Auto Attack Lockin

Hello everyone!

We’ve been testing a kind-of quiet change on the PBE for awhile that we would like to bring forth very soon, and we’d like to bring it to your attentions: Attack lockin frames.

This change is intended to primarily make the last frames of attacking a bit more predictable, especially within slightly laggy environments. This helps smooth out experiences when your input frame timing mismatches from the server slightly.

#tl;dr There are 2 server frames right at the peak of an attack where your movement doesn’t interrupt that attack.

#Details The game server has a set frame tick rate. Each action takes a number of frames, depending on the action, to perform. It basically goes like this:

1. Input happens.
2. The attack spends some frames winding up. If you do any input at this time, the attack is canceled.
3. The attack fires.
4. The attack spends some frames winding down. If you do any input at this time, the attack still went off and you just get to move around. (This is essential for kiting!)

That’s the state as it is right now. On PBE it’s changed slightly:

1. Input happens.
2. The attack spends some frames winding up. If you do any input at this time, the attack is canceled.
3. For 1 frame, any movement input is held on to.
4. The attack fires.
5. For 1 frame, any movement input is continued to be held on to. Then your queued movement is processed.
6. The attack spends some frames winding down. If you do any input at this time, the attack still went off and you just get to move around. (This is essential for kiting!)

#In picture form O means “You can cancel the animation” and X means “Your movement is delayed until the next O” Each image represents 1 server frame (the server ticks at 30 fps)

http://i.imgur.com/hRXMgNz.png

http://i.imgur.com/qspgP5L.png

http://i.imgur.com/d5rcpww.png

http://i.imgur.com/oVwKWve.png

http://i.imgur.com/3g90vkF.png

http://i.imgur.com/DWw6Uik.png