It seems to me that certain npcs have interrupt effects, but not having any clear understanding of the mechanics, I'm hoping to get some feedback. This stemmed from the realization that UI responsiveness issues seemed to coincide with certain circumstances. At first I thought it was caused by graphical lag when there was a lot of action on the screen.

After further testing it appears that there are certain subtle npc attacks that disable attacks, and/or prevent the players from taking any action for short periods. Since there is no UI prompt, it resembles a lack of response from the UI. You stab the buttons but because the game is intentionally denying your inputs without your understanding, it looks broken.

Some are more obvious, like the swinging chain attacks. You get knocked back a bit, and your action bar greys out. Same with the melee attack Shockwave. Undefended, it will prevent you from acting, noted by the icons on your action bar becoming grey.

There are however a few that seem far more subtle, and because there are no diminishing returns when used on players they can add up to complete incapacitation, while being completely transparent to the players. The only one I can pinpoint right now is the knife throw used by westside gangs.

As you are hit by the knives your character is forced into an animation that throws the right arm back almost like you just touched something hot. This will sometime interrupt maintains, and three of them back to back can each prevent you from acting, which can end up feeling like 3 seconds of no response from the UI.

Anyone have thoughts on this? Or possibly direct me to more info on this if it exists?