So in 1.13 EXP, we can now block EVERY attack without any negative effects. Personally I feel this is a step too far, especially since zombie have also had their attack speed reduced.
I’m thinking that a good compromise would be to make certain zombie attacks stagger us, whilst we are blocking.
The overhead, 2 handed attack, for example.
Could also be the case when a player performs a power attack - this would stop melee PvP from being an endless block-fest.
I personally find 1.13 a huge improvement over 1.12 with infected. It feels to be a huge jump forward. The overhead unblockable attack was an rng pain in 1.12 to me. With infected randomly doing those attacks three times in a row at times.
It was frustrating and not enjoyable to me. I find the new system much more compelling to play. The zeds aggro better and seem to work in clusters better, they don’t all aggro, they aggro in pockets. It’s hard to to trap zombies in without getting hit by them, now the emphasis is on dealing with them straight away. One vs one you can block and attack, if you time it right you can actually kill the zed. If you make a tiny mistake, they hit you. It feels like there is a reason to try and take them down and are rewarded if you do things right. In 1.12 you could get hit three times because the same zed did three over head attacks, not because you made a mistake. So more often not the meta was purely to shut all zeds in houses until you get a suppressed pistol. Now the game is encouraging you to deal with lone zeds and it’s a bit more of a challenge to trap zeds in without getting hit. I much prefer it now. Some kind of penalty for blocking many zombie hits might add a little more to this, but when taking on infected now it feels far more compelling and worthwhile than in 1.12 which favoured trapping zeds as the best solution.
Aside from gaming I also (pre-pandemic) participated in recreational historical armored combat. A shield is your life, and even with it you cannot block every blow from multiple attackers. I understand TRMZ though, I enjoyed that clip on Twttr to, attempting to close in 3 or 4 infected and getting knocked out. So my take is persistent blocking (as the animation shows) would block all the upper torso and head hits, but you might possibly get your arms trashed, and legs hits should still apply.
I said it before but I can no longer find the comment so I'm repeating it. It is good to be able to block all the zombie hit but it makes no much sense doing it with your arms without receiving some damage this is not boxing and the infected are not using boxing globes, I think players should be able to block all the zeds hits using long tools or long weapons, like shovel, pickaxe, a shotgun or an SKS, but the hit should slightly damage the tool or weapon. Player should be able to block hits with their arms but not as much as it is possible in experimental now, but this is only my opinion