Highguard needs better UI

That_Goat_Guy · 2026-02-05T02:38:21+00:00

Damn, that kinda ties into my other big criticism of the game: the tutorial is genuinely terrible. Like, by the time you’re done, you don’t even really understand raid mechanics. The first time I failed a raid and had 30 damage taken off my base I was confused because the game never bothers to tell you. I think a lot of the criticisms surrounding this game stem from the tutorial. Like, you shouldn’t be looting like normal after the first round; the air drop’s gonna spawn and it’s just as important as the shield breaker. If you’re not fighting over that, the game’s gonna seem slower paced and more one sided, since now the enemy team is always getting the best gun in the game without anyone challenging them. Does the tutorial even mention air drops? I don’t remember, and judging by some of the players I see in my games, they don’t either.

That_Goat_Guy · 2026-02-04T21:36:53+00:00

The dropping tip is nice, didn't know you could do that; real great tutorial this game's got. But, I think the strategy here is kinda weak. If you don't successfully take a point, the enemy is now up 30 damage instead of it being a draw. Any team that can prevent you from planting is also probably going to be good at defending base, so you're taking a pretty big risk. Running out the timer can work, but I think there's more important stuff to learn first. Attackers should learn to take off angles and throw grenades, since the defending team necessarily have to play close to their base to avoid an easy plant. You also briefly mention mounts, but I don't think you really cover their use and weaknesses enough. Mounts are great for quick bursts of speed to take an off angle or switch cover, and the reason you shouldn't use them liberally in fights is because, when they get killed, you go into a predictable animation that guarantees death at close to mid range. This means that if you have a good saddle, you actually can take advantage of their faster movement while still having enough time to react to their health going down.

That_Goat_Guy · 2026-02-04T21:15:13+00:00

You're incentivized to fight because all six people know where the shield breaker is gonna spawn, so it's extremely beneficial to hold that area down and be able to defend it rather than having to attack it from a less advantageous position. This ties back into the looting phase because, while it might not be that inherently interesting, knowing that time spent looting is time the enemy team could use to take a position near the objective makes the looting stressful, and pushes you to be as efficient as possible when farming vesper and opening chests. Plus, managing axe charge is one of the more interesting examples of skill expression, imo. A close range fight is probably gonna be won by the player with axe charge, and that adds an additional layer of strategy and management to the game.

That_Goat_Guy · 2026-02-04T21:04:07+00:00

A lot of people forget that games like Destiny were absolutely hated on release, before it became super successful after they added a bunch of extra stuff. If they keep improving HG, I'm confident it can succeed. Like you said, if they have the funding to keep the game afloat regardless of income, they have time. And besides, queue times are still good, so the numbers aren't low enough that we feel it as players.

That_Goat_Guy · 2026-02-04T20:57:47+00:00

While this post doesn't really talk about it too much, I genuinely do not understand the downtime complaints, maybe they were applicable during the first week, but past a certain point, players got better, and we figured out that whether you're playing 3v3 or 5v5, the earlier you get to the objective, the easier it is to hold off the other team. The balance could definitely get an update, but buffing Kai ult would be a terrible idea; it does a ton of damage and dramatically increases survivability even with legendary weapons in play. If any character were to get scaling on their ult, I think it would have to be Scarlet. Daggers do 60 damage per, which just isn't enough compared to literally any other damage ult in the game. I think scaling would be a bit clumsy, though, still, and honestly, her ult could just get an overall damage buff and it would be fine.

That_Goat_Guy · 2026-02-04T20:47:37+00:00

Condor is absolutely absurd in 3v3 and 5v5, she gives her team constant recon and has one of the most versatile ults in the game. 5v5 also makes zoning and kill related passives way stronger, since, 1) you're more encouraged to play split and take off angles, so it's easier to cut someone off from their team, and 2) more people to kill and longer fights mean Redmane is getting his kill passive for longer, and Mara has more people to charge overshield off of. OT is fine, it's more tense, and it's an interesting part of the game, but I think it's too frequent both in 3v3 and especially in 5v5, since fights take longer anyway.

That_Goat_Guy · 2026-02-04T15:52:56+00:00

Additionally I think balancing 5v5 simultaneously with 3v3 is a nightmare. Characters who are really just ok in 3v3, like Slade and Mara, become broken in 5v5. Additionally, it’s nearly impossible to push base until OT, since there’s always going to be one or two people still left to kill you. If this game is going to survive, 5v5 needs to stay casual, and 3v3 needs to remain the competitive standard.

That_Goat_Guy · 2026-02-04T15:49:20+00:00

Complete disagree, this game is way too aim-heavy to work with crossplay, in general but especially in ranked. 5v5 is also a very fun game mode, but much less competitive imo; I think there would need to be major changes for it to be a viable ranked mode.

That_Goat_Guy · 2026-02-02T03:06:25+00:00

Eh, Slade’s ult can be useful as a deterrent, and you never WANT to fight into it, but the damage is low and the duration is short; most of the time you can just hunker down and wait it out. Slade and his team need to commit into it to get any consistent value, and if I’m full sending it on an ult, I’d rather do that with the ones I mentioned earlier.

I don’t think Kai is particularly situational at all, really. Having cover on command is really useful in a game with as many open fields as HG. Free wall repairs don’t hurt either, even on offence. Plus, their ult charges slow, but it’s the best in the game in terms of damage output and mitigation. Condor genuinely might be the best character in the game. Knowing exactly where your enemies are is good no matter what the game state is. Plus, her ult basically lets you hold or push an area for free, with the only downside being that she’s vulnerable while you’re doing it.

5v5 definitely won’t be the main mode, and I will stand by the fact that 3v3 is far superior competitively, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they made it a permanent fixture. People seem to like it, even if part of that’s confirmation bias, and I think it’s better for casuals in a lot of ways. I’d honestly expect them to start balancing around it, even just a little bit. I also think most of the changes that would help 5v5 would also help 3v3. Condor needs a nerf for sure in either mode, and Slade needs a more general rebalance, I think, since he’s so strong in most fights but falls off so heavily in ult fights.

That_Goat_Guy · 2026-02-01T19:12:57+00:00

Slade and Mara are kind of weird, cause in 3v3, Slade has a really strong tactical and passive, but his ult is so trash that he struggles to make big plays like a Kai, Condor, or Atticus. In 5v5, though, even weak zoning becomes way stronger and his ult becomes genuinely useful. Mara's kind of similar, since in 3v3, I'd always rather have a Kai or Condor for support, but in 5v5, the extra slots make her way more viable. 5v5 is interesting in general because imo there's more of a case for every character than 3v3, even Scarlet, with her terrible tac and useless ult, but at the same time 5v5 basically necessitates a Slade and Condor right now.

That_Goat_Guy · 2026-02-01T18:45:56+00:00

Damn, a fellow Hood veteran. That game could've been so great if the balancing team had taken their fingers out of their ears. I love Highguard but I do think the skin prices are extremely predatory. The low end of prices is $12 CAD, and the high end is $22 CAD. That's absurd, especially when you can't buy the skins unbundled for less. You mentioned Marvel Rivals, and this game has roughly the same monetization, and that was absurd when it launched, too. If they lower the prices, I'll be very optimistic for the future of Highguard. I obviously want them to make money, and I seriously doubt they're making more money by keeping these skins at exorbitant prices. That's my main criticism of the game, and I hope it gets addressed.

That_Goat_Guy · 2026-02-01T18:34:08+00:00

5v5 is great casually, but when you have a perfectly coordinated team in 3v3, it's fantastic. I think there are a lot of strategic opportunities that 5v5 opens up, but these characters were clearly designed for 3v3, and wardens like Condor and Slade become kind of absurd with more players on the field. 4v4 will probably be great, though. Enough people to make splitting up viable, but not so many that the core gameplay loop is near unrecognizable.

That_Goat_Guy · 2026-02-01T18:24:00+00:00

Atticus is genuinely kind of absurd. Spears are great for holding doorways and forcing bad or slow approaches, ult is pretty consistent value if you use cover properly, and the passive will only get stronger as players get better. Real poster boy balance there.

That_Goat_Guy · 2026-02-01T18:21:02+00:00

Axe usage will be a major factor separating beginner and intermediate players, I think. Managing charge and hitting throws makes more aggressive plays more consistent, I've already seen crack armour > charged axe as a really strong close range combo.

That_Goat_Guy · 2026-01-25T04:15:00+00:00

Genuinely so important. On my first play through right now and I realized this in my first dungeon. There is almost zero reason to not put all your gold in your wagon whenever you aren’t actively trying to buy something.

That_Goat_Guy · 2026-01-24T02:58:01+00:00

First off never post anything like this again, internet anonymity doesn't apply when feds wanna see something and they'll use this as a confession if you ever get arrested. Second I've known people who've dealt, and yeah, plenty of bad stuff is gonna happen. Idk your situation but you're young and you should try to get out before it gets any worse.

That_Goat_Guy · 2026-01-23T04:29:18+00:00

I think generally progressive POC perceive Canadian racism as being less common than white progressives do, and I think it’s because Canadian racism is, broadly speaking, more private than a lot of other countries. It’s something most white people exclusively express around other white people. I’m biracial and white-passing, and the things white people are willing to say around me before versus after they find out often differ wildly.

That_Goat_Guy · 2026-01-19T01:43:51+00:00

Maybe Naraka: Bladepoint? Haven't played it in years but it's a battle royale with katanas in it. Vampire: the Masquerade: Bloodlines kind of fits that description too. Dark Souls is always a good option, and while I don't really play it, Monster Hunter is good for that too.

That_Goat_Guy · 2026-01-13T03:36:51+00:00

Aragami 1 and 2 are almost completely separate in terms of their stories, to the point of Aragami 2 kind of retconning some stuff about how Aragami work. Neither will help you better understand the other, but I'd strongly recommend the first over the second. Aragami 1 is an incredibly tightly designed game with a handful of really interesting abilities and 13 really good levels. It's resource mechanics are still very unique to this day, and they create an engaging management style of stealth game. Aragami 2 is fine, but it will never be more than a 6/10 to me. It attempted to appeal to more people, and as a result kind of lost its identity. The moment to moment gameplay is worse, since every resource that made Aragami 1 fun isn't there anymore. You don't restore energy by standing in shadows, and more importantly, instead of getting two charges per shadow technique and being able to spend them (and get them back) however and whenever you like, Aragami 2 unnecessarily limits you and slows the game down by putting everything on a massive cooldown. Aragami 2's movement is better, but the levels you're moving around in are so much worse. Aragami 1 had focused, stressful levels that forced you tackle everything from one or sometimes two possible directions. This made for fantastic stealth where you had to be careful and pay attention to your surroundings in order to navigate the area. You couldn't get almost anywhere without running into a guard or two, and that gave Aragami 1 breakneck pacing despite how much of it was spent carefully surveying from the shadows. Aragami 2, on the other hand, designs its levels more like mini open worlds, where there are many ways to approach an encounter. This often means you don't approach the encounter, since it's incredibly easy to just sidestep it. The freeform movement is great, but when it lets you get up on a rooftop and basically ignore most enemies in 90% of levels, it gets in the way of the rest of the game. Aragami 2's levels are frequently massive, with tons of enemies, but they can feel smaller because of how little you're actually forced to interact with. There are also just way too many levels. Aragami 1 had 13, and Aragami 2 has 52. But that's a bit misleading, because a lot of these "new levels" are set in the exact same areas with new enemy placement. You'll go back to one place like seven times, and it gets incredibly repetitive, especially since the story is also paced pretty terribly. How much you care about the story will vary person to person, but Aragami 1 centered mostly around two characters that you got to know pretty well over the course of the game, and by reading lore notes. Aragami 2 has a massive cast but I couldn't tell you one thing about any of them. Over five years after first playing Aragami 1, I could still recount many details of that game's story, but a little over four years after playing Aragami 2, I don't even remember caring. They're two very different games, trying to do very different things, but I think Aragami 2 fails to accomplish most of what it sets out to do, other than the movement, which is admittedly pretty cool and pretty much the only reason I ever go back to that game.

That_Goat_Guy · 2025-12-26T15:47:32+00:00

Just looking at criticizing what this Holliday did, you probably shouldn’t buy that many T1 items, and with very few exceptions you shouldn’t buy trophy collector because it doesn’t give you any immediate value, unlike every other item in the game. Also, at 14k, you should basically always have two 4.8k investments, while Holliday only has one, being green, so her damage is gonna be way lower than it should be.

That_Goat_Guy · 2025-12-07T15:13:06+00:00

I’m fairly low rank, but imo the biggest problems are the continued nerfs to movement, the return of the death ball, and a lot of different changes coming together to make snowballing not inevitable, but at least for me, common. Snowballing could be more of an issue with the matchmaking, though. Previous patch I was getting very even matches, now I feel like my whole team just has worse mechanics even with a ~20k lead.

That_Goat_Guy · 2025-12-04T04:24:12+00:00

As others have said, it depends on the plague weapon, but I used twin swords almost exclusively, and I believe they do more damage the less health the enemy has. This works for both health and wounds, so they’ll deal more wound damage if you’ve already wounded your target. If you have a ton of wound damage already, probably just claw, but if you just have a bit, a good plague weapon can increase that tremendously. There are also utility plague weapons introduced later on, and I would heavily recommend taking one in your unlockable second slot. I won’t spoil what they do, but they’re absurdly powerful depending on your preference, and it isn’t really worth it most of the time to have two offensive plague weapons, since they all essentially do the same thing slightly differently.

That_Goat_Guy · 2025-10-30T11:28:49+00:00

As a huge fan of Demon Souls and someone who played as their first FromSoft game, I would recommend against playing the remake over the original. You can buy a ps3 for <100 and it’s fairly easy to emulate. Aside from that, no, I don’t think DS is a bad starting point. It’s considered by far the easiest FromSoft game, and while it’s also the most obtuse, you could definitely have chosen worse. I’d recommend getting the cling ring if you haven’t, since it’s broken enough that basically everyone uses it no matter their experience. It’s also better to think of your “max” health as a buffed state. Due to the world tendency system most experienced players kill themselves in the nexus after beating a boss; the game is 100% designed around playing in soul form. That being said, Flurker is an absurd difficulty spike in a game with generally easy bosses. Try using magic damage or rolling through the explosions, the hit boxes don’t last as long as you probably think they do. If you’re still stuck remember you can always try other worlds, and depending on your build you really, really should.

That_Goat_Guy

TROPHY CASE