Losing to a single hoplite is your own fault for being impatient. Losing to a group of them is due to it being a support class that enjoys numbers, unless they are all hoplites. I am with Teeth on this one. We practice wiggling our spears to hit you at close range because that is the only tactic that the majority of players use against us. We adapted in order to counter it. As people are now facehugging while...holding a downblock? I am now forced to learn to kick stab in order to adapt.
Many times, I am forced to suck up my pride and actually switch to a sidearm. People kick-chambering me and patiently downblocking while whittling down my shield is becoming too common. There are people learning to counter hoplites, believe me, its not that hard.
The class is fine, you need to adapt. For the record, Long spears and pikes can also stab at facehug range. While I can't do it with the pike, Relit somehow manages to pull it off. Then again, I've never seen him not using a pike in the years he has played this game.
Also, Shemaforash, the ability to outreach? We have 1 stab attack, an attack that is designed both ingame and in real life to outreach the enemy. You have 3-4 different attacks, including a stab of your own with the correct weapon. Don't forget, due to us having a very slow stab attack, you can easily eliminate the range difference by either downblocking or holding up a shield while en route to us. If your complaint is about them outreaching you during group fights, that is called teamwork. If you want to try and show something similar of your own, bring a long spear, pike, or greatmaul. Pikes/Longspears outreach the hoplites, and a greatmaul can crushthrough the shield if they overextend.
To Phew: 53 hp is nothing. You are getting hit by 6-8PS and a piercing weapon that is very slow and thus able to rack up a large speed bonus. If you don't invest in IF, you are not investing in staying alive.