I don't know, I guess I've never really found cav to be 'OP'. There are some excellent cav players who are great at being in the perfect position to hit someone and just get out of range for a counterattack, but most of the time they just prey on the unaware and rack up kills that way.
When I roll an archer, killing cav is a breeze. Just have to keep awareness way up and be as mobile as possible.
When I play 2-H having a great sword w/ 120+ reach I definitely killed more cav than killed me... you have to be aware of positioning and try to get in front of a charging cav to thrust attack instead of letting them attack you from the side w/ a lance and back away out of your range. Can be a bit tricky against good cav players, but I enjoyed it when a cav would try to run me down because it usually ended up netting me a kill.
1-H shield is probably the trickiest against cav... while I've demounted my fair share of riders with the magic of the right swing against good cav you're pretty helpless, but the (imo) best char class in the game has to have some weaknesses, right?
Haven't played a pole user or thrower, but those seem to be even better against cav.
So I say give cav their bag of tricks; if you have trouble against cav it's probably an issue of your own awareness and positioning as a player and less about cavalry being overpowered.
+1
The fact that melee cavalry players (mainly lancers) gets so many kills doesn't make them OP. That is a stupid argument that is getting quite tiresome.
Also, a good HA will make the best of cav players to look bad.
The victims are made up of:
1. Unaware players of all kinds of classes (very rarely good players but quite often players who considers themselves to be good).
Solution: If you can't get better at it you will just have to rely on teamwork. Going with others instead of going alone is a good start.
2. Noobs and unskilled players lacking the knowledge or skill to defend themselves or counter (down block, jump a side, thrust the horse, jump slash the rider, jump stab the rider...).
3. Peasants (rarely good players). A good player knows how to downblock and jump a side and will make a stalemate in a 1vs1 situation with any type of melee cav.
It's quite funny when I meet a good peasant on his own who knows how to avoid getting bumped or hit by my lance making me look like a fool. I usually just ride away and fight somewhere else for a while when that happens. Not because I can't kill him but because it would take too long. Staying could result in a team loss because I stayed away from fights where my help would have been needed.
See where I am going?
It's only because of the unawareness and lack of teamplay and tactics by the enemy that makes it possible for me and other melee cavalry players to get a lot of kills fast.It's not a problem with the ingame balance. It's perfectly balanced. In general a melee cavalry player barely has the upper hand in 1vs1 situation vs any type of infantry (ranged or not).
An archer will kill the horse and a pikeman can't be killed. Then there are HA's that plays with melee cavalry like a cat plays with a mouse. The mouse can only run away and that is what I do.
I like how well balanced the game is right now.
Reminder: All classes are not supposed to be perfectly balanced in any 1vs1 situation vs any type of enemy.
