Disclaimer:
I just GTX after meeting yet another backpedaling long axe smth user, just missing his nose with my katana, so he had a free strike through my torso. I wear lamellar vest and have 8 athletics.. He was in heraldric mail with tabard.
When I think about it,
nearly no one uses the shorter 2h handers, even the longsword, in battle. The standard weapon for 2handers is the Danish.
Among polearms there are greater variety, but many of them are long weapons too. The shorter polearms are underused.
I strongly feel these trends leads to a predictable and boring battlefield, since the range advantage is OP. (it becomes a longest range game)
Solution:Buff the damage of the shorter weapons together with a speed nerf of the longer weapons. Adjust prices accordingly. (Since no one wants to save $$$ on main wep anyway it seems.)
(Adding speed to the faster weapons more than we currently have leads to game breaking because of ping issues and netcode limitations afaik)
Result:A more varied battlefied, where people wield a bigger range of weapons. No clear "Best" weapon, just a plethora of preferences.
DiscussionI expect a lot of resistance to these ideas, as the large majority of 2-handers are sitting on loomed danish swords and the like.
IMO weapon Range needs to cost more in performance. It is currently undervalued by the balancers.
Mind you that weapons performance may be well balanced in a DUEL situation, but this is not the way to truly balance a weapon, as this is a BATTLE game, and weapons needs to be balanced for Battle.
One problem with all this is the pricing situation. Naturally the best weapons should cost the most, but what i want suggest is a kind of TIER system where devs choose a handful of weapons of every Length-Category and make them top tier and costly.
for 2-handers it would look something like this: (Loose suggestion to illustrate the point)
Long 2h swordsTOP TIER: Danish, German and Sword of War cost the same - but are balanced to be of equal value on the battlefield. Preference should be the only difference.
2nd TIER Heavy Greatsword, Greatsword and Claymore - should be ALMOST as good as top tier, but MUCH cheaper. They are the budget alternative.
(I bet most people will choose top tier anyway. The price has to be low enough that people will consider using a 2nd tier sword.
Medium Length 2h weaponsTOP TIER: Long Sword - 2h Sword - Heavy Bastard(?!) Should cost THE SAME as Top tier Long 2h swords. But be equally valuable in a battle situation.
2nd TIER: Bastard Sword - Miadoao - Long Iron Mace. Budget versions of the above.
Short 2h swordsetc..
In between there are specialized weapons of all types of course..
Anyway, the point should be clear.
People will always use the "Best"/ most expensive weapon. Make them equal in price, and equal in effectiveness. Tax range harder when you balance things. Make "budget" weapons cheaper.
One last predictable prayer:
Remove the weaboo tax on performance. Weaboos are here to stay. Knights will be knights, weaboos will be weaboos, hybrids will be hybrids. If anything, let us have some top tier swords to stay competitive but put the cost insanely high as an import tax..
