The way I see it, a 33-3 and a 3-33 build would both be equally feasible if this mod were to be perfectly balanced. The only way a 3-33 build could ever work would be one of those rondel dagger shielders. That is literally the only way. Without a shield you can't do anything with a build like that. And as of now, if a 33-3 and a 3-33 build fought, the 33-3 guy would win all the time, hands down. Even if the agi build was a rondel dagger shielder, sooner or later he would fatally glance on the str build and get cut down in 1 hit.
Also, another problem with strength is that it has far more perks. It not only gives you a ton more hp and much more damage, but it is the only way to unlock higher tiered weapons and armor. Str is what allows you to use a weapon, agility allows you to use them (slightly) more effectively. You would think that at least a bow would have an agility requirement, since agility is generally viewed as "the archer's stat." While that isn't as true about this mod, since you still need high strength to unlock the bow and then of course if you want to do damage you need power draw, agility is what you would commonly have in actual rpg's if you were an archer. The fact that strength is
absolutely necessary for
any class is a huge advantage in my opinion. No one ever needs agility. Sure, it is helpful (for some classes more so than others) but strength is an absolute must.
And not only is strength necessary, it also has the better skills. As previously mentioned, powerstrike is definitely good and ironflesh is plenty useful. For agility, athletics is definitely good, while weapon master is just 'meh' at the moment, unless you are ranged... but it seems like we are only focusing on melee at the moment, so I will not really count it as being all that useful.
Another perk of strength builds are all 'the little things.' Having high strength allows you to nudge farther, you are more likely to crushthrough, you are less likely to get crushthroughed, and also more likely to absorb hits (your opponent will glance on you more often). And does agility get any of these kind of perks? Nope.
In total:
Pros of strength builds:
- More hp
- More hitting power
- Able to use more powerful weapons /armor
- Nudge farther
- More resistance to hits
- More likely to crushthrough
- Less likely to get crushthroughed
- Less likely to glance (comes directly from more powerstrike)
Total Amount: 8Pros of agility builds:
- Able to run around faster
- More wpf so better at making hybrid builds
- Able to swing slightly faster
Total Amount: 3See the slight imbalance here?
In my opinion, as it stands now, agility is definitely useful since athletics is such a useful skill, but it still caters much more to the more skilled player. Athletics helps your footwork be more effective and you can therefore play smarter (try to flank enemies to get around their blocks, etc). However, if you are not the best manual blocker, strength is far, far superior. Anyone playing a strength character can jump into the fray and hope to get a couple of kills. You almost never see agility players (unless yoloing) intentionally charge into a mosh pit. They will glance on everything and everyone, and fall from just a couple of hits.
People always complain about how agility builds do nothing but spam so much... while it is true that personally I feint a lot and have a more offensive approach, I definitely try to spam more when on a strength stf character. The reasoning behind this is because if I am going to get blackbarred from just one hit as an agility character... why take the risk of not blocking and hoping I can outrange, outswing, or chamber my opponent? Especially when fighting a strength build, I would hit them and maybe do 1/8 damage... while I myself would get nearly killed. Risk >>> reward. As a strength build, I wouldn't mind losing the 1/8 health if I can successfully chamber my opponent and cripple him in one strike. And I know for a fact that I am not the only player with this mindset. Most of the players who do try and chamber are strength builds. Most of the 'risk taking' players in general are strength builds.. they gladly jump into a mosh pit, try and outswing/outrange their opponents, and as I said before, try and chamber all the time.
So, my first suggestion for improvement here, besides the wpf change, would be to negate the effects of high weight on athletics. Sure, it would be highly unrealistic to be able to sprint around in full plate. I am not asking for a huge nerf to weight's affect, just a minor one so that I can suit up like all the strength characters and not feel like my build is completely useless. Not to mention that even in heavy armor pierce / blunt can still oneshot me (seriously.. those damn steal picks and great mauls). Also, lets not forget that even a pure strength build in full plate armor can still jump 10 yards. There is nothing worse than when I am
running away strategically re-positioning myself away from an opponent in full plate, and they can catch up with a good ole jump stab... even though I have at least 6 more athletics than they do. Heavy armor is not nearly as useful for agility builds as it is for strength builds due to the fact that it so greatly nerfs wpf, athletics, and it is really only useful with high ironflesh. Personally, I think that nerfing its negative effects just a little would be a huge step in the right direction.
/rant
