Consider the following

[Frederick]

I've recently switched from a polearms build to a 2h sword build, I wanna be the guy that runs around like aragorn with the bastard sword.

My original polearms build was 18/21 [balanced] with 6 points in IF,PS,AG,WM, and 164 points in polearms. My preferred weapons were usually either the english bill, long awlpike, awlpike, or spear.

I noticed that in spite of having a slower weapon, with only 2 [and in the pike, 1] attack dirrection, it was often significantly easier to kill someone with a long spear weapon than with a sword. Not simply because it takes fewer hits to kill someone with one than with the other, but even counting the number of times i was able to hit opponents.
I was shocked at how easily people will let down their guard.

I was wondering why and I came up with some ideas, I'd just like to know what your thoughts are on the plausibility of these.

1. Enemies are more acustomed to fighting against swordsmen than spearmen

Quite alot of people end up going 2h swordsmen in CRPG, and quite alot of them are good at recognizing 2h and 1h animations as a result. They're also more comfortable with timing their attacks with respect to the spacing of the range of a sword rather than a long weapon. I noticed alot of the kills I got were as a result of people not being able to properly judge the distance they could reach me compared to  my distance to reach them. Often times I would backpedal with the billhook, [agility 21, athletics 6] and outpace slower heavier players, they would swing at me before I swung at them but I'd still end up killing them because I'd be out of range.

2. My strategy with polearms is usually different than with swords, using the english bill or the pike I was able to very easily get involved in sword fights between other people. Even  with a fairly long sword often times it's difficult for another person to attack someone who is already in a fight, so you end up attacking people who are not focused on YOU.

3. I played MM and now NW quite alot, so I'm more comfortable with polearms.

[HUtH]

With pikes and stuff, the lolstab move is quite distracting also it's a bit harder to recognize when the stab animation begins, and also you can outrange almost everyone. That's why skilled player can be very deadly with stab-polearms. Also with 18/21 build, which is fast(fuckin backpedalling). Pierce damage is higher than cut too.

But long 2handers are imho the most reliable weapon in the game, because of range, dmg, freedom of action and (therefore) usefulness in every situation. But also only a skilled player can use all of that advantages.

Also I would say that stabby polearms are less usefull in siege, because it's more crowdy than battle.

[[ptx]]

Well, for whatever reason, even people, that don't block a single attack from anyone else in a fight, still downblock, when they see a pikeman/lonspearman in front of them. But, yeah, in some situations, it can be easier with such a weapon.