Also the best bows, best xbows, and best throwing weapons are actually 3 slots also if you count their ammunition, so why shouldn't the best support polearm weapons (and anti cav) also be included?
With most other weapons you can attack very well, and almost any class, except for archers or crossbowmen, perhaps, can stand alone if the player is capable enough.
Unlike the pikeman. Every peasant with a hatchet can block those stabs, and once the pikeman is reached he has little chances to survive.
What pikemen do is either roaming at the flanks, threatening cavalry (never taking them out, actually, as no cavalryman will run into a pikeman) and catching fire from horse archers, or looking for a heavily armoured and armed infantryman and following him, to support him in melee, only to die a quick death as soon as the front man falls.
These weapons are still very good infantry support weapons as well as anticav weapons.
They are the ONLY real, dedicated anti-cav-weapons, but unlike almost any other weapon except of bows perhaps you absolutely need to specialize on polearms to wield them, which is a way too strong buff for cavalry. No more "backup" pike for 1hd shield infantry to keep cavalry on distance or the like.
I still see a lot of players who ONLY use those weapons and nothing else and still performing very well, so the change wouldnt mean much to them.
They got 20:2 statistics like some cavalry, infantry or archers do? I don't think so...
They are a support class, that's why they should shine in the support role. Being annoying in melee when fighting from 2nd row is exactly what their purpose is. They are not even a real threat for cavalry, they are only some kind of "obstacle" you can't take with a horse.
As a pikeman you are extremely vulnerable to enemy fire, you can't even switch to a shield without losing your main weapon.
Let's just check the options for pikemen:
-You have an unsheathable weapon, so there is no need to imagine any other scenario than being armed with this pike.
-You can't do anything about ranged fighters except of using cover (effectively taking yourself out of the match) or running around like a chicken (which doesn't help in most cases, anyway).
-You can either stand around at the flanks, which in most cases exposes you to enemy fire (especially from horse archers, see point above), and all you can do is run around with a chambered stab, shouting "BOOOHOOOHOOOO!!!" at approaching cavalry to drive them off.
-You can also go to the center to support in melee. Always try to stay behind some heavy infantry. If this infantry dies, all you can do is run away, because there is no chance you can win a fight on your own.
The options for your last slot look like this:
- No bows, crossbows, swinging polearms or two handers
- One handed weapons. But I think it is pretty useless to use 1hd weapons with an empty left hand. So the choice is sub-par
- Throwing weapons. You can use a single stack of them, but you would have to throw you pike away and pick it up again, which is dangerous and annoying
- A shield. But again you would have to throw away your weapon, and all you would have is this shield, so you can't harm anyone. Due to the fact that you have to drop your main weapon your shield doesn't help you to cross spaces under enemy fire, nor will it help you to survive against 2 or more enemies due to better protection (because you simply don't have anything to kill them with). Which means you can't use a shield, too.
You can't compare pikes to other 3 slot weapons, because those are more versatile in their possibilities. A pike makes you dependant on others and only able to react, never to act. cRPG is about fighting, and I think the best time you have is when you actually FIGHT someone. From this point of view archers have the most fun, because they can "fight" all the time (by shooting constantly), followed by cavalry, that rides around and has the constant chance of attacking someone. One of the least rewarding classes in cRPG (always was and I fear always will be) is infantry, as they have to survive the enemy archers and cavalry to be able to rush into melee where you need the most skills to survive (due to manual blocking. Archers have the distance protecting them most of the time, cavalry has its speed. Infantry has nothing.) And of all infantry subclasses the pikeman has the least choices. He has the least protection of all classes and SIMULTANEOUSLY the least offensive capabilities. I ask you where this can be balanced?
Btw is there a site where you can observe the server statistics, concerning kills and the weapons used for them? Unless it's not only divided into the same classes like in the shop (due to poleaxes being the same weapon class like pikes) I bet you can see by the amount of players using pikes and the amount of their kills, how much "fun" the pikeman class is. And how much of a "problem", deserving another nerf.
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