Topics

31

Archive / Beta Client Feature Suggestion

« on: November 06, 2012, 11:55:49 pm »

Would it be possible to have opacity added for scene props located between the player's character and the camera? Having objects located behind your character become translucent, as to not block your view, is a basic third person game mechanic that has always been missing from M&B.

To clarify, I'm not suggesting that objects between your character and an enemy in front of you become translucent. I believe that those objects add a slight aspect of depth to the game that is tricky to deal with, but not unfair to the player.

32

Suggestions Corner / Missing item balance changes

« on: October 29, 2012, 06:58:02 pm »

Overall, I really like the item balance changes, especially with the variety that was created among two-handed weapons, though I think there is still some work to be done.

Heavy Great Sword                       Sword of War                                   Highland Claymore
weapon length: 120                     weapon length: 121                         weapon length: 117
weight: 2.5                                   weight: 3                                          weight: 3
difficulty: 14                                  difficulty: 15                                      difficulty: 16
speed rating: 92                           speed rating: 93                               speed rating: 92
weapon length: 120                     weapon length: 121                         weapon length: 117
thrust damage: 22 pierce             thrust damage: 23 pierce                  thrust damage: 22 pierce
swing damage: 39 cut                  swing damage: 40 cut                       swing damage: 43 cut

Here's what I'd suggest
Heavy Great Sword
weapon length: 120
weight: 3.5
difficulty: 16
speed rating: 91
weapon length: 120
thrust damage: 24 pierce
swing damage: 40 cut

If the whole point of the recent 2h rebalance was to create versatility among the class, making this change creates another niche weapon that is something like the Nodachi, except with a thrust and less cut damage. Also, give the nodachi 44 cut already, it's really a shitty weapon.

Two Handed Sword                   Miaodao
weapon length: 110                 weapon length: 115
weight: 2                                  weight: 2.5
difficulty: 12                              difficulty: 12
speed rating: 96                       speed rating: 96
weapon length: 110                 weapon length: 115
thrust damage: 22 pierce         thrust damage: 0 pierce
swing damage: 38 cut              swing damage: 40 cut

When people constantly complain about thrusts, be they from 1h, 2h or polearm weapons, I don't think it makes any sense that a 22 pierce, +70 length animation is somehow only worth 40 cut damage, or that 3 speed is worth a 23p +70 length thrust. I suggest giving the Miaodao +1 speed or +2 damage.

Dadao                                         Highland Claymore
weapon length: 115                   weapon length: 117
weight: 3                                    weight: 3
difficulty: 12                                difficulty: 16
speed rating: 93                         speed rating: 92
weapon length: 115                   weapon length: 117
thrust damage: 0 pierce             thrust damage: 22 pierce
swing damage: 42 cut                swing damage: 43 cut

Same argument. If anything, the price difference should make up a 1~2 cut damage loss, but the fact that it also lacks a thrust entirely, means that it should end up at 94 speed or 44 cut.

New polearms:

Long Awlpike
weapon length: 185
weight: 2.8
difficulty: 14
speed rating: 89
weapon length: 185
thrust damage: 32 pierce
swing damage: 18 blunt

Ranseur                                 Spetum                                          Corseque
weapon length: 189              weapon length: 186                      weapon length: 186
weight: 2.5                            weight: 2.5                                    weight: 2.5
difficulty: 12                           difficulty: 12                                   difficulty: 12
speed rating: 85                    speed rating: 86                           speed rating: 86
weapon length: 189              weapon length: 186                      weapon length: 186
thrust damage: 31 pierce      thrust damage: 31 pierce              thrust damage: 31 pierce
swing damage: 22 cut           swing damage: 18 blunt                swing damage: 19 pierce

3-4 speed loss on all of the new polearms while they all lose 1 pierce damage as well. Nearly everything else is exactly the same, they're just not worth using, regardless of how badass they look. I suggest adding versatility here, like what was done with the greatswords.

Proposed stat changes:
Ranseur
weapon length: 189
weight: 2.5
difficulty: 12
speed rating: 90
weapon length: 189
thrust damage: 29 pierce
swing damage: 32 cut (remember it's cut damage, against 50 armor the blunt or pierce will be better.)

Spetum
weapon length: 186
weight: 2.5
difficulty: 12
speed rating: 86
weapon length: 186
thrust damage: 31 pierce
swing damage: 24 blunt

Corseque
weapon length: 186
weight: 2.5
difficulty: 12
speed rating: 92
weapon length: 186
thrust damage: 27 pierce
swing damage: 20 pierce

Lots of versatility, stats based on the Long Awl Pike and the English Bill

English Bill                                   Swiss Halberd
weapon length: 174                   weapon length: 162
weight: 4                                    weight: 3
difficulty: 17                                difficulty: 15
speed rating: 89                         speed rating: 91
weapon length: 174                   weapon length: 162
thrust damage: 28 pierce           thrust damage: 28 pierce
swing damage: 31 pierce           swing damage: 38 cut

Partisan
weapon length: 176
weight: 3
difficulty: 14
speed rating: 85
weapon length: 176
thrust damage: 36 cut
swing damage: 25 cut

This one's arguable the worst out of all four, this is what I propose, remember cut damage is far less effective than pierce.
Proposed stat change:
Partisan
weapon length: 176
weight: 3
difficulty: 14
speed rating: 93
weapon length: 176
thrust damage: 37 cut
swing damage: 33 cut

At 37 cut the partisan, against a 50 armored target and a .25 speed bonus, should do the same exact damage as a 28p thrust. This means the weapon specializes in fighting light armored opponents, but the effectiveness tapers off against armor. 33 cut on the swing to help balance the additional speed that the weapon gains over the swiss and the Bill.

Overall, more versatility, all equally usable, none of them are "OP" and all relatively equivalent to weapons that have been in game for quite a while now.


Finally, completely remove polestagger from NA (duel, strat, and siege; I believe it's only removed from battle) and actually implement the polestagger reimbursements that were previously talked about. You can't remove pole stagger from a War Spear for example, and expect the weapon to be anywhere nearly as good as it was without reimbursement. This is probably why those weapons have fallen in price on the marketplace and are now a bit of a rarity on the servers.

Oh yeah, nerf armor/buff cut damage/buff 1h cut weapons specifically.

tldr;great patch, but a few things were left out that don't make sense.

Edit: Sorry for the really shitty formatting.

33

Suggestions Corner / How to Improve the Duel Rating System.

« on: October 20, 2012, 10:18:57 pm »

The current rating mechanics are set up with an expectation of rating classes being about 200 points it seems (based on the point gain/loss system) and for a 1500 base ELO rating level. As it stands now, if you lose to someone 200 points below you, you lose what ends up being about 5-10% of your total points. Where a 2200 rating guy losing to a 2000 rating guy will lose the same amount of points, that actually accounts for less overall of his total rating. This means that the rating variation is mostly similar to that of a functioning system if you assume that current player rating levels are fairly accurate representations of their skill level. Why don't we have this now? If it's set up for that, why aren't we seeing rating classes form?

Because the base ELO Rating is 100 and skill degradation is far, far too severe (Most systems don't even have rating degradation, but if they do, normally your skill doesn't start degrading until at least an entire month passes without you having a competitive match), skill classes can't possibly form properly. If your rating degrades 100 or 200 points when the highest person only has 500, that means you basically dropped about four skill classes(Not that we actually have them, it's just an example), yet your actual player skill has almost certainly not faltered at all. This is undoubtedly the reason skill classes aren't forming, and never will. No one cares enough to play often enough to never have their skill degrade and any time you have inappropriate rating degradation, you further break the system's functionality.

I know this is implemented to counter exploiters, but when the entire system simply doesn't function, it's pointless to even bother caring about exploiters to begin with. Functional yet exploitable is surely better than nonfunctional. At least with a functioning, exploitable system, you would have far smaller rating fluctuations of individuals, which would itself allow classes to form.

Now, I can understand a bit why 100 was made as the starting point, and it seems like it would be good, but in reality it is another hindering factor. You would think it would increase the average, and that it would be a good thing, but it's actually the opposite of what you need for a functioning rating system. Your starting rating level needs to be approximately what you expect the "average" to be. When 100 is the starting level and 0 the minimum, it skews the entire system and you end up with non linear skill classes forming(assuming you even get them).

Further suggestions:

Only have elo rating factor in after a series of duels, something to mimic a "match". If you make one mistake in a duel, you pretty much have lost the duel against a reasonably skilled opponent, even if they are a few classes below you, if you aren't a str build and in plate armor. In every other game that uses an elo rating system, wins generally aren't dictated by a single mistake being made (unless it's huge). One mistake in chess against a person several skill ratings below you is recoverable. One mistake in a crpg duel against someone with far less rating, could cost you the entire duel, and thus your rating. Why is this bad? Because it means that you can easily lose points without any chance of regaining them. "But over the course of 100 duels it should still even out due to averages." No, currently this isn't actually the case at all. Reason being, rating variance makes it harder to find proper opponents that can actually give you a reasonable amount of rating to being with, and with several opponents that can't give you points, but can take them from you, and most importantly, factoring in skill rating deflation, you can't expect to find proper opponents.

Give diminishing returns for winning/losing to the same person over and over. Rather than having your expected score based solely upon your ELO rating, have it partially look at the past(recent maybe) win:loss ratio to calculate the expected score. This is really great because it prevents exploitation for all cases aside from the most extreme, complex and highly unlikely scenarios. Furthermore, when duelists don't start on an even playing field due to weapon match-ups, builds, looms, etc. you should expect player a to be able to kill player b more easily than player c, but player c to more easily beat player a than player b. This prevents player a feeding on player b to easily increase his rating, while ignoring player c.

34

Diplomacy / hero_party Closed Fief Policy

« on: September 29, 2012, 06:08:38 am »

From this point forward hero_party's fiefs are off limits to all except those with a prearrangement through Shik, Smoothrich or myself. Not adhering to this policy will end with aggressive actions being taken against the party of the offender. You can contact us through steam, forum messages or IRC if you are interested in setting up a trade agreement. Diplomatic dialogues must have been concluded prior to any trades or will be considered a violation of this policy.

Update: Do not sell in Aab, under any circumstances. This is a clan only fief and is off limits to anyone outside of hero_party until further notice.

35

Suggestions Corner / Strategus Ticks for the Duel Server

« on: September 18, 2012, 12:55:18 am »

Why is it people despise the duel server so much? Why is it that I can play Battle, Siege and even DTV to get Strategus Ticks and Gold, but even if I'm ranked #1 on the duel server, I will never receive anything for spending my time there. It's already bad enough that players on the duel server are forever stuck with a 1x, something that took us nearly a year to get re-added to crpg. We know we're the red headed step-child that you'd much rather have disappear from this community. That's why you haven't seen a single thread asking for more than a mere 1x multiplier out of us in over a year. It was hard enough just to get that.

Now that Strategus Ticks are the necessity that they are, the status quo has shifted. You can either be successful in strategus or you can enjoy the game the way you enjoy it most, if you're a duelist. The two are not compatible, not unless you aren't attending a school and also don't have a job. It shouldn't be a chore to get Strategus Ticks, I know it wasn't intended to be one. So why is it I have to spend more time in game modes I prefer much less and sometimes don't even enjoy playing, to do anything in Strat?

I can leech in DTV, get full xp, gold, Strategus gold and Strategus Ticks, but if I want to spend time reaching the #1 duelist spot, I get nothing for it. Need to train with your clan for the next Strat battle? Shame you won't be getting any Strat Ticks or Gold for that. I realize Duelists as one of the red headed step-children that we're destined to be hated and looked upon as inferior, but this is just pathetic.

Give some rewards to players actively dueling on the server and maybe give something for being a ranked duelist, because I know from past experiences, we're still going to get the short end of the stick. So might as well give a little bonus for those that spend extra effort and display better results just to get the meager table scraps that fall from the plates of our superiors on the Battle, Siege, and DTV servers.

36

Suggestions Corner / Left Handed Option for Characters.

« on: August 16, 2012, 10:15:42 pm »

Give an option to select "left/right" handed for your character. Then flip all the animations that character has. Sword and board holds the shield in the right hand, lancers hold their lance in their left. 1h left hand spam becomes right hand spam, chambering someone's right swing as a polearm leaves you with a good swing animation, rather than a borked (current left swing) animation. HX/HA can turn their bodies opposite the normal direction without screwing up their aim, etc...

If you've ever dueled someone who uses inverted mouse swings, you'll notice they're somewhat less predictable than others and are also harder to chamber. While this might not be anything like that (aside from cav vs cav, maybe) it basically doubles the amount of animations you have to watch for. Maybe rather than having it be a website option, have it something like an "alt mode" where you press a key, and you change your holding of the weapon immediately, from right hand dominance to left.

I think of it as something like a rightie boxer facing a lefty. Who knows, it might actually add a bit of depth.

Edit: Maybe allow people to switch hands in game for a wpf penalty?

37

Scene Editing / A Humble Request

« on: August 12, 2012, 04:18:19 pm »

For anyone thinking about giving map creation a shot, can you try, or at least consider, making a "town" map? They're the most balanced for all classes and I believe having more of these in our rotation would solve some balance issues that people don't realize actually stem from map design. Remember, village maps (6-7 houses) and open field maps favor cavalry and/or ranged, while the majority of the player base is melee. I'm not saying make your map favor melee. I'm saying think about what viable options every class has for the duration of each round that will be played on the map, and that town maps generally are more balanced because they have more options (Wide open areas on the periphery of a map don't add options, they only create empty space).

Thanks.

38

Game Balance Discussion / A Polearm and Two-Handed Weapon/Weapon Type Comparison

« on: July 30, 2012, 04:36:19 am »

*Disclaimer* If you want a tldr version, skip this thread. *Disclaimer*

This started out as a complaint about the lack of versatility within the Two-Handed weapon class and at least for the first part, it remains so. I realized while writing this and staring at the numbers though, that it wasn't fair to simply bring attention to only the one aspect of balance; rather than creating two separate threads, I have condensed it down into one subject.

It's obvious that certain weapons are more like some than others, and that certain groups of these weapons create a niche. Each of these niches or "subclasses" have unique play-styles and share advantages and/or disadvantages. This is where versatility comes into play. So why is versatility even important? Versatility plays a major role in balance, both of a class type and indeed with individual weapons. What are the alternatives that mounted cavalry can choose to take with them for when they're unhorsed, or if they want to use one weapon while both mounted and unmounted? What if a player wants to take a duel specific weapon and a team fight weapon?

It's clear that pikes shouldn't be able to be carried alongside a greatsword or a GLA, otherwise there would be no need for them to currently be 3 slots, or for us to even have a slot system at all. Should you not consider the advantages of taking a Swiss Halberd and a GLA at the same time, while remaining equally proficient in both without having to split your wpf? So what are these subclasses?

The Comparison

Axes
Polearms vary in length from 115 to 155, two-hand have the range variation at 90 to 116. While the majority of the polearms remain balanced, two-handers are forced to use unbalanced weapons if they want an axe or bonus against shield. You could throw the poleaxes in here as well, in which case not only do they serve the purpose of an axe, they also have good thrust damage (aside from one, which is still mediocre). Two-Handers have nothing like this.

Pierce damage, swing weapons
Polearms have the Bec and Long Spiked club. 2h gets the Morning Star, yet another unbalanced weapon. The Bec is balanced, has more range, 1 more speed, and a thrust. But wait, doesn't the morning star just serve the purpose of an axe more than a dueling, all-purpose weapon that the Bec can fill? It does, and with 38p, why would anyone even use any of the axes, they only gain 10-15 range. So much for any sort of versatility 2hers have in these two categories. Nearly all of the axes are inferior to the morning star, as 38 pierce does the same amount of damage to a mere 40 armored target that 44 cut would do.

Really long range spammy thingies like the Flamberge
 Two-handers have one, polearms have several. Hell, they have 9 weapons with 150 length + that also still have four attack directions. They range from the Scythe at 896 gold to the GLB at 13,700 gold. That’s huge versatility within the subclass for polearms.

Crushthrough
Two-handers actually win here. They have both really slow and heavy weapons, and mildly faster + lighter weapons that sacrifice crushthrough frequency, for speed. The polearm version has uniqueness to it as well, as it isn't just a carbon copy of one of its 2h counterparts. It's much, much longer than any of the other crushthrough weapons.

Blunt type weapons
The Two-Handed balanced weapons are the goedendag and mace. Polearms have the War Spear, Red Tassel Spear, Iron Staff, and Quarter Staff. Of the Unbalanced ones, 2h have Bar Mace, Long Iron Mace, Studded War Club varying from 92 to 96 length and 92 to 95 speed. Polearms have Long Hafted Spiked Mace, Long Hafted Knobbed Mace varying from 133 to 138 length and 91 to 93 speed. Polearms are slightly more versatile here but pretty much equal balance throughout, now that pole-stagger isn't there to account for.

Pikes
As much as a people would like to believe, a greatsword isn’t a pike. The longspear has an effective 260 length, the greatswords are around 190 length. The 70 length difference is quite huge in practice. Furthermore, pikes completely dominate horsemen, greatswords do not. “But I kill horsemen all the time on my 2her”. Sure, and I pull off 3v1s against bads every other round, doesn’t mean that if you were to take two equally skilled players, that the horseman would have any reason to lose. An effective 240 length reach from cavalry, completely shits on the best possible reach you can get with any 2her. Sure, you might hit his horse, but you will also get lanced without doing any damage to the rider. To go further still, even if you were to kill the horse, there is still a chance that you would run into the bug where you’d end up getting lanced/couched due to the rider not getting put into the proper knockdown animation on time.

Hoplites
Though most of their weapons were hit fairly hard by the loss of pole-stagger, for the sake of this comparison I’m going to pretend they are as balanced as they were when they had pole-stagger, as it’s clear they will be receiving a buff as compensation for their loss. For field battles, hoplites offer the most versatility, utility and survivability as they have a shield for protection, longer range than anyone except pikemen, and if they put away their shield, they have a completely different way of fighting. They have a minimum of 180 effective length (130 length spear) but most likely around 200 (war spear has 200 effective length in hoplite mode) and can even go up to an effective 250 length range with a bamboo spear. Two-Handers only have gimmicks as a comparison. You either use the weapon as a 1h when you use it with a shield, which nerfs the speed, damage and effective length or you use it with a shield in polearm mode, in which case your effective range is 150, easily inferior to even the shortest of polearm hoplite weapons as well as doing less damage.

Bi-directional weapons
These don’t even exist for Two-Handed type weapons. Why should this matter? The attack directions are part of a weapon’s stats, if a weapon only has two or three attack directions you have to take that into consideration when you’re balancing its length, speed and damage. This may not seem like a huge issue, but you have to remember, this is about versatility and these weapons have a unique fighting style.

Mounted Weapons
I don't think I really need to go into too much depth here. Only the Longsword and Morning Star are viable for 2h, meanwhile the usage statistics for polearms show something vastly different, even with 30%+ on the heavy lance. Not to say that makes for good balance within the lance class, because it doesn't, but I know the issue is trying to be addressed so you'll have to forgive me for not spending too much time on it. Regardless, people are still regularly using the Lance, Light lance, and the Great Lance. More importantly though, I know it's not necessary to point out which cavalry type, polearm or two-handed, is superior.

+70 Length Thrust Weapons
Any weapon with the unique two-handed thrust animation, which means polearms don’t have anything that fits this niche, but it doesn’t mean they don’t have weapons of comparable range (glaive, any 170~ range polearm). What this class might actually lack in range on swings, it quickly makes up for with its thrust. These weapons don’t have any fancy mechanics (aside from a single goedendag) and their only utility is indeed, in their range. On average, their damage isn’t enough (at least for me) to be considered hard hitters.

I just listed ten subclasses/fighting styles that are based on weapon stats. Six of them greatly favor polearms, two greatly favor two-handed weapons, and two are relatively equally balanced. We haven’t quite gone through all of the weapons and fighting styles, so here’s two more.

Tri/Quad Directional, universally well rounded, sharing the same general fighting-style, weapons. These could possibly double as "dueling" weapons. This section is more in depth as these weapons are the most popular (Not so much the faster weapons) as well as the most controversial.
The Fast Weapons
Two-Handed

Weapons Chosen: Longsword, Katana, Bastard Sword, Two-Handed Sword, Miaodao

95 to 101 speed                          Mean: 97.6 Mode: 95 Median: 98
35 cut to 40 cut                           Mean: 37.5 c Mode: 36c Median: 37c
0/16 pierce to 23 pierce thrust    Mean: 16.4 p Mode: NA Median: 21p
95 to 115 length                          Mean: 106.6 Mode: NA Median: 106
Total 2h Count of this Category: 5

(click to show/hide)

(I do not count the Heavy Bastard Sword and Longsword as being two separate items.)

Polearm (The weapons most greatly affected by the loss of pole-stagger, also the weapons which will receive the greatest reimbursement for their loss)

Weapons Chosen: Quarter Staff, Shortened Spear, Spear, Long Spiked Club, Red Tassel Spear, War Spear, Iron Staff

95 to 102 speed                          Mean: 97.4 Mode: 95 Median: 97
15 blunt to 25 pierce swing         Mean: 18.9 b Mode: 15b Median: 18b
17 blunt to 25 pierce thrust         Mean: 24.4 p Mode: 27p Median: 26p
120 to 150 length                        Mean: 135.3 Mode: 150 Median: 135
Total Polearm Count of this Category: 7 (Discarded the Staff and Practice Lance as they have no purpose for sustained usage.)

What does this mean, aside from polearms having 40% more weapons in this category than Two-Handers? To start, these weapons have equivalent speed. Polearms have both superior range on all attacks, as well as much higher thrust damage. While clearly, Two-Handers have superior swing damage. You have to remember on that last one though, that fast polearm's swings are most affected by the loss of pole-stagger and that these damages are based around the existence of pole-stagger. These weapons truly got shit on by the loss of pole-stagger and will thus (most likely) receive a large buff to their swing damage as compensation. On the other hand, the polearms clearly have superior thrust damage and weapon range for all but the thrust, which, even then, is fairly similar. Each of these polearms can also be used with a shield, so you should account for the added versatility here as well.


The Slow, Long or High Damage Weapons
Two-Handed (43.5% EU usage, 27.5% NA usage)
Weapons Chosen: Dadao, Heavy Great Sword, Great Sword, Highland Claymore, Sword of War, Nodachi, German Greatsword, Danish Greatsword

91 to 94 speed                              Mean: 92.2 Mode: 92 Median: 92
0/22 pierce to 26 pierce thrust      Mean: 17.9 Mode: 0, 22, 26 Median: 21.5

(click to show/hide)

(Two weapons had no thrust, I decided to keep them in this average as I found no other way to offset the bonus to other stats that these two weapons receive due to not having a thrust. Indeed you could say that all of the other stats are "inflated" due to the weapons being balanced around their lack of a thrust. The same way bi-directional weapons are balanced around only having two attack directions. Without the Nodachi or Dadao, mean: 23.8)

37 cut to 43 cut                             Mean: 40.3 (Without the Nodachi or Dadao: 39.5) Mode: 40, 43 Median: 40
115 to 124 length                          Mean: 120.3
Total 2h Count of this Category: 8
Average gold cost: 12,487 with 1 weapon less than 11.7K gold (price of 2nd cheapest weapon)

Polearm (20.12% EU usage, 19.99% NA usage)

(click to show/hide)

Usages greatly skewed by mounted/lance usage

Weapons Chosen: Hafted Blade, Long Bardiche, Long Hafted Blade, Long War Axe, Glaive, Bec de Corbin, Great Long Axe, Poleaxe, German Poleaxe, Elegant Poleaxe

89 to 94 speed                              Mean: 91.2 Mode: 92 Median: 92
16 blunt to 31 pierce                     Mean: 22.3 Mode: 16, 26 Median: 21
34 pierce to 45 cut                        Mean: 40.8 Mode: 45, 39 Median: 41

(click to show/hide)

(not including the bec, which averages the same amount of damage against a 40 armored target, that a 42 cut weapon would and what a 44 damage weapon would average against 50 armor. Whenever I make a build, I plan to be fighting 50 armored opponents, because anyone that is going to give me a tough time in melee, has at least that much. Mean: 41.1 with a 44c weapon representing the bec.)

120 to 160 length                          Mean: 135.7
Total Polearm Count of this Category: 10
Average gold cost: 11078 with 6 weapons less than 11.7K gold

To start, the cost of the weapons in this top tier category varies quite a bit between the two. I'm sure some people are wondering how I can call "cheap" weapons "top tier". Well, due to my wanting to keep the dadao as a top tier weapon, because of how slight the variance is from the Highland Claymore, and the fact that the Hafted blade fits all the technical requirements (94 speed, balanced, 4 directional attack), as well as both costing the same, I thought it appropriate to leave both, rather than take one out. Though, arguably, the Hafted blade is a fairly bad weapon. They fill the same purpose in each class as being the "low-end" top-tier weapons. LWA and GS were both kept because in both cases, they differ from only +1 speed and -1 cut from their legitimate, top-tier counterparts. In hind sight, I could have added the Long Axe to the polearm list, but I was trying to not have too many cheap weapons on the list. The Heavy Great Sword fills all of my technical requirements for the list, but arguably, it could be removed. This would only further stress the point of a lack of versatility for two-handers, especially had I added the Long Axe to the list, making it 7 weapons to 11, nearly 60% more weapons in the polearm category.

The speed is equivalent again, as are both damage types as well. Length on swings slightly favors Two-Handed weapons while the thrust length is greatly in favor of the Two-Handers. Six of the ten polearms have “bonus against shields”. I do not believe that most of the polarms in this section are disadvantaged by the loss of pole-stagger, as they simply aren’t fast enough weapons to utilize pole-stagger, for a second hit. I would still say that for the most part, these weapons are at a disadvantage over-all due to the difference in thrust length.

So why not just change to the polearm animation for thrusts? The thrust animation creates a fighting style that is unique. Why needlessly change fighting styles when you can do other things to implement balance? One of the staple advantages for Two-Handers is their thrust reach, one of them for polearms, is their number of balanced weapons with bonus against shields, or the ability to stop horses. Taking one of those away completely changes balance for the whole class. The same way taking pole-stagger away from polearms did.

“But pole-stagger was removed from polearms, so it’s only fair to remove something from Two-Handers”. No, it isn’t. Pole-stagger allowed you to consistently get two hits for your opponent only making one mistake. That holds a much greater affect over the outcome of a fight than 30-40 length on a single, low-medium damage attack direction.



Do you see this the same as I do? Am I missing something? Am I the only one who thinks that overall, these weapons seem mostly balanced (or were, before pole-stagger was removed)? Discuss.

39

Resolved Issues / [Bug]Kick animation cancels blocks.

« on: July 27, 2012, 08:58:38 pm »

No, I don't mean when I get kicked by someone, I get stunned and can't block. I mean that when I initiate a kick, it cancels a block I have held. If I kick, then try to block during the kick animation, nothing happens. It is impossible for me to block any direction while kicking, meanwhile I talked to another guy with the beta client, and he said he could do it fine.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24876970/crpg_beta_config.ini
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24876970/crpg_beta_log.txt

Looks like Tennenoth mentioned this as well in his post just a few minutes before mine.

40

Resolved Issues / [Bug] Rebinding to Alt+Q

« on: July 27, 2012, 05:32:23 pm »

Rebinding anything to ctrl+Q still brings up the 'q' menu even though you held alt first. It doesn't distinguish. I rebound rear horse to ctrl+Q and while it stops the horse, it also brings up the menu. Does the same if you rebind to ctrl+E, no bugs when you're on your horse, but if you press the combination on foot, you will kick as well.

41

Archive / Odd texture/shading on grass.

« on: July 25, 2012, 08:18:40 pm »

Screenshot: http://www.filedropper.com/mb6
http://www.filedropper.com/mb3

I have no idea how reproducible this bug is. I do know though, that I asked in the server if the grass I was near/on looked any different than the grass elsewhere and about 10 people replied saying no. Clearly it was just client side and just that one area. No other grass that I have seen has looked like that. It persisted throughout the entire map.

http://www.filedropper.com/crpgbetaconfig
http://www.filedropper.com/crpgbetalog

42

General Discussion / cRPG, why you so buggy, guy?

« on: July 09, 2012, 06:49:44 pm »

Dear cRPG, I heard you had caught a bug or two. Hope you get better.

Sincerely,

Tydeus

43

Sell/Trade / MW Horn Bow for Armors

« on: June 30, 2012, 03:55:45 pm »

Trying to get rid of a MW Horn bow. All I want is medium armor, that is, any of the base 36-42 body armors.

44

General Discussion / Niuweidao vs. Katana

« on: June 27, 2012, 05:46:59 pm »

Niuweidao
weapon length: 88
weight: 1.5
difficulty: 10
speed rating: 101
weapon length: 88
thrust damage: 0 pierce
swing damage: 32 cut

Katana
weapon length: 95
weight: 1.2
difficulty: 9
speed rating: 101
weapon length: 95
thrust damage: 16 pierce
swing damage: 37 cut

This may seem like a completely stupid question to some of you, if it is then you probably don't belong here. Even when discounting shields, is the Niuweidao actually a better weapon in a 1v1, assuming highly skilled players? Are 1h animations good enough to make the Niuweidao a better weapon? How about when fighting multiple people? Certainly, if the niuweidao had more cut damage I would undoubtedly say that it is, in every reasonable situation, a better weapon.

Personally, I'm on the fence about it. 5 cut is hard for me to ignore.

45

Sell/Trade / [Sell/Trade] MW German Poleaxe, MW Longsword, Lordly Skutatos

« on: April 26, 2012, 04:14:38 pm »

What I want:

Lordly Churburg Cuirass
Lordly Litchina Helm

I will also take good deals for strictly gold.