cRPG

cRPG => General Discussion => Topic started by: Swaggart on August 22, 2012, 11:29:40 pm

Title: New rules for class debate
Post by: Swaggart on August 22, 2012, 11:29:40 pm
This is getting stupid. I propose that in order for us to have proper discussions about the current state of classes, we need some new rules because some people sound like a broken fucking record.

Rules for Melee:
1. Stop calling ranged my old friends. It makes you look stupid.

2. Stop complaining that you get kited. It's annoying as fuck, but it makes perfect sense as they are playing to their strengths, while limiting yours.

3. Stop complaining about cav backstabbing you. It's annoying as fuck, but it makes perfect sense as they are playing to their strengths, while limiting yours.

Rules for Ranged:
1. Stop telling melee to get a shield. Especially when archers themselves admit that shields don't make much of a difference to an unsuspecting foe. Ranged don't need to spend points to block melee, so it's pretty much rubbing it in.

2. Stop telling melee to get more awareness. It's very hard to be on the lookout for archers, and cav, and other melee who might be half a second away from striking range. It's far easier to be aware when you play ranged since you are not in the thick of melee

Rules for Cav:
1. Stop telling melee to get more awareness. It's very hard to be on the lookout for archers, and cav, and other melee who might be half a second away from striking range. It's far easier to be aware when you play cav and can simply ride away from a tough situation.

If you think of any, please feel free to add.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Corsair831 on August 22, 2012, 11:31:31 pm
This is getting stupid. I propose that in order for us to have proper discussions about the current state of classes, we need some new rules because some people sound like a broken fucking record.

Rules for Melee:
1. Stop calling ranged my old friends. It makes you look stupid.

2. Stop complaining that you get kited. It's annoying as fuck, but it makes perfect sense as they are playing to their strengths, while limiting yours.

3. Stop complaining about cav backstabbing you. It's annoying as fuck, but it makes perfect sense as they are playing to their strengths, while limiting yours.

Rules for Ranged:
1. Stop telling melee to get a shield. Especially when archers themselves admit that shields don't make much of a difference to an unsuspecting foe. Ranged don't need to spend points to block melee, so it's pretty much rubbing it in.

2. Stop telling melee to get more awareness. It's very hard to be on the lookout for archers, and cav, and other melee who might be half a second away from striking range. It's far easier to be aware when you play ranged since you are not in the thick of melee

Rules for Cav:
1. Stop telling melee to get more awareness. It's very hard to be on the lookout for archers, and cav, and other melee who might be half a second away from striking range. It's far easier to be aware when you play cav and can simply ride away from a tough situation.

If you think of any, please feel free to add.

but, 2h heros should have a shield, and people should be aware to cav.

 stupid thread.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Miley on August 22, 2012, 11:32:53 pm
1. Stop calling ranged everyone my old friends. It makes you look stupid.

Rules for Ranged:
1. Stop telling melee to get a shield. Especially when archers themselves admit that shields don't make much of a difference to an unsuspecting foe. Ranged don't need to spend points to block melee, so it's pretty much rubbing it in.

NO AGREE...
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Teeth on August 22, 2012, 11:33:51 pm
Rules for Cav:
1. Stop telling melee to get more awareness.
I disagree with this one. I just can't believe that almost every round I see some guy being completely oblivious to the cav coming from a mile away and getting his ass couched. Outfit view button, motherfucker, do you use it? It's really not that hard.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Zlisch_The_Butcher on August 22, 2012, 11:35:43 pm
I disagree with this one. I just can't believe that almost every round I see some guy being completely oblivious to the cav coming from a mile away and getting his ass couched. Outfit view button, motherfucker, do you use it? It's really not that hard.
Eh, holding it all round is boring as shit, I'd rather be couched, if I spot the lancer, he dies, if I don't, I die, I'm fine with it either way.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: bilwit on August 22, 2012, 11:44:52 pm
New rules for rangedmy old friends:
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Tears of Destiny on August 22, 2012, 11:53:12 pm
New rules for rangedmy old friends:
(click to show/hide)

me·lee/ˈmāˌlā/
Noun:   
*A confused fight, skirmish, or scuffle.
*A confused mass of people.


Get owned.

Regardless, both of those descriptions certainly describe rather well the clusterfuck our servers turn into.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Swaggart on August 23, 2012, 12:05:52 am
It's very hard to be on the lookout for archers, and cav, and other melee who might be half a second away from striking range.

The important part that the "get moar awarenes n00b lol" crowd seems to miss.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Tears of Destiny on August 23, 2012, 12:07:02 am
Yeah, I'm not hitting that tilde key when already locked in combat or about to engage.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Allers on August 23, 2012, 12:12:09 am
 :oops:
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Sandersson Jankins on August 23, 2012, 12:13:56 am
There's a "loud horses" mod floating around somewhere on these forums. If lancers are a problem, that could help. I don't use it myself, because I do love me some spinny outfit view camera.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Tanken on August 23, 2012, 12:17:49 am
Rule for Devs:

Stop Nerfing the Long Spear and Pike. Thanks.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: DrTaco on August 23, 2012, 12:18:17 am
Yeah, I'm not hitting that tilde key when already locked in combat or about to engage.

You just need to get more skill Tears. I can mash that shit in melee and still block like an autoblocker, while watching out for incoming arrows and soft as fuck hooves coming from a couple yards away, and even while doing that I can concentrate on my melee while they feint and kick.

The only bad part? I can't keep a straight face while actually trying to type that.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: TurmoilTom on August 23, 2012, 12:18:46 am
1. Stop telling melee to get a shield. Especially when archers themselves admit that shields don't make much of a difference to an unsuspecting foe. Ranged don't need to spend points to block melee, so it's pretty much rubbing it in.

Funny thing is that ranged *do* have to spend points to "block" melee. It's called Athletics.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Joker86 on August 23, 2012, 12:21:10 am
NO AGREE...

but, 2h heros should have a shield, and people should be aware to cav.

 stupid thread.

With such an attitude it is very difficult to create any reasonable discussion. The amount of ignorance and stupidity of requesting all other people to be forced to use certain equipment to not get owned by a certain class is downright shocking.

Again: do you really, with all seriousness, suggest that all infantry players should exclusively play hoplite? And what if someone wants to use a Flamberge, an English Bill or an Awlpike (weapon which can't be sheathed)? Bad luck? Own fault? It's okay to reach melee in one of three attempts, or to have the choice to spice up the gaming experience by hiding behind houses, trees and rocks? Because the percentage of archers doesn't matter, as you constantly try to imply by ignoring my statements that not the archer himself, but the percentage of archers on the server are the problem.

Funny thing is that ranged *do* have to spend points to "block" melee. It's called Athletics.

The comparison doesn't work. Because infantry has to spend spoints in ATH as well, to be able to even attack. And ADDITIONALY to this they need shield skill.

So basically: if you want to be archer raise your power draw and buy a bow. If you want to play melee raise power strike and buy a sword. And if you don't want to die you must raise your shield skill and buy a shield, too.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Lizard_man on August 23, 2012, 12:41:15 am
Here's a rule for you, don't tell me what the fuck to do. I'll rage all i fucking want, arrggghhhhhh... :mad:
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: TurmoilTom on August 23, 2012, 12:46:06 am
The comparison doesn't work. Because infantry has to spend spoints in ATH as well, to be able to even attack. And ADDITIONALY to this they need shield skill.

You say that like STR builds aren't the most effective melee class in the mod.

Athletics are far from necessary for melee oriented builds. I did just fine with a 42/3 build with every skill point in power strike and a German Greatsword a few months back. More than "just fine" actually.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Adamar on August 23, 2012, 12:51:59 am
It's far easier to be aware when you play ranged since you are not in the thick of melee

No. Ranged loses a lot of awareness when focusing on targets and timming shots, making them perfect targets for assassins and sneaky cav.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Gurnisson on August 23, 2012, 12:54:48 am
No. Ranged loses a lot of awareness when focusing on targets and timming shots, making them perfect targets for assassins and sneaky cav.

'Ranged' is too vague.

Split it up into xbows, archers and throwers.

Easy to be aware as xbowman, harder as archer, thrower in the middle.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Taser on August 23, 2012, 01:06:20 am
Rules for Ranged:
1. Stop telling melee to get a shield. Especially when archers themselves admit that shields don't make much of a difference to an unsuspecting foe. Ranged don't need to spend points to block melee, so it's pretty much rubbing it in.

Rules for Cav:
1. Stop telling melee to get more awareness. It's very hard to be on the lookout for archers, and cav, and other melee who might be half a second away from striking range. It's far easier to be aware when you play cav and can simply ride away from a tough situation.

I agree with your rules even the ones above but they are valid suggestions. If 2h or polearm are annoyed with archers they can get some shield skill. They don't have to change their build at all if they don't want to but they can get a few points in shield to block arrows if it annoys them enough. Will it work at all times? No but can it help out immensely? Yes. Once again they don't have to change their build but it will definitely help against archers.

And for cav... that is a very valid suggestion since 90% of cav kills are on unaware people. When one's in melee and they get lanced from behind or slashed, it can't be helped since you're locked in melee and shit happens. But for the love of everything unholy, look around and be aware on your way to the melee. On cav maps and some maps that aren't very cav friendly, I often see at least 2 or 3 deaths to cav lancing people from behind as they pay no attention holding w down from spawn.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Peasant_Woman on August 23, 2012, 01:31:32 am
Xbowmen shouldn't be allowed to use the 'get a shield' argument. They have a pretty decent chance to penetrate low tier shields anyway... (the ones a 2h/polearmer with a couple points in shield is likely to use).
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Joker86 on August 23, 2012, 01:36:22 am
You say that like STR builds aren't the most effective melee class in the mod.

Athletics are far from necessary for melee oriented builds. I did just fine with a 42/3 build with every skill point in power strike and a German Greatsword a few months back. More than "just fine" actually.

But those extreme STR builds are no threat for archers then (no need to level ATH beyond 2?), and they also don't represent the majority. At least not from what I know from EU1.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: owens on August 23, 2012, 01:37:47 am
Shield skill is the difference between 5 ath and 8ps and 4 ath and 8ps. Simple as that if you want to min max (we all do) we make sacrifices. I'm not going to sacrifice melee (the reason I play this game) to block your puny arrows. Why would I.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Smoothrich on August 23, 2012, 05:05:23 am
Cav is extremely easy to counter, I played a lot of cav and know their tricks.  As any melee class I go out of my way to bait cav using the outfit key (rebounded to either E or mouse button for accessibility) or if they come head on its very simple to juke.  Just need to backpedal or strafe a bit and their timing will be fucked.  Even easier to juke and thrust directly at the rider to get easy kills.  I can do this with 120 reach 2handers pretty much 90 percent of the time.  I just think lances do too much damage and need to be tuned down.

Ranged being able to 180 shoot so easily when melee can't 180 stab, along with their insane kiting is not a "learn 2 play" problem in my opinion.  Archers should get the same limitation while drawing their bow as melee do while releasing a swing, and bow/arrow weight should be adjusted to be comparable to light infantry classes. 

I did a 15/24 shielder gen in light armor and unless I used a long weapon, spammed, and cut them off, I could get 1 hit in on an archer before they warp speeded out of my reach in half a second.  Also this melee kit means you die in 2 arrows from even unloomed scrub archers if you take flanking fire.

In a lamellar vest on my 2hander?  Every archer and light armored thrower is at least 4 times as fast as me and are impossible to catch, while having insane accuracy and damage. 

Seeing the last people on a team being nothing but archers camping hills that run away the moment you get close spamming piercing rus bow shots is simply awful, map design wise, auto balance wise, and class design wise.

Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Dexxtaa on August 23, 2012, 05:21:07 am
This is getting stupid. I propose that in order for us to have proper discussions about the current state of classes, we need some new rules because some people sound like a broken fucking record.

Rules for Melee:
1. Stop calling ranged my old friends. It makes you look stupid.

2. Stop complaining that you get kited. It's annoying as fuck, but it makes perfect sense as they are playing to their strengths, while limiting yours.

3. Stop complaining about cav backstabbing you. It's annoying as fuck, but it makes perfect sense as they are playing to their strengths, while limiting yours.

Rules for Ranged:
1. Stop telling melee to get a shield. Especially when archers themselves admit that shields don't make much of a difference to an unsuspecting foe. Ranged don't need to spend points to block melee, so it's pretty much rubbing it in.

2. Stop telling melee to get more awareness. It's very hard to be on the lookout for archers, and cav, and other melee who might be half a second away from striking range. It's far easier to be aware when you play ranged since you are not in the thick of melee

Rules for Cav:
1. Stop telling melee to get more awareness. It's very hard to be on the lookout for archers, and cav, and other melee who might be half a second away from striking range. It's far easier to be aware when you play cav and can simply ride away from a tough situation.

If you think of any, please feel free to add.

For anyone wondering, this man is part of the Remnant. So all you philosophical and level headed clans can piss off, he's already mine!!

Also, melee stop telling other melee to get better. It takes time.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Tibe on August 23, 2012, 05:23:35 am
Run&gun archery is the main reason why most people call archery my old friendgy. I havent heard many people calling archers my old friends in Native, simply cause they acctually are archers and need lots of love and support from teammates.

In Crpg however. I dont recall archers needing lots of teamsupport(some do, most dont). They can be lone wolves. They just use their superior athletics to run to the end of the map and shoot any person trying to get to them with damage equal to the arbalest.

BUT OKAY. Fine! Il stop insulting archers. Its not like we are getting anywere with this pointless complainin anyway and it really does look stupid by now :rolleyes:.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: owens on August 23, 2012, 05:55:48 am
Archery isn't far of perfect balance wise it would only take a small buff to shields to sought them out.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Tears of Destiny on August 23, 2012, 06:01:18 am
Run&gun archery is the main reason why most people call archery my old friendgy. I havent heard many people calling archers my old friends in Native, simply cause they acctually are archers and need lots of love and support from teammates.
I disagree, in Native they are actually extremely competent by themselves, as my arrows go exactly where I want them to, headshots require all skill and zero luck, arrows hit noticeably hard especially as the average opponent has crappy armor, and if they get close I don't have to run away I can actually melee due to real PS and WPF.

The reason why no one insults archers in native is because they don't have to run away as they can melee very very well despite actually being real archers, unlike c-RPG where if you hybrid there is basically only one viable way to go archer (Like Tenne did with his build) and even then you are piss-poor compared to your native equivalent. It has little to do with needing support from teammates.

Again, I used to actually have a melee archer, but due to multiple particular soft and hard nerfs (For example; the slot system which fixed some issues in this game but caused others) it simply is not worthwhile in my opinion as it is too much of a cripple build unless you basically choose the "one" hybrid option which is still rubbish compared to just going pure melee or pure archer. Hybrids are understandably less powerful then a pure class for a specific set of skills, but they have the advantage of being able to change roles in mid-battle, but this mod punishes archers too much for being hybrids hence why they for the most part just "run."

If this mod can incorporate the native melee/armor abilities that the native archers have (JUST the melee/armor abilities, NOT the laser-guided bullets arrows) then you will see a real drop in runners. Archery as it stands does not need to be nerfed again, archers will still run as long as it is suicide to melee, instead the melee for archers needs to be a real option without a bullshit 0ATHL build or some other such rubbish, and viable armor needs to be available.

Slow down archers slightly, reduce effectiveness versus the 50+ armors, increase accuracy slightly to reduce luck and promote skill, reduce damage output mainly against heavily armored opponents and slightly against mid-line opponents(worth repeating) and keep light armored targets vulnerable, make head armor much more significant against range, make crossbow wpf curve more noticeable to get rid of the 1wpf shotgunners, make shields forcefields actually work against range instead of being "Oh there are exactly 8 shields worth a damn against range" and last but not least give melee/armor buffs to archers.

How I would do it:

If possible make it where the wpf curve for bows is easier then normal (raises WPF faster per point) then normal BUT caps faster (starts sucking up points much much faster then melee, so raises WPF much slower then normal per point) around 140 and maxes near to 170 making additional points extremely impractical to go higher then that, making it even more attractive for the extra points to be spent on something else (melee). Increase bow weight and ammunition weight by a smidge, allow slightly better armor to be worn, and voila you already are allowing archers to melee better then before while encouraging melee and discouraging kiting AND leaving the range ability the hell alone.

Hell, I'll type that out but better detailed in a suggestion thread later.

EDIT: Fixed a lot of stupid typos.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: _JoG_ on August 23, 2012, 06:52:36 am
I disagree, in Native they are actually extremely competent by themselves, as my arrows go exactly where I want them to, headshots require all skill and zero luck, arrows hit noticeably hard especially as the average opponent has crappy armor, and if they get close I don't have to run away I can actually melee due to real PS and WPF.
Most of Native archer classes have no PS (vaegir, sarranid and khergit archers have 0 PS, and only nords have 2 PS) and no access to nigh-tier weapons, so they often glance even on leather. More importantly, they all have lower athletics than dedicated infantry classes. They also deal less damage than those in cRPG, versus a comparable armor. For example, Native Archers cannot oneshot infantry classes wearing a simple shirt using any combination of bow and arrows.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Achelous on August 23, 2012, 07:13:05 am
i like pie
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: owens on August 23, 2012, 07:39:53 am
Native archers are off the chain.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: SirCymro_Crusader on August 23, 2012, 10:10:08 am
Most of Native archer classes have no PS (vaegir, sarranid and khergit archers have 0 PS, and only nords have 2 PS) and no access to nigh-tier weapons, so they often glance even on leather. More importantly, they all have lower athletics than dedicated infantry classes. They also deal less damage than those in cRPG, versus a comparable armor. For example, Native Archers cannot oneshot infantry classes wearing a simple shirt using any combination of bow and arrows.
Thats why native archers are relatively higher in skill than our own cRPG archers. They have to aim for the head as that is a pretty much a guaranteed kill, and i see more HS kills on native no matter what server than i do on cRPG
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Vibe on August 23, 2012, 10:13:35 am
Thats why native archers are relatively higher in skill than our own cRPG archers. They have to aim for the head as that is a pretty much a guaranteed kill, and i see more HS kills on native no matter what server than i do on cRPG

You can't compare native archery to cRPG archery, anyway. Native archery crosshair is MUCH smaller than cRPG, which allows for a more precise shot.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Micah on August 23, 2012, 01:22:35 pm
You can't compare native archery to cRPG archery, anyway. Native archery crosshair is MUCH smaller than cRPG, which allows for a more precise shot.
plus a vastly higher projectile speed...
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Kafein on August 23, 2012, 01:30:57 pm
2. Stop complaining that you get kited. It's annoying as fuck, but it makes perfect sense as they are playing to their strengths, while limiting yours.

Well no, that's a core problem of the mod right now and would be 300% better if archers had incentives for fighting incoming melee (even with good stats, Native archers have decent melee stats) rather than running away while shooting.

It will also prevent two good archers from killing 10 shielders at the end of a round using kiting and crossfiring, because if you think two archers winning against 10 shielders is fine, you can go to hell. And I'm not even mentioning the much more frequent 2 archers vs 3 shielders situation and it's game-balance-defying most frequent outcome.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Adamar on August 23, 2012, 01:53:51 pm
It will also prevent two good archers from killing 10 shielders at the end of a round using kiting and crossfiring, because if you think two archers winning against 10 shielders is fine, you can go to hell. And I'm not even mentioning the much more frequent 2 archers vs 3 shielders situation and it's game-balance-defying most frequent outcome.

 :lol:

I doupt they even have the arrows for that.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Kafein on August 23, 2012, 01:58:26 pm
:lol:

I doupt they even have the arrows for that.

Yes they do, and since they got a "W" key on their keyboard (which really should be called "god-mode"), they have all the time they want to kill these shielders one by one.

Don't dismiss this because it sounds ridiculous, it is ridiculous, but it happens ingame, due to ridiculous kiting abilities.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Micah on August 23, 2012, 02:01:41 pm
It will also prevent two good archers from killing 10 shielders at the end of a round using kiting and crossfiring, because if you think two archers winning against 10 shielders is fine, you can go to hell. And I'm not even mentioning the much more frequent 2 archers vs 3 shielders situation and it's game-balance-defying most frequent outcome.
lol  that must be 3 or even 10 real bad players... or 2 fucking awesome rangers ...
sorry , but i call that BS  :rolleyes:
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Joker86 on August 23, 2012, 03:10:04 pm
lol  that must be 3 or even 10 real bad players... or 2 fucking awesome rangers ...
sorry , but i call that BS  :rolleyes:

Okay, then tell me how you want to kill an archer who has higher ATH than you but less item weight, when you can only engage in melee, and no one else is left on the map? And THEN tell me, how you want to cover yourself against two archers.  :wink:

As an archer you will instinctively displace when you have no line of sight to your target or your target is covered by its shield. If the target is moving towards you, you will just try to keep distance and kite it. During that time you will know your archer buddy will follow the same instincts and move in the same way to get into the back of the shieldman. What I want to say with this paragraph is: already mediocre or even bad archers will still use the technique of crossfire, because it is a much more instinctive tactic than many others, which require some knowledge or thinking or go even against natural instincts (waiting BEHIND a hilltop, BEHIND a bottleneck etc., for example).

Okay, 2 vs. 10 is a little bit too much, but 2 vs. 5 is well doable.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Adamar on August 23, 2012, 03:23:44 pm
There are always objects on a map that can give you couver, use your shield to couver a portion of your body and said object to couver your back. If you dont have a shield, and if you have low athlectics, then you chose a build that's meant to be weak against range and you'll have to relly on evasion and/or flags, if you're up against more than 1 kiter.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Swaggart on August 23, 2012, 03:41:32 pm
I sure do love how this thread has proved my point.

Very few people in this community are capable of discussing balance without saying the things in the OP, when all of those comments have literally nothing to do with balance and are playstyle changes. That's not balancing in any sense of the word. That is altering playstyle to compensate for a perceived lack of balance.

Want an example of balancing? Spinstabbing. All you had to do was block down (a playstyle change since apparently some people didn't get this) but what happened was the nerf to stab and overhead speed (balancing move) which rendered it a lot less useful.

By all means, turn this thread into the other 740 that are discussing the same damn shit.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Adamar on August 23, 2012, 03:46:04 pm
The op isn't valid then, because ranged will always be ranged, and exposed people will always get shot by ranged weapons.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Joker86 on August 23, 2012, 03:52:17 pm
There are always objects on a map that can give you couver, use your shield to couver a portion of your body and said object to couver your back. If you dont have a shield, and if you have low athlectics, then you chose a build that's meant to be weak against range and you'll have to relly on evasion and/or flags, if you're up against more than 1 kiter.

So in other words the solution would be hugging a wall while facing archers who are standing (!) a few meters away and shoot you constantly, because you pose no threat to them. As soon as you leave your back cover to go after one of them, the crossfire game will start again. And even the flag can't save you, because as soon as it spawns you will be killed on your way there or while capturing it.

Next to the fact that there are enough maps where there is NO good cover within a wide area around you. That's usually the area where you find the enemy archers.

And saying you are meant to be weak against a class is pretty easy, when you are not weak against any class yourself? Or tell me a class which can kill an archer pretty easily without the archer ebing able to do much about it. Shielders can't be killed that easily, yes, but they are no real threat, either. So what's left? Cavalry? Shoot the horses. Everything else? Just shoot it. Throwers with shield, perhaps. Not a very popular class, I dare to say. At least not popular enough to counter the amount of archers on the servers.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: bilwit on August 23, 2012, 03:53:00 pm
I sure do love how this thread has proved my point.

Very few people in this community are capable of discussing balance without saying the things in the OP, when all of those comments have literally nothing to do with balance and are playstyle changes. That's not balancing in any sense of the word. That is altering playstyle to compensate for a perceived lack of balance.

Want an example of balancing? Spinstabbing. All you had to do was block down (a playstyle change since apparently some people didn't get this) but what happened was the nerf to stab and overhead speed (balancing move) which rendered it a lot less useful.

That's funny, because the people whining about the spin nerf are actually the ones without the willingness or skill to alter their playstyle and adapt. There's plenty of two (or one) directional pole users who are still effective dueling and spin stabbing without the ridiculous turn speed as before. Jump/quarter-turn/release (lulz "playstyle change") and it's just about the same shit.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: CrazyCracka420 on August 23, 2012, 04:09:42 pm
I don't ever use the "get more awareness" when I complain about infantry on the forums, I do consistently say they need better teamwork and tactics however.  That's what I mean by "battlefield awareness".  knowing where your teammates (and different classes of mates) are, as well as the enemy.  And being in the place on the map that will best help your team win.

I do have to say as cav though, when I'm chasing an enemy cavalry player and he's able to just ride through our infantry at the beginning of the map and watching them kill people who are auto-running or just plain unaware is really frustrating.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Adamar on August 23, 2012, 04:11:25 pm
So in other words the solution would be hugging a wall while facing archers who are standing (!) a few meters away and shoot you constantly,
And saying you are meant to be weak against a class is pretty easy, when you are not weak against any class yourself? Or tell me a class which can kill an archer pretty easily without the archer ebing able to do much about it. Shielders can't be killed that easily, yes, but they are no real threat, either. So what's left? Cavalry? Shoot the horses. Everything else? Just shoot it. Throwers with shield, perhaps. Not a very popular class, I dare to say. At least not popular enough to counter the amount of archers on the servers.

The fact stands than archers do get killed prety easely in the servers(with all the nerfing they took), either because of bad armor, bad evasion from low athlectics and shit melee capability. The theory that archers are unbeatable doesn't stick when in practice capable meleers do kill them constantly. As for cavalry, yes, archers can shoot the horses, but only if the target is available. Any cav with a brain wont attack archers with good couver, but will rather stay away and draw the archers to the open. It's a shame that some horsemen put their horses in situations where they'll obviously lose, only to complain about it after. Inteligence should be a factor in any war game.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: CrazyCracka420 on August 23, 2012, 04:25:10 pm
Okay, then tell me how you want to kill an archer who has higher ATH than you but less item weight, when you can only engage in melee, and no one else is left on the map? And THEN tell me, how you want to cover yourself against two archers.  :wink:

As an archer you will instinctively displace when you have no line of sight to your target or your target is covered by its shield. If the target is moving towards you, you will just try to keep distance and kite it. During that time you will know your archer buddy will follow the same instincts and move in the same way to get into the back of the shieldman. What I want to say with this paragraph is: already mediocre or even bad archers will still use the technique of crossfire, because it is a much more instinctive tactic than many others, which require some knowledge or thinking or go even against natural instincts (waiting BEHIND a hilltop, BEHIND a bottleneck etc., for example).

Okay, 2 vs. 10 is a little bit too much, but 2 vs. 5 is well doable.

That's what archers do, they hit people from a distance, while melee has to close the gap to be able to hit someone.  So what do you propose, that we remove archers from the game?  or that arrows fly sideways when they shoot? 

If there's 2 archers left and your team can't take them without getting shot and killed from them being at different angles, then you should probably stay hidden.  It makes sense that someone with higher athletics and lower gear weight is faster than you. 

Everything you are saying is common sense, and how it should be in the rock/paper/scissors scenario.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Micah on August 23, 2012, 06:15:01 pm
Balancing and fairness  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_balance)
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Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Havoco on August 23, 2012, 06:25:21 pm
Support me for forum moderator and I will Delete move all balance/whine threads to spam!
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Joker86 on August 23, 2012, 06:38:06 pm
Everything you are saying is common sense, and how it should be in the rock/paper/scissors scenario.

RPS-system only works if the chances are equal. If rock has 100% chance to beat scissors, scissors have 100% chance to beat paper and paper has 100% chance to beat rock. Or 50% each. Or whatever. But if the chances are like 50%/60%/30%, the RPS-system doesn't work any more. Or at least not 100%.

So saying "Ah, better chance here, worse chance there, everything's allright" doesn't work.

Again I'd like to point out that I am not supporting any nerf for either archers nor cavalry. I think on the paper both classes are heavily underpowered, compared to infantry. Still the point is, that in battle the infantry is more of a "reacting" class, which reacts to whoever attacks it, while it slowly moves to the center of the enemy formation to eventually meet a good target, while archers and cavalry are not only free to pick their target, they are also much more capable of getting out of unadvantageous situations than infantry. This mobility and the flexibility it brings are the reason why infantry always complains about the other classes. It is difficult to solve this problem, but I am dead sure nerfs are not the way to go. It's more an abstract problem concerning the metagame, than a simple balancing issue which can be solved by tweaking values. That's why it needs creative solutions. (Other than removing archers.)

What I would like to see for now is just the empathy and the understanding, that other persons might have a different gaming experience, and thus it can very well be that they enjoy the game much less than others. That's why I think that giving half-hearted advice ("use a shield" "get better"), conclusions from oneself about others ("I do fine when I play inf?") and ignorance in general ("QQ moar") should be put back and first checked if it could really be that others enjoy the game less, and if the reason for that is something that ought to be changed. A few people doing well doesn't mean things are well in general.

Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Vodner on August 23, 2012, 06:45:53 pm
Everything you are saying is common sense, and how it should be in the rock/paper/scissors scenario.
There should never be an RPS scenario, ever. At no point should you lose because your class is just flat-out countered by some other class.

You should lose because you made a mistake or two, and the other guy(s) didn't.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: CrazyCracka420 on August 23, 2012, 06:47:48 pm
I do well as infantry and I am cav/infantry hybrid.  I feel if I was only an infantry class I would do even better on the ground.  And in this context, better doesn't mean the ability to rack up kills or even be useful on offense.  It means the ability to not get overrun by cavalry or shot to shit by archers. 

It really comes down to infantry being able to work with teammates, get behind their shielders when necessary, protect their own ranged when necessary, stay near pikemen when necessary.  It doesn't even require you to change you 2h hero/rambo skills/attributes, but it does require changing your mentality some. 

Saul no class is ever outcountered automatically by another class.  As a cavalry lancer I have the advantage over a 1h/shield user.  That doesn't mean they can't survive a confrontation with me (or even kill me).  It depends on the location of the map, how much time they have to prepare before I hit them, if they are able to move out of the way and juke me, and if they are able to connect their hit.

I just use RPS as a general analogy.  No class automatically kills another class 100% of the time.  So I think you're being quite facetious with your statements. 

The game isn't rock kills scissors, scissors kills paper, paper kills rock.  That is just a saying to help explain a thought process.  In reality (and as you know, and I've been saying) every class has strengths and weaknesses.  If you put your weakness up against another classes' strength, you are going to lose more often than not.  That's not to say it's impossible to overcome, or that the outcome is predetermined in any way, because it's not.

When there's 50 people on each team, it's not (and should never be) lancer vs pikemen, or archer versus shielder.  You should be working with your team and running around in groups if you are are on the ground. 
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Kafein on August 23, 2012, 07:47:35 pm
I sure do love how this thread has proved my point.

Very few people in this community are capable of discussing balance without saying the things in the OP, when all of those comments have literally nothing to do with balance and are playstyle changes. That's not balancing in any sense of the word. That is altering playstyle to compensate for a perceived lack of balance.

Want an example of balancing? Spinstabbing. All you had to do was block down (a playstyle change since apparently some people didn't get this) but what happened was the nerf to stab and overhead speed (balancing move) which rendered it a lot less useful.

By all means, turn this thread into the other 740 that are discussing the same damn shit.

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This just proved that a discussion purely about "balance" has very little value at this stage.

I think we have a balanced mod currently, more balanced than it ever was in fact. But it could be as balanced yet so much better without kiting archers and with something to do for cav that isn't backstabbing.


The fact stands than archers do get killed prety easely in the servers(with all the nerfing they took), either because of bad armor, bad evasion from low athlectics and shit melee capability. The theory that archers are unbeatable doesn't stick when in practice capable meleers do kill them constantly. As for cavalry, yes, archers can shoot the horses, but only if the target is available. Any cav with a brain wont attack archers with good couver, but will rather stay away and draw the archers to the open. It's a shame that some horsemen put their horses in situations where they'll obviously lose, only to complain about it after. Inteligence should be a factor in any war game.

I think I never read a paragraph that is so full of bullcrap.

Let me comment :

The fact stands than archers do get killed prety easely in the servers

At the end of most rounds on a battle server, all the archers in the winning team except the very unlucky are alive. Actually if you open your eyes you will see that the majority of players in a winning team have some sort of ranged weapon, and that is normal since they can play their role away from the dangerous areas.

bad evasion from low athlectics

? Archers have the best athletics of all classes, with the only exception of light crossbowmen. Furthermore, the near absence of armor lets them enjoy full mobility.

The theory that archers are unbeatable doesn't stick when in practice capable meleers do kill them constantly

That is under the assumption these "capable meleers" actually survive until they reach an archer at melee range. Also, being good at melee won't help them to do that. Actually, nothing will, except more agi, more ath and less armor. A shield slows them down considerably.

As for cavalry, yes, archers can shoot the horses, but only if the target is available. Any cav with a brain wont attack archers with good couver, but will rather stay away and draw the archers to the open.

L2P issue here. What actually happens is that cav that know their weaknesses will attack archers only if there is enough cover to hide behind until it's too late for the horseman's target. An archer in the middle of a plain is pretty much unbeatable for one cav, because there is no angle of attack where the horse remains unseen. Also, I don't see how someone can possibly "draw" an archer somewhere. When I play as archer I don't ever need to follow an enemy, there are plenty of targets everywhere. It's actually the archers that force enemies to move.

Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: CrazyCracka420 on August 23, 2012, 08:30:22 pm
Before a few weeks ago, at least on NA1, one of my biggest pet peeves was it's getting down to the end of the round and we have 5-10 people left, no cavalry, and no ranged.  The other team has no ranged, but 2 or 3 cavalry and we'd be fucked because we had no ranged and idiots wouldn't stand together, they would try to chase down horsemen.  Which is funny that people are still doing that, but to a lesser extent because the archer is on the ground.  He's still faster than you, and chasing around one guy with 3 or 4 of your teammates is the WRONG move in every circumstance unless he's one of the last couple people alive, and you have 10-20 or more on your team.  The right play in both circumstances is to stand still, preferably near teammates, and preferably with some sort of cover.

I don't think ranged being alive at the end of the round is a problem, nor do I think it signifies they were kiting the whole round.  I think all it means is that we were severely lacking archers for months on end, and people got comfortable without having to worry about archers shooting them.  Now they have to go back to adapting to archers on the battlefield, and people are resisting.

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I still don't see what the problem is, or what people's solution to it would be.  Remove archers?  People are complaining because a class is using what advantages it has, as often as possible?
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Gravoth_iii on August 23, 2012, 08:33:25 pm
But melee people can still tell other melee people to get a shield?

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Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Hunter_the_Honourable on August 23, 2012, 09:16:35 pm
Iv made a hoplite character because everyone saying "HUUR DUUR GET A SHIELD AND SPEAR  :evil: "

Let me tell you Hoplite build is so annoying to play, If I'm caught alone Im fucked if I'm being shot at by more then one archer I'm fucked (even the one archer can destroy my shield) and even if I get to the archer all he has to do is run into me and my spear stab just bounces. And no I'm not one of the fools who only has a spear but even with a sword the archers out run me and I spend all my time chasing them but never catching them.

Point being all you dipshits saying go hoplite and get a shield.....seriously go hoplite and watch all your team just leave you to fend for your self you soon become as useless as everyother shielder on the field.

I agree with tears suggestion seems the most balanced way to fix things.

*side note*

no access to nigh-tier weapons, so they often glance even on leather.

You don't need "high-tier" weapons and glance on leather? Do you even play native!?!? I play native nearly everyday and the archers do a fair amount of damage and glance no more then the normal inf do.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: CrazyCracka420 on August 23, 2012, 09:23:20 pm
I never said to get a shield and spear.  Maybe you should try getting a 1h weapon as an alternate.  You could have stayed as your current class and tried to stick with teammates (shielders to protect from ranged, or your own spearmen to protect from cavalry).  Or stick with your own archers who can protect you against both, while you protect them from melee or sneaky cavalry.

There's lots of classes and variety of ways to play each class.  There's lots of different equipment, and play styles, all of which needs to be taken into account.

I didn't hear many people say "go hoplite" as the universal solution to be better equipped at handling cavalry and archers.  For the most part in your thread (and other archer QQ threads) there's been two groups of people, one saying archers are too OP and they have no way to counter them.  And the rest of us (who posses common sense and reasoning abilities) were telling you that you were going to have to adjust the way you play your class if you don't have a shield, a spear or ranged weaopn.

 In general you shouldn't be cavalry or archer hunting if you're an infantry melee class.  Why are you trying to chase down archers before the end of the round?  And if it's the end of the round and your team loses because people were trying to chase archers, then you clearly did something wrong.

The largest problem with archers is that people were not used to having them on the battlefield, in numbers that they used to have, up until a couple weeks ago.  So now people are having to get re-accustomed to tactics with archers on the battlefield. 

You can't force all public players to work as a team, but there's enough regulars on that most times infantry are fighting in groups, even if it's just relatively loose fighting formations. 
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Dexxtaa on August 23, 2012, 09:25:34 pm
Excellent debates going on. So far no one is making any "fuck you qqmoar" comments, which I'm sure it will eventually devolve into. But until then, this is a great read.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: CrazyCracka420 on August 23, 2012, 09:26:23 pm
Sorry Dexxtaa Hunter brought out the flame in me...he's just a whiny bitch.  But I didn't get too flamey until now (hunter_the_horrible would a better name, since you're horrible at using your brain).
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Hunter_the_Honourable on August 23, 2012, 09:33:55 pm
I never said to get a shield and spear.  Maybe you should try getting a 1h weapon as an alternate.

And no I'm not one of the fools who only has a spear but even with a sword

Also I wasn't directing my post directly to you, but to everyone saying "get a shield"

In what part did I say I was referring to you??? O.o  :shock:
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Adamar on August 23, 2012, 10:06:38 pm
At the end of most rounds on a battle server, all the archers in the winning team except the very unlucky are alive. Actually if you open your eyes you will see that the majority of players in a winning team have some sort of ranged weapon, and that is normal since they can play their role away from the dangerous areas.

? Archers have the best athletics of all classes, with the only exception of light crossbowmen. Furthermore, the near absence of armor lets them enjoy full mobility.

That is under the assumption these "capable meleers" actually survive until they reach an archer at melee range. Also, being good at melee won't help them to do that. Actually, nothing will, except more agi, more ath and less armor. A shield slows them down considerably.

L2P issue here. What actually happens is that cav that know their weaknesses will attack archers only if there is enough cover to hide behind until it's too late for the horseman's target. An archer in the middle of a plain is pretty much unbeatable for one cav, because there is no angle of attack where the horse remains unseen. Also, I don't see how someone can possibly "draw" an archer somewhere. When I play as archer I don't ever need to follow an enemy, there are plenty of targets everywhere. It's actually the archers that force enemies to move.

At the end of most rounds you have the winning melee gang steamroling the leftovers of the enemy team. Or maybe you're playing a different game? If most of the archers on the winning team are alive, that's because there wasn't enought people trying to kill them(cav, assassins, other ranged). Anyone would survive if the enemy wouldn't get to them, that's not an issue of class ballance.

As for athletics, no archers aren't full of athlectics, and neither are horsemen for that matter. Athletics are an infs skill, along with power strike and iron flesh. Dedicated archers are nearly forced to focus into agility and wm to be able to aim, you should be aware of the basics if you've played an archer.

If a meleer choses to be a str crutcher and not invest properly in athletics, then he shouldn't complain about archers being faster. A ballanced meleer doesn't have much problems outrunning archers, but having to make ballanced builds for greater efficiency isn't fair right?

And yes, an archer on a plain is unbeatable for any horseman, but only if the horseman isn't trying to kill him, and if the horseman doesn't use evasion. It's really easy to miss an arrow if the horse maneuvers properly. But the horseman shouldn't be required to evade right? It would be way cooler if the archer dealt shit damage instead. Oh wait...
And any player of any class can draw the enemy out if they're in a good position. As I said, there is always cover, and a horseman can even ride large distances to make arrows useless and wait for the right moment to strike.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: CrazyCracka420 on August 23, 2012, 10:19:37 pm
2h heroes and polearms whining on the forums are literally the only place you'll see archers and cav lancers agreeing with each other.  Fucking my old friendchers.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Joker86 on August 23, 2012, 10:30:53 pm
And the rest of us (who posses common sense and reasoning abilities) were telling you that you were going to have to adjust the way you play your class if you don't have a shield, a spear or ranged weaopn.

The question is about the EXTEND of how much you have to adjust. To give an example what I mean: imagine the entire enemy team would consist of archers, and you would be a two handed player. There is no other tactic for you than hiding behind a solid obstacle and either wait until a) the archers run out of ammo or b) an unaware archer approaches into melee range. There is no way team members can protect you reliably against the fire of ten or twenty or even more enemy archers. Can you still expect adjustment in tactics or behaviour under those circumstances, or wouldn't you say that balance, or let's better say: the metagame was broken in my example? I know you will never reach 100% archers, but what about 80%? Still the same thing would apply. 60%? 40%? 20%? Where's the line between the amount of archers the game was balanced for, and the amount when the shit in the air becomes ridiculous?

In general you shouldn't be cavalry or archer hunting if you're an infantry melee class.  Why are you trying to chase down archers before the end of the round?  And if it's the end of the round and your team loses because people were trying to chase archers, then you clearly did something wrong.

This is one of the reasons why infantry is constantly complaining. Following your definition, infantry is only supposed to attack other infantry, while the other classes can attack everybody. How can one expect that the quality of the game experience can be the same under those circumstances? And besides this you said in you second sentence: "Don't chase archers before the end of the round." and in your third sentence you said: "If you chase archers at the end of the round it's your own fault if you lose." Conclusion: archers are not to be touched by infantry.

The largest problem with archers is that people were not used to having them on the battlefield, in numbers that they used to have, up until a couple weeks ago.  So now people are having to get re-accustomed to tactics with archers on the battlefield. 

You can't force all public players to work as a team, but there's enough regulars on that most times infantry are fighting in groups, even if it's just relatively loose fighting formations.

I agree to the first part, but we can argue if the "old" (= low) or the "new" (= high) number of archers is the scheduled value. If the new number is the right one, then you are right and players need to adjust. But if the old number was the correct one, the complaints are justified and should not be waved aside as "l2p".
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: CrazyCracka420 on August 23, 2012, 10:48:35 pm
Can't answer your first point.

Your second point isn't getting at what I'm referring to.  Infantry should be able to kill archers and cavalry.  I kill archers all the time when I'm on foot.  It's one thing to attack someone who is within your range (which as melee-only, is only people you can run to).  It's 100% different to be kited around the map chasing one guy. 

3rdly, the current amount of archers is similar to what it was a year ago before they were hit very heavily with nerfs.  I think before the last few weeks, we'd be lucky to have 10 archers on a team of 50-60 people.  That was way too low, IMO.  The best armies are balanced armies.  Just like the best builds are balanced builds (and both of those statements, you can add "relatively" as an adjective).

I still claim the root cause of most of these "issues" infantry encounter is because of terrible tactics, teamwork and formations.  Which is largely to do with the lack of communication or leadership in game.  But not entirely.  To me, the team that generally wins, is the team that has the better coordinated infantry.   
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Joker86 on August 24, 2012, 01:09:22 am
I still claim the root cause of most of these "issues" infantry encounter is because of terrible tactics, teamwork and formations.  Which is largely to do with the lack of communication or leadership in game.  But not entirely.  To me, the team that generally wins, is the team that has the better coordinated infantry.

We agree on that 100%. But how'd you change that?

And I don't know, as I never saw really good teamwork on the servers, but I am not sure that tactics beat skill of good rambo players. (E.g. when you have one of those typical clanstacks which don't use tactics or interact with their team at all, but still slice through the enemy team) :?
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: CrazyCracka420 on August 24, 2012, 04:34:42 pm
Yeah I don't know what the solution to communication problems which lead to very little teamwork and group fighting.  Possibly messages when you join the game explaining how to use the battalions and the flag system would be helpful.  Other than implementing VOIP in game, and a squad system similar to battlefield games, I think the only thing that would work decently would be to have forced "practice" (with the enticement of free xp/gold) to take place in the battle servers.  Have a couple trusted admins leading each team and trying to get people to practice formations.

And not only in this game, but almost every other game and sport I've played, I have always believed that teamwork and good communication between a group of mediocre players, will almost always beat a group of skilled players who are not working together, and have no team-coordination.  I still think that most of the time in the battle server, the team that wins is the team that has groups of infantry fighting together rather than people running in and attacking as "one".
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Kafein on August 24, 2012, 05:19:14 pm
Now you are just spitting lies man.

At the end of most rounds you have the winning melee gang steamroling the leftovers of the enemy team. Or maybe you're playing a different game?

It seems you did.

If most of the archers on the winning team are alive, that's because there wasn't enought people trying to kill them(cav, assassins, other ranged). Anyone would survive if the enemy wouldn't get to them, that's not an issue of class ballance.

Yes it is. Archers are the hardest class to kill for any other class due to their mobility advantage, absence of need to be close to the action, and excellent dodging. Smart people just avoid to attack archers until the team has a big numerical advantage, because that's the only thing that works against archers.

As for athletics, no archers aren't full of athlectics, and neither are horsemen for that matter. Athletics are an infs skill, along with power strike and iron flesh. Dedicated archers are nearly forced to focus into agility and wm to be able to aim, you should be aware of the basics if you've played an archer.

I don't understand why you mention horsemen. Lance and 1h cav need to be in melee range of the enemy to harm them, so anything they do is a dice roll, except the perfect backstabs. As far as I know, athletics is an agi skill. Most archers put enough points in athletics to be able to kite most of the infantry crowd. The high agility they have in order to get a lot of wm is enough to dodge cav they are aware of.

If a meleer choses to be a str crutcher and not invest properly in athletics, then he shouldn't complain about archers being faster. A ballanced meleer doesn't have much problems outrunning archers, but having to make ballanced builds for greater efficiency isn't fair right?

That's only true if for you a balanced meleer is a 12/27 ninja in rags.

And yes, an archer on a plain is unbeatable for any horseman, but only if the horseman isn't trying to kill him, and if the horseman doesn't use evasion. It's really easy to miss an arrow if the horse maneuvers properly. But the horseman shouldn't be required to evade right? It would be way cooler if the archer dealt shit damage instead. Oh wait...

Did you played cav for more than one week ? What usually happens is that the horseman survives as long as he keeps a respectable distance between him and the archer. Cav dies exactly when they try to attack the archer, because shooting a horse going towards you, even if he makes the most elaborate dodging sequence, is one of the easiest things to do in this game. Also, if wait long enough before releasing the shot, there is no way you can miss the head. At such close range, a war bow will oneshot up to the early armored horses. And even if the archer has no time to draw his bow, the low armor and high agi he has lets him dodge any horse at any speed and any angle extremely easily.

And any player of any class can draw the enemy out if they're in a good position. As I said, there is always cover, and a horseman can even ride large distances to make arrows useless and wait for the right moment to strike.

This is poetry. What is "the right moment to strike" exactly ? There is no such thing. An horseman starting to back off from ranged fire in a plain has no other choice than waiting these ranged enemies are killed by somebody else




IMO, most battles happen like this :

Before contact some obvious people get lanced in the back, and a more or less equal number of bad cav die.
When archers can fire at the enemy group, each side tries to take advantage of the terrain, cav position themselves on the flanks, archers in buildings/whatever place is hard to reach for inf and cav and inf usually continue to advance in a loose pack. Archers and cav make a few victims, there is some cav vs cav combat.
When both inf groups collide, the killing starts and cav use the confusion to strike on the flanks of the enemy group, archers still do their thing, shooting down horsemen that don't have things to hide behind and softening the enemy meleers.
Usually after that one team has a big numerical advantage because they killed the enemy's infantry without too many losses, and if this advantage is big enough they can chase and kill all the archers.

But, what very frequently happens is that this advantage is not big enough, and the team with the most players loses, not because of bad tactics, but because they are beaten by a class they cannot harm without this numerical advantage. There is no melee or melee cav class that can match archers without relying on some kind of zerg swarm.


So I really agree when people say it's the most organised team that wins. An organised team will kill the enemy infantry more efficiently, launch cav flanking at the right moment and position their archers in a way that lets them do more damage. And that's really all there is to it.

But it is not possible to control a battle or develop an efficient tactic without the ranged domination. The only way you can win when you don't control the fight is sending enough men.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: CrazyCracka420 on August 24, 2012, 05:34:15 pm
Point: If a meleer choses to be a str crutcher and not invest properly in athletics, then he shouldn't complain about archers being faster. A ballanced meleer doesn't have much problems outrunning archers, but having to make ballanced builds for greater efficiency isn't fair right?

Counterpoint: That's only true if for you a balanced meleer is a 12/27 ninja in rags.


Sorry Kaf your counterpoint is not valid.  I have 18 agility, and 6 athletics.  I can chase down (or at least keep up) with any archer on the battlefield to effectively neutralize them.  If I drop my heavy lance I still am carrying 18.5 weight in armor, and 7.2 weight in my shield/sword.

I agree with your assessment of the battlefield as well (before you get to your BUT).  Archers and ranged can hit people from a distance.  Melee cannot unless they close the gap.  This is how the game is designed, and how it should be.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Tears of Destiny on August 24, 2012, 06:28:22 pm
but I am not sure that tactics beat skill of good rambo players. (E.g. when you have one of those typical clanstacks which don't use tactics or interact with their team at all, but still slice through the enemy team) :?
They do, me and Oohillac and Palatro proved that last night for example by mowing down at least 8 people all by ourselves at round end with pure melee (some of them clannies and some very good players) simply because we were working together without even voice-comms (Nice thing about fighting with an ATS member is they already understand teamwork, no comms required).
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Teeth on August 24, 2012, 06:49:14 pm
They do, me and Oohillac and Palatro proved that last night for example by mowing down at least 8 people all by ourselves at round end with pure melee (some of them clannies and some very good players) simply because we were working together without even voice-comms (Nice thing about fighting with an ATS member is they already understand teamwork, no comms required).
This type of thing is my favourite cRPG gameplay. Teaming up with someone you know is a capable player and without any communication pulling of excellent teamwork and turning the tide in a supposedly lost round.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Kafein on August 24, 2012, 07:04:47 pm
Point: If a meleer choses to be a str crutcher and not invest properly in athletics, then he shouldn't complain about archers being faster. A ballanced meleer doesn't have much problems outrunning archers, but having to make ballanced builds for greater efficiency isn't fair right?

Counterpoint: That's only true if for you a balanced meleer is a 12/27 ninja in rags.


Sorry Kaf your counterpoint is not valid.  I have 18 agility, and 6 athletics.  I can chase down (or at least keep up) with any archer on the battlefield to effectively neutralize them.  If I drop my heavy lance I still am carrying 18.5 weight in armor, and 7.2 weight in my shield/sword.

I agree with your assessment of the battlefield as well (before you get to your BUT).  Archers and ranged can hit people from a distance.  Melee cannot unless they close the gap.  This is how the game is designed, and how it should be.

Well you may be fast enough to reach archers with your build, but will you do it ? On a regular battle server, most archers are at least naturally covered by two or three others, that can easily crossfire you. Even the archer you are chasing can kill you rather easily if you are unlucky with your dodging.

I think that for game balance reasons, archers should have an effective non-ranged counter, that doesn't rely on pure distraction like cav (I think we agree cav vs aware archers is highly in the advantage of the archers).

Another thing that would be good for the game is reducing the kiting. Kiting is caused by only one thing, that min-maxed pure archers are much more effective than archer hybrids. The only advantages the hybrid has is a better melee damage output and a better defense, when the pure archer has more speed, more ranged damage, speed and accuracy and possibly more ammo.

To solve this problem, I would place an earlier cap on how accurate, fast and powerful archers can become with their bow by investing in archery wpf. I think archery wpf should behave like melee wpf as in being near useless above 100 effective. I would also increase the effectiveness of the first levels of PS, while decreasing that of the higher levels (as a bonus, this is more realistic than the current system). Finally, the armor penalties for ranged should be smoothed (no more "under 7.5 weight" eldorado) and reduced (to make light mail a better alternative).
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Vodner on August 24, 2012, 08:36:25 pm
Quote
Sorry Kaf your counterpoint is not valid.  I have 18 agility, and 6 athletics.  I can chase down (or at least keep up) with any archer on the battlefield to effectively neutralize them.  If I drop my heavy lance I still am carrying 18.5 weight in armor, and 7.2 weight in my shield/sword.
There are archers I cannot catch with 7 ath and cloth armor (on my previous build). Not all archers of course, but certainly enough to be aggravating.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: oprah_winfrey on August 24, 2012, 08:47:43 pm
There are archers I cannot catch with 7 ath and cloth armor (on my previous build). Not all archers of course, but certainly enough to be aggravating.

Yeah same here. It seems the common build for archery right now is 18/21, so they also have 7 athletics and cloth armor, so they move just as fast as you do + they aren't slowed down by holding a long weapon. A week or two ago I watched as canary (9 ath) wearing peasant clothes was unable to catch up with some archer (I think it was aderyn?) in a strat battle.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: TurmoilTom on August 24, 2012, 08:52:18 pm
There are archers I cannot catch with 7 ath and cloth armor (on my previous build). Not all archers of course, but certainly enough to be aggravating.

That's why I went for 11 athletics this gen. It may take a while, and they may have to pour 5 arrows into my shield and 3 more into me, but I'll catch up to the buggers eventually.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Tibe on August 24, 2012, 09:17:06 pm
Archery is still somewhat a difficult class to work with. Id say cav is the easiest class to pull off than any other. And this is totally not my words. Heard that from few other cav guys who went cav for the first time. And it makes sense. They  Couch, aka autokill button and backstabbing players engaged in acctual combat.

Some of you might say in defence things like: "Buhuhuh but I have to watch out for spears, HAs and archers and other crap too, its not easy!" But basically any noobcake on a horse can cause craploads of havoc before they take them out. Its basically like someone running over turtles in open ground with a monstertruck and saying: "Its not that easy, I have to make sure I dont run out of gas too." Please...

But than again,what to expect. The name of the game is "Mount & Blade" afterall. Get a blade and a horse or get out. :mrgreen:
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Turkhammer on August 24, 2012, 10:02:00 pm
Rules for Melee:
If you bitch about getting hit by ranged you will be told to get a shield and use it.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Taser on August 24, 2012, 10:42:26 pm
(click to show/hide)

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2 good builds for melee (yes str heavy, I'm NA :D) right above without much loss to melee capabilities. The 2nd build can have the WM or IF moved around if you prefer to riding or throwing. Whatever you prefer. Its pretty easy to make a good melee build with shield in it.

For melee, although those with unsheathable weapons it can't be done, its not that hard to bring a shield as backup.

Again they do not have to but the option is there and its pretty easy to make a good build with some points in shield. And the ones I did were with 4 and 5 shield. You can go less if you want more points elsewhere like IF, riding, etc.

This doesn't mean melee must have shields but the option to have one is pretty easily done for melee.

However the same is true for archers.

(click to show/hide)

A few less points in ath and you still have the ranged capabilities and some decent PS. The issue with this is that this build is for rus bow and when one takes 2 quivers with the rus... there are no available slots for a melee weapon which is why they have 0 slot weapons. And therein is where the issue lies. The slot issue.

I suppose the argument could be made that if melee gives up points to be able to have a shield to survive ranged, ranged can give up some arrows to be able to have a decent melee backup. This doesn't hold as much water as one might think though since melee can still do what they do best with little handicap once they bring that shield along. Archers giving up half their arrows is quite the disadvantage for archers.

If we could make a decent 0 slot weapon, this might be fixed but I don't think people will go for that. That's why I would support archery wpf having somewhat the same curve as melee so archers can shoot just as well with 120 wpf as they would at 165 which would encourage some archers to put wpf in melee. And they would have a steeper wpf curve so it eats more points after 130 or so, like it does when trying to go from 160 to 170.

Along with more arrows in a quiver or something that would encourage rus/longbow users to take a melee weapon. Or just make the rus/longbow 1 slot which would solve the issue right away. You'd still have kiting archers but with the ability to bring a good melee weapon instead of a hammer, a lot more archers would fight in melee rather than kiting.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Smoothrich on August 24, 2012, 10:53:35 pm
It simply isn't fun to suffer the weight penalty on a 2hander who lives or dies on mobility (unless STR plate scrub) of carrying a 90 percent of the time useless shield around. 

Also most archers shoot you while you are engaged or have your model turned somewhere else, where a shield won't even help.  Its a waste of points in most builds unless you are polearms and can hoplite, or have split WPF in 1handers.  Now those are good builds for shield skill, but unless I was 100 percent pure gimmick 2hander build I wouldn't waste shield.

And crazycracka, stop trolling.  Most archers are impossible to catch up with.  I did a 15/24 shielder gen in light armor to hunt ranged, and they all ran away from me at warp speed, almost twice or more as fast as I was.  It was simply ridiculous and never made me want to try light infantry archer hunting again.  It isn't a viable build or playstyle with the speed of ranged players currently, and that IS a balance problem.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Taser on August 24, 2012, 11:07:23 pm
One doesn't have to wear the shield everytime but it would be very helpful in situations where you know the other team has 10+ archers and you have none. I realize it does limit mobility and doesn't mean archers scream in vain when they see a shield but it can help you retreat to a better position or hold the flags at end, etc. It just gives you the option to better survive ranged without necessarily guaranteeing it.

The main issue is not that melee should or must have shields. Its the fact that archers kite. The main issue for that is that most archers have 2 slots bows and its usually the rus. Then they carry 2 quivers of arrows because 2 quivers is a good amount and gives you 34 arrows with loomed bodkins and over 50 with loomed normal arrows. They don't want to carry one quiver thus they have no slots for a good melee weapon which makes them want to run away from melee.

That's what it comes down to. Archers want 2 quivers of arrows and I can't blame them for that. But when they usually have the rus bow, it leaves no room for a good melee weapon which makes them not want to fight in melee. So they kite. Solve that somehow by increasing quiver size, reducing bow slots to 1, giving a better 0 slot weapon, etc and you'll see less archers kiting.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Kafein on August 24, 2012, 11:15:34 pm
One doesn't have to wear the shield everytime but it would be very helpful in situations where you know the other team has 10+ archers and you have none. I realize it does limit mobility and doesn't mean archers scream in vain when they see a shield but it can help you retreat to a better position or hold the flags at end, etc. It just gives you the option to better survive ranged without necessarily guaranteeing it.

The main issue is not that melee should or must have shields. Its the fact that archers kite. The main issue for that is that most archers have 2 slots bows and its usually the rus. Then they carry 2 quivers of arrows because 2 quivers is a good amount and gives you 34 arrows with loomed bodkins and over 50 with loomed normal arrows. They don't want to carry one quiver thus they have no slots for a good melee weapon which makes them want to run away from melee.

That's what it comes down to. Archers want 2 quivers of arrows and I can't blame them for that. But when they usually have the rus bow, it leaves no room for a good melee weapon which makes them not want to fight in melee. So they kite. Solve that somehow by increasing quiver size, reducing bow slots to 1, giving a better 0 slot weapon, etc and you'll see less archers kiting.

I agree completely, but changes also need to be done about archery wpf and armor, as well as changes that hurt pure archers. Without both rewarding archer hybrids and hurting pure archers, no change is going to happen.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Smoothrich on August 24, 2012, 11:16:11 pm
Archers will kite as long as they are able to.  Manly archers with horn bows stand and fight whenever the opportunity arises.  That's how I played archery, that's how Sequel did, Cyranrule does it now (best NA archer), what Kesh used to do with just 1 stack of regular arrows and a Rus Bow.

Giving them more arrows or a better 0 slot weapon means they can kite AND fight better instead of encouraging one or the other.  Its just buffing kiting archers.

What I and countless players have been asking for months now is an increase in bow or quiver weight to make it comparable to melee classes, who suffer inscrutable penalties to weight based on weapon length, general armor penalties, and god forbid you actually have a shield to hunt ranged. 

Feel free to throw in any other buffs there for archers in melee, but the fundamental thing just about every player in the game wants is to reduce the speed of archers running away.  That's all.  If they were slower, light infantry shielders would be able to get into archer nests easier, archers on hills won't be the ultimate cRPG griefing method against melee players, and maybe the last people alive on a team won't be archers 9/10 rounds.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: Taser on August 24, 2012, 11:24:20 pm
Fair enough. Wouldn't complain if ranged had weight increases to bow/quivers to make them unable to run away as quickly.
Title: Re: New rules for class debate
Post by: TehSoviet on August 25, 2012, 01:07:00 am
I'm tired of cav and I'm tired of shielders and I'm tired of horses and I'm tired of everything

So I bought a flamberge and all my problems disappeared. I just deflect and redirect arrows by the dozens while I chop through three fully plate armored men with each swing. Horses too.