The counter to HA should be more ranged? Always the counter to ranged is more ranged. Its whats killing the game. The counter to ranged should be that arrows don't penetrate melee armour so well, so ranged kills each other or other horses
O please. Ranged is not killing the game or it would have been dead when I first joined when archers were ultra accurate and fast compared to now. There are less players for a whole host of reasons, largely because this is a bloody old game in reality. Add to the fact that people here have played 1000's of hours of crpg and naturally they are going to stop at some point. It has 0 to do with how much ranged there are in servers.
Kiting archers was a big problem and everyone thought it was terribly unfun, except of course the archers themselves. They got a nerf that made them slow as hell because ammo now has alot of weight.
What is a HA if not a SUPER-kiting archer? A infantry class has zero chance to kill one, at least melee cav has to get in range to fight, thus giving the infantry guy a chance to retaliate.
This is why only HA players want HA buffs, and everyone else really doesnt. And considering the extremly low % of HA players, compared to the rest of the population, im asking you once again.
What is best for the game as a whole? Because having a HA class that is actually effective, without any form of counterclass whatsoever, has a really negative impact on the game and the community as a whole.
HA has tons of counters and if people keep insisting they don't they need to follow some HA around or play some alts and focus on killing them. It's no where near as hard as people make out. All you need is 1 decent hit (speed bonus insta death) or 2 warbow arrows.
The problem isn't that HA don't have counters. The problem is that the players who can counter them don't see them as a big enough threat, or see them as to difficult a target to bother with. That is why HA frequently survive till the end. If even 1 archer on a team made it his game to shoot down an HA's horse he could do so within a few arrows, particularly if the speed bonus was there. The make up of the maps means that's there's plenty of tight spots to catch an HA in villages ect as well for melee. There's no real excuse.
Best for the game as a whole is to give a little buff to HA. It'll help us out and you won't even notice it so don't spit some bollocks about it having a negative impact. HA suffered a long time ago and has sucked it up with minimal complaining, unlike most of the other classes here. So why not have a little buff for HA? There are few enough of us. The reason most people don't want it is because they've only been on the receiving end, never the other way around. I've done both so at least I'm in a position to comment.
O and just because other HA are posting their builds...
Level 31
Strength:16
Agility: 24
One Handed: 12 (for the lols)
Archery: 172
Weapon Master: 8
Riding: 7
Horse Archery: 4
Power Draw: 5
Mine is a pure accuracy build pretty much the same as Cris bar the PS.