Shielder popularity

[ManOfWar]

I have been a shielder for so long hehe

[Baggy]

NA and it's FoTM.

[Pollux]

plz add this feature for non-shielders 2 balance the game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MS1dxood5o&feature=player_detailpage#t=218s

[wanteds]

Shield users are become more and more popular (on NA at least).  I see lots of them in the servers, and many trades on the marketplace forum are for turning in armor/bows/poles/etc for 1h and shield gear.

This thread is just to discuss possible reasons why.  Do you think there was an increase in ranged and now people are taking shields to compensate?  Are people just bored with their 2h/pole characters and they are now rolling alts?

Do you think its a phase or here to stay?  Has anyone else noticed?
Discuss

* The animation length for 1h attacks is shorter than other weapons (except for pole thrust), therefore they always hit first if you and your opponent start to swing at the same time, which is a huge advantage (I've been 1h class (no shield) for 10 gen, I know this)

* Sidestep to the right, then by spam, feint or using held attacks, you'll land a left swing eventually. And if the left swing from the side is close to the head it will do like 4x damage.

* When u face 2 shielders at the same time u know u have a problem, which is not the case against other classes. When one of them gets a hit in, the spam of fast swings will follow, and lots of those will land.

(* (elite) scimitar, can't distinguish feints from real swings!)

These close combat abilities make shielders even more popular above the fact that they can protect themselves against ranged.


hmmm.... time to go make a shielder alt! 

[Vibe]

the reason is stones, so op

[Banok]

stop talking out of your ass, you have no 1h experience and you even admit it in another post

think you'll find thats an old post, done a couple 1h gens recently

I did a 1h shield cav gen  kicked alot of ass even on foot, nothing too it after a bit of practise. shield = auto block enabled . downside was you start to forget how to manual block. I got a deadly steel pick atm and its so op

[rustyspoon]

think you'll find thats an old post, done a couple 1h gens recently

I did a 1h shield cav gen  kicked alot of ass even on foot, nothing too it after a bit of practise. shield = auto block enabled . downside was you start to forget how to manual block. I got a deadly steel pick atm and its so op

The steel pick is a totally different issue. It does pierce which is dramatically better than cut. It's base damage is 32, which is pretty damn high for a 1-hander ESPECIALLY with pierce damage. MW it goes up to 35. The entire pick is one color, which is also neutral. That combined with it being short makes it very hard to see especially when someone is up in your face (which they need to be to use it anyway). It is also stupid fast. 99 speed stock, 100 speed MW. With only 6 athletics you can facehug just about anyone on NA.

All of those factors added up make it a ridiculous weapon.

As far as shields go, I don't think adding directional blocking to them is the way to go. I would like to see adjustments made to shield durability, speed and shield skill.

If you have a high shield skill and a good shield like a Huscarl, you can block axes for a long time. I think shield breakers should always break shields in a few hits. People would then be required to put their shield away against an axe breaker or it breaks really quick. They could also slow down the heavier shields. The better at tanking a shield is, the slower it is. Right now there's no real reason to use any shield but a select few. Shield speed isn't too much of an issue especially with a relatively high shield skill. I would like to see more shield diversity.

Another idea would be to make steel shields almost immune to shield breaking weapons, but lower their speed DRAMATICALLY. That would make them good for holding areas, or pushing through chokepoints, but terrible for fighting.

There's a lot of possibilities, but it would be nice if you had more tactical choices for shields. Certain shields are better at certain things, some resist axes more or worse, etc.

[Zanze]

Given shield using infantry was the generic medieval soldier up until pike & shot, wouldn't having more shielders and less 2h heroes be a good thing btw?

[Mlekce]

Don't touch anything. I dont see much pick users at all in Eu1 server. Maybie there is one,or two max.
Only good pick user is kingrim cuz he have 12/24 build,but i bet that hearst can kick his ass.
I personaly use shield because i am not good with blocking,and many ppl use shields for same reason.

advantages:

you can block arrows,and some hits of 2h,1h,and poles

dissadvantages:

low dmg
low reach
you are much slower because of build limit and weight of shield
mw shield with 5 shield skill will brake after 3 hits with big axe
you get sorrounded easily
can't do much vs agi whores,especialy if they use longer weapon. They will just spam you,and dance arround and eventinaly get ur back or smash ur shield.
some throwing weapons have bonus against shields,and that throwing lance brake my mw elite cav shield with one hit.

Banok anytime mate,any server you want. Lets see how good you are if you say that 1h shield is easy class,and op and that you are so good with that and deserve nerf.
You are making up story because some shielders kicked ur ass. You want to nerf us beacuse you find 1h hard to fight.

[Mlekce]

I personaly tried picks and i find it hard. With just 5 athl i couldn't touch anyone.
They are always out of my reach,because builds in eu1 is balanced or more agility oriented so face hugging is almoust impposible.
Not to mention ppl like bashibazouk hearst who use kicks well,and any comming close to him is suecide.

[Leshma]

Don't touch anything. I dont see much pick users at all in Eu1 server. Maybie there is one,or two max.
Only good pick user is kingrim cuz he have 12/24 build,

Kinngrimm has 12/30 build with 10 shield and 10 athletics.

[Mlekce]

ehh nvm the point is still the same.
1h is not op,it is completly fine.
Doesn't need buff,doesn't need nerf.
Fix of overhead and stab would be nice,or something to make our stab glance less would be nice too.

[GauisMarius]

Its because of the increase of throwers, archers, and xbows. Mainly throwers though I think. Alot of people seem to dislike throwers in the extreme, as I have seen.

[Digglez]

Its because of the increase of throwers, archers, and xbows. Mainly throwers though I think. Alot of people seem to dislike throwers in the extreme, as I have seen.

Because they can actually SEE who is attacking them at range, instead of nameless archer in background that they are ignoring

[Wraist]

advantages:

you can block arrows,and some hits of 2h,1h,and poles

dissadvantages:

low dmg
low reach
you are much slower because of build limit and weight of shield
mw shield with 5 shield skill will brake after 3 hits with big axe
you get sorrounded easily
can't do much vs agi whores,especialy if they use longer weapon. They will just spam you,and dance arround and eventinaly get ur back or smash ur shield.
some throwing weapons have bonus against shields,and that throwing lance brake my mw elite cav shield with one hit.

Quite an interesting post. Here's my experience from my shielder gen:

Advantages:
-Left hand animation
-Hard to see overheads
-Never breaking shield [steel bucklery, only disadvantage was that a shield breaker broke it in a hit or two]
-Spam [Left right left right, maybe an over head, blocking whenever I think I'll get hurt]
-"Block" ranged
-Suprisingly high damage [Steel Pick/Warhammer compared to bec/LHSM, Iron War Axe compared to LHB or a danish if MWed, Italian Falchion being baller]
-2 vs 1 plays like a 1 vs 1 [sometimes 3vs1 as well]
-Not fun to fight [People play super risky in order to end it quickly. Without a shield breaker, it's  fucking pain to kill a shielder, and even a shield breaker may need 5 or more hits]
-Line breaking

Disadvantages:
-Teammates hit you all the damned time
-"Reach" [I don't really feel like that's an issue if you use a shield. 1h no shield, yeah, it matters a shitload, 1h with shield, not so much]
-Nodachi somehow weaponstunning my through my shield's block [fuck that weapon]
-Agi 2hers can side swipe, hitting you before you can hit them, even if you chambered first [pretty damned rare, only 1 person intentionally did it to me, and I was caught off gaurd the first time somebody did that to me, so I acted like a dumbass. Of course, that's what I attempt as a 2her]
-Shield can break
-Hard to tell when shield is broken midfight [unless you have the sound on]

I didn't really get surrounded more as a shielder compared to pole/2her/1h no shield. Nobody was ever able to constantly keep out of my range with a back peddle. Can't say much about horsies, but at level 22, I was using the nordic shield, and a scottish and killed most of the horses that attempted to couch me with a single stab to the face. Plated chargers sucked [low armor makes trample damage hurt], and only two people were able to kill me consistantly because I played too risky [hey, I can outrange his angled lance with my tiny sword]