I literally never used ironflesh since the start of crpg, I was always pushing for one more athletics or weaponmaster.... I figured if I got hit, it was my own fault. Using the 12 27 build as I did in the old days, taught me to block like a robot because 1 hit would be all it would take.... I loved it though, I loved the rush of adrenaline that came with walking along a knife edge in every fight.
Nowadays though, with the amount of ranged and the number of people who seem to aim quite specifically at me, (read: fuck you grumpy nic and a few others) I have had to put ironflesh into my builds if I want to get to the fight alive; even as a shielder this holds true. This has slowed me down due to the limiting factor on my build and also I have begun to rely on ironflesh. I think a few of you have seen me on my alt, Merc_Slaphead. My playstyle has warped and degenerated into a hiltslashing spammer, who just shrugs off the hits that people try to land on me.
Every build I had before was special in some way, but now due to the complete ranged fest I feel limited, slow and pretty skillless. The playstyle that I have stooped to using requires no special talent or skill and I have become the ironflesh stacking bastard that I previously despised.
Ranged is not an OP class, you should be able to top the scoreboard as ranged just like any other class, but the sheer volume of these players is simply overwhelming. That, coupled with the lovely autobalance that gets 90% of ranged on one team leaves me at something of an impasse. Die to ranged or stack ironflesh like every other person in this game.
I dont really know where Im going with this, dont nerf ranged, I'd just appreciate it if there were less of them. I am a decent archer when I put my mind to it, but I have made a point of not becoming an archer, in an attempt to avoid exacerbating the issue. Some of you should do the same.