PROPOSAL:
- All players can now rotate their characters (change the direction in which they are facing) while immobilized or stunned.
- Now whenever a player is immobilized or stunned, that player receives a “Flatfooted” de-buff. While a player is Flatfooted, all incoming attacks that he or she receives from enemies are counted as “flanking” attacks regardless from which direction that those attacks come.
- Flatfooted has a fixed duration of 1 second. It is not affected by Expertise or any other Condition Duration extenders. It does not stack intensity or duration. For instance, if Player A were to immobilized an enemy, then Player B instantly immobilized the same enemy at roughly the same time, Player B’s application of Flatfooted would overwrite Player A’s application.
- Basilisk Venom still locks a player in place and prevents any re-orientation.
REASONING:
There are quite a few stun-breaking, retreat-based movement skills in this game that are effectively kitten by this single aspect of stuns and immobilizes. While it is true that in most competitive PvP situations, you probably won’t see these skills ever used because turning your back on your enemy is typically asking for death (and they’re sort of underwhelming anyway), in PvE overworld and even in WvW these skills have a lot of potential to shine. The only problem is when you’re caught by something while running in one direction. If you’re running, you’re probably trying to get somewhere that you’re facing, right? Makes sense. So then why, if I’m immobilized or stunned by a pursuing enemy, can I not do an about-face and use a retreating stun-breaker to recover, put distance between us and re-set the fight?
I play a lot of Engineer so maybe I’m biased, but I like to use Rocket Boots (mostly for the tool-belt skill since using the actual Utility—even properly—while in tense situations can easily result in my own death). Rocket Boots is amazing because it breaks stun and immobilize while also moving you backwards a substantial distance. The only problem is, I almost never want to use it when it’s meant to be used the most (when I’m immobilized or stunned).
Giving players the option to re-orient themselves while immobilized or stunned would breathe new life into several underused, movement-based stun-breakers as well as add a new dimension to combat in this game. The addition of the Flatfooted de-buff would curb issues regarding players trying to cheat Thieves or Rangers out of free flanking hits—and even then—how many of those actually exist? Flanking is not an enormous component of this game. Flatfooted would address the issue of players rotating in stunned/immobilized states just fine with regards to skills or traits that operate on Flanking strikes and even give new ways and reasons to use those skills in their current states.