U gotta be kidding me ? Bot spams because they attack when they can reach u, that can be used in ur favour. Use footwork to own their ass then. And to avoid chambering, all u have to do is hold ur strike for a little bit, then attack. Simple.
Actually, they are pretty damn good at riposting held attacks too. Something I will never fully get used to. Though I think you're talking about already being within their range. In that case holding your attack will work on the bots with slower weapons but the dagger-wielders and such will just hit you with their spamming if you try to hold. They are by far the most annoying because you don't have the luxury of holding your attacks and their pissant daggers are too fast to block or counter-riposte a riposte from.
Holding your attack may also allow the bot column to get too close for comfort. You don't want them so close that the guy behind your target is within his weapon range. Otherwise he'll tend to swing through his buddy's corpse the instant you kill him; which is often too soon after your own attack to be blockable. And if your hit doesn't kill your target he'll just walk through his still-living buddy and get you that way.
I find the best countermeasure is to spam overheads and try to be quick enough about it to counter-riposte their ripostes. Just be sure to keep your distance as best you can. Longer weapons are golden in DTV.
Bots are a problem, sure, but like I said, if my weapon repair costs exceed the gold reward, it's too much. Even basic crossbow upkeep is 700, so I can't use sword and a crossbow. I basically would have to use worst shield, worst crossbow, bad sword, and peasant armor to avoid losing money
This. While the gold reward was greatly increased recently it is still inferior to other modes on a gold-per-minute basis. I know I don't make any money with my 26.5k gear set. In fact, I've lost about 20k over the past month. It doesn't really matter to me but some of the newer players may be getting hosed by this.
Myself, I'd play battle or siege if I weren't so burned out right now and could deal with the constant team-hitting... There's just something attractive to the simplicity of the DTV mode and the wanton slaughter of bot hordes...