(I apologize that this came out very long) ... you do realize that there's been several threads already made concerning UV's in Lockdown. Some explain it well in detail why it's bad while others just complain that it's unfair to have them. If anything like mentioned, OOO gave SK to GH which if you would have noticed is basically stated to be a 'MUSEUM' to preserve games long-term wise; they haven't stated that GH would be a company that keeps spitting out new content and while promos are nice, it's only to keep the game running more so those that are hardcore SK fanatics can keep playing. It's technically not considered new content because they mostly apply aesthetically and doesn't add new playable elements (levels, game modes, etc.).

Before all this I'm not going to talk about Auto-Target in this because it's been discussed thousands of times. I'm neutral to that issue (played with/without AT) so I'm not going to bring it up.

First of all in LD it's more in terms a battle of latency/connection because the potato servers that make the game run aren't that up to date to keep up with the inputs being registered. I'm not going to explain the 'why this happens' because I'm not much of a connection specialist but if you noticed that whenever you play, there will be times where you attack in which it seems to connect towards your target but in real time they're at least two tiles away from the attack to which in your screen they attack back and immediately you either take damage or die even though they're two tiles away. This is one of the main issues occurring and UV's don't have much of a play in this; you can have an ASI VH FF while the other guy has no ASI and I can guarantee that if you have terrible latency you're gonna end up on the short end of the straw, even if you have P2W stuff.

Second have you seen how unbalanced certain armors/weapons are? To name a few: Black Kat (glass cannon behind a very small chance percentage and/or paywall), Chaos (lesser glass cannon that's easily accessible and affordable), Acheron (hits with GF damage at brandish speeds), Polaris/Wildfire/Permafroster (projectile status shots that when spammed create an almost impassable wall; was nerfed to lesser damage and smaller size yet it didn't do much), Arcana/Phantamos/Riftlocker (blaster shots hit close if not at sword damage), and I can also mention flourishes, the other brandish lines and GF/DA but their benefits and weaknesses are almost neck and neck. Even at lower tiers this is still an issue to which most can assume that T1 is the most balanced yet almost nobody plays that. Basically UV's are lower in priority compared to this because 1.) This game was meant to be a PVE game and wasn't meant to be PvP yet (look at Super Brawl and the mess that occurred; there's a video from Magnus to which he destroys everyone with Vog set and GF, plus this was way before black kat was introduced and chaos was buffed) therefore LD even at it's current state is still not ready to be a great PvP game and 2.) UV's don't normally have much of an effect in which if you got dmg max on a certain attribute that means you'll survive one more hit from said damage attribute which in your perspective may seem more of a benefit but if let's say you get stun locked or can't get out of the situation fast enough then you're screwed. Status UV's are more valuable but even then if you were to spam mist bombs all day then expect to be decked a lot by pulsar shots, blaster shots and the occasional antigua line shots.

Third I see that you played since 2011 so you did see the game at its prime. Well I also played this game the same year and played it before the Steam introduction, missions and BN/LD. Focusing on LD at that time then yes you can say it was great at that time because people were BARELY starting to get the hang of it and you had more diversity in it in terms of armor (divine, dragon scale, bomber sets) being used and other underrated weapons. UV's also didn't take much of a role because everyone was still figuring out how LD works. From there as time passed then you would have noticed that they adapted to what's the most beneficial and then everyone decided that ASI and dmg bonuses were the way to go. Trinkets are controversial I'll agree with you on that but even then I'm neutral in that aspect; I played with/without trinkets and all I can say is that it increases your survivability. Do realize that with every game the initial state is normally the best for everyone because it's still relatively new but as changes occur and trends set in then the same people will start complaining on why they changed it. Not everyone is going to agree/disagree on these issues.

I played LD for a while and basically would rate myself as above average. I've gotten above 20k damage before at times and at certain points even 30k damage. Mostly I get 10-18k damage so I'm not god-tier. Why am I saying this and not stating how many caps/defends I had? It is because ever since a while ago damage has been the main focus of LD rather than the true purpose. Heck the community at this point still believes damage correlates to gaining more respect/recognition all because you've hit/killed more than the rest. Why am I talking about this and not UV's which is the main focus? It is because it's issues like these that cause LD to be near irritating to new players that want to get exposed. I got that damage because 1.) I have near perfect connection and almost don't experience latency issues and 2.) I have UV's but they're not all that great; I don't have max resistances on my armors and I only have 3 ASI VH weapons, every other weapon either has no ASI or basically ASI med which I got through on and off rolling. It's issues like this that causes some players to be better than others and UV's only play a small part of it. If you want, try to organize a tournament where you have everyone play in azure guardian armor and wield only a Levi and Valiance; you'll have no damage bonuses and don't have to worry about statuses and UV's because you know why? Almost no one bothers to roll UV's on underrated armors and weapons and even then almost no one bothers to get those sets and weapons even if you can attain them through mission play.

The fact that you say you don't like PvE and grinding tells me that you aren't a very well rounded player in terms of games that implements both. I mean first off how did you get your armors/weapons and how did you heat them? I know for sure you either bought them in SD (SD didn't exist yet before the missions update) or bought them from someone (before you couldn't unbind them yet before Vise came in) and if I were to assume you played before LD then that means you HAVE played the PvE aspect of this game. If you're purely PvP then go play games that are purely PvP and I can name several which are actually big in the gaming industry. The fact that you complain on a game that doesn't get much actual content besides promos and that you complain solely on a MINI game that has no play to the actual point of the game and that it only rewards tokens to get weapons that are still not used as much within LD tells me that you only really care about a very small portion of the game. Again if you're irritated that SK isn't up to your liking like the way it is before then play something else, SK isn't the only game in this world.

Tl;dr: There are bigger issues than UV's right now, SK is in limbo, no actual content besides promos, not a lot of people playing LD (you basically play the SAME people everyday), do realize LD is a grind for players wanting the PvP rewards, you should explore other games that are to your liking. Oh and if you want to see how others are seeing LD right now in a bad way, there's this one guy that plays LD almost everyday that CONSTANTLY complains about connection/latency issues. Not one of his complaints are about UV's and this dude just rants and rants on how each time he gets killed it's because of their god-like connection/4 bars/4k120fps. I'm sure you two would have a lovely conversation on the endless UV/connection debate. Til then. o^o/

I use to play lockdown in a divine veil set with no uvs at all when i first got into lockdown and still managed to get 13-30k dmg easily, i then transitioned into asi low/med which didnt make much of a difference since i always had 1-2 bars. Its not the uvs That give people an advantage. I believe it has to do with the connection and style of play, make sets that can counter any uvs ur opponents have and you will be fine tbh

Im going to be honest with you. I do understand where you are coming from. But where you are wrong is the 'real-money' P2W you're talking about. Im going to admit, I have asi VH and normal max UV's, but I have not spent a single dollar on this game, I gave the game the time it demanded to be able to purchase energy from grinding and then become efficient at it, enabling me to buy certain items. Yes the P2W exists, bit not everyone uses it. If you cannot give the game the time it demands for YOU to buy the UV'ed equipment, then that's simply on you. Yes there is a simpler way of buying those items by using real world currency, and that option should be available, after all this is a free game on the verge of dying out, some sort of income is required.

About it being fair, I play with no ASI or asi low/med sometimes, and it does not affect my playstyle. However, the ping definitely does. Ping is by far the sole reason lockdown can be'unfair'. Some1 who has a lower ping than you will definitely have the higher advantage no matter what gear/items you have, even if its the best in the game.

@OP
I can break down all your arguments. You clearly have not had ASI vhs, rely on bombs, ask ”what asi?” when you die, dont like the game enough to invest time or money into it, have not even considered the fact that ping is the real issue, said you can gain skill from money yet no mention of lag from having a bad computer or knowledge of performance tweaks. Try using your brain before you open your mouth.

Read up on correlation vs causation.

Your example involves sealed sword line comboing, which is the case were asi makes the most difference. This so called maxed out skolver set you’re talking about had shadow and elemental uvs lol.