well spearmen could use the overhead stab animation. anyway spearmen are so slow that you can't miss a block with em.
and about OP or not... usually the reason a build is underplayed is because it's gimp. 5 months ago, there was no throwers around. 3months ago throwers got balanced and now we see em a reasonable amount. 9 months ago there was an archery galore. they got the new nockin arrow animation and archer number gone down. now there is a reasonable amount.
should be the same with spearmen. i don't really give it a damn about playing it but all the fixes that brings a little diversity in the usual and boring builds is welcome imo.
last thing. now if you see a line of spearmen, you just block down and effortly pass through. while against a normal mixed infantry line you can't without blocking the impossible.
with a overhead stab, spearmens will still be slow as hell and easymode to kill but at least not THAT easy.
**same could apply to crossbows... when there is too much spam about one build, usually means that's a little unbalanced. (people will not magically roll one just for fun.. cmon.)
that's why i find the pikeman really effective at aiming the sky then releasing a downward stab. that bypass most near teammates to poke with good power the target 2 meters away. i used to aim sides, roflcopter, but the most effective (while the right to left stab is the most powerful) in terms of teamwounds and surprise, it's the "skydiving thrust of doom"
Groups of spear/shield can be deadly, since they can stab at your side, and once they hit you, they can spam that till your death. On Eu1, just today, you can see 4 Board Shield/awlpikes going together, led by Sultan Eren. And they're doing fine, imo.
Oh, and Zapper, about the "you bounce often with a spear/shield", l2p. All longpsear and pikeman know now how to aim at the side before going on the target, for speed bonus and such. Why shouldn't the shielder do that too ? Because they're used of just facehugging, block, slash, block, slash ? Not our fault.
And yes, i DO want at least one easy kill, that's the rock/paper/scisors thing, imaright. I get owned by archers, cav, got duels with 2h/Polearms and shield/1h, and can deal with more ease with longspear/pike and shield/spear. That's the way it is.