Sprint Ability For Pure Melee Builds

[Pentecost]

The specifics of how it would be implemented would need further consideration, but I think the general notion of a sprint mechanic, something that relies on player judgment and arguably adds depth to the game, is a much better solution to the issue of kiting than just making arrows stupidly heavy, which does neither.

[Casimir]

Yeah, dodging the horse may be not so tough, but those silly cavalry all come with a really long weapon you know?

2h cav op

[Froto_the_Loc]

What is the definition of pure melee?
AFAIK the guy suggesting this carries a crossbow.

[Kenji]

Archers out run 90% of the pop.. It's not just me they kite...

This is when you should start riding a Plated Charger, my friend.

Nothing more menacing and enjoyable when you charge into a group of archers/xbowers to disrupt their aims while supporting and tanking for your team.

[Rumblood]

What is the definition of pure melee?
AFAIK the guy suggesting this carries a crossbow.

Any ranged item and cavalry should disqualify.

[Fuma Kotaro]

I made a stf 9/30 archer I thought it would be funny to run around with 3 stacks and a nomad bow
I had 10 ath and I had problems to run out some enemies with 7 or less....

[Little Lord Lollipop]

My stf was a 3/36 archer with 12 ath. Even with 2 quivers I couldn't kite a lightly armored infantry with 7 ath.

[Sandersson Jankins]

Man, I gotta say, I've seen VERY few kiting archers after the recent change/nerf/what have you. The ones that I have seen are very ineffective.

However, I have seen plenty (more than before) of HA/HX. It's pretty frustrating for most players, but since I'm back to my 15-24 arbalest build, I can shoot down HA/HX quite easily.

I don't have very effective input here, just an observation that I have seen far fewer kiting archers than before. Even the archers that have the ability to kite many players (Kesh, Dildos) aren't fucking assholes. They'll throw down in melee just like everyone else. And for that, I respect them. No respect for delaying HA/HX, though. Fuckers.

I wouldn't say it's out of control, but it could definitely be addressed. For starters, the arrow weight change helps, but is pretty extreme (1 quiver of regular arrows heavier than Great Maul lol). If possible, bows could be given physical length and have an alternate mode as a staff-like melee weapon to facilitate this. Physical weapon length affects run speed, more powerful bows could be longer, etc.  Automatic MOTF spawning at a designated amount of time left comes to mind as well.

There are a number of suggestions up at the moment in regards to this, I just think that ones which feel artificial (melee only speed buffs, athletics nerfs related to powerdraw) aren't fair/thought out very well, though I'm confident the developers will find a balance of good suggestions at some point.

Still, it's ultimately a problem of builds, which is a problem with the metagame which gravitates towards more Strength oriented builds in melee and more agility oriented builds in ranged. I don't have a problem with any builds, personally, but would definitely like to see as many dedicated agility-based infantry builds as I do balanced/strength based ones on the battlefield (I'd also like to see more Strength based ranged builds). More quick folks could make kiting archers less of an issue, but it falls on players to commit to those builds.

^^^ right there is a sick-ass suggestion. Give bows with appropriate length (no shortbows or whatever) an alt-mode that allows them to block and do moderate damage. Similar stats to the plain old staff (not quarterstaff), but slower.