Pursuant to the ongoing discussion on unbalanced weapons dominating the 2h area.
At the moment in the game, a top heavy weapon is a flat disadvantage. This is to some extent compensated by high damage, but high damage is by no means restricted to unbalanced wpns (german pole, danish, claymore, flam etc.). As such, I do not think it is a fair trade-off. While a skilled dueller is indeed scary with some of the longer unbalanced weapons - eg. cmp, myself on a good day (if i may be so bold), Abdulla (name? Persian War Axe?) - it has quickly become apparent that it is only really consistently effective if the enemy is not used to the range or animations. As such, for serious dueling it is very rare to see someone using an unbalanced weapon.
Bottom line, as far as I can tell, is: Equal skill duelers, balanced wpn vs unbalanced, the balanced wpn will win every time.
Such is life, deal with it?While that is a valid point, I think it leaves unexpoloited a potential for a game mechanic that could add a lot to variety of dueling weapons.
While an unbalanced weapon would, irl, impose certain restrictions on the user, the very fact that it is top heavy was used to its advantage. A top heavy weapon builds momentum in a way that a balanced weapon cannot. A weapon with high momentum can be very effective as a blunt force even if parried, and has the capacity to brush lighter blades aside with little difficulty.
(I apologise for the 'realism' aspect of this argument, but I am using it to point out potential for a different/unique combat style, rather than simply saying 'oh this is what would happen rl so we have to do it')
As such, I welcome comments and suggestions as to how we could make unbalanced weapons viable for top-end dueling. I'll start the ball rolling with some bullet points for a vague outline of the idea. Note also I have no idea if any of this is possible even with WSE.
- Swings chained back-to-back (ie. no parrying, expiration limit between swings) add momentum to a swing
- Each swing chained adds x% dmg, x% crush chance, x% weight up to a cap of say, 4 swings
- Each swing increases riposte window by x%
- Each swing reduces movement speed by x%, but increases swing speed by x%
What this would mean.Users of unbalanced weapons would, at the beginning of a fight, be like they are now. However, if you let them get into a flow and can't manage to disrupt it, they get stronger and more scary. A fully-momentumed player will be a whirlwind of scary death, but cannot parry and is more vulnerable to range because of his movement speed reduction.
As such, you wouldn't be able to run up to a GLB user, block one swing and then dominate him with feints. Footwork, teamplay and timing would be key in these encounters.
I think this would add a lot of diversity. At the moment you go into all duels with pretty much the same strategy, whether they are using 2h or pole, balanced or unbalanced (excluding maulers and stabbers), and then adapt based on how the player plays, rather than to the mechanics of his weapons.
Thoughts?
Poll