Now im not going to win any friends with this post, but hey it's a game and the internet, it isnt about winning friends.
To me I knew this was going to happen, some changes were needed to certain weapons for example throwing lances, however the real damage was done by the ignorance surrounding throwing and the lack of empathy from those who did nothing but melee without a shield, namely 2 handers and polearm users, was immense.
Even those who claimed to try it were only brushing the surface of what it actually was. Most of the time, these people claiming to have a thrower/archer/xbow char and who say they know how it all works, are usually just going in to it for about 5 minutes, already convinced it is a no skilled option, it wouldnt matter even if they were proven wrong, their own delusion convinces them that they are in the right before they've even started.
It's funny really, in the very early crpg versions, not long after warband came out, throwing was exactly the same as in native and singleplayer, that is to say it was very fast through the air and it was very accurate once you got to about 120 wpf. This made leading people and getting long shots much easier than now, but it was still very dodgable.
The reason I find this funny is, at the time, hardly anyone played a thrower, least of all a pure one, there was probably me and a couple of others I can remember, yet at that time throwing was more powerful than it has ever been since. But then again those were the days of tin can jim and his huge sword made from a bin.
The problem as I saw it was the stupid upkeep patch and suddenly everyone and his mum was playing throwing, ironic considering that the patch actually lowered accuracy and projectile speeds on throwing, but the damage was done, hybrids were everywhere, although everyone was complaining about pure throwers, hilariously I hardly ever saw any.
So the nerf was definitely expected, but the pathetic complex of melee players, especially the 2 handed masters of the universe types is what erks me the most. When crpg first came out I tried pretty much every style of play there was to be played and in fact I still do have a ton of melee characters, some 2 handed, some polearm, this one was 1 hand with no shield.
I understand the frustration of facing tons of projectiles, I mean we all lived through archer world, but I can tell you now, what you do isnt that hard, in fact, walking around with a big 2 handed sword is possibly the easiest way to rack up kills and in fact melee in general.
I know I know, shielders dont have to block 4 different directions, but when you have the range and speed, it often doesnt matter, afterall I learnt to melee and block with a 2 hander both in single and when warband was released, in native multiplayer, it was what I naturally gravitated towards. It reminds me of the time I read about someone whining because a thrower could block, then change modes and throw and some of the arguments were that blocking isnt that hard so there isnt much skill in that style of throwing, now isnt that interesting? It's as if the very thing many melee'ers tout as being the cornerstone of their skill was suddenly skilless and easy once it became part of throwing.
All I can say is, stop pretending you are the be all and end all, you are still the top dogs in this game, you still hit the top of the scoreboard more than any other style of play, so what if you get shot by horse archers, everyone does. Boohoo if 5 archers are shooting you, they do it to everyone, it's annoying yes but that doesnt mean it needs to be removed or destroyed, plus if it was 5 melee people who worked well together like those archers were, you would be just as dead, except you would have the illusion of a chance.
Now I rage too, the difference? I dont then come on here and use that anger as the basis of an opinion, or even worse, a fact.
The point im making is, grow up, stop letting your rage get the better of you, learn to adapt or at least learn to dodge and stop whining about everything that makes your easy mode slightly less easy mode.