and say that the recommendation for a team attack toggle (or any of the items suggested) has nothing to do with it being found on the competitive ruleset or the skill of the participating players.

Edit: According to the Smash Wiki, the total copies sold is over 15.7 million.

 

[Ryu Myuutsu]

This game has sold over 14 million copies. How many players is an acceptable value to ignore? 500 thousand? 1 million?
I do not see the point in that.
Not when an optional feature, that doesn't force current players to play any different than they do now, could be added to bring those players in.

I will repeat myself again and say that the recommendation for a team attack toggle (or any of the items suggested) has nothing to do with it being found on the competitive ruleset or the skill of the participating players.

And how many of those players actively seek to invest themselves in competitive doubles online? How many are willing to tolerate jumping online with team attack on and risk getting an incompetent partner or a griefing teammate?

If team attack on was an option, rest assured that players will jump in at first only to go back to the default option due to the problems of partnering up with faceless strangers over the internet.

Even if that amounts to 1 million players (which is extremely unlikely) they are still a small number and at best they are a fringe group who won't necessarily be prioritized.

Also, other points I want to address:

Feature #7 - Break the Targets [Global]
This would bring Break the Targets to Ultimate.

Easier said than done. Customizing these stages for each of the 75+ fighters is a gargantuan task which is why it hasn't been a priority in quite a while. And even if they decided to, patching it for free is a pipe dream.

Feature #8 - Coin Battle [Offline]
This would bring Coin Battle to Ultimate.

An underused mode which wasn't given priority either. A project the size of Smash means that there are several tasks at hand to complete and there are going to be areas that require more work than others, hence why they are prioritized over others. Considering how jam packed Ultimate is, coin battle was simply axed. It's not a bad thing to have but it's also not a requirement nor necessity by any means.

 

[VGFan95]

And how many of those players actively seek to invest themselves in competitive doubles online? How many are willing to tolerate jumping online with team attack on and risk getting an incompetent partner or a griefing teammate?

If team attack on was an option, rest assured that players will jump in at first only to go back to the default option due to the problems of partnering up with faceless strangers over the internet.

Even if that amounts to 1 million players (which is extremely unlikely) they are still a small number and at best they are a fringe group who won't necessarily be prioritized.

You have stated exactly what I have suggested in my post - an option for players to play the mode they desire!

Considering I just wrote that, this group is obviously not prioritized.
If a player does not want to play this mode... then they probably would not play the mode!

Don't forget you can play online locally with a friend and that I have suggested being able to play with a friend remotely.

Easier said than done. Customizing these stages for each of the 75+ fighters is a gargantuan task which is why it hasn't been a priority in quite a while. And even if they decided to, patching it for free is a pipe dream.

I did not suggest how Break the Targets should be implemented in Ultimate. This is why I left off any further explanation.
I was assuming most readers would understand that creating a unique Break the Targets stage for each fighter is illogical and unlikely.

We are more likely to see the targets added to custom stage builder mode, or a mode similar to what Smash 4 had.

An underused mode which wasn't given priority either. A project the size of Smash means that there are several tasks at hand to complete and there are going to be areas that require more work than others, hence why they are prioritized over others. Considering how jam packed Ultimate is, coin battle was simply axed. It's not a bad thing to have but it's also not a requirement nor necessity by any means.

This game has been out for a year. What is being prioritized now? The 83rd character? The 108th Stage?
Characters and stages are the money makers of course, and obviously do have priority. However, I'm not convinced they motivate players to continue to play the game a few days after their releases, considering how great the roster and stage list already are.

Coin battle was listed because Free For All (4+ players) can struggle with players not approaching each other.
Its the closest thing Smash Bros has to a King of the Hill style game mode.
Time battle and infinite stocks do help encourage players to approach in FFA, but it would be great to have the coin option as well.

Adding the features is extra - marketable bonus content - but not a priority task.
Resolving the buzzkills needs to be a priority before post-release development is ended for this game.

 

[Ryu Myuutsu]

You have stated exactly what I have suggested in my post - an option for players to play the mode they desire!

Considering I just wrote that, this group is obviously not prioritized.
If a player does not want to play this mode... then they probably would not play the mode!

Don't forget you can play online locally with a friend and that I have suggested being able to play with a friend remotely.



I did not suggest how Break the Targets should be implemented in Ultimate. This is why I left off any further explanation.
I was assuming most readers would understand that creating a unique Break the Targets stage for each fighter is illogical and unlikely.

We are more likely to see the targets added to custom stage builder mode, or a mode similar to what Smash 4 had.



This game has been out for a year. What is being prioritized now? The 83rd character? The 108th Stage?
Characters and stages are the money makers of course, and obviously do have priority. However, I'm not convinced they motivate players to continue to play the game a few days after their releases, considering how great the roster and stage list already are.

Coin battle was listed because Free For All (4+ players) can struggle with players not approaching each other.
Its the closest thing Smash Bros has to a King of the Hill style game mode.
Time battle and infinite stocks do help encourage players to approach in FFA, but it would be great to have the coin option as well.

Adding the features is extra - marketable bonus content - but not a priority task.
Resolving the buzzkills needs to be a priority before post-release development is ended for this game.

If it's not a priority, it's not a buzzkill. How does the absence of those features ruin an enjoyable game for most people?

It's nice to have a coin battle mode, even if it's going to be overlooked most of the time, but that's it. It's not necessary. Does not having it make the game significantly worse for you? By labeling it a buzzkill that needs to be "solved" you imply that it does, which is a gross exaggeration.


Developers can either try to make a good game or they can try to please everyone. The latter is obviously a recipe for failure.

 

[Robbie_Haruna]

I can at least understand most of these as there's be some (even if minor,) gameplay gain from each one.

Feature #5 - Static Launch Trail Color Option [Global]
This would force the color of the launch trail smoke to match the port color of the player that got hit, instead of the player that dealt the hit.

But why this? This isn't a buzzkill as it is and there's nothing to really gain by adding this.