cRPG

cRPG => Suggestions Corner => Game Balance Discussion => Topic started by: the real god emperor on August 01, 2014, 09:43:41 am

Title: poleaxe
Post by: the real god emperor on August 01, 2014, 09:43:41 am
Now poleaxe has more cut damage and it became the dream weapon of spamming game killers , they can hiltslash and spam you 24/7 with that weapon this doesn't make sense neither in balance or realism.I suggest you to reduce it's speed so STR based builds will use it regularly as usual and agility based characters will turn to Long Hafted Blade, which should be the weapon they get to play spammy already.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Panos_ on August 01, 2014, 02:31:24 pm
Yes pls, nerf it and buff danish sword instead, to compensate.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: San on August 02, 2014, 01:15:46 am
It's definitely a great weapon, but there are weapons that are faster and more powerful in certain areas. Poleaxe happens to be a nice jack of all trades compared to them. Based on stats, are you certain about the poleaxe being so much better than any alternatives available?
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Dark_Blade on August 02, 2014, 01:27:42 am
Now poleaxe has more cut damage and it became the dream weapon of spamming game killers , they can hiltslash and spam you 24/7 with that weapon this doesn't make sense neither in balance or realism.I suggest you to reduce it's speed so STR based builds will use it regularly as usual and agility based characters will turn to Long Hafted Blade, which should be the weapon they get to play spammy already.
I am not saying you're mad but you're mad xD
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: PsychoTwins on August 02, 2014, 04:56:28 am
The only time I consider a weapon to be "spammy" is when it is 100 or more speed. Other than that, you just need to work on your footwork and not trying to feint every time allowing them to hit you while you try to be fancy.*

*Say this because half the time I see someone get "spammed" is because they try to feint like crazy and the other person does a simple attack.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Thryn on August 02, 2014, 04:59:53 am
i think he wants to complain about rightswingpolearmhighwpfinstahitmadness
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: korppis on August 02, 2014, 10:54:25 am
i think he wants to complain about rightswingpolearmhighwpfinstahitmadness

Or overbuffedoverheadinstahitbeforeanimation?

But IMO poleaxe isn't superior over other polearms. There's a good selection of spammy poles, it's just a matter or which style of weapon you wanna use.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Rhaelys on August 02, 2014, 11:09:26 am
Now poleaxe has more cut damage and it became the dream weapon of spamming game killers , they can hiltslash and spam you 24/7 with that weapon this doesn't make sense neither in balance or realism.I suggest you to reduce it's speed so STR based builds will use it regularly as usual and agility based characters will turn to Long Hafted Blade, which should be the weapon they get to play spammy already.

Oh man my 99 speed MW Longsword can't handle this bullshit 91 speed Poleaxe-of-hiltslash-24/7-360noscope-death. Why can't I feint 12 times, accidentally unplug my mouse and keyboard, replug my mouse and keyboard, and then Castor swing my way to victory? I mean, the German Poleaxe at 93 speed, Elegant Poleaxe and Bec de Corbin at 95 speed, Long Axe at 98 speed, and Long Maul at 77 speed are all way faster, but that's okay because I'm choosing one of the least logical weapons to complain about given my argument.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: the real god emperor on August 02, 2014, 12:58:02 pm
y'all poleaxe gays! :D

Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Angantyr on August 02, 2014, 02:14:02 pm
A few points from stab and a few points to swing isn't any considerable overhaul of this weapon, all it does is shake up the stats a bit which always makes players try out different weapons in cRPG. There's just been a few too many on EU1 recently, some old some new, it will change.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Thryn on August 02, 2014, 07:18:40 pm
Or overbuffedoverheadinstahitbeforeanimation?

But IMO poleaxe isn't superior over other polearms. There's a good selection of spammy poles, it's just a matter or which style of weapon you wanna use.

i'd much rather fight a poleaxe than some of the polespams you see
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Kafein on August 02, 2014, 11:25:30 pm
People seem to forget that the speed rating of all polearms is a lie. Or rather, a misleading characteristic that doesn't translate to something you should pay much attention to due to the differences between pole and other animations.

In other words, yes a 94 speed poleaxe will often hit before a 99 longsword, all other things being equal, no matter how ridiculous that may sound.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Tydeus on August 02, 2014, 11:26:31 pm
In other words, yes a 94 speed poleaxe will often hit before a 99 longsword, all other things being equal, no matter how ridiculous that may sound.
Only at very close range.

Edit: and only for the right swing*
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Rhaelys on August 03, 2014, 12:16:39 am
People seem to forget that the speed rating of all polearms is a lie. Or rather, a misleading characteristic that doesn't translate to something you should pay much attention to due to the differences between pole and other animations.

In other words, yes a 94 speed poleaxe will often hit before a 99 longsword, all other things being equal, no matter how ridiculous that may sound.

Except a 99 speed longsword can thrust and outrange any poleaxe attack direction.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Kafein on August 03, 2014, 10:29:33 am
Except a 99 speed longsword can thrust and outrange any poleaxe attack direction.

If both players stand still, yes. If they don't the poleaxe user has a massive advantage because his stab is only marginally shorter while at the same time much quicker to reach full extension.

Only at very close range.

Edit: and only for the right swing*

I disagree
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Rhaelys on August 03, 2014, 11:47:03 am
If both players stand still, yes. If they don't the poleaxe user has a massive advantage because his stab is only marginally shorter while at the same time must quicker to reach full extension.

I disagree

I don't think I've ever outstabbed a longsworder with my poleaxe.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Angantyr on August 03, 2014, 01:03:48 pm
If a longsword gets outclassed in speed by a poleaxe the wielder is doing something wrong, probably positioning, weapon stun or low sensitivity.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Nordwolf on August 03, 2014, 03:12:44 pm
I don't think I've ever outstabbed a longsworder with my poleaxe.
If you try to outreach any 2h stab with right pole swing you would have a lot of enjoyment, because if you do it right you almost never fail. And yes i'm also talking about danish GS and alike, though it's much easier with LS or Bastards. You can also do it with 1h arabrightswing but that's another story.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: BlindGuy on August 03, 2014, 03:26:59 pm
Polearms are by a huge margin the best weapons, and poleaxe amongst the best of the polearms. I see no reason to QQ tho: Poleaxe should be best weapon, it was pinnacle of european melee weapon technology. It really is the best and its ingame abilities reflect that: you get to rear horses, outrange 2handers, knockdown, give pike support, spam everyone. It's best because it really IS best. End of thread.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Thryn on August 03, 2014, 05:52:06 pm
Polearms are by a huge margin the best weapons, and poleaxe amongst the best of the polearms. I see no reason to QQ tho: Poleaxe should be best weapon, it was pinnacle of european melee weapon technology. It really is the best and its ingame abilities reflect that: you get to rear horses, outrange 2handers, knockdown, give pike support, spam everyone. It's best because it really IS best. End of thread.
:lol:
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Kafein on August 03, 2014, 07:34:54 pm
I don't think I've ever outstabbed a longsworder with my poleaxe.

Depends on what you call outstabbing. In a realistic combat situation you have to take stab speed into account, not only stab length, because both players move. The poleaxe has a massive advantage here. High speed means you have the power to wait for your opponent's move and react accordingly.

On top of that, the poleaxe has more stab damage than the longsword which, considering heavy-ish armor, reduces the effective range of the longsword more than that of the poleaxe.

Polearms are by a huge margin the best weapons, and poleaxe amongst the best of the polearms. I see no reason to QQ tho: Poleaxe should be best weapon, it was pinnacle of european melee weapon technology. It really is the best and its ingame abilities reflect that: you get to rear horses, outrange 2handers, knockdown, give pike support, spam everyone. It's best because it really IS best. End of thread.

I think that's a good argument for expensive poleaxes, but I'd rather see its rendition changed to something less horribly spammy. Also, Glaive, GLA and GLB should definitely be unbalanced and slow as hell, I don't think there's even a debate about that.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Grumbs on August 04, 2014, 10:46:47 am
I'd rather fight someone who has a poleaxe than Longsword. You have to get very close to make it reliable, and do more with the mouse so it doesn't glance up close, then you might thrust stun yourself by being at that distance. Its also pretty predictable and so easier to block. With a longsword the 2 hand animations are much more tricky to read especially if you're mixing in the stab animation, which you can release with less risk

Polestab is definitely the worst stab atm. The only thing it has going for it is rearing horses, and some longer poles in group fights. But even then i'd rather use something shorter, even to rear horses. Much rather have a Long Bardiche and just use the stab to rear then swing to kill the horse and for general fighting. Having a bit more stab damage with a Poleaxe just isn't worth it imo. I'd rather stab with a 1 hander if its against players
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Mr.K. on August 04, 2014, 12:24:09 pm
With a longsword the 2 hand animations are much more tricky to read

For me it's the opposite. I have much harder time fighting Poleaxe than two-handers. Polearm animations look choppy, while 2H is smooth making it much easier to read it imo. Ofc there are some good feinters that do some crazy moves, but most of those can do similar stuff with polearms as well.

Polearm stab is a bit worse than 2H, but the damage is high enough to compensate for that. All the other animations on the other hand are among the best and easily as good as the 2H counterparts. Especially the overbuffed overhead.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Kafein on August 04, 2014, 04:08:01 pm
Polearm stab is the strongest stab animation at close range. Facehug stabbing with a war spear is easier than with a KAS, even though the KAS is 48cm shorter.

I'd rather stab with a 1 hander if its against players

I'd like you to do that, really.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Phew on August 04, 2014, 04:32:10 pm
Whenever I see a Poleaxe user, I just say to myself "thank god he's not using a Long Axe". Long Axe right swing and overheads are so fast they barely render an animation on the screen.

Longsword seems downright sluggish compared to the faster polearms lately.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: BlindGuy on August 04, 2014, 08:14:37 pm
I think that's a good argument for expensive poleaxes, but I'd rather see its rendition changed to something less horribly spammy. Also, Glaive, GLA and GLB should definitely be unbalanced and slow as hell, I don't think there's even a debate about that.

Well, apparantly poles have been too weak if we look at recent changes. Also the removal of unbalanced tag on long hafted knobbed. I don't think there is any chance of glaive and its ilk being labelled unbalanced. The price reflects this if I'm honest, since a glaive in reality is pretty cheap to make in comparison with a greatsword or a poleaxe, but was not a great weapon in a close fight. In crpg we have the opposite. Quite expensive weapon that is great in all situations.

Whenever I see a Poleaxe user, I just say to myself "thank god he's not using a Long Axe". Long Axe right swing and overheads are so fast they barely render an animation on the screen.

Longsword seems downright sluggish compared to the faster polearms lately.

So true, all straight bladed 2handers are easy to fight against compared to stuff like long axe, their speed is now ridiculous. Many here seem to confuse the weapons abilities with the users abilities and fear longsword just because it is being used usually by guys who have extensive experience and high WPF.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Senni__Ti on August 07, 2014, 06:20:09 pm
I'd like to see polearm animations tweaked again tbh, smoother and less jumpy.
If I get the time I'll try to make some examples.

Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Tydeus on August 10, 2014, 06:38:57 am
In other words, yes a 94 speed poleaxe will often hit before a 99 longsword, all other things being equal, no matter how ridiculous that may sound.
Only at very close range.

Edit: and only for the right swing*
I disagree
Provide proof. I've already explained the animations, sweet spot mechanics, and how it is that only at close range is the polearm right swing able to hit for full damage sooner than any other swing, several times in the past. If you can actually manage to provide proof, I have no issues adjusting the animation to fix the problem (if possible.)
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Kafein on August 10, 2014, 09:22:45 am
Provide proof. I've already explained the animations, sweet spot mechanics, and how it is that only at close range is the polearm right swing able to hit for full damage sooner than any other swing, several times in the past. If you can actually manage to provide proof, I have no issues adjusting the animation to fix the problem (if possible.)

Providing proof would require substantial video evidence due to the difficulty of creating an isolated environment showcasing the problem, and I don't have the time and resources necessary to provide that. You wouldn't be receptive anyway if you believe all is fine already. The perception that polearm animations are skipping frames and jerky in general is widespread, even more so when it comes to overheads (yet I have no way to prove this statement).
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Tydeus on August 10, 2014, 03:15:21 pm
Providing proof would require substantial video evidence due to the difficulty of creating an isolated environment showcasing the problem, and I don't have the time and resources necessary to provide that. You wouldn't be receptive anyway if you believe all is fine already. The perception that polearm animations are skipping frames and jerky in general is widespread, even more so when it comes to overheads (yet I have no way to prove this statement).
Except that I DO believe there is a problem, just not the one you're implying. The polearm overhead is certainly fast, but I'm not sure that it's in need of tweaking though. I don't see this jerkiness people talk about, instead I see lag, packet loss, height advantages and close proximity, all of which can cause poles to hit sooner.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Kafein on August 10, 2014, 04:20:42 pm
To be more precise, the polearm swing animations are much harder to follow (for me and an undefined amount of people) than 2h and 1h swings, even when comparing very slow polearms with very fast 1h or 2h. The problem seems related to the animation frames. It seems that either most of the frames are in the end of the animation and there are too few early frames, or the animation simply skips some of the frames. Lag and packet loss are problems distinct from what I described, that affect all weapons equally (although you could argue slower weapons benefit the most), which isn't the case of the polearm jerkiness which is reproducible regardless of network stability.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Grumbs on August 10, 2014, 04:43:19 pm
Maybe its an FPS or refresh rate issue? It doesn't look like it skips frames to me.

There are some differences between the weapons that encourage you to play a certain way with them. Chambering a polearm swing takes longer - that means you need to do more when you release so its not easily blocked, or you use holds more which hit faster and you turn more into the swing. 2 handers chamber fast so you can use that part of the animation to trick people with feints. That doesn't really work with poles so you need to be more tricky with how you play with the second part of the animation
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Tydeus on August 10, 2014, 06:13:17 pm
Maybe its an FPS or refresh rate issue? It doesn't look like it skips frames to me.

There are some differences between the weapons that encourage you to play a certain way with them. Chambering a polearm swing takes longer - that means you need to do more when you release so its not easily blocked, or you use holds more which hit faster and you turn more into the swing. 2 handers chamber fast so you can use that part of the animation to trick people with feints. That doesn't really work with poles so you need to be more tricky with how you play with the second part of the animation
That's actually a myth. Any differences in chamber speed are solely due to the speed stat of the individual weapon. All swing directions are 350ms in length base (base, meaning 350 ms and then any factors such as wpf or weapon speed that would reduce the length, can then be applied), and all thrusts are the base 350 with an additional 30ms added (380ms).
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Grumbs on August 10, 2014, 06:55:42 pm
Maybe its not speed, but chambering with a pole and 2 hand looks and feels very different to me. I can switch from one direction to another with a 2 hander and people have to react to the different direction. If I do that with a polearm im not going to trick anyone, it just feels slower to me anyway
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Rhaelys on August 10, 2014, 08:30:26 pm
Because with a 2H you have the grace and dexterity of a riverdancer, while with a polearm you lack any finesse.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: MURDERTRON on August 11, 2014, 03:59:43 pm
I'm pretty sure there is animation skipping with all weapon types in WSE2, it's just most apparent with polearms because they're the longest.

And to be fair, I'm not running a Europoor computer.  I have it capped at a solid 100 FPS, so it's not an issue of "FPS lag" aka a shitty computer.

Computer specs in case anyone's wondering.
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Tydeus on August 11, 2014, 04:57:10 pm
Maybe its not speed, but chambering with a pole and 2 hand looks and feels very different to me. I can switch from one direction to another with a 2 hander and people have to react to the different direction. If I do that with a polearm im not going to trick anyone, it just feels slower to me anyway
I think it's something else entirely. Take for example the Sword of War, Highland Claymore or worse still, the Heavy Great Sword. You can do the same feint maneuvers with these weapons that you'd do with the German or Danish Greatswords (which are slower) but they'll be easier to read and thus less effective. This is noted by just about everyone who uses these weapons, and really the only apparently likely cause, is simply that they're easier to see. The models themselves are both wider and brighter than the twin greatswords.

If we extrapolate this reasoning to make a comparison between two-handed weapons and polearms, the same could be said for polearms. They all have thick wooden shafts that don't blend in well with their surroundings(or perhaps to some, they do.) and are thus easy to see. Furthermore, these axe heads are also very wide and thick, something that could again contribute to being easy to read.

For anyone who fought Saul when he was using the Poleaxe, you undoubtedly know there is a right way and a wrong way to feint with polearms. Even just last week I was personally complemented on a finishing blow's feint with a german poleaxe in a duel. Another case you could look at, would be the War Spear. Speed wise, it's not fast, it's pretty much middle of the road. Yet many people actually have problems blocking war spears from the more skilled users (Big Sandwich?), even though they're a measly 95/96 speed. I'm just not certain that you need anything other than flawed human perception to explain the afore mentioned cases (those that I have not already detailed specifically in the past.)
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Senni__Ti on August 11, 2014, 07:22:50 pm
What I've noticed since the animation changes is that, it's now a hell of a lot harder to chamber polearm swings compared to the other weapons.

I'm one of those fighters who tries to chamber pretty much everything. This usually means when I opponent holds, I'm going to have to quickly react and block. Being an inverse attacker, there is a delay as I move the mouse in the other direction and block. With 2h and 1h, I can in most cases get the block in place, with polearms it's the opposite, with most cases resulting in me taking damage.

More along the same lines, I've seen duelists do exceedingly well with simple holds and spam (it's a valid tactic) with polearms. Yet in order to do just aswell with a 2h (of the same speed), you would need to feint and or chamber also.

I've always found polearm animations to be on the snappier side, even before the animation changes (which were needed). I just feel they were made a little too snappy.

From a 2h point of view, I see that polearms have great diversity, with many possible playstyles. Being able to switch between a supporting polearm and more solo based weapon on the fly. (Not forgetting lances and pikes)
And with the animation change, the 4d polearms are every bit of the 2h equivalent. They tend to be longer on the swings, 'feel' faster comparing similar weapon speeds and tend to be higher in dmg.

I guess to me, it's like when the 2h stab was changed to a shorter animation. Lots of build up time, but almost instant release -> extension.
Ultimately decided to be OP and reverted. (Rightly so)

In terms of what I'd like to see:
-A smoother progression for polearm swings
-polearm speed boost if required

When I get back from dinner I'll make some examples.
Did you make the animation timing changes in the module or Brf?
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Tydeus on August 12, 2014, 02:03:23 am
Did you make the animation timing changes in the module or Brf?
Depends.

In some cases both were changed, most changes were specifically brf edits though. In most cases I kept the frame count exactly as it was (aside perhaps from the polearm overhead, I can't recall exactly.) I started by analyzing the animation, figuring out where the arm was at any given point in time, since the objective was to equalize swings/make them more intuitive to use. It's not something that you can do perfectly unless the weapon actually rotates around a center point and keeps its angle orientation, neither of these ever happen though. Anyway, after analyzing the animation I'd figure out what frames needed moved where so that the actual beefy part of the swing (where most of the motion takes place) would remain in tact, and unchanged. Most of the time this simply meant removing some of the earlier frames (ex, removing frame 3,5,7 as to keep the overall weapon path the same since warband blends between frames if it needs to) and adding frames near the end to keep the total frame count the same.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Teeth on August 12, 2014, 09:49:51 am
Tydeus, I thought I had read you saying that polearm overhead was accidentally sped up too much? In any case, that shit needs tweaking. It is stupendously fast and broken, it seems to have a normal chamber time, but then the swing releases much faster than any other swing. You can pull of some bullshit spam hits with that against much faster weapons. It's like a 95 speed weapon is suddenly 100 speed when the overhead releases, it speeds up visibly compared to the chamber animation. The speed up seems to have also broken hit detection, which was a lot better before it. It's like the hit detection doesn't know that the animation has been significantly sped up and lags behind it. Haven't bothered playing English Bill ever since the speed up, while I absolutely love that weapon, simply because hitting overheads is too unreliable.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Phew on August 12, 2014, 03:16:14 pm
Tydeus, I thought I had read you saying that polearm overhead was accidentally sped up too much? In any case, that shit needs tweaking. It is stupendously fast and broken, it seems to have a normal chamber time, but then the swing releases much faster than any other swing. You can pull of some bullshit spam hits with that against much faster weapons. It's like a 95 speed weapon is suddenly 100 speed when the overhead releases, it speeds up visibly compared to the chamber animation. The speed up seems to have also broken hit detection, which was a lot better before it. It's like the hit detection doesn't know that the animation has been significantly sped up and lags behind it. Haven't bothered playing English Bill ever since the speed up, while I absolutely love that weapon, simply because hitting overheads is too unreliable.

Yeah, pole overheads are wonky. I was fighting a War Spear user that released an overhead the same time I released a left swing, and visually my swing was clearly ahead of his, but his hit landed before mine.

It was almost better when polearms had crappy animations that at least were coupled to the hit detection.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Senni__Ti on August 12, 2014, 05:55:16 pm
Depends.

In some cases both were changed, most changes were specifically brf edits though. In most cases I kept the frame count exactly as it was (aside perhaps from the polearm overhead, I can't recall exactly.) I started by analyzing the animation, figuring out where the arm was at any given point in time, since the objective was to equalize swings/make them more intuitive to use. It's not something that you can do perfectly unless the weapon actually rotates around a center point and keeps its angle orientation, neither of these ever happen though. Anyway, after analyzing the animation I'd figure out what frames needed moved where so that the actual beefy part of the swing (where most of the motion takes place) would remain in tact, and unchanged. Most of the time this simply meant removing some of the earlier frames (ex, removing frame 3,5,7 as to keep the overall weapon path the same since warband blends between frames if it needs to) and adding frames near the end to keep the total frame count the same.

Ah found them, mistakenly assumed "anim_tydeus_nudges" were just nudges :p
Time to break things!  :twisted:
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Tydeus on August 12, 2014, 07:09:31 pm
Tydeus, I thought I had read you saying that polearm overhead was accidentally sped up too much?
I certainly did say that. The overhead and the right swing at very close range, are the cases "that I have... already detailed specifically in the past."

Here's an excerpt of the module_animations.py file:
Code: [Select]
ready_durn     = 0.35

blend_in_ready = arf_blend_in_6
blend_in_release = arf_blend_in_5

 ["ready_overswing_twohanded", acf_overswing, amf_priority_attack|amf_use_weapon_speed|amf_use_inertia|amf_keep|amf_client_owner_prediction,
    [ready_durn, "attacks_twohanded_overswing", 11, 26, blend_in_ready],
 ],
["release_overswing_twohanded", acf_overswing, amf_priority_attack|amf_use_weapon_speed|amf_play|amf_continue_to_next,
    [0.61, "attacks_twohanded_overswing", 26, 55, blend_in_release],
],

["ready_overswing_staff", acf_overswing, amf_priority_attack|amf_use_weapon_speed|amf_use_inertia|amf_keep|amf_client_owner_prediction,
    [ready_durn, "attacks_staff_uptodown", 9, 26, blend_in_ready],
 ],
 ["release_overswing_staff", acf_overswing, amf_priority_attack|amf_use_weapon_speed|amf_play|amf_continue_to_next,
    [0.6, "attacks_staff_uptodown_updated", 26, 61, blend_in_release], 

["ready_overswing_onehanded", acf_overswing|acf_enforce_rightside, amf_priority_attack|amf_use_weapon_speed|amf_use_inertia|amf_keep|amf_client_owner_prediction|amf_rider_rot_overswing,
    [ready_durn, "attacks_single_overswing", 5, 16, blend_in_ready],
 ],
 ["release_overswing_onehanded", acf_overswing|acf_enforce_rightside, amf_priority_attack|amf_use_weapon_speed|amf_play|amf_rider_rot_overswing|amf_continue_to_next,
    [0.6, "attacks_single_overswing", 16, 37, blend_in_release],
 ],

In both animations its on frame 42 where you would expect to start damaging your opponent (slightly earlier for polearms if they're being face hugged) but the total frame inclusion is different. This means the polearm progresses through the animation at a faster rate. If you calculate percentage-wise when frame #42 occurs, you have 45% through the anim for polearms and 55% for two-handed. That certainly seems like a large difference, and it is, but you should keep in mind that right/left swings when not at facehug range, are anywhere from 38%  (2h right swing) to 45%(polearm left swing) when calculated this way. Yes it's certainly faster, but...

The polearm overhead is certainly fast, but I'm not sure that it's in need of tweaking though. I don't see this jerkiness people talk about, instead I see lag, packet loss, height advantages and close proximity, all of which can cause poles to hit sooner.

It's not as though 2h doesn't have significant animation advantages itself. I doubt I need to bring up the effective length difference between thrusts, and certainly in light of the speed of other swings, assuming my analysis is correct, 45% on the pole overhead doesn't exactly seem OP. Instead, the same way the 2h thrust and 1h right swing has great reach, I see variety.

Haven't bothered playing English Bill ever since the speed up, while I absolutely love that weapon, simply because hitting overheads is too unreliable.
I've actually been using the Swiss a lot lately, and been doing extremely well with it on my 18/27 build. I'm able to use my s key + a/d to move away from people's swings to allow myself more time to get the overhead to land. Of course, this only ever works against feints/holds or those that don't turn into their swings enough. I miss a lot of overheads, sure, but I do the same with 1h and 2h likely because I play with 65-85 ping.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Kafein on August 12, 2014, 08:53:45 pm
We need more 20 ping balancers!
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: AntiBlitz on August 13, 2014, 05:30:27 am
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so goddamn fast, hits so hard, balanced, cheap, breaks shields, literally one of the finest polearms.  I cannot believe you can consider it balanced at all.  Everyone uses it, its like the new longsword of the polearms. 

97speed and 41c unloomed with shield breaking and balanced for 3 times less then the top tier poles.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: San on August 13, 2014, 06:41:41 am
Long axe is unbalanced compared to which weapons? I think it's an animation problem with the lightning fast overheads being quite accurate with the shorter polearms rather than an imbalance with stats. I never have any problems with the shortened spear compared to something like the long awlpike.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: AwesomeHail on August 13, 2014, 10:30:20 am
poleaxe users like Habi disgust me in how hard they hit.
how i hate poleaxe and it being faster than my mw hafted blade at all times for some reason :|
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Molly on August 13, 2014, 10:37:22 am
poleaxe users like Habi disgust me in how hard they hit.
how i hate poleaxe and it being faster than my mw hafted blade at all times for some reason :|
You're just bad at the game. Also, l2footwork!

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Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: AwesomeHail on August 13, 2014, 03:57:35 pm
yeah my foot work is pretty fucking bad :| teach me masta
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Molly on August 13, 2014, 04:22:45 pm
Nah, just gave the general answer we "scrubs" get from the real "veterans" of the mod. Shit is balanced, we're just terribad at playing. :D
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: PsychoTwins on August 13, 2014, 04:30:31 pm
Your response still makes sense though, a MW hafted blade shouldn't be getting spammed by a poleaxe unless the poleaxe guy is high agi and hafted blade guy is str.

Or its just footwork.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: AwesomeHail on August 13, 2014, 04:34:00 pm
he just aims to the side and hits me with 0.001 seconds of the animation. fuck habi man
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Tydeus on August 13, 2014, 04:34:27 pm
he just aims to the side and hits me with 0.001 seconds of the animation. fuck habi man
Really, the earliest a polearm can hit with current mechanics, is about 25% of the way through his right swing animation, and that's only if he's face hugging. The reason he can do that, is because he hits you (serverside) with, or close to, his right fist (where the weapon's hit bar originates). When the right fist first enters the sweetspot, the vast majority of the rest of the collision bar (weapon) is still angled back, away from the guy being swung at.

What's worse, is that I don't think warband supports an appropriate fix to this. You'd either have to have time factor into the sweetspot calculation for more than just thrusts, or you'd have to change the animation so the character's arms in the animation, don't reach forward, they'd have to stay as close to the character's torso as possible. The former can only be done with a wse patch (probably never going to happen) and the latter would reduce the polearm right swing's effective reach by a good 20-40 cm, so that's out of the picture as well.

Nah, just gave the general answer we "scrubs" get from the real "veterans" of the mod. Shit is balanced, we're just terribad at playing. :D
At least we're being honest here.  :lol:

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Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Tydeus on August 13, 2014, 04:42:25 pm
Woops!
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: StonedSteel on August 13, 2014, 05:15:41 pm
I dont normally post about Tydeus/San doing a good job. In fact, if they mess anything up, im usually one of the first shit lords to rant and rage about it ( FIX VALOR FFS :mad: )

But having gone back and forth from 2h to pole alot, and remembering what NA used to look like, the changes to polearms and 1h are one of the few things they did right.

You guys dont remember like 80% of NA being 2h? I think there is a lot of diversity in what is viable and what people use nowadays. Again, i rarly agree with balencers here, but polearms needed a good buff, they needed a good counter to LS/HBS

And yeah the longaxe is pretty sweet, and on siege its a beast, no doubt. But on battle there are plenty of other polearms that can match it, within its price range and lower. Someone who is good is going to do great with Long Bard, War Spear, Halfted Blade, LHB, Glave etc and on a Cav map, they maybe the better choice over the long axe, which aint that long, and cant rear a horse.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: San on August 13, 2014, 05:17:59 pm
We would've had it if we had made the full WSE transition =)

Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: karasu on August 13, 2014, 05:32:17 pm
One thing that bothers me is how the Bec secondary is way more damaging than the Poleaxe secondary.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Phew on August 13, 2014, 05:35:42 pm
We would've had it if we had made the full WSE transition =)

That would have been a huge boost to realism/balance/depth if polearms did massive damage (but only at the end of the weapon) while swords did moderate damage at any distance. Oh well, hopefully in M:BG.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: AwesomeHail on August 13, 2014, 08:08:18 pm
That would have been a huge boost to realism/balance/depth if polearms did massive damage (but only at the end of the weapon) while swords did moderate damage at any distance. Oh well, hopefully in M:BG.

They did this in War of the Roses, things like poleaxes and other things only hit hard at the end of the weapon, but the 2h axes there are just insanely op. this is the reason why i dont play WotR anymore :|
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Kafein on August 14, 2014, 12:41:40 am
One thing that bothers me is how the Bec secondary is way more damaging than the Poleaxe secondary.

Poleaxe secondary is the 50th cherry on the cake. Due to this the poleaxe got duel stats and additionally is adapted to every possible melee situation: polestabs against cav, shield bonus against shields and blunt + knockdown against armor.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Rhaelys on August 14, 2014, 12:49:26 am
Poleaxe secondary is the 50th cherry on the cake. Due to this the poleaxe got duel stats and additionally is adapted to every possible melee situation: polestabs against cav, shield bonus against shields and blunt + knockdown against armor.

Poleaxe blunt is strictly worse than the cut side for doing damage to all armor values. The only advantage blunt offers is knockdown (and no bonus against shield).
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Kafein on August 14, 2014, 03:41:48 pm
Poleaxe blunt is strictly worse than the cut side for doing damage to all armor values. The only advantage blunt offers is knockdown (and no bonus against shield).

It's better due to blunt being better at negating damage soak.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Tydeus on August 14, 2014, 03:59:51 pm
It's better due to blunt being better at negating damage soak.
It's not that simple. In most cases, the cut side will do more damage.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: AwesomeHail on August 14, 2014, 07:28:08 pm
It's not that simple. In most cases, the cut side will do more damage.

in most cases, i get 1hit by Breads Bec. 3 if and 15 str with 45 armor. lulz
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Senni__Ti on August 14, 2014, 07:57:59 pm
in most cases, i get 1hit by Breads Bec. 3 if and 15 str with 45 armor. lulz

Tank much!?

Honestly, I don't think it's the bec that's too damaging, just pierce in general. (That morning star :O)
Could do with a slight tweak in armour resistance. (imo)
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Kafein on August 15, 2014, 12:22:36 am
Tank much!?

Honestly, I don't think it's the bec that's too damaging, just pierce in general. (That morning star :O)
Could do with a slight tweak in armour resistance. (imo)

Pierce it's fine, it's cut swings that are bloody weak.

Warband combat is at its finest when fights are intense and room for error is minimal. This is the reason Native duelers wear cloth. In cRPG however, armor, IF and STR compound, transforming people into HP sponges straight out of japanese action RPGs.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Phew on August 15, 2014, 06:37:40 pm
Pierce it's fine, it's cut swings that are bloody weak.

Agreed. A +3 Bec does 35-50% more damage against the typical cRPG melee player than a +3 Longsword, all else being equal. Reach on swings is pretty similar between the two, 2h gets lolstab but that's balanced by horse rearing and better nudges (without having to press X) with pole. "Effective speed" is the same between the two, possibly even better on the Bec, since it has wider sweetspots thanks to pierce. 2h used to have better animations, but now pole has these crazy jerky animations that are actually less predictable in a duel situation, so that advantage is gone. All of the above is why 2h is a dying breed compared to pole lately.

I'd like to see the soak/reduce formulas changed so there is a situation (other than a naked peasant, who would get 1-shot regardless) where cut damage is superior to pierce/blunt. I think the pierce soak curve should be WAY flatter, so a Bec might do 20 dmg against a guy in plate, but only 25 dmg to an archer in cloth (instead of 40+ dmg now). And blunt should have a totally different mechanic than pierce, unlike now where they are nearly identical. For instance, blunt could deal lower damage but knockdown duration could increase with armor (i.e. it should be harder to get back up when wearing full plate).
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: San on August 15, 2014, 07:50:33 pm
@Phew

It's quite complicated. The paradigm changes for low damage values, medium values, and high values.

Notice the graph in the picture below. Cut damages are +8 of what's shown.

Current:
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Altered:
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Using

   var armor_soak_factor_against_cut = 0.85; (current = 0.65, old = 0.8)
   var armor_soak_factor_against_pierce = 0.7; (current = 0.5, old = 0.65)
   var armor_soak_factor_against_blunt = 0.2; (current = 0.4, old = 0.5)

   var armor_reduction_factor_against_cut = 1; (current = 1.6, old = 1)
   var armor_reduction_factor_against_pierce = 0.7; (current = 1.1, old = 0.5)
   var armor_reduction_factor_against_blunt = 1.7; (current = 1.3, old = 0.75)

The reduction of random damage changed a lot. Even with these changes, it's not so simple. Looking at the curves for low damage, that shrinks sweetspots even more for instance. Even so, it's hard to say if it's even better than the current version, though there is more of a difference between types. You can only balance the damage relationship that you like for one damage range, with the newer curves being balanced around the middle range of damage. The other two ranges will be different from what you want each time. Heck, what I tweaked may actually buff the morningstar/bec and nerf everything else under pierce. Perhaps the values for blunt and pierce should be switched.

Edit: Might like this better, different scaling for cut/pierce

   var armor_soak_factor_against_cut = 0.85;
   var armor_soak_factor_against_pierce = 0.65;
   var armor_soak_factor_against_blunt = 0.2;
   var armor_reduction_factor_against_cut = 1.1;
   var armor_reduction_factor_against_pierce = 0.85;
   var armor_reduction_factor_against_blunt = 1.7;
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Phew on August 15, 2014, 08:24:49 pm
It's quite complicated. The paradigm changes for low damage values, medium values, and high values.

Could you clarify what you are showing? Is "Altered" your proposal, or an attempt to manifest what I described in my previous post?

My proposal could be implemented by using the current soak/reduce formula, just putting a simple cap on final damage from pierce weapons at half the "raw" damage (where "raw" doesn't include speed bonus, just the stated weapon damage modified by power strike+str+wpf+body location). This solves two problems:
-Weapons like the bec/morningstar would no longer 1-shot everyone in less than mail; they would become decidedly sub-optimal for hacking up ninjas and archers
-Agility players could no longer deliver massive damage against targets in medium armor just by abusing speed bonus with thrust weapons, but their solid damage against plate would remain the same

The only major problem I see is that spears/pikes would barely hurt unarmored horses, but this could be remedied by adding your "Bonus against cavalry" tag where applicable. But otherwise, it lets pierce retain its can-opener attribute while limiting its efficacy against low-medium armor. Cut would be 2-3 times better for hacking up archers/ninjas/peasants, as opposed to now where cut shines at nothing.

Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: San on August 15, 2014, 08:32:22 pm
Trying to simulate this:

Quote
I'd like to see the soak/reduce formulas changed so there is a situation (other than a naked peasant, who would get 1-shot regardless) where cut damage is superior to pierce/blunt. I think the pierce soak curve should be WAY flatter, so a Bec might do 20 dmg against a guy in plate, but only 25 dmg to an archer in cloth (instead of 40+ dmg now). And blunt should have a totally different mechanic than pierce, unlike now where they are nearly identical. For instance, blunt could deal lower damage but knockdown duration could increase with armor (i.e. it should be harder to get back up when wearing full plate).

All pierce weapons need to be lowered to 10-20 to have that flat of a curve, though, which is accomplished by having no reduction and low soak.

Edit: can you go into more detail with this point?

"My proposal could be implemented by using the current soak/reduce formula, just putting a simple cap on final damage from pierce weapons at half the "raw" damage (where "raw" doesn't include speed bonus, just the stated weapon damage modified by power strike+str+wpf+body location)."

From what I understand, there's a cap in damage, but what do mean by half the raw damage? Raw damage without speed/hold bonuses = half the factors affecting raw damage?
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Phew on August 15, 2014, 08:37:34 pm
Edit: can you go into more detail with this point?
From what I understand, there's a cap in damage, but what do mean by half the raw damage? Raw damage without speed/hold bonuses = half the factors affecting raw damage?

For instance, +3 Bec (37p), same stats as you posted. Raw dmg is 64. Leave the curve the same, except cap the final damage at half this (32). Hitting the head would increase the cap, but speed bonus would not. Not sure about hold damage, but I think it should work out so that there is NOTHING you can do with a pierce weapon to one-shot a lvl 30 player in medium armor all around (edit: other than couching, duh). 

Pierce should be for good damage against heavy armor and solid, predictable damage against everyone else. Not 1-shotting everyone in medium armor and 2-3 shotting people in heavy armor. At least make them work as harder to kill people in medium armor and below.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: San on August 15, 2014, 08:50:16 pm
That would make the bec weaker than espada eslavona swings. Speed bonus accounts for higher damage than what's shown on the calc in the average case. Lance cav would end up dealing close to 0 damage in almost all cases to everything as well. Speed bonus affects all damage types equally, minus a few points of damage for cut against good armor.

The only data that is important in the pictures are the weapon damages (which is +8 for cut) and the graph curves. The high damage curve follows what speed bonus/held attacks would look like, while low damage attacks consider how low pierce stabs, sweetspots, and the peasant experience would work.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Phew on August 15, 2014, 08:57:50 pm
That would make the bec weaker than espada eslavona swings. Speed bonus accounts for higher damage than what's shown on the calc in the average case. Lance cav would end up dealing close to 0 damage in almost all cases to everything as well. Speed bonus affects all damage types equally, minus a few points of damage for cut against good armor.

The only data that is important in the pictures are the weapon damages (which is +8 for cut) and the graph curves. The high damage curve follows what speed bonus/held attacks would look like, while low damage attacks consider how low pierce stabs, sweetspots, and the peasant experience would work.

This cap is on the final damage delivered; half raw is still a lot of damage in most cases. In this example, the Bec would still do twice the damage against 30 armor as an espada swing, it just wouldn't one-shot the guy anymore.

 It would hurt lance cav against lightly-armored foes, but otherwise they would still usually take 2 non-couched hits like before. Perhaps you could remove/increase the cap at a certain speed bonus threshold if it hits lance cav too hard? My chief objective is to make weapons like the bec have to work harder to kill light-medium armored foes, I don't have any opinions about cavalry damage.

There is a realism element here as well; a puncture wound will cause about the same tissue damage whether you are naked or wearing leather. A sword swing, however, has much more capacity to deliver a mortal blow to a naked dude than a nail on a stick, for instance.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: San on August 15, 2014, 09:22:36 pm
Oh, then raw damage is a moot point if the focus is only directed to final damage. Disregarding the feasibility of such a suggestion, messing with the formula in-between speed bonus and the like will just lead to more complications.

Currently, the bec deals similar damage to a 50-51c weapon at armor above 60 and a 46c weapon against 40 armor. Compared to the poleaxes, those are pretty decent tradeoffs for medium armor and below, admittedly on the slightly powerful side depending on how much the bonus vs shield and reach differences are valued. If too many artifical additions are added, however, people will just choose weapons without them that deal damage that's good enough in all scenarios.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: Phew on August 15, 2014, 09:38:31 pm
Oh, then raw damage is a moot point if the focus is only directed to final damage. Disregarding the feasibility of such a suggestion, messing with the formula in-between speed bonus and the like will just lead to more complications.

Currently, the bec deals similar damage to a 50-51c weapon at armor above 60 and a 46c weapon against 40 armor. Compared to the poleaxes, those are pretty decent tradeoffs for medium armor and below, admittedly on the slightly powerful side depending on how much the bonus vs shield and reach differences are valued. If too many artifical additions are added, however, people will just choose weapons without them that deal damage that's good enough in all scenarios.

I was proposing capping final pierce damage at half raw damage; raw damage isn't "moot" if it's the independent variable.

It's not so much an issue of internal polearm balance, since the comparable cut polearms to the Bec all have bonus vs. shield like you said. I now see people choosing the Bec over 2H weapons like the Longsword/HBS at an increasing rate; one day on siege recently over half of the melee players were using Becs. The choice might be less clear-cut if Becs no longer had the capacity to one-shot everyone in light-medium armor (heck, I've been one-shotted several times with Becs/Awlpikes with my 58 head armor, 58HP), and were more focused on "can opening" like their historical role.
Title: Re: poleaxe
Post by: San on August 15, 2014, 10:14:33 pm
Something like that is an indication to look at things more closely, but isn't really undeniable proof for anything.

For example, the Dadao has slightly less damage against armor by only a few points for longer reach and greater speed compared to the bec. Many other 2h have sizable tradeoffs against it, too. You are overestimating the damage advantage of the bec. Bonus damage to the head is a bit of a mystery. It boosted my 1h damage by above 60% when I tried testing damage with the reporter, so I'm not certain if it's different for pierce attacks. Overheads deal bonus damage no matter the hit location. A bec/awlpike also receives the same speed bonus boost as any other weapon.

What I am trying to say is that there are many damage multipliers that can be at play all at once.