Stamina blocking mechanics require serious re-balance/re-work!

For the record, and before we get started, I wanted to note a couple things;
1. I relayed what all happened to me, and even this entire thread as it is typed out, to someone I know who does not play this game at all for constructive criticism in regards to explanation, context, and overall speech... He thinks I should of been harder about this as he'd of simply raged quit so hard that he'd uninstalled and never returned had this happened to him with all things considered... And had he the will to type one of these threads out, it would of been blasphemous... lol.. What I have here for you is not that! :D
2. I am legit not here to "♥♥♥♥♥" for the sake of "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥" either as everything I'm covering here is coming from a place of rational logic which I expect the game devs to actually have, given that they code all damn day! Logic should be natural to you!


If I'm doing something, or even nothing at all, while fully geared, fed, rested, and dry; Then at no point in time should I fail without contest versus any event that may come my way of which I am both knowledgeable towards, and overly prepared for, given of course that I personally do not do something stupid while facing such events! OBVIOUSLY!

Context: I'm in the plains, wearing full wolf tier armour, with a black metal shield, all of which are maxed out, digging a ditch to drain a tar pit. I have a mixture of stam food and health food providing more than 140 stam, and 120 some health. I am also rested, and dry, and given how these mechanics affect the game to the degree that they do (which is ridiculous!), should be kept noted!
And then a Hunt Event just pops up randomly. I'm thinking; Awesome! I should book it towards some lox's just for the ♥♥♥♥♥ and giggles of getting them all to kill each other! It'll be good times as usual!..... .. . . . . But no sooner than I had that thought, was I actively surrounded, and consistently attacked simultaneously to the point where blocking only served to drain my stamina! Like, the first wave all jumped on me at the same time, and took all of my remaining stamina because I blocked it! I thus got ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ destroyed by wolves, no contest, nothing I could do about it, because the stam simply didn't last long enough for anything, and took too long to regain for me to even try escaping, let alone fight back vs a pack that will simply re-spawn while the attacks were pressing and non stop! Again, while wearing fully upgraded wolf armour, which has ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ frost resistance (Am pretty sure wolves have a frost damage aspect to them as I've noted a damage difference between wearing padded armour and wolf armour while facing them.. I take more damage from wolves while wearing padded armour.. I suspect it is thus do to the frost damage aspect because that's the only logical thing that makes sense.).

I know for certain this is not what is intended here on the simple grounds that no self respecting game dev would hypocritically provide a player with tiers of gear that is utterly useless versus the mobs it's actively meant to be superior to! Why? BECAUSE WTF WOULD BE THE POINT!?!? What would be the point in playing a game that gives you no benefit for the efforts you've put in?! It was a lot of work just to craft the gear, let alone max it out, which is the same for all gear tiers! For any of them to not be effective vs the biomes from which they come from is utter and pure stupidity!

Like I cannot stress this enough, I WAS IN THE PLAINS! That legit means that I'm skilled enough to overcome the ♥♥♥♥ in the plains with just wolf armour on! I also have a maxed out black metal shield, pickaxe, and axe! That means I've been raiding the plains like this consistently for a long time now! The pickaxe, means I've also raided the mistlands with this gear!!!!!! I survived those encounters (Albeit barely) and progressed!

I thus conclude that me getting overwhelmed by a pack of wolves while wearing gear legit meant to give advantage over such, while dry, rested, and well fed, is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE! It legit means that your game's numbers are simply out of whack, and you guys need to get on it ASAP! NEVER should there be a scenario where I'm that prepared for an event to show up, and I get destroyed by it simply because you game devs don't play your own game enough to realise that the stamina numbers are ♥♥♥♥♥♥! How was this overlooked?!

And how btw?! How did you guys justify blocking to require that much stam? Or even any stam for that matter?! Do I loose stam getting hit without a shield? NO, NO I DO NOT! Obviously! And for obvious reasons! But me, holding a shield up (Essentially wearing a larger piece of armour on my arm!), somehow drains me? I'm not swinging with the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ shield!! I'm not using it as a weapon (Which is typical for vikings... Something you may want to look into while your at it all.).. All I was doing was holding it up and blocking with it, IE, hiding behind it! As long as the shield holds, there is no reason for me to suffer any kind of draw back from it! You guys legit need to learn the importance of functionality, and application of shield combat, and then, maybe you'll have a better chance at designing a shield mechanic!
Actually, after thinking about it, all you guys need to do is remove the stam cost for blocking, and add more durability to the shields, while also adding more durability loss based on hit type, vs hit damage vs block value (Me using a weapon to block should always be a bad ideal unless necessary according to the situation by clear and obvious comparison to blocking with a shield!). Simple and easy fix here that would bleed into realism as it was common for vikings to break their shields in mid combat...

Failure to acknowledge the severity of what I'm describing here though will only lead to the inevitable downfall of this game before it's even finished! I mean, fair warning here guys; Most people who play your game are using dev commands! If that's not a red flag for you game devs, I DON"T KNOW WHAT IS (You have a lot more than just stamina numbers and mechanics to level out FYI)!!!

P.S. My bro was with me most of the night in game, and had logged maybe 10-15 minutes prior to the event.. I counted more than 8 wolves.. There maybe a factor here that requires attention, but regardless, I'm in full wolf gear, maxed out, sporting a maxed out black metal shield and axe! I should not have been steam rolled like that by this event! I'm not saying I should not have died.. But I didn't make any mistakes here to earn a death as would be acceptable, unless the mistake was playing the game itself???

P.S.S. While talking about blocking mechanics.. You guys need to look into shield walling.. Couple times I was right next to my bro when we both put up our shields today to block an incoming seeker attack, just for both of us to get staggered.. ♥♥♥♥♥ is that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥?! Both of us block the same attack, and he crit hit us both? That's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ garbage guys! Do better!
9:13 am, December 28, 2022
69 0 comments 0 likes

WuffWabbit replied to Stamina blocking mechanics require serious re-balance/re-work! December 28, 2022 @ 7:44:07 am PST

Originally posted by Oakshield:
I didn't G.R. Martin's (or the OP's for that matter) full book, because if i want to do that, I might as well open a copy of one of the "Song of ice and fire" books.
But I already notice one thing the moment I came to that part:

"I was digging a ditch, when a hunt started."

At that point you should've taken your arse out of that ditch and face the wolves in the open.
You claim the wolves were upon you right away, but that's not true either.
Up to now each and every event I've dealt with - including multiple hunting wolves - the wolves always started a bit away from me, actually giving me the time to prepare myself for a fight.
It's for that reason I have put my food, my health potion and my stamina potion under hot keys. As that works a lot faster as opening my inventory, move the mouse pointer to what I need and click at it.

Ever since the start of this game, you're told to be prepared. You weren't and thus you died; blaming game mechanics for it.

I just hope you learned your lesson and made sure you got quick access to food, stamina potions and health potions next time, as those will save your arse. No matter if that arse is inside or outside a ditch.....


Thorin :)

... is it necessary to sign off your posts on a game forum?
6:13 pm, December 28, 2022
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Evgen M20x20 replied to Stamina blocking mechanics require serious re-balance/re-work! December 28, 2022 @ 10:11:55 am PST

Use Fenris armour. Its more move range per stam point for kiting.
Daggers/swords/range weap.
Armour >50 is useless scam for newbies. Armour sets bonus >>>>>>>>>>>>> armour def rate.
This game have not tank builds for hp+armour facerolling. Its move you down to the ground in mistlands, where noparry dmg is OMG even with 100+ useless armour rate. And you need block skill lvl >50 for good parry overtuned dmg by * monsters (if you no use cancer shields thats ruin your player skill ofc and you will be noob with threads like this garbage).
6:13 pm, December 28, 2022
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The Big Brzezinski replied to Stamina blocking mechanics require serious re-balance/re-work! December 28, 2022 @ 1:31:35 am PST

Blocking doesn't take any stamina to work. It just drains some, whether you have it or not. Blocking is more closely relate to stagger, which more health makes you more resistant to. 120 health is not that much in the mountains, let alone the plains.

You got caught out in open terrain with the wrong loadout. Your only realistic move would've been to bail. There would've been no way of overcoming this through prowess in the current game. Either the wolf event would need to be tweaked, or silver tier needs an atgeir for engaging wolf packs.
3:13 pm, December 28, 2022
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69 replied to Stamina blocking mechanics require serious re-balance/re-work! December 28, 2022 @ 1:33:17 am PST

Originally posted by XProwL:
Stamina in general needs to be completely overhauled but that would require the devs to actually play the game and understand why it's an issue.
When the game devs stop playing their own game that they are actively developing, it more often than not leads to ♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ games.. -.- .. Your statement makes me worry as I actively enjoy this game for the most part.. Like I'm in the late 1300's in terms of days spent in my own world.. Let alone the worlds of others..
3:13 pm, December 28, 2022
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Jaasrg replied to Stamina blocking mechanics require serious re-balance/re-work! December 28, 2022 @ 1:38:07 am PST

You see OP, you tried to do something and that's a big no around these parts.
Most people who play your game are using dev commands
Interesting claim, but then you look bit around and you see suggestions for using (terrain) exploits and I could buy what you're selling.
3:13 pm, December 28, 2022
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[CPC]Eradan replied to Stamina blocking mechanics require serious re-balance/re-work! December 28, 2022 @ 1:50:17 am PST

Hello people.
Please keep the discussion civil and constructive.
3:13 pm, December 28, 2022
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OctoberSky replied to Stamina blocking mechanics require serious re-balance/re-work! December 28, 2022 @ 2:00:25 am PST

Had You are being hunted just after clearing a Fuling village. I went up one of the guard towers and simply picked them off with Draugr Fang. Another time it was just as I was about to attack a village and I led the pack to the mob. I play solo and always keep my previous best armor and weapon in a chest by my bed for the vast majority of the cases where I don't have a convenient fallback position and have to go back after the event to pick up my gear.
3:13 pm, December 28, 2022
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LostLogicUnit replied to Stamina blocking mechanics require serious re-balance/re-work! December 28, 2022 @ 4:27:14 am PST


Originally posted by 69:
For the record, and before we get started, I wanted to note a couple things;
1. I relayed what all happened to me, and even this entire thread as it is typed out, to someone I know who does not play this game at all for constructive criticism in regards to explanation, context, and overall speech... He thinks I should of been harder about this as he'd of simply raged quit so hard that he'd uninstalled and never returned had this happened to him with all things considered... And had he the will to type one of these threads out, it would of been blasphemous... lol.. What I have here for you is not that! :D
2. I am legit not here to "♥♥♥♥♥" for the sake of "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥" either as everything I'm covering here is coming from a place of rational logic which I expect the game devs to actually have, given that they code all damn day! Logic should be natural to you!


If I'm doing something, or even nothing at all, while fully geared, fed, rested, and dry; Then at no point in time should I fail without contest versus any event that may come my way of which I am both knowledgeable towards, and overly prepared for, given of course that I personally do not do something stupid while facing such events! OBVIOUSLY!

Context: I'm in the plains, wearing full wolf tier armour, with a black metal shield, all of which are maxed out, digging a ditch to drain a tar pit. I have a mixture of stam food and health food providing more than 140 stam, and 120 some health. I am also rested, and dry, and given how these mechanics affect the game to the degree that they do (which is ridiculous!), should be kept noted!
And then a Hunt Event just pops up randomly. I'm thinking; Awesome! I should book it towards some lox's just for the ♥♥♥♥♥ and giggles of getting them all to kill each other! It'll be good times as usual!..... .. . . . . But no sooner than I had that thought, was I actively surrounded, and consistently attacked simultaneously to the point where blocking only served to drain my stamina! Like, the first wave all jumped on me at the same time, and took all of my remaining stamina because I blocked it! I thus got ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ destroyed by wolves, no contest, nothing I could do about it, because the stam simply didn't last long enough for anything, and took too long to regain for me to even try escaping, let alone fight back vs a pack that will simply re-spawn while the attacks were pressing and non stop! Again, while wearing fully upgraded wolf armour, which has ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ frost resistance (Am pretty sure wolves have a frost damage aspect to them as I've noted a damage difference between wearing padded armour and wolf armour while facing them.. I take more damage from wolves while wearing padded armour.. I suspect it is thus do to the frost damage aspect because that's the only logical thing that makes sense.).

I know for certain this is not what is intended here on the simple grounds that no self respecting game dev would hypocritically provide a player with tiers of gear that is utterly useless versus the mobs it's actively meant to be superior to! Why? BECAUSE WTF WOULD BE THE POINT!?!? What would be the point in playing a game that gives you no benefit for the efforts you've put in?! It was a lot of work just to craft the gear, let alone max it out, which is the same for all gear tiers! For any of them to not be effective vs the biomes from which they come from is utter and pure stupidity!

Like I cannot stress this enough, I WAS IN THE PLAINS! That legit means that I'm skilled enough to overcome the ♥♥♥♥ in the plains with just wolf armour on! I also have a maxed out black metal shield, pickaxe, and axe! That means I've been raiding the plains like this consistently for a long time now! The pickaxe, means I've also raided the mistlands with this gear!!!!!! I survived those encounters (Albeit barely) and progressed!

I thus conclude that me getting overwhelmed by a pack of wolves while wearing gear legit meant to give advantage over such, while dry, rested, and well fed, is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE! It legit means that your game's numbers are simply out of whack, and you guys need to get on it ASAP! NEVER should there be a scenario where I'm that prepared for an event to show up, and I get destroyed by it simply because you game devs don't play your own game enough to realise that the stamina numbers are ♥♥♥♥♥♥! How was this overlooked?!

And how btw?! How did you guys justify blocking to require that much stam? Or even any stam for that matter?! Do I loose stam getting hit without a shield? NO, NO I DO NOT! Obviously! And for obvious reasons! But me, holding a shield up (Essentially wearing a larger piece of armour on my arm!), somehow drains me? I'm not swinging with the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ shield!! I'm not using it as a weapon (Which is typical for vikings... Something you may want to look into while your at it all.).. All I was doing was holding it up and blocking with it, IE, hiding behind it! As long as the shield holds, there is no reason for me to suffer any kind of draw back from it! You guys legit need to learn the importance of functionality, and application of shield combat, and then, maybe you'll have a better chance at designing a shield mechanic!
Actually, after thinking about it, all you guys need to do is remove the stam cost for blocking, and add more durability to the shields, while also adding more durability loss based on hit type, vs hit damage vs block value (Me using a weapon to block should always be a bad ideal unless necessary according to the situation by clear and obvious comparison to blocking with a shield!). Simple and easy fix here that would bleed into realism as it was common for vikings to break their shields in mid combat...

Failure to acknowledge the severity of what I'm describing here though will only lead to the inevitable downfall of this game before it's even finished! I mean, fair warning here guys; Most people who play your game are using dev commands! If that's not a red flag for you game devs, I DON"T KNOW WHAT IS (You have a lot more than just stamina numbers and mechanics to level out FYI)!!!

P.S. My bro was with me most of the night in game, and had logged maybe 10-15 minutes prior to the event.. I counted more than 8 wolves.. There maybe a factor here that requires attention, but regardless, I'm in full wolf gear, maxed out, sporting a maxed out black metal shield and axe! I should not have been steam rolled like that by this event! I'm not saying I should not have died.. But I didn't make any mistakes here to earn a death as would be acceptable, unless the mistake was playing the game itself???

P.S.S. While talking about blocking mechanics.. You guys need to look into shield walling.. Couple times I was right next to my bro when we both put up our shields today to block an incoming seeker attack, just for both of us to get staggered.. ♥♥♥♥♥ is that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥?! Both of us block the same attack, and he crit hit us both? That's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ garbage guys! Do better!
Why did you block insted of roll?

Wolfs dont have frost attack, they deal slash dmg only.
https://valheim.fandom.com/wiki/Wolf

And you are wrong about wolf and padded armor
https://valheim.fandom.com/wiki/Padded_Armor#1
https://valheim.fandom.com/wiki/Wolf_Armor#4
Maxed out wolf gives the same armor vaule as just crafted padded armor.

You didt read the patch noted for H&H did you?
In this patch note they told us about how they reworked how blocking works.
Health is what matters when it comes to blocking, and so does Block armor on the given shield.

Staggered is based of your health, and have nothing to do with stam, and it was in the H&H patch note.
https://valheim.fandom.com/wiki/Blocking

I can see that you are mad, and i can semi understand your ranting.
However you dont fully grap the game, and it might not be what you want to be hearing..

I linked the wiki a bunch of times, i suggest that you read up on valheim features, like block and food or parry. Or ask about how to proper fight, blocking is not a good idear without high hp, its better to parry, or roll.

Note: We have players who say the game works just fine, and reworking anything would make the game far to easy. The mistlands like the swamp or plains is a spike difficulty. If you got the skill and know how you will do just fine, and making mistakes in this game gets you killed.

I never learned to roll proper, and that makes me lose more then i should.
3:13 pm, December 28, 2022
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Tiom replied to Stamina blocking mechanics require serious re-balance/re-work! December 28, 2022 @ 4:31:59 am PST

I don't mind the system overall but there are two things i dislike.

The first is that a parry costs more than a regular block, at least 2X as much stamina. When you have multiple enemies hitting you and you accidentally parry 2 attacks at once... RIP stamina.

The second is that you cannot choose to do a block over a parry. If i'm wandering around the mountains or the mistlands and inevitably get jumped by a wolf/seeker while waiting for stam regen I don't want my panicked block to turn into a parry and waste the rest of my stamina. I would much rather standard block, take the health hit(if any), keep the stamina and recuperate on better ground.
3:13 pm, December 28, 2022
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LostLogicUnit replied to Stamina blocking mechanics require serious re-balance/re-work! December 28, 2022 @ 4:34:23 am PST

Originally posted by Tiom:
I don't mind the system overall but there are two things i dislike.

The first is that a parry costs more than a regular block, at least 2X as much stamina. When you have multiple enemies hitting you and you accidentally parry 2 attacks at once... RIP stamina.

The second is that you cannot choose to do a block over a parry. If i'm wandering around the mountains or the mistlands and inevitably get jumped by a wolf/seeker while waiting for stam regen I don't want my panicked block to turn into a parry and waste the rest of my stamina. I would much rather standard block, take the health hit(if any), keep the stamina and recuperate on better ground.
I would just kite the wolf, can't remember what i do to seekers other then well run around trees or rocks with those, since i'm bad.
3:13 pm, December 28, 2022
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Letozeth replied to Stamina blocking mechanics require serious re-balance/re-work! December 28, 2022 @ 5:01:55 am PST

"I ran into the plains while my base was being attacked for fun."
Then you shocked Pikachu face when you die.

First of all, your health food was weak. You should have made better food. Your Stamina was fine though. Try to get to 150 health at least for plains if you don't have armor from the plains.

Stamina drain when blocking is like 1-2 for a fully blocked attack. I don't see how that's a problem. You clearly tried to block something ineffectively. Or with a shield not intended for blocking, bucklers etc. Either that or something else drained your stamina.

"Shield walling" does not work in Valheim to my knowledge. You'll both get attacked for the same value. Instead you should work together and block/parry every other attack while the other goes from behind or ranged attacks. And avoid any heavy attacks rather than block them if your shield can't handle it.

Your P.S.S message makes it seem like you're honestly just trolling to cause drama and getting people riled up.

The game can be hard at times, challenging and unforgiving even. And that's why most of us play and love Valheim.

It's not gonna suddenly die off because blocking with your shield drains stamina.
3:13 pm, December 28, 2022
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Oakshield replied to Stamina blocking mechanics require serious re-balance/re-work! December 28, 2022 @ 6:58:16 am PST

I didn't G.R. Martin's (or the OP's for that matter) full book, because if i want to do that, I might as well open a copy of one of the "Song of ice and fire" books.
But I already notice one thing the moment I came to that part:

"I was digging a ditch, when a hunt started."

At that point you should've taken your arse out of that ditch and face the wolves in the open.
You claim the wolves were upon you right away, but that's not true either.
Up to now each and every event I've dealt with - including multiple hunting wolves - the wolves always started a bit away from me, actually giving me the time to prepare myself for a fight.
It's for that reason I have put my food, my health potion and my stamina potion under hot keys. As that works a lot faster as opening my inventory, move the mouse pointer to what I need and click at it.

Ever since the start of this game, you're told to be prepared. You weren't and thus you died; blaming game mechanics for it.

I just hope you learned your lesson and made sure you got quick access to food, stamina potions and health potions next time, as those will save your arse. No matter if that arse is inside or outside a ditch.....


Thorin :)
3:13 pm, December 28, 2022
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XProwL replied to Stamina blocking mechanics require serious re-balance/re-work! December 28, 2022 @ 12:55:24 am PST

Stamina in general needs to be completely overhauled but that would require the devs to actually play the game and understand why it's an issue.
9:13 am, December 28, 2022
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DarthTanyon replied to Stamina blocking mechanics require serious re-balance/re-work! December 28, 2022 @ 1:12:13 am PST

this is the only event that has actually killed me.. thankfully it wasn't in a bad spot I was just cutting down trees in the black forest. .. WAY too many wolves spawn and the point that it can happen without the comfort and protection of your base IS the issue.. sure the stam thing sucks.. stamina is HORRIBLE in this game.. but the event itself sucks.. bad.
9:13 am, December 28, 2022
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Pvt Hudson replied to Stamina blocking mechanics require serious re-balance/re-work! December 28, 2022 @ 12:54:56 am PST

so your cat agreed with you - but for the rest of us who aren't going to read all that: can you summarise in 60 characters maximum ?
9:13 am, December 28, 2022
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