Sum it up. Long spear wasn't very popular back in time despite it had many more advantages than now. What happened to long spear.
- It lost overhead ability,
- You can't stab with it through the ground,
- It is unbalanced
- It lost some damage (not sure if I remember properly or not),
- Spinning with stab got nerfed,
- Long spear takes 3 slots
- You can't do overhead through teammates anymore, (
different point because it was different issue)
- Stun got removed.
Now you can see how the players got better with long spear not how op it is. Those are players who adjusted to the new shape of the field of battle. Evolution etc. After getting nerfed they have to become better with that shit to be effective and you can see this also with other classes.
For example many more archers started aiming to the head when bows got nerfed (dmg nerf or sth). You probably remembr that. After they got unnerfed we have much more aiming and deadly archers now.
Same goes with 2h which was having it's stab animations changed in many patches and it was always supposed to nerf 2h and they are nearly as good with stab as they were because they got to know how to fight again. They adjusted and became better players.
Not to mention that cav lost the angle years ago and was losing damage&speed on heavy lance and had to adjust to backstabbing and perfect timing as it is the best way to succed as a cav. Also increased requirement for horses had it's influence on builds of players.
All I wanted to say is that the more you nerf, the better players become and do wonders with shit on a stick. If nothing was nerfed people wouldn't have to change and become better to survive but currently the environment of the field of battle forces people to find new ways to survive.
Some people say that jumping knight in armour is a retarded idea coming from the moon but those people don't know that a well trained true Knight could do front flip in full plate. I guess that If I started my training in the age of 7 or sth I could do it as well. Those guys didn't have computers and could spend all damn life training and fighting so I at least expect the ability to jump but that's the sidenote.