Flashbang Mechanic Reassessment Thread

Since the begnning of the game, flashbangs have presented a challenge to players in that they can be blinded for a few seconds during active engagements with enemy units. However, what has notoriously caused controvesy is how exactly the flashbang mechanic works and players' views on sensible times for it to occur.



Videos all over YouTube and threads on the Bug Reporting and Suggestion & Feedback threads have shown mounting evidence that flashbangs are capable of spawning directly under a player's feet when there are absolutely zero law enforcement in upwards of a certain distance. It is realistically impossible and mechanically 'stupid' in my opinion for law enforcement spawning on the street in Watchdogs Day 2 to be able to flashbang me while I'm standing next to the Warehouse and there are no other enemies on the map near me or any other crew member.



Some of you will shout "That's clearly a bug, why is this not a bug report?" and that is because of a notoriously controversial and honestly, PR hostile move by Starbreeze CEO Bo Andersson Klint himself, infamously saying "Your opinion, my choice." in 2014, regarding complaints on the flashbang mechanic's ability to literally spawn out of thin air with no law enforcement near by.



I have always viewed bugs to be "things that happen outside of the conditions they are supposed to", meaning that if flashbangs are designed to randomly spawn out of thin air, then that's not a bug. A request to change something that is intentional, is a "suggestion" as opposed to a request to change/correct something that is not intentional being a "bug".



The black and white definition between "Is it an objective bug?" or "Is it an intentional but subjective design choice that people don't agree with?" is entirely on the developer. When someone is presenting a bug, suggestion, or feedback, only the developer can truly say "this is intentional" or "this is broken and we need to fix it".



Players have presented mountains of evidence to suggest that flashbangs don't work as they "should" since they can spawn under people's feet with no law enforcement at maximum distance in a 360 degree circle of vision. But with Bo Andersson Klint's statement long ago and the lack of 'bug confirmation' posts/statements by the developers at OVERKILL, you can never really be certain that something "not working as intended" is really a bug or simply complaints on how something works (Captain Winter's explosive weakness anyone?)



As such, I am requesting and suggesting a reassessment of the Flashbang mechanic by the developers as well as appropriate responses from them, stating "how the mechanic is supposed to work" and then we shall come to two paths. If by OVERKILL's definition of how the mechanic "should" work, doesn't match up with how players are encountering it, then that is a bug and needs to be fixed. If by their definition, it works correctly in game, then it becomes a matter of complaint and the developers should give a response as to whether they would be open to adjusting it.



Please note in this entire thread I am not asking for the removal of flashbangs. I personally find them an acceptable mechanic, like any other in a video game, if it happens to make sense in how it is executed and reaonably fair. I don't feel that flashbangs spawning under my feet with zero cops in my full 360 degree vision is "fair", but without knowledge of game code and what not, I can't simply say "this is a bug, please fix it". Only a developer can confirm/deny that something is legitimately a bug or working as intended, and that is what I'm calling for in this thead.