Revert Block Changes

[Exceedingly]

The Change to how block is leveled is kind of terrible. it was boring and tedious before, but now it's practically impossible unless you are playing solo with no summons or allies. every enemy killed by someone else is a lost block level and if you agro multiple targets you just have to guess which one gave you a block level. having to go up and hug every enemy you see to get a block level isn't exactly what i would call fun or immersive either. before you had to hoard a bunch of shields to break but at least it was one and done. now that aforementioned boring and tedious aspect of block training is stretched throughout the entire game.

[UnitedCommander]

True.

[mistersneak]

Originally posted by Exejh'Edienghli:

now it's practically impossible unless you are playing solo with no summons or allies. every enemy killed by someone else is a lost block level

If you're blocking an enemy that's focused on you while somebody else kills it (as with the Thank the Tank achievement), you have a great chance to level your Block skill. Please let us know if you find it doesn't work as expected.

[Exceedingly]

Originally posted by mistersneak:

Originally posted by Exejh'Edienghli:

now it's practically impossible unless you are playing solo with no summons or allies. every enemy killed by someone else is a lost block level

If you're blocking an enemy that's focused on you while somebody else kills it (as with the Thank the Tank achievement), you have a great chance to level your Block skill. Please let us know if you find it doesn't work as expected.

it takes around 4-12 hits to get a block level from my experience, how often will an enemy survive being attacked from behind in that scenario long enough to get of a minimum of 4 attacks? especially if you are playing with more players or have 4 plus followers. even if the stars align for that, it's a single level. how many time is that going to have happen to get a high level in block.

[mistersneak]

Originally posted by Exejh'Edienghli:

(...) it takes around 4-12 hits to get a block level from my experience (...)

Doing a block/attack combo results in an 80% chance to gain a block level, so 4-12 hits would be rather unlucky, though not impossible occasionally.

In investigating follower / multiplayer leveling circumstances, I started a Cleric and used all summon scrolls. By doing nothing but block while I allow followers to attack enemies, I gained 7 Block levels on floor 1. So it seems to be working as expected.
That said, some further testing in multiplayer may still be warranted because I can't confirm confidently how the leveling rate is in MP and it's possible it may benefit from further tuning.

The rework of Blocking, as it was with Trading, is to reward the practical use of the skill so that using it in your playstyle is more rewarding than using tedious grind / cheese strats, especially in multiplayer.

[Old Shoe]

I personally haven't had any issue lvling it to 100 in SP or in MP with other players. However I recommend solely going for the block lvling method of block -> hit -> block and if you're weapon is too damaging (enough to kill the creature before skill is gained) then switch to a weaker weapon till you get the lvl. through this method you can gradually lvl up two different weapon types at the same time all while lving block, though you should always switch to the weapon type with the lower skill.

if through doing block -> hit -> block and you still haven't received a point / the creature is at low hp then switch to the method of timed blocks without attacking to get the lvl.

all that being said followers do get in the way and most of the time aren't worth having around (and should be killed for xp) unless your build is focused around Leadership (Warrior / Mesmer).

[Exceedingly]

Originally posted by mistersneak:

In investigating follower / multiplayer leveling circumstances, I started a Cleric and used all summon scrolls. By doing nothing but block while I allow followers to attack enemies, I gained 7 Block levels on floor 1. So it seems to be working as expected.

That's not exactly a great test case, rats doing a bunch of small hits. By floor 4 you can get a party of geared humans from the shop. I spent the entire run up to the first boss with a full party and trying to block every enemy I could and only got to 55 by herx

I don't understand the need for the 1 level per enemy restriction. This system disincentives tanking larger enemies as it's more rewarding against rats and other fodder. Wouldn't an enemies healthpool be a good enough limit for the skill if the proc is on attacks received after block.

Also related questions about the new system, How does this work with ranged and magic attacks I tend to fit followers with bows and in MP allies tend toward magic, also can you get block levels against enemies using axes, I have yet to get a proc in that matchup.

[mistersneak]

If your party is nuking everything before you get a chance to defend, then it's expected you won't get a chance to get Legend in Blocking since you're not regularly defending. That said, a playstyle to adapt to this would always be to lead by rushing in to take aggro first so that your friends can flank and nuke.

If allies use bows, and if enemies use axes, it should work as expected. I need to confirm for magic, but that is expected, and if it's not working that way then it'd be a bug. By the end of a typical run, there are usually hundreds of enemies, so we have found in our testing that 1 level per enemy is generous enough, but again we should likely keep an eye on multiplayer to make sure everything is working as intended.

[[AN] Mad Scientist]

Honestly I would like a revert myself, I have not had any luck getting block exp off of the block-hit-block method, only getting one level per enemy. Same goes with getting exp for blocking attacks while an ally kills the enemy, making it entirely useless to do anything other than range, spam enchants on armor, use shield for free AC and not to block, and magic, blocking otherwise is not usable from my experience and due to QOD update i did stop for the longest time and only recently started tryin the game once more, I am still hating the change block had done to it since that change.

[Zibby]

I suppose I arrived after the block update. After several attempted runs of not getting my block anywhere meaningful, I assumed it was bugged and not working right, giving up the tank classes in favor of nuke damage. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon this discussion to find that it's not a bug, it's a feature! As I like to play with two or three players regularly, I would appreciate block being able to be leveled again, or even cheesed. I can understand the reasoning behind it, but the current method doesn't make tanking a fun playthrough.