Help Me Advise Kabam: This AI is Beyond Bad - Vega's State of The Game - MCoC

[@MichaelJK_]

Since the update, ai has been playing like beroman or FinTech. The amount of times I've been sidestep intercepted and parries, which should have been fixed, is insane. I've played for nearly 10 years and have experience from the highest tier but even I struggle making sidestep intercepts. I feel like kabam realises that they have issues however they continuously invalidate the concerns of the community and try to downplay them to a crazy degree. That constant gaslighting is infuriating.

[@ArishemTheJudge-19]

The one thing Kabam is consistently Great at.

[@elthan2661]

Having the same issue as you and also a 10 years player here. You know it's time to give up the game when the AI is starting playing better than a human :(

[@mro9086]

And then say just gimme some of yo money...kascam strikes again!!!!

[@mirzanfloriancristian2279]

10 years😂you guys need to get a life 😢

[@vsauce2061]

@@mirzanfloriancristian2279explain

[@lizermcoc3873]

The ruining of light intercepts is my biggest issue. They’ve always been safe but now defenders just walk up to you and punish you with a light before you can recover from the light. It’s awful

[@baggaman4582]

Emote Spammer 🎤

[@koraboinaneelaveni7147]

The ai also walks up to my light attack and then somehow manages to parry

[@BrandonGavin_EDC]

@@koraboinaneelaveni7147exactly! It’s infuriating man.

[@MCOC_NOMAD]

This one for sure. I consider light intercepts to be a great skill to develop. Now we're being punished for it.

[@lightburn2296]

This right here!

[@decryptor5231]

Anyone else been getting special intercepts whilst defenders holding block? Definitely a recent thing

[@grossekugeln]

This

[@BrandonGavin_EDC]

Yup

[@nuk214]

Worsen after each update.

[@ChuBatt73]

What he said ⬆️

[@hyphoon709]

light spam on light intercept and special intercept while theyre holding block kabams just blatantly scamming their community rn lmao we need to boycott

[@BraveSpy]

I also hate when ai acts super passive and refuses to use SPs no matter what i do in front of it. And it just gains and gains and gains power and then throws SP3 and i'm dead

[@mro9086]

I thought i just was losing me edge cuz now I'm thinking about retiring

[@agrawalmahesh616]

i was annoyed as hell due to this issue. the defender wont throw the sp until its too late and i just lost with few hundred points. if i throw sp2, when the defender is at sp2, they will go sp3 and fire instantly. but they will not throw sp2 quickly. and if you throw sp2 thinking they will die, they will not die and they will have just the right amount of health remaining which is 1% and a sp3 ready. then they will not hold that sp3 so that you can dash on their block to kill. they will fire the sp3 instantly even you are holding block. so this bullshit is going on since a long time.

[@joshmason1460]

No SP2 for like 30 seconds…but instant SP3 the millisecond it goes red. Good fun!!

[@evilkidd1876]

100%

[@Mike-km6vg]

​@@agrawalmahesh616bro the 1% issue is infuriating. Cost so many matches

[@Shrink330]

I've had some moments recently where my jaw just drops. The A.I. dexing and re-parrying, light intercepting, and so much more... is just rough. I will always say that my skill level needs to improve, but after years of playing, it feels different. Experiencing it in content like BG's and end-game modes can be significantly demotivating. Vega, right now, and I appreciate the difficulty with fixing this, but they either take the time to fix it and pull back on other stuff, or they reduce the difficulty of nodes, etc. until they can stabilize it. I am not looking forward to the S.O.S. gauntlet coming up simply because I won't find it fun to face those nodes and this A.I.

[@BrandonGavin_EDC]

I agree so much and the fact that the game is so much more in depth with counters needed and defenders getting way harder it all together is just too much.

[@faustoutloud]

The A.i needs to be fixed asap i said even if the game has to come down for a week or 2 and just give the players Compensation AQ Glory and Loyalty and Calander apologize for the issues and make sure they are resolved 100% 😊😊.

[@Nuke_mcoc]

I personally think we shouldn’t ask for compensation. I’m at the point where an adequate solution to the ai is MORE THAN ENOUGH compensation. Without it I can’t justify playing any more. I think it’s the line to draw. We the player base aren’t asking for free stuff, we’re asking to a playable game that gets back to that enjoyment that keeps us here.

[@Fezinator84]

They would never take the game down for a week or more as they are making to much money

[@grandtheftaudio6386]

Gacha's dont get taken down "for a week or 2" for multiple reasons, biggest factor being money. They COULD shut down BG/AQ/Incursions for a week or 2 no problem but to take a whole game offline is a headache I dont think anybody would understand.

[@chaoslimits]

Vega, the first example is a problem but you’re missing the actual issue. The AI used to have a maximum distance at which they needed to take an action. Dave had a name for it but I forgot. Now they can walk forward right up to you without taking an action (that zone of action has been reduced to almost zero). In the serpent example, he walked into the zone where you anticipated him to dash from experience. But he didn’t dash and was able to react to your dash with a back dash and punish. It’s two issues. AI is much smarter/faster and is also able to just walk right to your face.

[@dukepa04]

You're right about that. Dave used to call it the "action point" in his videos.

[@yexq2494]

that walk up happens instantly also

[@ngunn7601]

I’ve noticed this a lot in all modes

[@BrandonGavin_EDC]

This AI is superhuman in every way, they throw special 3 the moment it fills up no matter if you hit them in the face or not, the light intercept, walk up to you somehow and if you try to hit them they parry you. If you try to intercept at all they hold block, any power and you can’t get an opening. They recover after specials and lights and mediums faster than we do as well. Oh and the backdraft and sidestepping they do now is blatant cheating. No way the AI should be able to do that.

[@RookYZRM1]

Whatever is happening, whether intentional or unintentional, it also seems to add fuel to the idea of “AI peek” or whatever the programmers call when the AI looks at your inputs and responds to them at a level that’s not humanly possible.

[@BrandonGavin_EDC]

There is no doubt in my mind the switched that on. The AI knows exactly what you are doing and you can see it in real time. Anyone who played coin machines at the arcade like old mortal kombat can feel it. 😊

[@yexq2494]

the ai also knows which specials are more effective. i had nick fury throw his sp1 into my block. and mangog throw his special 2 into my block

[@yours_truely]

Well, what do you think the AI does? Look at the sprites? Of course it looks at your inputs. That's normal. They add any delay after that to make it look more human.

[@RookYZRM1]

@@yours_truely You're right, my phrasing was a little vague, the AI should "seem" like it's responding to your characters movement, just like we're doing with the AI...right now it feels like it's responding to the input, not a programmer so maybe it is all reaction timing.

[@blacjam17]

I gotta say this AI is pretty crazy. Going through the Arcade Games Showcase was painful, since most could parry. Not to mention they did the exact same dodge/intercept repeatedly. It’s just not right. Appreciate you bringing this up Vega!

[@jackdoran1329]

The arcade AW thing AI is insane dude. Literally playing against other players lol

[@wilj9976]

The AI should not be able to do things we as players can not do. This example, once you have initiated that dash, it's going to happen for us.

[@tham7032]

I’m getting parried in the middle of a combos

[@tvanza7791]

Not only this, with the intercepts and special intercepts going on, the hitboxes are borked as well. Hits that I know should have made contact are just whiffing and the defender is getting priority over my attack and BOOM!!! Dead

[@JohnnyEssex]

The Ai has been like this for months.. I'm glad a CCP member is finally speaking about it (it's always you that actually has our backs) Playability needs to be a top priority for a game, I use to be able to play this game for a couple of hours in a single stint.. I can only handle half an hour now, I've also knocked my spending on the head by alot... Which is a shame, and it being not fun is the main reason... Thanks for this vid

[@jamest5153]

I’ve been getting intercepted like this for a bit now… I thought I was going crazy

[@ogyounggucci1580]

AI hitting the perfect backdraft

[@Stubbsy0703]

I will admit that when the a.i started to retaliate a bit different than normal during fights, at first I thought it was an error I made that caused me to get hit or knocked out but when I noticed the a.i was doing it often, I started to question my skill/ability. I will happily admit and own up to my own errors that cause me to lose a fight or take lots of damage but if the a.i itself has changed unintentionally then that takes a load off of my mind and I can stop thinking that I might be a terrible player. It takes a lot for a dev to admit to a mistake so massive respect and firm handshake to Kabam Crashed, I absolutely love this game and want it to thrive for as many years as possible. I will continue to support and play this game for as long as I feel like Kabam are hearing us and helping improve our MCOC experience. Thank you Vega for making a video on this and for letting us use the comments as a way to provide feedback.

[@HannahDoesThings]

Thank you for opening this up to a constructive discussion. I've been getting increasingly frustrated at AI shenanigans for the past few months, to the point where I question my skills. I'm not the best player out there, but I'm not as bad as the AI would have me think, either. Hopefully Kabam can figure this out. This game has so much potential still, and it would be such a shame if it gets held back by these issues.

[@twist1298]

Hate to see it but if we're being honest the AI has been a issue for a long time, but now that it affecting higher tier players now folks want to get Kabam's attention to fix things. It's pure comedy atp. This video clip is the AI sidestep in slow motion.

[@BrandonGavin_EDC]

I know this is true. So many have brought this up and top players were good enough to not see it but now it’s that bad..

[@twist1298]

@@BrandonGavin_EDC Excellent point, the issue is that it shouldn't take only the top players speaking for things to be done. It's supposed to be a community. Just like how the exploit was fixed in less than a day even them taking down the quest to fix it because it benefits the player base vs something that stays in the game for yrs before changing it i.e. the revive farming or bugs that cost resources like Crossbones with the Bane node from a while back.

[@josecardoso2486]

Preach. People have been saying this FOR MONTHS and everyone was like "stop whining and get better" and look who's crying know huh

[@Supersaiyanprime24]

That shit has been happening to me for a long time. Already forgot how long. I still get reparried too.

[@kenlavictor2526]

You are showcasing the exact two reasons why I've seen long time players quit the game recently. 1. A.I. like you are showing here, and 2. The recent champs that are just ridiculous defenders like serpent and bullseye and many others. Does KABAM not understand that it's just not any fun fighting these champs? Even I have lost some of the enjoyment of this game just because of the ridiculous defenders and nodes. Just my 2 cents....

[@ElixerGaming-z4b]

What if majority of us don't play this game until AI is fixed. We have the power if we just unite.

[@grizzleg8729]

The amount of sidesteps defenders have done to me induce the update is crazy. I thought it was just me but I’m glad I’m not tripping.

[@PapaLu08]

I've started noticing Ai changing during certain events like summer of pain and all the others. But I've been playing this game so long now that i know when something feels off and they have definitely tweaked something with intercepts. Sometimes i wondet if it's an actual ai playing against us and learing our playstyle and adapting.

[@joeyb82mcoc80]

Thank you for posting this. This has been an issue for a while, but you’re correct that this intercept meta is really highlighting how frustrating it’s become. The other issue I’ve been facing is very passive AI where they turtle up and don’t give you any openings. I don’t think the coding is that sophisticated to know “this is an intercept meta so let me screw you over” but something definitely feels off.

[@RxKid75]

Appreciate you putting a magnifying glass on this. I'm not a celestial player, but usually I'm easily in quantum by now and causally hanging. The number of fights that I'm being feinted when I knew I'd nailed the intercept is getting silly. Its like the ai has the reflexes of the Flash all of a sudden. Then I started going to light intercepts and the ai refused to play ball. Finally I just started dashing in and praying and they'd intercept me. Going on 10 years of playing this game daily, this isn't what I consider the norm

[@PatrickRady-i1n]

When a game charges money, you need to have your Ducks in a Row !

[@jeager343]

I am so glad you’re bringing this up. I have been getting parried like CRAZY, and the AI just sitting there and light intercepting is very frustrating. It seems like reparry is fixed, which is great! But definitely noticed some downturns in other areas. I’ve also started getting sidestepped by the AI a LOT. Not sure why that is, but if I dash and whiff I’m getting counter hit basically every time. Aside from that, the main issue has been the instant light attacks. Feels like SF2 turbo akuma input reading AI lol. Definitely have been some steps in the right direction, and I know the is is a long and ongoing process, but I think some of the changes this month had some unintended consequences.

[@tabbenmishima9186]

My R5 Ascended Peni has been a godsend. I am using her any time I can now. When this whiff and step back counterstrike happens, she can autoparry sometimes and save me. You are correct that it happens way too often now.

[@yexq2494]

those instant light attacks man the ai feels so fast

[@wingzbound4573]

i feel like they compartmentalize things to a degree where no one really has accountability, let alone the time to properly address things that need clarification and explanation and then threads get sabotaged on purpose or people get rude and any discussion is closed and nothing happens. Many players have such high ranked champs that they can deal with all these things and dont wanna waste time beating the deadest horse of all time. They(Kabam) pay a lot of attention to "data" and obfuscate that they need time to introduce changes, lets start there, lets do better and get this handled :)

[@HarryToeface]

My feedback is Kabam needs to roll back the AI back to what it was BEFORE they EVER messed with it! It was perfectly fine and was FUN...they changed it because they decided we were too good at the game and it's ridiculous! If they don't have an archive of their previous lines of code they changed that's a weird choice. Because this would be an extremely easy fix, go back to the way AI used to be when the game played well.

[@josecardoso2486]

People have been complaining about the AI for months now but as usual it's only a real problem when it starts to bother the big guns. Maybe if the community supported smaller accounts complaining about the AI a long time ago this wouldn't be happening. I hope Kabam keeps it that way and the game just stops being fun to everyone.

[@zeadpoolgaming]

looks like MSD is playing on the other side as Ai

[@LEGENDARYSAIYANGOKU]

Modder sonic dude 😅😅

[@TheNordicHunter]

Hi Vega. I’m SO glad you made this video and proved that I’m not just losing my mind or have degrading skills. I’ve been telling my son who I’ve been doing this with for nearly 10 years, that all these things are happening to me, but it doesn’t seem to bother him or you. But now I finally know it’s not just me or a select few that may have degrading skills. I walked away from this game for 2 years because of game issues, and I just recently came back and am now dealing with even worse issues, which make me question why I even came back. I guess I may have thought that a professional company would have fixed all the issues in the 2 years I was gone. I mean wouldn’t any company just focus on issues vs create layers upon layers of gaming option that have you sunk deep into a game that you feel you’re drowning just trying to find the time? And areas that require multiple over complicated and unnecessary steps like the current side quest, or the nodes that require a 5 inch thick manual to understand. I don’t know my friend, but I’m not excited to play and I’m surely not impressed with Kabam overall. Yes, they make very cool champions and the graphics are top notch for a game at this level, but having a luxury car with the looks and all the bells and whistles really doesn’t matter if the thing chugs, randomly stops, sucks gas like no tomorrow, or has wipers that don’t work in the rain. We need better from Kabam and I feel a huge part of that is being 100% transparent with its users all the time. It will not make us run. The lack of communication will.

[@victor-hx4vo]

i get that the ai is not amazing, but this type of back draft intercept has been a thing for years and its just unlucky and rare. Like you said, serpent is not dashing in, hes walking in (ie no inputs), then you dash in, then he dashes back and punishes. the player can and has for as long as i can remember, been able to do this too, its definitely hard, and i maybe only do it a couple times a week, but good players can do stuff like this super consistently. this clip is just you getting an unlucky sequence of inputs that led to the punish. if youre going to advice kabam, advice them on ai being aggressive, and that ai shouldnt be doing attack inputs into thin air, which its doing for a while now to catch you in a light intercept. This clip though, shouldn't be a main point at all

[@midnightsnakescreen9043]

Its not only the a.i.. remember the developers PROGRAM these !! Using algorithm... There are many things that can be done.. it's a long list... T Kabam can alter a.i difficulty every month based on targeted profit of they want.. But lets mention the general... A.i responds to ur screen touch !! U can test it out when u let go defending and dashing back/ forward... And since kabam has done 3 main things now... 1. Shorten a.i frames ( FRAME CUT) 2. Ur inputs are blocked at certain times for a.i to be ready or evade ( INPUT WINDOWS) 3. The a.i it box is much bigger than urs... ( HIT BOX) If u realize even onslaughts Heavy is hitting shorter than 2 mth ago ...

[@cleattle]

The game and ai reached a point of “not fun,” for me back in feb and I uninstalled after 8 year or so of playing. Quitting was the best decision ever outside of quitting smoking cigarettes years ago. This game has held so many people back in life due to its development around human addictions that I wouldn’t be surprised if class action law suits start to pop up in the next year or so.

[@midnightsnakescreen9043]

Another main thing that everyone can relate to and begin to see now after i explain. DOES IT MAKE SENSE THAT WHEN U DO A SPECIAL AND HIT OPPONENT.. The a.i wakes up before ur animation for the special is finished.. in which multiverse is tis logical... Kabam does tis to give benefits to a.i to be ready and dash to u even as ur animation is going on .. Tis is not a glitch. ITS ALGORITHM IT'S PROGRAMMING Tis is another thing u can do as vega did.. record and slow down the video and see it happen

[@OYC2316]

That side-step intercept has gotten me many, many, many, many times in BGs. It's actually been going on for months, even before the recent update. It's not fair at all.

[@wholybatman]

Whoa hijacked my bat signal!

[@pistolpoler]

Between the glitching and too much content to complete all at once, the AI has made this month feel daunting!

[@JustMe33339]

I've had them just sitting in the corner holding block. As soon as I move they throw a special.

[@CastleFrank0819]

I want to add that The A.i is definitely Sentient and Seems as if it’s alive 😂 example when starting a fight while using Titania it’s like the defender knows to dash back once the fight starts if you use heavy attack to activate Titania’s Haymakers literally the defender dashes back and dex all of Titania’s Haymaker attacks on the start of the fight

[@x8punishment8xgameid26]

Great video that is much needed; I wanted to add (if it hasn't been mentioned) that the flip side to this issue has been my biggest gripe. It's absolutely infuriating when I'm the one dashing back at the last second, and instead of being able to punish the AI in the same way Serpent does here, INSTEAD the AI is somehow able to glide beyond the length of the screen to punish my dash back. I can't scream, "WTF?!" loud enough after that. End of rant. Thank you, Vega, for all you do. 😊

[@-TroyStory-]

That was a side step on steroids 😂 💯man, you know this is meta related… whenever we have meta that requires intercepts we get this input sniffing AI that just camps out waiting for you to come in so it can light intercept you. Never mind the special intercepts galore. It’s horrendous.

[@massimosilente912]

Even parry sometimes doesnt work

[@jaskiniamestwa]

I feel you 100% brother, the instinctive intercepts come with time, they are very satisfying and rewarding. Every new update they're getting more and more risky, and we're getting back to where we started: parry & attack.

[@ewljr]

But yet parry is still broken

[@nematik]

Only problem there is the ai will cancel their attack right as you try and parry. Then half a second later continue the attack.

[@danceboyish]

PHOTON does that all the time when i try to intercept her.

[@danielamandi9674]

Another timely well moderated video! Clearly (specifically in the end) conveyed the emotion of many players while also being clear and concise on the feedback which in this situation (A.I.) is particularly hard to offer, since how many of us really know how to fix or code this things? Probably complex and difficult. One note I think you missed: Often Kabam and this is the case it seems does a poor job at communicating their awareness and listening of problems and the community. I think asking them to address it in timely manner and with the heaviness or lightness of the situation is important. Great work!

[@pauldasneves3015]

First of all we need to stop calling it AI, it is not artificial intelligence, it's programmed code put in the game to input read the player and react with sub-human reaction speed. I have no doubt that Kabam's idea of "difficult content" is to also modify frame rates of the player, slowing them down and speeding up the frame rates of NPCs so it's nearly impossible to react to them. They literally proved they are capable of doing this in the time manipulation quest a few months ago.

[@armoredghost918]

Bad AI causes champs to rise 2 levels in difficulty in my opinion. 3/5 defenders become 5/5, and 5/5 defenders become 7/5 defenders (basically impossible). These champions are designed to function with a specific AI in mind but when that AI doesn't play nice everything gets messed up.

[@JJS30159]

Unfortunately Kabum will not do anything. Because they simply do not care. Just another check on the list of them doing something that hurts the community. They only care about their bottom line and nothing else. And I do believe this was intentionally done. I do think these things are tested and it was seen as another way to bleed the community of valuable resources, and money. They will not even give out a massive compensation for this. Which they absolutely should. This has cost not only me, but many people I know at every level of the game. And I’ve been playing from the start. Just truly sad. Vega your too nice at times. And I think part of it is that you don’t want to hurt all the friends you have working for Kabum. But maybe they should see the passionate side of you to show how much it does bother you.

[@jeffreyebel9929]

We as a community can make them care. We did it once a few years ago and if as a community stop spending money till they fix it they will fix it quickly. But it takes everyone especially the whales to agree to not spend.

[@TheFinalBoss24]

I agree 100%. I disagree w/AI having masteries cuz that to is a problem. Parry, the walk up punch in the face, special intercept, quick recovery, parry in the middle of specials it’s very discouraging to play this game.

[@dukeraad4456]

When serpent dashed back he didn't have an arrow signaling he dashed back. He had one showing he went forward and his hits showed.

[@JeremyV-v2t]

To add on further from the backdraft intercept issues you have shown; I have been getting parried like crazy on dash attacks and even my striker has been getting parried. Didn't even know a striker could be parried. My striker has also been dexed numerous times as well at the end of my five hit combos. But the icing on the cake was when I was fighting Onslaught in BG's, I threw a special after successfully intercepting and somehow the A.I. parried each hit of my special attack which placed daunted on me and just ruined the fight. I am in Celestial 6 at the moment and I have been playing since January 2015. I have spent a lot of money in this game and was stoked to get my roster to the point where i can compete in Celestial. But this AI is ridiculously out of control and needs to be fixed or this baby whale will not partake in spending on cyber weekend or the banquet.

[@YogeshSingh-lb8kd]

I will say the same thing you said when you justified Kabam’s decision to not rebalance Serpent: Maybe Kabam wants us to upgrade our skill, Maybe they want us to forget our muscle memory and relearn the way we do intercepts and parry, Maybe it became too boring that AI needed to be upgraded…..Maybe it is Kabam’s way of keeping things refreshing, new and relevant with all the buzz about AI and Machine Learning. If you were ok with Serpent not being rebalanced, then there should be no complain or rant about this AI issue. Good thing about us humans is we will ‘relearn and adapt’. And this learning is not artificial!!

[@Mannemsh]

Well said.

[@JIsChosen]

No it sucks, the issue is the AI is unfair. The facts that it's a computer means it can INSTANTLY read your inputs and act accordingly. The Ai should not be pulling off high skill moves like backdraft intercepts. Difficult defense champs with annoying nodes are difficult fights enough, we don't need to be fighting against Neo from the god damn Matrix as well.

[@Mannemsh]

more like Mr.Anderson, Neo is good.

[@-TroyStory-]

That’s all well and good until the game gets to a point where there is literally no safe moves you can make that the AI won’t counter you on. We’re close to that now and if you think we aren’t, then I don’t know what to tell you

[@ajayramautarsing9599]

Kabam doesn't want to upgrade our skill, they want to upgrade the money they are making. Respectfully everything that you said about upgrade our skill to machine learning is just bs. Nerfing revive potions is not upgrading skills, it's a way for you to spend on the game for revives now. Skilled players have the same problems so it is something serious. Forgot our muscle memory?? It was always the same attacks(light, medium, heavy and block), but the nodes made it fun/challenging. Kabam always gets away with their bs because we have people like you, that can't see the bigger picture. If you're an og player you know the history of kabam and players, not listening-gaslighting-blaming players while it's clearly kabams fault etc etc. people are complaining about cheaters, but kabam turns a blind eye because the cheaters are big whales. Shove enough money down their throat and you can do what you want.

[@simpson3517]

Great vid. Kabam needs to address the AI for sure, but they also need to recognize the three big factors that are shaping player experience. AI, new champ designs, and saga metas. The AI by itself is bad, but when it’s combined with the emphasis on extreme defenders and the (IMO) frustrating design of the saga metas, it’s a perfect storm that will erode fun over time.

[@jeffcowan6683]

For what it’s worth I appreciate your positive attitude and outlook on these issues, instead of ranting and dehumanizing people

[@Nemesis-rb1jk]

Love the vid, and I appreciate a ccp member bringing this up and taking about it openly. Ai is easily the biggest issue in the game. It’s hard to even enjoy casual side content when every fight the ai pulls out some bs from their sleeve. While I don’t think the game is in a terrible place rn it definitely was in better shape at least last year, and an ai fix would be a great way to revive player sentiment.

[@kamalasrevenge4994]

Ok. Good. So it’s not just me. Good to know.

[@tgftrkjhxc6315]

Hello, Vega. If the AI ​​has that behavior in the critical meta, where instead of intercepting us they intercept us, things get complicated. I share your point of view, as always direct and I emphasize your education and good vibes, you are an admirable guy, I hope they solve it. Greetings from Spain!

[@ChuBatt73]

Kabam, if you’re watching this video and you’re reading the comment section, please listen to this man! He’s right. And I mean the bad and the good. There are so many good things, I mean amazing things, about this game that he has pointed out. Sadly, the bad is overshadowing the good/amazing. Personally, I would rather see a month of no new content or new or even buffer champs if instead the time and effort was put into fixing the mentioned issues with AI. Make this game awesome again.

[@Snipe981]

The AI has been a dumpster fire for a long time but this is taking it to new levels. This can’t be a one and done moment. If we collectively shrug then what’s the incentive for change

[@ownage4076]

NGL, feels like as much as Kabam denies any intentional wrong doing, I feel they wanted to beef up the A.I to increase the difficulty of things and just didn't realize how badly it'd turn players off. At this point I feel silly spending so much on a game that's constantly broken. If Kabam truly takes MONTHS to fix this, they are going to be in big trouble. Unfortunately the community, myself included, forgive fast and spend with their wallets so Kabam has no urgency to fix issues.

[@pittbullcustomleather6509]

I’m a Valiant player, but not near your level & I have noticed this happening even in arenas & daily quests. It doesn’t hurt as bad when it’s a 3* or 4*, but the AI has only become more difficult. The defenders now do back draft intercepts, recover from heavy & sp much faster, skip frames to somehow intercept me during a combo, etc. Add the input issues that still haven’t been fixed & it’s just not as fun to play anymore.

[@morganmitchell4710]

This exact thing has happened to me countless times in the last week. I was trying to explain it to my alliance. You did a great job. The ai is acting like the matrix. It is completely different then it had been in the last 9 years I have been playing

[@ChuckD05]

5:04 that backup is wild. Happens so much now.. the AI also seems to do full combos now , esp when you’re closer to 0hp

[@buffalax1880]

Hate to say, but that was a walk up. The biggest issue is that there is no break for AI between a dash back and walk up. If you want to make yourself walk up I believe you need to block first. The opponent can dash back and immediately move forward, which is where we as human beings “instinctively intercept” and NOPE that wasn’t a dash, ha ha ha, you’re dead now.

[@deanb1679]

Another important point is that this is a problem during the battle grounds realm event! That should be a bigger story here. I am in a low end alliance that does not play a lot of battlegrounds! I am trying to convince people to play. This can’t be the first experience.

[@r6-AgentScorpionParkerKRider23]

My advice is simple but with the coding part not so simple: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And if it ain't fixed, don't break it more. And i cannot stress this again, any more than i have before but there are a plethra of players, older players and younger who want nothing more than just a great game to play like we've, for the most part, always had. That being said we would also be more than happy to contribute to just testing patches and bug fixes for Kabam, for nothing but the sheer joy of being able to help contribute to a game we love so much. Testing can be free fellas and ladies. Just ask....

[@Carahloporra]

Finally this is being talked about. It's making the arcade quest hell for me

[@Nuke_mcoc]

I agree with all things, the only thing I would note is you said this is trickling down from the top tier players. I would argue this is trickling upwards. The big group of middle tier players who have less game knowledge and skill have been noting the big changes in ai and difficulty for a long time. You all top tier players can still adapt and be successful and potentially even enjoy some of the recent AI interactions as a difficulty increase. I’d say the ai changing how it interacts with intercepts is a long standing issue that has gone worse. I’d say this is just trickling up to the top tier. I learned to medium intercept from Dorky Dave videos that are really old at this point. I learned the basics of light intercepting from Lagacy videos and absorbing man. I don’t think any of the top tier players have created new videos about intercepting with the recent “changes” or oddities of the current AI (in my mind the ai changed about 6-8 months ago and has only been worse.) so there aren’t many ways to learn these top tier skills besides just playing non stop or getting into these high tier convos. I have been progressively struggling more and more for months now. Between reaction time of the ai and the intercepting (which could also be reaction time) I have gone from confident in my skills progressing to feeling like a bad player. It stinks I don’t have the words for it. I think this recent ai change has put a lot of you high tier streamers up in arms about the ai for the first time, or at least the first time I have heard a harmonious voice coming from top tier players. To me when the top tier players are noting these frustrations I don’t know what is going to happen. I can say o dread logging in and forcing myself to do battlegrounds. I just don’t want to do it, I’m going to 😂 because I want rewards but ITS NOT FUN

[@stewartedwinfuller]

This is an excellent display of AIs regular every day behavior. I'm glad you post this because if you mention this in Forums then you get the Kabam knights telling you it's a "skill issue".

[@thebullfighter6733]

I lost 4 matches in a row in the CG 2-0 each time so 8 fights total. Got parried in every single fight 8 fights in a row. Has never happened to me in my 8 years of playing this game. I’ve been parried randomly in bgs and war before but never in my life at this frequency. Paired with the fact that the ai just stands there or holds block, unless youre a master of light intercepts (which I’m not) you have to risk medium intercept openings. I each intercept is 2 in the chamber Russian roulette. Happy I hit my bgs minimum before this update went live. I’m not playing the mode until next season.

[@mr.steiner3373]

You are on point. Almost quit cause I thought I was that bad... Good to see it's not just me

[@phastpenguin2]

I appreciate the difference in tone for this video, compared to others. It’s frustrations, but not attacking anybody. I also truly believe kabam did not mean to make this mistake. It’s an unfortunate situation for them as well, I’m sure some people have said some terribly rude things since the update. Mistakes happen, and that is clearly what went down with the update. We can only hope they push out a fix sooner rather than later.

[@sciggy3486]

I thought it was just me! The special intercepts, backdraft intercepts and overall aggressiveness has been crazy!

[@5divines]

It would be very beneficial for kabam to tell us what is intentional vs unintentional. Recovery times, hit boxes, etc. What heavies/specials are not intended to be punished. I'm inclined to be forgiving of issues that are happening but are not intended (and hopefully being worked on). But the bulk of the frustration comes from us not knowing. The other major issue is the ai being able to manipulate spacing by walk/blocking. I'm not sure how to describe it, but the ai can get closer to us then we can get to them. They are able to get closer to us than the action point

[@Corpsefire86]

Hello Vega, while I usually am with you in the whole aspect of constructive criticism for the benefit of all. This time, I disagree. Kabam fucked up, 110%, they DESERVE the heat, they deserve to be called whichever names people want to call them, they deserve to be held responsible and accountable for how bad the game we all enjoyed playing for various amount of years have become. The game is not just "unfun" - which it is - the game is BAD. We are in the same age group, we've both played buggy games because they are fun. A bad game has all those negative adjectives. We have been treated to the "git good" article by a former employee (a joke albeit in bad taste). We have been told assuredly that nothing has been done to the AI. Now, lo and behold: we have confirmation that it has been tampered with and not just once. I won't even discuss the fact that we were told the reparry issue has been fixed only to be worsened afterwards. If people choose to be constructive in their critcism, it's them being the better people. We can choose not to be that and it's ok. Part of accepting the blame is accepting how people react to that and as someone who played for 8 years, I'm genuinely pissed off that something I liked so much has turned into this shamelessly money hungry (like all gacha games), bug ridden, condescending staffed, semi functional volumes of badly written code. Much love to you and may you always manage to be the better person ✌🏼

[@drankandmy2step]

My champs have been randomly dashing on their own

[@Dan_MCoC]

The AI ​​generally behaves so noticeably differently at the moment, but if only that were all. I also notice certain things about certain champions. The best example is Sinister, he decides at the beginning of the fight to reduce your cleansing skills to -100% even though this ability only applies to skill champions. No matter what other class you use, he makes it easy even if you use tech champions. That needs to be sorted out as well.

[@potatoesy44y]

I can feel your pain. A lot of time is just how that happens, how it even possible. If Kabam not get the game fix . It just undo 10 years of our skills.

[@MrPabIito]

Hey Vega. I respect the way you go about these videos! In your example it looks like Serpent does a parry walk, and I've never considered it safe to dash into those. That said, I agree the AI shouldn't behave that way. But I'd lean more towards this GC meta making us take more risks and therefore the stupid ai quirks smacking us in the face more often.

[@strikereureka4625]

You know what's interesting? They probably have statistics on how the different variants of their AI perform. This variant light intercepts, stands without blocking etc. These weird behaviors probably have a very high rate of KO'ing our champions or at least taking off a good bit of health, which then costs potions, extra energy, more upgrades on our end to compete. Infuriating gameplay? Buy our revive/energy bundle at keep at it champ. Bottom line, tuning the AI to be harder makes them more money. They know this and they are taking advantage of it.

[@spider_gamer2099]

My words couldn’t describe how good this was because your words perfectly described the situation I’ve been playing for about 2 years now and admittedly, I’m invested MCOC is an amazing game with amazing mechanics and design and me being a marvel fan elevates that exponentially The AI is a situation has messed that up significantly and is constantly being talked about It would be a complete waste not putting time and effort into fixing it because, well, this is a great game

[@bulmkt97]

in addition to the AI issues you have described the 'lag' in the game is equally frustrating. The game pauses, slows down during game play. It's especially annoying during vital BG play.

[@fuskie7117]

Respectful, Constructive Criticism will always get you further than ranting and screaming about an issue. Amazing video and I completely agree with your points on new players not sticking around with AI acting this way.

[@RobertSmith-ow5kf]

The AI in arena mode feels fine so I’m not sure I buy that it isn’t intentional.

[@rajeshmallick2252]

I've been playing this game since 2016, and now I feel bad for MCOC as it's going downhill. Why, Kabam, why? There's no fun in playing side quests or Battlegrounds anymore because of the AI. It feels like too much mental pressure rather than enjoyment while playing😔

[@NicJ27]

I think if they prevented the ai from starting combos with light attacks that will remove a lot of the issues. Watch the icons, it’s always a light start now. Also it’s an issue of timing. It’s like when you dash and enter the hit box, they auto detect a possible hit or dex window and perform it before the dash is complete

[@NicJ27]

My other bit of advice is to extend the bg season and delay war until its sorted

[@wikingzkurwabrodaitoporem1382]

I came back from the 2-year break recently and the difference in AI behavior is just insane. "Walking" AI is something that definetely wasn't a big thing back then but now I feel like they made AI more reactive in some way, because it's not dashing, it's just walking - champ walks when you are not touching your phone basically. It's so annoyig, I had to relearn how to intercept and it's still difficult to not mess up. Also, AI backdraft intercepting happened to me this war and that was Serpent too.

[@BigBlueOx]

The situation you show at the beginning of the video is an interaction I’ve been experiencing for months… I’m a path 5 player in AW and it’s a common AI tactic when intercepts are required. I my opinion it’s essentially an evade that all defenders have access to now.

[@narian2787]

In the current GC meta (Crit Me), defenders will absolutely NOT go for the intercept. Especially Man-Thing, Onslaught and Nick Fury. And I absolutely HATE the "walk up into a light attack", it has cost me so many matches along with some of my sanity lol.

[@DeanJames-oe4ie]

Fair assessment as always. We need people like u to speak up about these issues as a lot of us don’t get heard. 👍

[@blkrob8783]

Thanks for sharing I thought I was going to crazy been playin this game for 9 plus years. Definitely taking the fund out of it

[@markstokes1554]

Also ive had it were im holding block and the opponent is spamming specials into my block.

[@PJVice]

Thank you for bringing this up, I thought I was going mad! I hope kabam solve this

[@Mr.Gomez001]

I thought I was tripping when this first happened to me… same characters and everything… then I also noticed the guardian when he throws that same knee he misses like that.

[@aldan7812]

The AIs been doing this for ages now man, not just since the update. It's just consistent now and yes, it sucks. Its an AI though, i doubt they can unscramble the egg mate. The problem is with the competency at the top - you can't allow this behavioural change in the first place lol. To untrain the behaviour? Is basically impossible. The dash back into combo your medium intercepts you can actually dash back from once he slips out - the worse problem is being intercepted when hitting into block man. Destroys my spidey 2099 game lol.

[@JadenBrown-VanHoesen-om5qh]

4:53 you can see on the move counter thing in the middle left he does indeed dash forward

[@TristanSimondsen]

Yep, glaringly apparent in this week's AQ Map 6 with Rogue.