Suggestions for the current survey (deadline 01/20/25)

So I’ve been mindlessly playing the current Deadly Assault mode and passively getting familiar with the aggressive attack patterns of the red mecha along the way and I gradually realized how the regular (non-EX/no energy) Special Attack is actually wasted on the rest of the agent-roster other than Yanagi who is pretty much the only one who can take full advantage of it with her stance change parry feature while everyone else could only slip theirs into combos without much payoff and as I grew more conscious and committed with my repeated attempts on finding out every split-second option I could take in dealing with such an aggressive enemy, I couldn’t help but imagine other agents being able to parry with their own underused (if at all) (non-EX/no energy) Special Attack, like, say Anby who has such a cool reverse-grip upward slash animation. I mean, if Evasive Assist agents can have technically 2 dodges, then it makes sense that Defensive Assist agents should also be granted 2 parries in turn, especially defense agents since parrying is supposed to be their specialty.

I also wonder if they could trade the invulnerability frames while using EX Special Attacks or combo finishers off with a guaranteed parry instead with how satisfying the breaking glass audio during Yanagi's parry sounds, which makes more sense in terms of immersion as well. I mean, I really wonder if it's actually necessary for agents to be invulnerable at those particular frames because, not only does it make much more sense for i-frames to retain its high value by being exclusive to ultimates or combo finishers, there are still other options to counter follow-up enemy attacks such as Evasive/Defensive assists as well as the more neglected Quick Assists which, YES - although they do require the active agent to be launched if not triggered by a support or Burnice/Seth which is what makes them frowned upon, there is actually a “feature not a bug” kind of thing with Yanagi’s parries wherein the game registers the enemy’s hit as this agent being launched if and only when you immediately switch to another agent after successfully parrying with her stance changing regular Special Attack, the incoming agent will actually do a Quick Assist instead of just running into battle which requires precise timing under special circumstances, such as taking heavier hits from Elite enemies and Bosses only. So if this bug is actually a feature and hasn't been patched yet, then I think it would be a fair trade-off if they can also buff QAs with more CC via knock-back/ups so we could lower the value of the i-frames during EX Special Attacks, which kind of feels immersion breaking at times.

I really think that by universalizing this particular parry feature exclusive only to Yanagi havers, not only could more players expand their options with skill expression with their favorite agents but it could also make their gameplay experience feel more epic and rewarding especially during clutch-moments as they add more challenging endgame modes because that sound of breaking glass when you successfully parry with Yanagi (or even Miyabi’s 5th Basic Attack combo finisher which I actually haven’t tested with the “feature not a bug” yet 🤔) is just so freaking satisfying and I really really wanna share that feeling with everybody else 🥺

Speaking of, do you guys think that Miyabi’s 5th Basic Attack combo finisher parry should remain as a Void Hunter privilege or once again universalized for all agents? I mean I'm not really sure if all agents have i-frames during their combo finishers, such as Piper and Yanagi but I still can’t help imagining other agents also parrying with their Basic Attack combo finishers 🥺 Perhaps these could be balanced by revisiting the interrupt-level system/interactions as well? For example, non-defensive assist parries could only square-up to enemies according to the size and/or specialty of the defending agent, such as (Ben) bigger agents being able to parry with more ease while smaller and more offensive agents like Piper would stagger but only against heavier or more powerful enemies like elites and bosses.

I do understand that these special features or privileges to Section 6 or even Void Hunter agents might have been intended by the devs as incentives to pull for them but I think that their actual values could still be retained by decreasing the parry window for the rest of the agents because as seen in the video showcase below, the amount of time when you can successfully parry during Yanagi's (non-EX/no energy) Special Attack stance change is quite generous while Miyabi's 5th Basic Attack combo finisher parry could very well be just bells and whistles because, as it is widely known, there are actually other agents who have i-frames during their own combo finishers. Again, I haven't really tested if Yanagi's "feature not a bug" applies to Miyabi's 5th Basic Attack combo finisher as well so feel free to find out for yourself. Come to think of it, I also wonder whether triggering Quick Assists this way could also activate Astra’s signature Drive Disc Set 🤔

Also, is anyone finding the auto-targeting system clunky and the lock-on feature not staying locked-on the enemy on top of negotiating these with the Auto Camera Rotation? I wonder if they could just do away with the former altogether and just focus on the latter by actually keeping your preferred target locked-on, under any circumstance because it’s just so frustrating when your agents would suddenly switch to the nearest or newest enemy that just literally spawned right in front of you while you’re finishing off your target that just got blocked off or knocked away with 0.00001% HP 🤬

I also wonder if they could revamp the UI because that split-second of glancing over to all the meters (HP, energy, ult, agent-resource, buff duration) on the upper left of the screen increasingly becomes riskier with more aggressive enemies/mobs which could cost you the momentum and sustain necessary to survive the upper levels of the endgame tower, and they’re actually adding another one in 1.5. Perhaps they could switch it closer to where the action is happening and if not just straight-up implementing some quick visual indicators/prompts over the agent or enemy like Caesar’s shield meter for any buffs/stances or debuffs (including those from W-Engines and Drive Disc Sets) that are currently active at least which is more at the center of the screen.

Lastly, as much as I love my Bangboos, they can quickly turn into a liability when they take aggro away from the active agent at the most unnecessary moments, especially when you’re baiting the enemy into your counters. I mean, they don’t even die even while having an HP stat so I really wish they could just save all that aggro towards Paperboo or future Bangboos who actually specialize on attracting aggro or defense.

How about you guys, what are your suggestions for ZZZ?