Swords *(Now with polls!)*

[Nightmare798]

Pretty much everything now. Depends what I feel like (have 138, 138, 139 wpf and 5 shield skill)

I think the role of 1 hand with shield has shifted too much. Their range was increased so some poles get outranged, and anything without a stab got hit pretty hard with that 1 hand stab buff that we didn't really need. 1 hand with shield should be short range but fast attacks, not decent range, decent damage, good stab while having protection from ranged that others don't have.

They also buffed all the ranged classes, especially when you look at how good 0 slot 1 handers are

If you get outranged by one handed sword when using spear, you seriously need to work on your positioning.

Also you forget that shielders pay heavy price for what they are. Or did you forget that having a shield makes you move as slow as turtle?

Not to mention there is a huge delay between lowering shield and attacking, any shielder can tell you that one handed weapons are actually really fucking slow, especially the longer ones.

[Mr.K.]

If you get outranged by one handed sword when using spear, you seriously need to work on your positioning.

Also you forget that shielders pay heavy price for what they are. Or did you forget that having a shield makes you move as slow as turtle?

Not to mention there is a huge delay between lowering shield and attacking, any shielder can tell you that one handed weapons are actually really fucking slow, especially the longer ones.

Tested 1H range yesterday; Side sword stab has better reach than a Poleaxe stab, getting outreached by a 1H doesn't make you bad. Also 1H stab slow? lol.

[Nightmare798]

Tested 1H range yesterday. Side sword stab has better reach than a Poleaxe stab. Getting outreached by a 1H doesn't make you bad. Also 1H stab slow? lol.

That never happened to me. Must be some kind of fancy magic to it. Also, 1H is slow if you attack after releasing block which was my point, sorry If I didnt type this in understandable manner.

[Ronin]

Let's compare the longest attack of a weapon type versus the shortest attack of another. Bravo!

[Adamar]

I think they slice through armor way too easily for the kind of weapon they are.

[SMEGMAR]

I think they slice through armor way too easily for the kind of weapon they are.

Slice is like a bread for that matter.

[Rumblood]

Yeah, we know that Europe has more players than NA, yet this poll suggests otherwise? I think not. Pick your own continent you filthy loveable Euro's!

[Spanish]

War spear best spear though my Highland gaymore is quite lovely for the amount of death I can delve out with overheads yet ppl seem to cry more about my ability to stab through downblocks with the spear than anything else

[Nightmare798]

Slice is like a bread for that matter.

If devs were going for realism, axes would be pretty cumbersome weapons that get stuck in shields all the time.

That means slower speed rating and higher stun on blocked attack by shield for axes. Do you still want this realistic?

[Smithy]

He clearly doesn't want it realistic.  Why else would he be saying swords shouldn't be viable, and everything else should be buffed.   

[Jona]

He clearly doesn't want it realistic.  Why else would he be saying swords shouldn't be viable, and everything else should be buffed.   

Well it all depends on what era you are looking at. Since there is full plate armor in this game, having swords as the only viable option is quite unrealistic if we look at that time period. Poleaxes, warhammers, steel picks and the like were invented for this time since knights had otherwise impenetrable armor. Yes, the occasional knight carried a sword, but it was often times more of a symbolic or ceremonial piece... perhaps a family heirloom. Fully plated knights didn't fight each other with swords, so if we look at it that way... asking for a buff to every non-sword would promote realism.

So you want your axes to be maces when it comes to ignoring armor, with Bonus damage against shield, and without the knockdown. Doing 35 damage?

Well you see, axes are quite heavy. Sure, they happen to be wedge-shaped and made for hacking... but if land a solid hit on someone with plate armor on and you are using an axe, they might be more fucked up than had u hit them with a mace. An axe and mace of equal length/weight would deal damage differently. While the axe most likely wont cut through the armor, it still has all its weight behind a fine line, while a mace has all of its weight behind a spread out area. The mace might bruise the bones under the place of impact (depending on the strength of the blow) but the axe could definitely break bones directly beneath the collision point.

Basically, a mace would do less damage over a wider area, while an axe would do more severe damage to a smaller area. But ask yourself this; would you rather be on a battlefield with several broken ribs, or just a giant black and blue?

(click to show/hide)

The problem with this game is that armor simply absorbs some damage, based on the damage type (cut/blunt/pierce). In real life, a sword wouldn't cut through someone with heavy armor, but only a little. It's cutting blow would be turned into what would essentially be blunt type damage. Swords become really ineffective maces, essentially. Since this is but a shitty game, weapons don't have weight behind them... sure, they all have an associated weight that will slow u down or occasionally might be useful for block-stunning, but other than that, weight is useless. If you hit a guy in plate with a sword of war, and then a heavy great sword, this game dictates that they both do 40 damage, minus a certain amount from the armor. However, the heavy great sword weighs .5kg more than the sword of war, giving more "oomph" behind the swing. That would mean it deals more damage if this game were a reflection of reality. Arguably, this affects axes tenfold. In my opinion, this is the "oomph" that maces and axes are missing in this game. Right now, they all behave like swords... essentially weightless.

[Smithy]

I understand what you're saying Jona, but you have to remember, this game barely scratches the surface on full plate armor.  I agree in that swords should just bounce off of Gothic Plate but Warband's engine doesn't work like that.  However, have you ever seen what it takes to kill people like Firebus (lol) while using a Heavy Bastard Sword?  Yes it damages him every hit which is silly but it takes easily 15+ hits as where a Bar Mace would end him in ~3. 


I think you are simply over exaggerating swords' effectiveness.  Why, I'm not sure perhaps its a lack of experience in using them.  Now before you say I'm "defending" swords because I'm a 2h build, don't.  I have over 20 gens experience in this game with around 7 of them being 2h and 5 of them using 2h swords.  I've done 4 gens of 1h using a sword or a pick.  Pick was my favorite, actually.  Various cav builds, most polearm, and 5 gens of pure polearm, using a German Poleaxe exclusively. 

I've said all of that to say this:  I do not believe, considering Warband's engine and the timeframe majority that this game is based in, that swords are "OP".  Nor do I believe that auxiliary weapons are "under powered".  Having extensive experience with every class possibility in this game, and having used every weapon type extensively I believe I can say this, without bias.

[Sniger]

i carry both sword and axe. I use axe for cluster fights and other shielders, sword for everything else. the axe lack reach, speed and stab but then again its visa versa in a clusterfight situation where your sword overhead will glance on your mate behind and similar.

i agree some swords is meant to break arms and legs and well immobilize armored enemies, sharp cutting swords like the Japanese should have a very little penetration chance close to none. would be cool if you could deal damage only if you hit plate joints but i think its too hard to code