Lightsaber blocking

I played yesterday and everything seemed fine, like it has always been since pre-release: You can't block a lightsaber hit from behind, and you can block any force power from behind (including saber throws).

I'll pay more attention to this next time I play, but just so we're in the same page @Mattias_Corvinus , Force Powers have always been blockable from any direction (which includes saber throws and Palpatine's Lightning Attack, single or dual handed).

The only possible exceptions lie in these 3 new characters' Powers, as I didn't test them yet to see if they can also be blocked no matter where you're facing. But for all original characters, I tested this back in April to be sure, but already knew that from experience since January 2018

@Mattias_Corvinus 

About force powers not working when they should, you can share your experience on this report here: https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/Abilities-are-still-unreliable-after-Dooku-patch/td-p/7369116

And about Force Powers being blockable from behind, you either didn't play much since release, or your luck is playing with you, creating situations where you thought you were blocking (or the enemy) and the force power worked anyway.

I've been playing this game since pre-release, 1641 hours to be exact. I've first started to analyse it more deeply back in January 2018, during the 1.1 Patch, the Golden Patch as people from that time like to recall. Golden for HvV at least as we had the super dodge which would make the user immune to most hits and any staggering effect for its entire duration, a concept that favored timely strikes instead of button mashing like the subsequent Patch 1.2 favored, and the game slowly came back to this concept on each following Patch, but it's still not like it was back then.

So, on January 2018 I already knew force powers could be blocked from any direction, as I main Rey since I started playing, and by that time I was getting quite proficient with her already. And this included Palpatine's lightning attack, which was a relief, as back then his attacks would drain any defending saber's stamina quite fast, but as Rey always had her insight giving unlimited Stamina, she could withstand Palpatine until his stamina was drained. Rey was the key to allow Palpatine's counters to be effective, as Palpatine was incredibly OP back then (he is still very strong nowadays too), and she could be a bait to his attacks, allowing others to hit him.

I'm not at home now, so I have limited use to the internet, but when I get there I'll bring here examples from that time. My YT channel has gameplay videos of SWBFII2017 since the Beta Test.

But everything got even more detailed in April, when I finally got the tools to apply mods to the game, and one such mod changed all my tests: The SplitScreen Mod for PC, which unlocked the Console's SplitSCreen functionality that's hidden in the PC version by DICE's design. With it I could test many properties of the game by controlling 2 players, either in team, or against each other. One such test that impressed me was that even Lightsaber Throws could be blocked from behind, and its effect on the defending character is actually quite funny, as he/she first blocks, but then spins 180° to face the hit point, and immediately after that spins 180° again back to where your aim is pointing to. This effect also triggers the orientation BUG for rush attacks, which I reported here in Rey's Case as the Dash Strike's Orientation BUG: https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/Rey-s-Dash-Strike-Orientation-BUG/m-p/6827667

That clip for the orientation BUG report is actually from January 2018, despite I only publishing it a lot later.

So yeah, it's actually surprising that by playing since launch you never realised all force powers can be blocked from any direction, but this game has many strange quirks and interaction between mechanics, so I understand many things slipping people's attentions.

Please fix this!!

I've had the same problem to the point I sent a question asking how blocking is supposed to work. The response was that no one is supposed to be able to block from the side or back only the front.  Well I give exhibit A: https://youtu.be/49__qiLMZLw

@DaiJooky I'll try to recreate this in Arcade Splitscreen, but my assumption is the following:

While a character is standing up from the ground after a knockback effect, he/she can block any incoming attacks or abilities that can be blocked ( https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/Characters-can-shoot-block-on-the-ground-before-they-stand-up/m-p/7018706 ). However, even if you turn your camera around while fallen, your character model won't turn. This leaves me with 2 possibilities: while fallen you may be able to block attacks from any side (unlikely IMO) or as you may rotate your camera while fallen but the character model doesn't follow this movement, the blocking may respect your camera angle instead of the character's model, but when applying the blocking animation the game will respect the orientation of the character model instead of turning it to respect the camera orientation (more likely IMO).

Either way, I'll test this in Arcade Splitscreen this weekend along with the other tests I said I'd do.

Also, while blocking a saber attack from the front (should) always work, and blocking from behind (should) never work, blocking from the sides is tricky, I tested this back in April and it seemed somewhat inconsistent. Maybe depending on the attacking animation, the hit point may differ, and as a character's side is the limit between a blockable and an unblockable area, depending on the attack it may be blocked or not.

@theeliteone799 

I moved your post over to this one since it's related. The Battlefront team can definitely look into fixing any issues reported to them with blocking but they'll need very specific information to help reproduce the bug. Some helpful info can include:

• Hero being used
• Map and mode
• Hero enemies being engaged with
• What abilities were being used
• Video footage can be really helpful if you can upload/link it here
• Platform you're playing the game on

Thank you for the help!

@DaiJooky 

With my Arcade Splitscreen tests done, I can say my 2nd option is correct, I'll bring video evidence later. When your character is on the ground, or while he's suffering a forced movement, if you turn your camera, the character model won't turn. The game will respect the camera when deciding if you'll be hit by the front or the back, but the animation of a successful block will respect the character's model orientation, producing that weird situation which seems the character is blocking from behind.

I have a video of me playing as Luke, walking up behind Boba Fett, force pushing him and nothing happening.  Luke's force push works about 50% of the time. You can see here the push does not work but the slam did.

https://youtu.be/9giW6vhTHWo