How to make archery more fun for everyone

[Teeth]

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


The archer
That's an archer. See what he's carrying? Yes, that is a sword. See what he's wearing? That's right, armor.

The problem
I hate archers. Not because they shoot at me and occasionally kill me, that is to be expected if you're a retard who refuses to use a shield. It's what they do and are supposed to do. I hate them because on the off chance that I get close to one, they run away. There is my problem, my only problem with archers. The kiting. They do it en masse, and in different directions so even a shield can't save you. It is so painful to see the end of rounds where one team has multiple archers left against some infantry. The infantry can't do anything and gets lamed to death.

Kiting is a retarded mechanic and should be eliminated from regular gameplay. Ofcourse doing an occasional tactical retreat is part of good gameplay, but consistent running away so you can do another few shots further away is bad game design. It's not fun for anyone, not even the archer.

So when I whine about kiting archers on the forums they reply 'How am I supposed to fight greatsword wielding tincans with a hammer and a linen tunic?' That is where the aforementioned archer comes in. He does have armor and he does have a sword. Now it is perfectly possible to make a decent archer/melee hybrid. But we're all minmaxers deep inside so we go pure archer. They go for that 10% more ranged power instead of going for decent melee capabilities. They all want that 2 slot bow, two stacks of bodkins and optimized armor weight. And why shouldn't they? If anyone comes close, the peasant armor and decent athlethics allows them to run away anyway.

Archers will never stop being pure archers as long as they can rely on kiting, which is bad game design. Nerf kiting, buff the melee power of archers while keeping their ranged power the same and this game will be more fun for everyone. There is tons of ways to accomplish this, but that is the general thought.

It will not unbalance anything, it will just switch kiting out for standing and fighting.

My proposed solution
This is how I thought it could be done. Disable archers from reaching sprint mode while they are carrying their bow. You know how your character suddenly speeds up after 3 seconds of pressing W? That's what I mean by sprint mode. This way archers need to switch to their melee weapon to cover large distances, while not obstructing the usual strafe and shoot. It disables them from running, turning and shooting. Also the simple fact of them having their melee weapon out more, will probably encourage them to fight in melee more and taste the sweetness that is melee combat.

Then there is the buffing of melee power. I think having a melee weapon alongside your bow should be enforced, which the not being able to reach sprint speed with your bow kinda does. The amount of arrows one stack can hold should be increased. They should just be exactly as strong as they are now ranged wise, but then with a weapon. So they should have the same amount of arrows as before while being able to use a 2 slot bow and a 1 slot weapon.

The effect that armor has on their ranged power should be reduced, they should be able, if not encouraged to wear armor up to the tunics over mail with very little disadvantages for their archery. Again along the thought of increasing their melee power while keeping their ranged power the same.

Fighting is good gameplay, running isn't. Remove running and replace it with fighting.

[Vibe]

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


The archer
That's an archer. He's gay.

The problem
Gay kiting.

My proposed solution
Remove archers.

[Froto_the_Loc]

People would have to transition, that might cause rage problems.

But, the main reason archers have no melee skills is because they want to be as accurate and as fast as possible while shooting, so they pump into WM. And archery eats wpf like it's a bag of chips, so there is no real hybridization to mess around with.

[Teeth]

People would have to transition, that might cause rage problems.

But, the main reason archers have no melee skills is because they want to be as accurate and as fast as possible while shooting, so they pump into WM. And archery eats wpf like it's a bag of chips, so there is no real hybridization to mess around with.

Thats my entire point. Make them as fast and accurate as they are now, but force them to have a melee weapon and allow them to have armor. Same archery strength, more melee strength, but less kiting capabilities.

[Adamar]

+1
Im not sure if something as drastic as removing sprint with a bow in hand would be needed if the rest was implemented. Somehow limiting 1 quiver per archer would solve a lot of problems, would even level things out within the class.

[Zerran]

It would require a little tweaking with the balance on slots, but I'd like to see one of the 4 slots dedicated to melee weapons. As in, it can ONLY have a melee weapon in it (or be part of a 2 slot melee weapon of course). This would be a nerf for the 2 slot bows, so something would need to be done about that, but it would also mean no ranged would have any excuse for not carrying a 1 slot sidearm.

[Shub]

http://forum.meleegaming.com/suggestions-corner/i-think-this-is-solution-to-archery-balancing/

Agree with all u have written. Its pretty obvious for everyone i see  -there is a problem with "speed"

[Teeth]

Bump

[IR_Kuoin]

Bring back the no ranged server!

[Smoothrich]

Sounds dreadfully OP, because non scrub archers can do this with tunic over mail class armor already with a horn bow and perform great.  People just choose not to do this because the Rus Bow is brokenly overpowered, that's all.

Honestly at this point I'd rather see the Rus Bow removed entirely from the game, then the weight of the long bow tripled or something to bring it in line.  Leave the long bow for the dedicated ranged players but just make them slower, and the horn bow for the hybrids.  Change WPF around a bit to make an easier spread for archery and sidearm without letting it be pumped into 1 for even higher returns. 

[v/onMega]

What about setting runspeed to a max velocity X, regardless of armorweight?

Armorweight only having effects on acceleration in return.

Athletics dont get gimped, runspeeds are the same, kiting fixed.

As much as I like your idea, I dont see archers suddenly going : MNJAMNJAM---MELEE.

[Teeth]

Sounds dreadfully OP, because non scrub archers can do this with tunic over mail class armor already with a horn bow and perform great.  People just choose not to do this because the Rus Bow is brokenly overpowered, that's all.

I don't see all the Rus Bowers as overpowered. My idea wouldn't make archery itself stronger, it would just change the way they deal with enemies closing in. Overall this will grant archers who are good at melee a bit better performance, but I don't mind.

I remember when everyone could be a ranged hybrid without really hurting their performance as ranged or melee, months of crying gave us the slot system. Honestly I liked that time a lot better because there was no kiting. Ofcourse they should not be on par melee wise with pure melee, which they won't be with 1 slot weapons and only light medium armor.

As much as I like your idea, I dont see archers suddenly going : MNJAMNJAM---MELEE.

Well, if they cannot reach sprint speed with their bow and have a forced slot for a melee weapon. There is very little reason to not take a melee weapon. Having decent melee skills, having a melee weapon, and having to switch to it a lot, will most likely greatly encourage fighting in melee. You see this with crossbowmen. They don't really have much reason to take 2 stacks of bolts so they mostly have a 1 slot weapon. Combined with them being able to wear decent armor, spare points for PS, having wpf to spare, they kite a lot less.

Basically archers should become like crossbowmen, they should not have a reason to not take a melee weapon.

[Taser]

Crossbowmen also kite less because it takes far longer to reload than archers.

I do support giving archers a buff for melee. It doesn't mean they won't kite but it gives them a far better option to melee instead of kiting.

[Joseph Porta]

Crossbowmen also kite less because it takes far longer to reload than archers.

I do support giving archers a buff for melee. It doesn't mean they won't kite but it gives them a far better option to melee instead of kiting.

Kiting crossbowmen are the biggest retards..

+1 to OP

[Duckzern]

I'm all up for giving archers a buff in melee.

Have you considered going hybrid yourself? Getting some throwing skill to cap their ass when they try kiting.. Surely I don't know if this will be good solution. Anyway I don't know much about it since I'm all melee myself, I'm just looking at the possibilities.