I am usually involved in the e-sports circle and am used to watching KPL. Unexpectedly, I clicked in the "Selfie Dating" section today and found a bunch of people discussing the PK Arena of Stickman League 2. Okay, then I'll join in the fun. After all, I've been really obsessed with this game recently, and the more I play it, the more I feel that its competitive environment is more worth talking about than many so-called "e-sports mobile games".
Let's talk about the arena experience first. The action foundation of Stickman League 2 is really good, the attack is solid, and the combos are rhythmic. It is not an idle game with mindless value stacking. If everyone's character levels in the arena are about the same, operations are very critical. Positioning, dodging, and the timing of skill connection can determine the outcome. I have seen many big guys use the initial characters to rub the krypton gold characters on the ground. This shows that at least at the design level, technology has a say, which I appreciate very much.
But as for balance, you can't just look at operations. In the current version, the skills of some characters have short forward swings and large ranges, coupled with the stiff effect, it is indeed easy to suppress them. For example, there are several ghost-type characters that appear frequently in the arena. It is almost impossible to deal with face-to-face attacks, forcing you to forcefully exchange blood with a domineering soul weapon. The emergence of this kind of "version answer" actually affects the diversity of the environment - if you keep playing with just a few faces over and over again, the audience will get tired of it after a long time, let alone the players. Fortunately, the official updates are quite diligent. A certain combo-style character who was crazy in the last version has reduced the adsorption range of his skills this week, which shows that they are really looking at the data. This must be praised.
Let's talk about equipment and artifacts. During the New Year event, the red artifact Ganjiang Moye can be exchanged for a limited time. The pressure of this thing in the arena is visible to the naked eye - the attack comes with extra sword energy, and the hit can also reduce healing. It is clearly designed for PK. Fortunately, the way to obtain it is "limited time exchange", not just drawing cards, you can get it even with a little effort. But here's the problem: novices haven't caught up with the event or can't afford to change. Facing veteran players like Mo Xie, the fault tolerance rate is directly lower. I hope that permanent synthesis can be introduced in the future, or a symmetrical replacement can be introduced, otherwise the arena will easily become an "artifact detector", which will be boring.
I think the balance between guild wars and alien space wars is relatively good, because there are many people, and chaos requires coordination and command, and a single artifact cannot make a difference. Instead, it is a one-on-one arena that is most sensitive to equipment and character pools. Generally speaking, the competitive foundation of Stickman League 2 is good, and the balance is average among similar side-scrolling actions, but it is not yet to the point where "anyone can ignore the rules by relying on technology." As an e-sports player, I look forward to the introduction of banned characters or BP modes in the future, which will make the routine game deeper.
Anyway, this game is free, and the fighting feels good. Even if it's just to study balance, it's worth giving it a try. The recent Year of the Ox event also included red envelopes for rain, which was not a loss. One final reminder: Don't just show off your achievements in the selfie and dating area. You really feel like you can't get high scores. Go to Station B to see the combo tutorials. It's much more reliable than posting a post asking for help. 🤣