Pew! Pew! Pew!

[Noble Crassius]

That forces 1h.

If I use a shield as a 2h, and try to move at all, other melee just get up on me and spam attack as I have no offense with a shield.

Also, unless you dump massive points into shield to get decent shields, the shield is either instantly obliterated or they simply shoot over it.

Facts.

Fun fact they don't even have to shoot over it 1 shield skill using an old board shield I got shot through the shield into my arm and died. I know what your thinking oh xbows do that all the time except it was an archer and no I did not lower my block even for a fraction it was at the end of a round and it was me and him left. The recent nerf to shields is hitting 2handers/PA who use them solely for ranged protection harder than it is shielders, who seem to still have the force field effect anyways (at least with a Huscarl).

On top of this ,correct me if I'm wrong, but I hear that shield requirements will be forced in strategus meaning a two handers will have to put points into shields anyways if they don't want to be raped by these archer heavy armys I think were going to see. Imo it takes at least 3 points into shield to stop the BS from happening. we all might as well role shielders now.

[Havoco]

Yes, I know having all melée/ranged hybrids suck but would you rather pick up a weapon like the crossbow that only really requires money to use or sit stubbornly waiting to respawn because you just got shot and refuse to be part of the ranged spam? Yes, you may refuse a ranged weapon but most other players would just pay the money.


Until crpg changes to require more dedication to be effective at range Crpg will be exactly this. A melée and ranged weapon on 90 percent of the server population.

[Rhade]

Yes, I know having all melée/ranged hybrids suck but would you rather pick up a weapon like the crossbow that only really requires money to use or sit stubbornly waiting to respawn because you just got shot and refuse to be part of the ranged spam?

Until crpg changes to require more dedication to be effective at range Crpg will be exactly this. A melée and ranged weapon on 90 percent of the server population.

Why acknowledge there's a problem and not want to be a part of the discussion for a solution?

[Veto]

its also fun as fuck if your spec'd into it. not just oh im gonna buy an xbow and own. sure you get kills, but not as often as ones who devote to it with their build. nevertheless havoco is right, untill you need WPF for things like xbows or throwing. its gonna be a ranged fest get into it or get shot

[Havoco]

I just gave you my solution... More dedication as in more skill points and wpf to be effective?

[Kafein]

I regularly go through when I'm in spectator and count ranged characters vs melee characters. It's usually something like 85% ranged characters on my team, with only a maybe 3-4 not having some sort of range. It's ridiculous.

this

[ORiainRex]

First of all, stating something is a fact doesn't make it a fact.  It has to actually be a fact to be a fact.  Fact.

Fact: An arena shield can take 3-4 arrows before breaking; plenty of time to make it past the initial arrow free-for-all.

Fact: I hate crossbows.

Fact: Balance is an issue that should be worked on, so equal cav/archers/etc. are on each team, but if a large number of people are playing ranged, than maybe a large number of people like ranged, and if the game becomes a shoot fest with melee as backup, well, then the community has spoken hasn't it? 

I'm not saying I enjoy the large amount of ranged out there, but them's the breaks.

Fact: 2hers whine too much.
Fact: I'm a 2her

[Darkkarma]

Well, remember the only weapon effectively nerfed were bows.the other two either don't require any skill points or very little skill points at all. Why wouldn't you use a ranged backup?

I agree, i've been saying this forever. Even if not dedicated, if 70-100 wpf is all you need to be effective in ranged, then why NOT use it as a backup? As a dedicated crossbowman, I say they give us a stat as well.

[Havoco]

I really don't think 90 percent of any server population use range weapons because they all "like" them.

[Peasant_Woman]

The reason most players take a backup ranged weapon is versatility, having options and backups on the battlefield is much more useful than pumping one proficiency, stacking PS/Ath/WM and hoping for the best. When I play my shield/xbow character with 130ish 1hand, 100ish xbow prf I have a lot of options and second chances when fighting someone and I can participate in all areas of combat except maybe fighting cavalry, but I can usualy find a spear from some kind dead person.

The way to fix this is make specialising more attractive than being a hybrid, in theory a melee specialist should win often 1vs1 against a melee hybrid of equal skill when fighting in melee but as I said the hybrid has options whereas the specialist has one choice: get in melee fast and stay there. Possibly make putting points in a second proficiency cost half as much as putting them in your highest proficiency?

[Kafein]

Fact: Balance is an issue that should be worked on, so equal cav/archers/etc. are on each team, but if a large number of people are playing ranged, than maybe a large number of people like ranged, and if the game becomes a shoot fest with melee as backup, well, then the community has spoken hasn't it? 

Fact: many people will play the easiest class they find. The player's choice of class is determined by the classe advantages and disadvantages, not the opposite.

[Armpit_Sweat]

If i had gold enough for that, i would carry a Light Crossbow on ALL my melee/cav chars. Why not?!

I can make that one lucky headshot, on someone who is far. Or discourage cavalry from picking on me in a field. Or cover my own retreat, while simply holding my xbow up, and aiming from one enemy to another.

Xbow, is not even raising my kill-count. I am normally killing more enemies using melee only weapons, since i don't waste time reloading in the bushes But it makes me more versatile, and gives me more possibilities to fight enemies on my terms.

[La Makina]

In the first minutes of the round I can hardly step on the battlefield because of the arrows raining around. Instead of rushing in the no man's land and get nailed down (or waiting behing a barn), I shoot (poorly) with a crossbow - just to have something to do.

I guess I am not the only one doing it and I believe that this is where the problem lies in: Range calls for range.

[Rhade]

In the first minutes of the round I can hardly step on the battlefield because of the arrows raining around. Instead of rushing in the no man's land and get nailed down (or waiting behing a barn), I shoot (poorly) with a crossbow - just to have something to do.

I guess I am not the only one doing it and I believe that this is where the problem lies in: Range calls for range.

Exactly the point I've been making the past few weeks.

Melee doesn't call for melee (it can be stopped by melee OR range), but range calls for range.

This is balance?

[MrShine]

Exactly the point I've been making the past few weeks.

Melee doesn't call for melee (it can be stopped by melee OR range), but range calls for range.

This is balance?

Last gen I went dedicated 2-H.  Yes, there are definitely some maps (bridge maps especially) where I found myself chilling for a minute or so while the range spam sorted itself out and battle lines started crossing.  Early on I brought the crappy 0 req round shield and used that to burn a handful of arrows at the start of rounds.  Honestly though once I started leveling up and getting more str/wearing some armor I just got rid of the shield and practiced more sporadic movement when closing on archers.  Even though archery screwed me sometimes it actually wasn't really as big of a problem as a lot of people make it out to be.  More patience and less rambo helped avoid me many a archer death... I had to look and see what their ranged cover was in certain areas before over-pursuing people.  Helped me tactically.

The basic cycle of archer > 2-H > shield > archer seems to still be intact.  Complaining about archery as a 2-H player is like complaining about shields as an archer   The whole paper scissors rock thing.