Melon
Active Member
I have just recently started playing the server again (outside of duels) and have had the opportunity to experience first hand how unfair and stupidly broken KB swords still are on Loka. I had honestly thought that this would have been resolved a long time ago, as it had already seemed to be a pretty big problem on the server. I am creating this post in order to make a case for the removal of KB swords on Loka, or severely limiting them in some way, but also for those who see this issue differently than me to express their opinions and give alternate arguments or solutions.
From my point of view, there are only 2 reasonable arguments for keeping KB. These are knocking charges and (maybe) chasing kills. Requiring KB for knocking charges is understandable, as it would be extremely difficult to knock charges using only a standard sword or a bow. The other argument that I have sometimes seen given is that KB is very useful for chasing. I can understand this, as it doesn't seem fair that one person should be able to kite away from 10 with no way to catch them. Back in the day bow boosting was the simple solution to this problem, as whoever was better at it would either get away or catch the other. Before my ban I began to see the transition into KB swords being used to chase others, and I'm assuming this is how the entire "KB meta" developed in the first place. Someone realized that they could just KB people off of them whenever they needed space to pot or to refill, and there was never a reason not to. Anyways, it seems somewhat fair to have this mechanic in place now so you can't easily outrun a bunch of people. But, while KB is the solution to these issues, it also creates separate problems of its own.
KB has gone from just being used to knock charges, to being used to chase kills, to now being one of the most overly used items on Loka. Whenever someone is put in disadvantage during a fight, there is really no reason to not use KB. They have no incentive to tank the chain and try to find a way out of it (except in certain situations). This means that putting pressure on someone to get a kill is much more difficult, as all they have to do is look up once and spam click you off of them, sending you flying 10 blocks away. Once this happens all kill pressure is lost, as they can refill, reshulker, or pearl away. This issue also becomes exacerbated when fighting on any type of terrain, as once you are hit down a hill or mountain it takes even longer to get back up, and if you try to pearl they could also, immediately putting you a pearl behind. It becomes almost impossible to get or chase down kills alone, as they will only die if they qd, are at 0 pots, or they are actually so slow at refilling they can't look up to hit once. The main issue is that applying the kill pressure that would lead to them qding or not being able to refill in time is also no longer possible, as they can generate space extremely easily whenever they need to. This is the entire basis of potion pvp, and having an item counter so that it can only be accomplished sometimes isn't a viable solution in my opinion.
Both main arguments for keeping KB seem to have fairly straightforward solutions, although I don't have much of an idea how complicated it would be to actually implement them. For charges, only allowing KB around the tgen would seem to be a fair, as elytras are already disabled in certain zones (this also involves the elytras being put in a state of 0 dura so idrk if it even would work), or only allowing KB to only be used on people who are charged. The same could also be done for chasing, by only allowing KB to be used on teammates. I also have no idea if these solutions could actually be implemented, I'm just thinking of any potential way that might work.
Again, this thread is more an attempt to raise this issue for discussion, and try to gather more perspectives and arguments on this issue, especially those in support of keeping KB for generic use and why. I do not know the best way to solve this issue, I only know what I believe. KB seems to be broken, and I think it should be fixed. I look forward to seeing and debating your perspectives.
-Melon
From my point of view, there are only 2 reasonable arguments for keeping KB. These are knocking charges and (maybe) chasing kills. Requiring KB for knocking charges is understandable, as it would be extremely difficult to knock charges using only a standard sword or a bow. The other argument that I have sometimes seen given is that KB is very useful for chasing. I can understand this, as it doesn't seem fair that one person should be able to kite away from 10 with no way to catch them. Back in the day bow boosting was the simple solution to this problem, as whoever was better at it would either get away or catch the other. Before my ban I began to see the transition into KB swords being used to chase others, and I'm assuming this is how the entire "KB meta" developed in the first place. Someone realized that they could just KB people off of them whenever they needed space to pot or to refill, and there was never a reason not to. Anyways, it seems somewhat fair to have this mechanic in place now so you can't easily outrun a bunch of people. But, while KB is the solution to these issues, it also creates separate problems of its own.
KB has gone from just being used to knock charges, to being used to chase kills, to now being one of the most overly used items on Loka. Whenever someone is put in disadvantage during a fight, there is really no reason to not use KB. They have no incentive to tank the chain and try to find a way out of it (except in certain situations). This means that putting pressure on someone to get a kill is much more difficult, as all they have to do is look up once and spam click you off of them, sending you flying 10 blocks away. Once this happens all kill pressure is lost, as they can refill, reshulker, or pearl away. This issue also becomes exacerbated when fighting on any type of terrain, as once you are hit down a hill or mountain it takes even longer to get back up, and if you try to pearl they could also, immediately putting you a pearl behind. It becomes almost impossible to get or chase down kills alone, as they will only die if they qd, are at 0 pots, or they are actually so slow at refilling they can't look up to hit once. The main issue is that applying the kill pressure that would lead to them qding or not being able to refill in time is also no longer possible, as they can generate space extremely easily whenever they need to. This is the entire basis of potion pvp, and having an item counter so that it can only be accomplished sometimes isn't a viable solution in my opinion.
Both main arguments for keeping KB seem to have fairly straightforward solutions, although I don't have much of an idea how complicated it would be to actually implement them. For charges, only allowing KB around the tgen would seem to be a fair, as elytras are already disabled in certain zones (this also involves the elytras being put in a state of 0 dura so idrk if it even would work), or only allowing KB to only be used on people who are charged. The same could also be done for chasing, by only allowing KB to be used on teammates. I also have no idea if these solutions could actually be implemented, I'm just thinking of any potential way that might work.
Again, this thread is more an attempt to raise this issue for discussion, and try to gather more perspectives and arguments on this issue, especially those in support of keeping KB for generic use and why. I do not know the best way to solve this issue, I only know what I believe. KB seems to be broken, and I think it should be fixed. I look forward to seeing and debating your perspectives.
-Melon
yall are dumb