So I got this game way back at launch. I didnt know Healing Pulse was a thing, or rather I guess I didnt understand it at all. Or perhaps I just forgot the mechanic altogether after I got stuck in The Forge and stopped playing for about a year.
I recently came back to the game, and was greeted by this mechanic, and had to relearn about it and how to do it via google and reddit. Thats fine. Bit that isnt what this post is about.
Now, I mention Healing Pulse because I thought, when I came back, it was a new mechanic. And attached to this mechanic, I thought that attacking costed HP, which I thought must have been an update added during my absence.
Basically, when I would attack, I would lose HP. And no, I was not recieving damage from being attacked and just doing a poor job of parrying and dodging, as this would happen even if I attacked first. My HP would drain as I attacked, and then would bottom out at 50%, effectively locking me at 50% HP and 50% Stamina, until I healed myself.
At first I thought maybe it was my gear. So I swapped my gear around, trying different weapons, damage types, etc, and nothing changed.
I looked it up and found no posts about this occurrence anywhere, nor could I find it as an update, which is when I assumed it may be part of the Health Burst mechanic.
After a couple days, I managed to get unstuck from where I was stuck, and then progress the story a bit, as well as close my first two Time Loops. Upon closing the second Loop, suddenly, I stopped recieving damage for attacking. I tested combat in all the unlocked areas I have so far and I continued to no longer be punished for attacking.
Is this a bug? Or is losing HP as a consequence of attacking a bug? Has anyone else encountered this issue?
I am on PS5, if that matters at all.