Were the Dash Bots that Bad? (Retrospective)
Jan 6, 2024 0:19:38 GMT -5
via mobile
Thunderkiss, milty72, and 6 more like this
Post by 079 on Jan 6, 2024 0:19:38 GMT -5
This is a thread I have been meaning to make for a while, since these retrospective/brain food threads are both fun to make and seem to be well-enjoyed by you all. We all remember the infamous Dash Bot update that began the Mail.ru era, introducing the Black Market, permanently rotating events, and three flashy new robots: Kumiho, Haechi, and Bulgasari, officially called the Korean Pack (all were based on Korean deities of the same name) but commonly known as the Dash Bots due to their shared Dash ability. These robots quickly became the poster children for the anti-Pixonic attitude that quickly set in as everyone realized the implications of permanent gambling systems in the game. Something I have wondered for a long time though is if these bots were maybe over-hated, taking the fall for other features that people were slower to recognize.
I remember watching a lot of stat breakdown videos of the three robots and thinking their stats were actually not that bad, but never really thought to definitively answer my own question. Today I want to that though, and see what you all think too. So with that, let us fire up our time machine and go back to December 2017!
The obvious place to start is looking at their stats, so here are the Dash Bot’s stats along with a comparable Classic Bot. All stats are level 8 mark 1, and are their 2017 stats, not current stats:
- Rogatka: 118k hull, 58 kph, Jump 7 sec cooldown
- Kumiho: 118k hull, 58 kph, Dash 5 sec cooldown + 2 charges
- Fujin: 105k hull, 104k shield, 43 kph, Cannot move with shield active
- Haechi: 118k hull, 53k shield, 42 kph, Dash 12 sec cooldown + 2 charges
- Lancelot: 133k hull, 80k per shield (240k total), 29 kph, 10 sec Rush with 20 sec cooldown
- Bulgasari: 190k hull, 218k shield, 40 kph, Dash 15 sec cooldown + 2 charges
Looking at these stats, it seems that while a Dash Bot is overall better than a comparable Classic Bot, it is not clear-cut. It is not hard to imagine situations where a Rogatka is preferable to a Kumiho and Fujin to a Haechi, and while Bulgasari does have a substantial durability advantage, one may prefer Lancelot’s firepower and easier-to-use shield. So yeah, the Dash Bots are a little overpowered, but these stats do not suggest the absolute domination we saw them have on the live server.
We now move on to the intangibles, namely the nuances of the Dash ability. Pixonic advertised it as an “easy to learn, difficult to master” ability, and I think that fits. The ability is quite versatile and some easy uses, but really gets crazy when high-level techniques like mid-air Dashing and Superdashing are implemented. It is definitely an upgrade over something like Rush, but does not usurp all movement-based abilities (like Jump). There also are the hardpoint placements on the bots, as Kumiho is great at corner-shooting to the right but not to the left (unlike Rogatka, which can do both sides), and Bulgasari cannot corner-shoot to the left and cannot use its shield and weapons at the same time. These bots never had any convenient bugs or unintended broken combos, save for how Bulgasari could use lock-on weapons like to be able to shoot a target while having its shield engaged, though this only became a problem when Shocktrain was later introduced.
So, were the Dash Bots overpowered? I would say that overall, yes they were. I was half-hoping to come out with some hot take that they were actually fine and were wrongly blamed, but it seems people were right about them when they came out. Kumiho was maybe fine as-is, but Haechi and Bulgasari definitely needed some nerfs to their durability. It is not hard to see why these bots took over Champion League after they were released, as top players will pay for even the smallest advantage. However, I do think I stand by the sentiment that the hate towards them was overblown.
As I said in the stat breakdown, these bots do not seem like the kill everything super bots that we all experienced on the battlefield. So now the question becomes, if the Dash Bots were not that bad, what was? Well, I think that is easy to answer: the real culprits were the things that came after the Dash Bots. Two updates after the Dash update was when Shocktrain and mark 2 were added, and I think that is when things really went off the rails. Shocktrain was undoubtedly overpowered, and mark 2 instantly made the game more pay-to-win regardless of what the meta was. I personally remember the Dash Bots actually being a bit slow to catch on, with YouTubers saying they had very real weaknesses and would only be crazy if played super well. Until Inquisitor and especially Shocktrain, it was business as usual for most players, with Trident Furies, Ancilots, and Plasma Griffins. Aside from the new Black Market and permanent events, everything seemed fine until that dreaded Shocktrain update.
So to sum everything up, I ultimately agree with the crowd that the Dash Bots were overpowered on release, but do think their hate was a little overblown. These bots had very unfortunate circumstances for their release, coming after the news of a buyout, coming alongside gambling mechanics, and coming just before mark 2. I think they just got swept up in the storm a little, and was hoping to share that sentiment with you all. Let me know what you think, and I look forward to the discussion!
****************
Something that occurred to me while writing this is that the Dash Bots almost feel like Classic Robots in a lot of aspects. Pixonic obviously put a lot of thought into them, with them being in the test server for months before release (having both stat changes and changes to Dash’s mechanics) and news releases being made just for them. If Pixonic just wanted money, why did they take so long to make the Dash Bots and only make them a tiny bit overpowered? Just look at modern bots where they are shoved onto the Live Server with bugs and only basic animations, and usually break the game. Also, the Dash Bots’ designs are not too out of place for the time when you consider they were preceded by Cowboy Bots and Knight Bots, and the Dash ability feels like a natural addition to the game (Bolt fits right in to 6 Pack, after all). Part of me wonders if the Dash Bots were drafted before the Mail.ru buyout and were subsequently tampered with to make Pixonic’s new owners more money. The Wild Bunch and Tempest saw limited releases via events and Facebook Points, so the Dash Bots being event-exclusive was not anything new. Part of me wants to go as far as say the Mail.ru era really did not begin until mark 2 and Shocktrain (and Inquisitor before that to a lesser extent), and the Dash Bots were basically the last hurrah-turned-black-sheep of the Classic Era. But, that is just my little tin foil hat theory after being immersed in the game during December 2017 and is a bit beyond this thread’s main point. I just thought it would be an interesting addendum to this.
I remember watching a lot of stat breakdown videos of the three robots and thinking their stats were actually not that bad, but never really thought to definitively answer my own question. Today I want to that though, and see what you all think too. So with that, let us fire up our time machine and go back to December 2017!
The obvious place to start is looking at their stats, so here are the Dash Bot’s stats along with a comparable Classic Bot. All stats are level 8 mark 1, and are their 2017 stats, not current stats:
- Rogatka: 118k hull, 58 kph, Jump 7 sec cooldown
- Kumiho: 118k hull, 58 kph, Dash 5 sec cooldown + 2 charges
- Fujin: 105k hull, 104k shield, 43 kph, Cannot move with shield active
- Haechi: 118k hull, 53k shield, 42 kph, Dash 12 sec cooldown + 2 charges
- Lancelot: 133k hull, 80k per shield (240k total), 29 kph, 10 sec Rush with 20 sec cooldown
- Bulgasari: 190k hull, 218k shield, 40 kph, Dash 15 sec cooldown + 2 charges
Looking at these stats, it seems that while a Dash Bot is overall better than a comparable Classic Bot, it is not clear-cut. It is not hard to imagine situations where a Rogatka is preferable to a Kumiho and Fujin to a Haechi, and while Bulgasari does have a substantial durability advantage, one may prefer Lancelot’s firepower and easier-to-use shield. So yeah, the Dash Bots are a little overpowered, but these stats do not suggest the absolute domination we saw them have on the live server.
We now move on to the intangibles, namely the nuances of the Dash ability. Pixonic advertised it as an “easy to learn, difficult to master” ability, and I think that fits. The ability is quite versatile and some easy uses, but really gets crazy when high-level techniques like mid-air Dashing and Superdashing are implemented. It is definitely an upgrade over something like Rush, but does not usurp all movement-based abilities (like Jump). There also are the hardpoint placements on the bots, as Kumiho is great at corner-shooting to the right but not to the left (unlike Rogatka, which can do both sides), and Bulgasari cannot corner-shoot to the left and cannot use its shield and weapons at the same time. These bots never had any convenient bugs or unintended broken combos, save for how Bulgasari could use lock-on weapons like to be able to shoot a target while having its shield engaged, though this only became a problem when Shocktrain was later introduced.
So, were the Dash Bots overpowered? I would say that overall, yes they were. I was half-hoping to come out with some hot take that they were actually fine and were wrongly blamed, but it seems people were right about them when they came out. Kumiho was maybe fine as-is, but Haechi and Bulgasari definitely needed some nerfs to their durability. It is not hard to see why these bots took over Champion League after they were released, as top players will pay for even the smallest advantage. However, I do think I stand by the sentiment that the hate towards them was overblown.
As I said in the stat breakdown, these bots do not seem like the kill everything super bots that we all experienced on the battlefield. So now the question becomes, if the Dash Bots were not that bad, what was? Well, I think that is easy to answer: the real culprits were the things that came after the Dash Bots. Two updates after the Dash update was when Shocktrain and mark 2 were added, and I think that is when things really went off the rails. Shocktrain was undoubtedly overpowered, and mark 2 instantly made the game more pay-to-win regardless of what the meta was. I personally remember the Dash Bots actually being a bit slow to catch on, with YouTubers saying they had very real weaknesses and would only be crazy if played super well. Until Inquisitor and especially Shocktrain, it was business as usual for most players, with Trident Furies, Ancilots, and Plasma Griffins. Aside from the new Black Market and permanent events, everything seemed fine until that dreaded Shocktrain update.
So to sum everything up, I ultimately agree with the crowd that the Dash Bots were overpowered on release, but do think their hate was a little overblown. These bots had very unfortunate circumstances for their release, coming after the news of a buyout, coming alongside gambling mechanics, and coming just before mark 2. I think they just got swept up in the storm a little, and was hoping to share that sentiment with you all. Let me know what you think, and I look forward to the discussion!
****************
Something that occurred to me while writing this is that the Dash Bots almost feel like Classic Robots in a lot of aspects. Pixonic obviously put a lot of thought into them, with them being in the test server for months before release (having both stat changes and changes to Dash’s mechanics) and news releases being made just for them. If Pixonic just wanted money, why did they take so long to make the Dash Bots and only make them a tiny bit overpowered? Just look at modern bots where they are shoved onto the Live Server with bugs and only basic animations, and usually break the game. Also, the Dash Bots’ designs are not too out of place for the time when you consider they were preceded by Cowboy Bots and Knight Bots, and the Dash ability feels like a natural addition to the game (Bolt fits right in to 6 Pack, after all). Part of me wonders if the Dash Bots were drafted before the Mail.ru buyout and were subsequently tampered with to make Pixonic’s new owners more money. The Wild Bunch and Tempest saw limited releases via events and Facebook Points, so the Dash Bots being event-exclusive was not anything new. Part of me wants to go as far as say the Mail.ru era really did not begin until mark 2 and Shocktrain (and Inquisitor before that to a lesser extent), and the Dash Bots were basically the last hurrah-turned-black-sheep of the Classic Era. But, that is just my little tin foil hat theory after being immersed in the game during December 2017 and is a bit beyond this thread’s main point. I just thought it would be an interesting addendum to this.
