I can proudly state that before I started my pikeman alt to test the pike, there was maybe 1 over 100 people using either the long spear or pike. A few days after I started seeing those popping out of nowhere
. Now I'm sure many people started it with the same timing though, but it felt really strange back then.
really, the only reason why pikes and long spears are so good now is because the majority of the player base actually knows how to block. So we see a lot of block battles where there is a certain rhythm to the fight that can be predicted and anticipated. Long spears and pikes add the annoying element of stunlock and because you are so far away, you can bring many weapons to bear on the same person, making it more difficult to "read the rhythm". This is the main reason why longspears and pikes are so good, it eliminates the duels and blockfests we see in battles. This is also why pairing it up with a great maul is so deadly, because a great maul also fulfills a similar role in eliminating block battles.
But i can see why 2h hate this weapon.
This. cRPG melee is incredibly slow, and today people that can't block well are very rare. So it is only logical that people develop other ways of killing than just feinting. Ranged, footwork, melee teamwork mostly. Honestly, it takes away part of the flavour of this game.