Bleeding Edge

  • Home
  • Fighters
  • Media
  • News
  • Forum
  • Support
  • Login
Join Up
Join Up
  1. Home
  2. strayfox3558
  • Profile
  • Following
  • Followers
  • Topics
  • Posts
  • Groups

@strayfox3558

190
Posts
393
Profile views
0
Followers
0
Following

strayfox3558 Follow
Alpha

Posts made by strayfox3558

  • Community Montage

    Hey guys,

    Obviously with the recent announcement that the game will no longer be supported, a lot of people have felt disappointed.

    I wanted to try to mark the end of development with a positive and create a video showcasing some of the best moments since the release of Bleeding Edge.

    Please check out the announcement video below, and if possible, submit your own clips for the Community Montage! Let's try and come together one last time to produce a send-off that the game deserves!

    Announcement Video with details on how to send your clips

    Feel free to ask any questions here!

    Many Thanks

    posted in Bleeding Edge General
    strayfox3558
  • Thank You.

    While Bleeding Edge still remains and will continue to remain playable for the foreseeable future, yesterday's announcement stating that there will no longer be any content updates definitely feels like endgame for the franchise, less than a year later from March 24th's full release. Although many felt like this announcement was inevitable, it doesn't hurt any less to finally have that confirmation.

    I don't really like to speculate on why this decision has been made, nor do I really want to use this thread to criticise how and where things could have been better. However, a lot of false information is being thrown around, such as the developers never cared or they simply gave up, the community was too toxic, they should've gone F2P, etc etc. I think the most likely outcome is the prioritisation of Ninja Theory's other upcoming projects, as they stated themselves in their announcement. Ninja Theory have earned themselves a pretty valuable reputation since the release of Hellblade, so much so that they were acquired by Microsoft Studios back in June 2018. Bleeding Edge was already well into development by this point. I'd imagine getting a brand new Ninja Theory-stamped game straight onto Game Pass in a somewhat lacklustre Game Pass market at the time (multiplayer, moba) would add a lot of immediate value to it. Obviously I don't have the official numbers, but I'd wager a huge percentage of players trying Bleeding Edge came from a Game Pass subscription, which is very much in line with the demographic of players you run into to this day - in fact there has always been a steady number of brand new players trickling in. With Ninja Theory's new projects, they are seemingly pushing new boundaries in the gaming industry and it's something to be genuinely excited about. I'd imagine all 3 of which, most definitely Hellblade 2, will be Series X system sellers therefore there's probably a decent amount of pressure from Microsoft to get these projects shipped. While the core community certainly believe Bleeding Edge can grow and become something special with more support, seeing current numbers on the game probably don't give enough reason for resources to remain on Bleeding Edge with the overhanging importance of the other 3 projects as stated. The developers of Bleeding Edge certainly don't deserve any resentment for this decision, and they absolutely did care, and still do very much. The closed Alpha period of the game's development was almost as long as the shelf-life of the full release. With the game's unfortunate release time right when the coronavirus pandemic truly hit the globe for the first time, and with Ninja Theory employees working from home ever since then, I'd imagine it was even harder to continue to update Bleeding Edge as much as they would've liked along with also staying on schedule with their other 3 projects.

    Now that's out of the way, I just wanted to say THANK YOU to the Bleeding Edge developers from myself and the community. From a personal standpoint, it has been an amazing journey. I first played Bleeding Edge back in June 2019, the first ever closed Alpha build of the game. I believe there were only around 50 people per region permitted to play at this point, during a 2 hour window every week. I didn't have much of an idea of what I was getting into, but I quickly felt very welcomed. I met some amazing people, as well as some of the developers who regularly joined in playing and chatting with the growing community. I remember always looking forward to that 2 hour session every week, and the time absolutely flying by when it eventually came around. I remember messing around in the Dojo when the servers were offline, trying out cool combos and looking for easter eggs with the community on the Discord. I have written NOVELS worth of feedback and discussion on the forums, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. The game was very different back then, and I wish a lot more people got to experience Bleeding Edge in that moment. To this day, I still hop on almost daily, with every character maxed at level 30. I really do love the game.

    My favourite parts of Bleeding Edge, in no particular order:
    -The character designs! Wow! Every character felt so unique and personable.
    -The soundtrack! I get heavy nostalgia when listening to "Life Packs Punches", takes me back to those moments of anticipation while waiting for the clock to hit 7pm so I could queue up during the Alpha 🙂
    -The EVOLUTION the game went through! Again I feel very privileged to have witnessed this, but it's truly amazing how much the game naturally grew and evolved. Not only with balance changes and QoL updates from the devs, but players discovering cool new strategies and combos. I remember one of the most common criticisms back in the Alpha was the game lacking depth and that's been well and truly disproved with present day Bleeding Edge
    -The devs - how unbelievably friendly they were towards me and the rest of the community. Playing and chatting with you all was an absolute pleasure

    I encourage you all to share your own favourite parts or favourite moments as well!

    I've been trying to come out with something to say for a while now, but for once it's been difficult for me to fill a page with writing on here without stopping! I'm truly sad to hear that this game will no longer be receiving support, and the days of being able to still find a match are numbered. But I will leave this game with some amazing memories, truly one of the best experiences in gaming I've had, so THANK YOU for everything! I wish you the best in your future endeavours. Thank you to the community for being awesome as well.

    posted in Bleeding Edge General
    strayfox3558
  • RE: To the bleeding edge developers

    The biggest detriment to the game in its current state is those who consistently 4 stack in public matches. For me personally, it's the reason why I haven't hopped on for a while. I don't understand why those same people cannot just split themselves into duos, they'd have far better quality of matches and they wouldn't turn so many new players away from the game.

    On the other hand, the game is tailor made for a 4 stack vs 4 stack experience. If we had a larger playerbase, therefore a larger pool of 4 stacks, it wouldn't be a problem at all, in fact it would be encouraged. However, like I said, in the game's current state, it has a tremendously large negative impact. If it's turning me away, then it's definitely turning Game Pass Gary away who is playing his 3rd ever game.

    In regards to "exploits", there really isn't any at all. Emote cancelling is not an exploit. It does exactly the same as staggering your combos does, you just press the emote button in between. There's nothing exploitative about that. Mount cancelling tanks so they were infinitely hitstunned WAS an exploit and was patched. If anything, emote cancelling is healthy for the game - it adds a lot more depth to the combat, and along with parrying, the game has evolved a long way since everyone used their entire combo strings one after the other. HOWEVER I can definitely understand the poor taste in using these methods in a 4 stack versus complete new players.

    posted in Feedback & Suggestions
    strayfox3558
  • RE: Developer Update (opposite of community update)

    Yep, this is definitely a great place to start, however the 1st section is definitely not inclusive to all of the technical problems that need fixing. Just off the top of my head as I'm bored on a Wednesday afternoon, I can think of:

    • Makutu voice line saying point A when selecting point C and vice versa
    • Queue randomly breaking, cancelling and then need to restart the whole game
    • If Maeve lands a Cage on Azrael Chrysalis in the air then it falls to the ground
    • In-game audio breaking frequently, especially lack of sound in backfills
    • Sometimes, if your controller disconnects during the pre-lobby screen, your screen will be greyed out (as if you needed to re-connect your controller, just without the actual prompt) and you will be unable to move once you have selected your character.
    • Buttercup loses stamina when charged whilst burling
    • Buttercup's hook goes through some solid objects
    • Unbearable freezes/frame rate drops multiple times a match. Text Chat usually crashes my game completely.
    • In-game team chat always seems temperamental despite all options being correct.
    • Certain mods don't work at all e.g getting Can't Touch Us 25% quicker (thank god tbh) and Azrael Soul damage % increase.
    • Cells get stuck under the map on Jersey Sink, in the mini trains on Landslide and other random places
    • Kill feed doubles regularly
    • Getting stuck in specific map spots e.g Boneyard under Point B
    • Zero walls can be extremely temperamental, especially when high ground to low ground and vice versa
    • You can parry a curse and it can also cancel stuff like cass swoop and makutu barge
    • Mekko shield won't recharge sometimes when bubble breaks
    • If lifeline cancels while mekko is surging, it cancels surge. Might be intended but just feels weird.
    • Bastardo shouldn't fall into Makutu's Charge if he Leaps on him from behind
    • Katamori can juggle infinitely if next to a wall
    • Health pack in the corner near the electric fence on Aqueducts often has a weird invisible wall
    • Gizmo bouncer gets stuck, places weirdly, places and can't be used, won't place on perfectly normal ground, etc
    • Hydrocore fire doesn't register for a full 2 seconds, can also kill if you walk close to the edge above.
    • You can peek a brew to spawn on sky gardens
    • If you jump and use oil slick as butter you get a speed boost
    • Burnout doesn't work at all sometimes. Just doesn't register the input
    • Super icon randomly changes during fights so you can't see its percentage
    • Killing blow sounds when you don't get killing blow, can be especially annoying as maeve with schadenfreude
    • Cell Mates Cage is really weird, if you get close enough you can still fire some projectiles inside e.g. Daemon shuriken.
    • The radius on the bomb in Dying Gift when it drops often shows as too small, if you're standing outside of the circle you still get hit sometimes.

    It does make me sad that there are so many of the same bugs I run into daily to the point I'm just numb to them all. There are some that I can live with and I obviously expect things to go wrong sometimes, but a lot of these genuinely hinder the experience, are relatively common, have been a thing since Alpha and Beta and have been given as feedback multiple times. I do wonder how many new players have been turned off by the technical issues alone.

    ...but looking at Discord and seeing devs unaware of Azrael's DPS mod not working and Makutu's Fighter page not up to date, I'd wager the majority of these have also somehow blown under the noses of those who "read all feedback". 🙂

    posted in Feedback & Suggestions
    strayfox3558
  • What's Next for Bleeding Edge?

    As we approach the 6 month anniversary of Bleeding Edge's full launch, I thought it would be interesting to discuss what's next for the game's future, as well as looking into a few realistic ideas that could potentially improve the quality of the game, the atmosphere surrounding the game and how the game is displayed to new players.

    Toxicity.

    I don't think it's any secret that the game currently breeds a bit of a toxic environment. An article that echoed an interview with Creative Director Rahni Tucker shortly before the full launch of the game resurfaced in the official Discord recently, which detailed hopes of making a more "friendly, enjoyable and playful" online competitive experience. There's no denying that the colourful artstyle and wacky undertone of the roster reflects that ambition. And I honestly think, for the most part, this goal was achieved during the Alpha. Most games concluded with a virtual handshake and a friendly discussion in the community Discord. A lot of the regulars began recognising and mutually respecting each other, whilst still accepting and encouraging brand new players who were learning the ropes. The presence of the developers themselves organising, teaching, communicating and relaxing in-game contributed towards forming a tight-knit, welcoming community as well.

    Fast forward to the present day - there are cliques, grudges, leavers, unsportsmanlike behaviour, flaming in every match, games are thrown, new players are gatekept into learning anything, the list goes on. The game no longer feels inclusive like it used to at all. And I really don't think it's a coincidence that developer interaction, both in-game and outside, has drastically decreased in correlation with the increase in community unrest/toxicity, especially with the context of the above article in mind.

    So how did we end up here? And how can we improve on the situation we're in?

    Tetris himself reminded us in a recent thread of the options in place to combat and reduce toxicity in games. Whilst that is effective and essential, it's about the bare minimum in online games nowadays, and there's certainly more the game could do both within the game itself and the community in order to bring the it closer to the ultimate goal of a more "friendly, enjoyable and playful" environment as mentioned in the article above.

    One of the biggest contributors, in my opinion, is the fact that every player is currently chucked into the same matchmaking playlist. At this stage in the game, there are so many unique categories of players - brand new players who are looking to kill a bit of time and just want to have fun, brand new players who are looking for a new competitive challenge, returning players who enjoy the game but aren't typically skillful or competitive, returning players that need a competitive incentive, etc etc. There is a matchmaking system in place designed to match similarly skilled players against each other. But that can't read a player's mindset. You need, at minimum, everyone on your team all to be pulling in the same direction in order to get the most enjoyment out of the game. It's not fun when you want to win in a competitive environment when your teammate wants to try Nidhoggr for the first time in the 30 mins he plays a video game every week. And that is compounded even further when the playerbase is as low as it is right now - you have even less of a chance of matching with another 7 players all with equal mindset and purpose. And I ultimately think this has a drastic effect on the amount of toxicity there is in the game.

    In order to improve on this, I think splitting the playerbase into separate playlists where they can choose where to be themselves and play with like-minded people would help a lot. Firstly, Ranked. This would be for competitive players who want to take the game seriously, communicate with others and prioritise winning. I would also recommend splitting this playlist into Solos and Squads to improve the quality and balance of matches and to appeal to a larger set of players. Secondly, Quick/Casual. This would remain exactly the same, or at least very similar to the core Ranked playlist, however it will emphasise non-serious gameplay and serve the purpose of prioritising fun. This is for the players who don't necessarily want to sweat it out every single match, test new characters or mod loadouts whilst learning the game in a fun, relaxed environment. Thirdly, Arcade. This could be something that all audiences can participate in that offers something different to anything else. This can be where Map Mods cycle, as well as other unique experiences where the developers can get really creative, like 2 second cooldowns or no character limits!

    Does this not sound like a much more positive environment, whilst remaining relatively realistic?

    The problem with this in the current climate is that the low playerbase simply cannot support several playlists. It should've been done a lot sooner. Of course that's easy to say now, and I understand the limitations of the developer team on top of a global pandemic. So I think a marketing push needs to be made ALONGSIDE this.

    Another thing in relation to toxicity that needs resolving is leaving matches during the team announcement pre-lobby without punishment. It is quite common for players to "Alt+F4" out of a lobby as soon as they witness an unfavorable match up or play with/against people that they don't get along with. And I think the penalty for leaving itself needs revising. Reducing rewards for example - there are several players that are at a point where they either don't care about the rewards, or they have all the cosmetics they want. I don't think this is incentive enough for people to stay in matches anymore.

    Marketing - Xbox Series X?.

    We're at a point in the game's life cycle where it needs to attract more players. Not just for the benefit and longevity of the game itself, but for the quality of matches that current players experience. A huge number of key additions that could vastly improve the quality of this game can only really be effective if more people are playing. I made a post recently discussing if the game could go free to play in order to bypass the hefty base price without Game Pass and increase overall numbers. Overall, I don't think it's likely for several reasons (you can read that post at the bottom of this thread: https://forum.bleedingedge.com/topic/1631/make-this-game-f2p )

    What I do think is a great opportunity that does a lot of the marketing for you, however, is the upcoming release of the next-generation Xbox Series X/S. I think this is a perfect opportunity to provide an upscale in resolution, frame rate and overall optimisation, whilst providing Smart Delivery and being at the forefront of Xbox's Game Pass for next-generation. With this, many new players will be looking for new games to play alongside their new console. This will be a perfect opportunity to really attract new players, and make the necessary adjustments, some of which I've discussed on here, in order to really elevate and popularise this game - because the potential is there! The core game is excellent and not many people disagree with that even if they've ended up with a negative experience overall. I mean, the game isn't even listed under "Games" on Ninja Theory's own website, come on!! This game could be so much more with a little more ambition.

    Community Support.

    We are desperate for more community support. It's been 2 months since we've heard anything about the game other than a couple of bug fixes (which we were never even given any patch notes for, it's something we had to figure out ourselves!). The Bleeding Edge social medias are extremely inactive. Even little things like reposting fan-art goes a long way, or polls about our favourite fighters, it doesn't have to be exclusively for content updates. Jibber Jabber has disappeared, what are the characters up to?? What about talking to the community in the Discord, or an AMA on the game's subreddit? The developers were unbelievably active with the community during the Alpha with all of this and a huge credit to them for that, it's one of my highlights in gaming. What happened to that? What about that amazing video you guys created of a 4v4 between yourselves that only ever got viewed by about 20 members of the community? More of that, or even a repost of that specific video, would be awesome!

    Not just more content to give to the community from you, the developers, but give the community more spotlight, and encourage content for the game! You can't even share a stream of Bleeding Edge in the Discord, in fact you get banned for doing so! I'd LOVE to see the in-game Watch Zone become a community hub of sorts and it's always something I've wanted to push for. Wouldn't it be awesome to promote a Bleeding Edge stream from the Watch Zone itself, or to take submissions from the community each week for a Bleeding Edge video to be showcased! How about an official Bleeding Edge tournament as well? The game is MADE for regular competitive tournaments, and we have the means to do it now with Customs. That would be great marketing in itself, showcasing the best gameplay from the community!

    One thing I would also like to suggest that I feel would be quite important. I feel like you guys need someone, or a group of people, within the community that you can report to weekly with feedback that reflects the whole community. Feedback such as balancing, overall game experience, bug fixes, quality of life improvements. I know you have the "Bleeding Edge Helpers", but with all due respect to them, I know they monitor and moderate the community occasionally and I don't know much else that goes on behind the scenes, they do not play the game week in week out, and you need someone to really paint a picture on what the experience is currently like for the average player. Someone "from the trenches". Something that is apparent to me is the speed in which you receive information. There are bugs that we know about weeks before you do. There are bugs in the game that require very quick fixes that would improve the game massively, yet they've existed for months. Personally, I'd love to be able to help out.

    "Ping Lock."

    As far as I am aware, the game currently operates under a "ping lock" of sorts. Meaning that if your ping passes a certain threshold, you are unable to matchmake to that region or server. This was in an attempt to reduce rubberbanding and increase overall stability in games. However, this affected a lot of players at the time who were in parties with players from all around the world. Just having one player in a party of 4 who was in another region often meant that the entire party could no longer matchmake together. As time has passed, this has also increasingly had an effect on every region outside of EU and NA due to the lower playerbases in the other regions. Meaning the game itself is currently stopping a large number of players from even matchmaking at all, or matchmaking within reasonable queue times. I really think it would be worth revisiting this strategy. While I know very little about networking, and I'm sure this was all considered before making the decision you did, I do think it's slightly unfair, and overall unhealthy for the game, that a percentage of players cannot play - and a lot of them did not even suffer too badly from poor network connections in the first place. One thing that's really pleasing about this game is the diversity within the characters. I think you're doing the game and your audience a disservice by not allowing certain players to experience the representation of their culture in a video game.


    Please let me know your thoughts, as well as anything else you'd like to add!

    posted in Bleeding Edge General
    strayfox3558
  • RE: Make this game F2P

    We're definitely at a point in the game's lifespan, in my opinion, where the number of players will not grow if nothing changes marketing wise. As a game that is 100% multiplayer, it needs players, and we're already encountering more negative experiences due to a low number of players. I think we'd all welcome a new content update, and it would likely encourage players that haven't played in a while to give the game another shot, but it wont sell the game to brand new players, as most on the sidelines have had time to make their mind up already.

    You've got to remember that the game is already on Xbox Game Pass though, which without looking at behind-the-scenes analytics, I'd assume makes up a huge proportion of players that installed the game. Microsoft announced that Game Pass had surpassed 10 million members back in April 2020. So this game is essentially F2P for 10+ million people already. Taking the base price away altogether would take value away from Game Pass (albeit a small amount of value being realistic) so I don't see Microsoft doing that. It may not be a Game Pass flagship title, but it certainly adds to the backlog.

    In terms of monetisation for Bleeding Edge - and again this is all speculation - Ninja Theory are owned by Microsoft Studios. You'd imagine there is some sort of monetary interest in it for NT too. I'm quite confident that they're not in a mountain of debt because of Bleeding Edge, therefore there is no real need business-wise to pour in resources in order to retrieve losses (e.g. making the game free to play and adding micro-transactions). It would also be going against a public stance of "no micro transactions", which could potentially damage a very reputable company's image. Ninja Theory's brand power is in narrative-driven 1P games, which Bleeding Edge is obviously not. They have two huge projects in development - Hellblade 2 and Project Mara - which I'd imagine takes up the majority of resources and where their focus is business-wise in order to turn a profit.

    Bleeding Edge, as reiterated several times in press releases, was always a passion project made by a very small team of developers that could be put onto Game Pass as a Microsoft Studios Exclusive title. Yes, it's also available on Steam but still requires an active Xbox account, which is in line with Microsoft's ethos of "Play Anywhere" anyway. As long as you're using their services, they aren't bothered where or how.

    Of course, the people that have worked, and continue to work on the game are immensely passionate and invested in it, however being realistic, the game was never going to be supported enough to turn it into a blockbuster title. It's done about as well as anticipated and will remain active until people stop playing and lose interest - as fans of the game though, we all wish the game will be/could've been that blockbuster title.

    posted in Feedback & Suggestions
    strayfox3558
  • Privacy and Cookies
  • Terms of Use
  • Code of Conduct
  • DMCA Policy
English (EN)
  • العربية (AR)
  • Português Brasil (PT-BR)
  • Dansk (DA)
  • Deutsch (DE)
  • English (EN)
  • Español (ES)
  • Suomi (FI)
  • Français (FR)
  • Italiano (IT)
  • 日本語 (JA)
  • 한국어 (KO)
  • Nederlands (NL)
  • Norsk (NO)
  • Polski (PL)
  • Português (PT)
  • Русский (RU)
  • Svenska (SV)
  • Türkçe (TR)
  • 繁體中文 (ZH-TW)
  • 简体中文 (ZH-CN)
  • No elements found. Consider changing the search query.
  • List is empty.
Bleeding Edge game rating

Ninja Theory

Xbox