To a degree I think you can't really get away from at least using a bit of magic to give you at least more unpredictability, and there seems to be casting tools that let you scale them with a physical stat (only STR so far it seems though). But yeah, status effects are a bit busted right now, able to build up even when you dodge which would be absolutely fine and good if the overall buildup wasn't so massive. Flat bonuses to weapons without factoring in AR seems to not work well for balance when statuses are actually really good now, because then it's all about hard-to-dodge WA's or those that further boost the status effect or throwing it on a very fast hitting weapon that permits them to outdamage much slower, riskier weapons and makes simply trading impossible. Like if I'm being outdamaged by a smaller, faster weapon, I can't really win because my hits are usually going to come from trading or are at least less likely to land than their hits, and theirs lands more.
Maybe the meta is more about building up resistance stats for status effects and having a ton of cures equipped and ready to use whenever your opponent runs out of stamina? If you can just cure the bleed before it takes effect, then that would prolly bring it back down to earth, but at least while progressing through the game those cures are expensive and people tend to respond to doing such as though you drank notEstus in a duel.
As for the stuff that isn't statuses, haven't ran into them much. The force-unlocking seems very obnoxious and prolly does need fixed just because it's more an accessibility/controls issue, these games control fairly poorly without lock-on because your character can't otherwise move in one direction while attacking and defending in another and moving without lock-on leaves you vulnerable to backstabs - while it's possible to create a meta where it's not the most powerful option, it does needlessly complicate the control scheme of the game for the sake of this one item in a way that doesn't really benefit the rest of the game. It seems more like a way to just punish people for not using a mouse and keyboard or a Steam Deck or Steam Controller where you can have that precise camera control while not locked on.
Sadly not. You can't build up enough resistance to make a difference when you're getting hit several times a second by bleed twinblades, or spammed with blood slash attacks that do hundreds of points of damage at great sword ranges, or spammed with madness beams that have very little travel time and deal massive madness buildup.
To a degree I think you can't really get away from at least using a bit of magic to give you at least more unpredictability, and there seems to be casting tools that let you scale them with a physical stat (only STR so far it seems though). But yeah, status effects are a bit busted right now, able to build up even when you dodge which would be absolutely fine and good if the overall buildup wasn't so massive. Flat bonuses to weapons without factoring in AR seems to not work well for balance when statuses are actually really good now, because then it's all about hard-to-dodge WA's or those that further boost the status effect or throwing it on a very fast hitting weapon that permits them to outdamage much slower, riskier weapons and makes simply trading impossible. Like if I'm being outdamaged by a smaller, faster weapon, I can't really win because my hits are usually going to come from trading or are at least less likely to land than their hits, and theirs lands more.
Maybe the meta is more about building up resistance stats for status effects and having a ton of cures equipped and ready to use whenever your opponent runs out of stamina? If you can just cure the bleed before it takes effect, then that would prolly bring it back down to earth, but at least while progressing through the game those cures are expensive and people tend to respond to doing such as though you drank notEstus in a duel.
As for the stuff that isn't statuses, haven't ran into them much. The force-unlocking seems very obnoxious and prolly does need fixed just because it's more an accessibility/controls issue, these games control fairly poorly without lock-on because your character can't otherwise move in one direction while attacking and defending in another and moving without lock-on leaves you vulnerable to backstabs - while it's possible to create a meta where it's not the most powerful option, it does needlessly complicate the control scheme of the game for the sake of this one item in a way that doesn't really benefit the rest of the game. It seems more like a way to just punish people for not using a mouse and keyboard or a Steam Deck or Steam Controller where you can have that precise camera control while not locked on.
Sadly not. You can't build up enough resistance to make a difference when you're getting hit several times a second by bleed twinblades, or spammed with blood slash attacks that do hundreds of points of damage at great sword ranges, or spammed with madness beams that have very little travel time and deal massive madness buildup.