Summary: hard to balance weapons, adding features rather than balance by tweaking adds new depth, mechanically and superficially, and could work just as well.
This idea sounds workable but there are a few issues that need to be sorted out before it fairly and effectively balances hybrids.
- Where will the cutoffs for 1/2 slots be implemented in polearms and 2hander weapon categories? If too many weapons are changed to 2 slots, the hybrid fix will affect the versatility of pure and multi-melee hybrids, yet if a single standout weapon is viable as 1slot (spiked mace, I'm looking at you) the patch will just serve to linearize what weapon choices are viable. With polearms, a similar situation can be imagined with the strong but low-end weapons like the long spiked mace ect. This raises the question of what criteria will determine the limits? If there exist varying slot-using items within a weapon class, you have to balance damage, length, speed and special effects (knockdown, extra shield damage) - it seems likely that the balancing will be imperfect and result in a strong favorite, or effectively nerf the whole weapon category by making all items 2slot.
- Will heirloom redistribution be enacted? This is wrapped up in many other patch issues like redesigning generation bonuses, but reworking the weapon system so drastically would really call for some heirloom change reselection.
- Will the melee weapons, ranged weapons or both have slot changes? Both would serve to completely eliminate hybrids, while ranged only would hurt dedicated archers and encourage more throwing - both actions being far out of line with the reality of balancing needs at the moment.
- In practice, I doubt that 1hand hybrids will be significantly worse than the current state of hybrid fighting, at least at the higher end of the scale. 1hand weapons are actually beneficial for a lot of players due to the extra speed and ease of fighting in tight spaces; I predict that hybrids will garner as much hate as ever because the game is balanced so that any weapon type choice is viable for killing. Hybrids carrying picks, especially heirloomed, will be far more scary than the average bow/2handsword hybrid currently.
Having said all of that, I recognize the imbalance of having hybrids preform nearly as well as pure builds of both types. However, I think that approaching the problem by balancing some arbitrary weapon choices of hybrids will just cause the problem to resurface. I prefer balancing by giving incentives to the underpowered classes, as it develops features rather than restricting the ones we already have. As an example, why not code for a loadout based bonus like shortening the sprint activation time for users with a single melee weapon or increasing powerdraw +1 for archers with no sidearm. You may argue against the details, but I find controlled expansion of mechanics to be generally better than retroactive tweaks to balance. Try convincing an old player to rejoin because there is less weapon choice diversity vs you can specialize for skill bonuses.
I love this game and would never leave it after a patch, I just want share other perspectives for discussion before a hasty implementation leaves the problem unsolved and development heading in a less than ideal direction.
Oh and hail chadz regardless, as long as you keep updating
