Brawler Archive
Thread: Unbiased Comparison of Melee Professions.
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EATENG
Tue Mar 09, 2004 3:05 am
#27
yeah tkas do have a lot of advantages.. BUT... they have a HUGE disadvantage which is supposed to be their balancing factor... kinetic only damage.
if you're facing a tkm you know exactly how to render him useless. any 70+ ubese or 80+ composite and you're sitting pretty.
GTOfire
Tue Mar 09, 2004 11:20 am
#28
I haven't done the math myself, but there's certain things obvious when comparing the professions:
- accuracy: TKA wins
- toughness: TKA wins
- evasion: Fencer wins
- speed: TKA wins (using skill enhancements even a 5.4 powerhammer can be hit at the cap on every special, but we're comparing the professions, not what insanely rich and lucky people can do)
- area attack: swordsman wins (haven't been a pikeman yet, but the swordsman area attack 3 is certainly much stronger with it's 4x damage mod)
- state effects: TKA wins with all three in one prof.
- damage: debatable. I've spoken with someone who's done all 4 profs and we agreed TKA is best for raw damage. Even a swordsman'sheadhit 3 is rivalled by the TKM's head hit in his experience. Of course a 700 damage powerhammer will do more, but for a normal player, those weapons are but a myth, and certainly very very slow, making the damage-per-second for TKM better overall
- knockdowns: TKA wins with a dizzy-knockdown single move. Though the AE KD from Pikeman makes a debatable second.
- mitigation:TKA's mitigate other classes damage, but are not mitigated themselves.
In fact the only drawback of a TKM is the kinetic damage. AP1 doesn't count against it purely because Fencer only has AP1 as well, dunno what pikemen get.
These views are from experience, conversation with other experienced people, and simply examining the numbers the game gives us, both in theory and in battle.
This data is also raw, not taking into account PvP influences like buffs/armour/food.Why? Because by a long shot not everyone can afford the time or money to get any/all of those things. Yes, you as a pikeman can beat a TKM by getting food to get defense vs KD +92, buffing up to be able to spam specials all day and getting 80% composite to minimize damage done to you.
However do you realise how costly it is in both time and resources to get triple-kinetic-layered 80% composite pre-sliced to your encumberance levels? Or getting buffs every single time you play? Shelling out all your money to have a constant supply of food?
Professions need to be balanced without optional advantages too, and right now, TKA wins too many aspects that belong to other professions. The most damage per second is theirs, the most speed is theirs, the most accuracy, the most natural armour, they're hardly affected by damage mitigation, get the best KD move, all the state effects available. All they lack is a damage type that isn't kinetic, a disadvantage yes, but enough to rebalance all their major advantages? I believe not.
Fencer seems to be the runner up in most useful melee professions, tied with swordsman depending on what your objectives are. Their extensive evasion defenses allow you to not get hit for a long time, but their damage output is rather low compared to the other professions. Swordsman has some bad accuracy before you reach Master, and with bleeds out the window are left with 3 useful moves total (hit 3, area hit 3 and head hit 3, the others are pointless, a few HAM less costly for far less damage) But they are still one of the more useful PvE tanks with their powerful swords and hammers to pound away at the minds of their enemy. Combined with the soon to be destroyed warcry and lunge2, that made for a good PvE profession.
Pikeman remains the least useful on paper and in practice for normal players. If you simply use what a pikeman gets, no food or anything, you tend to lose.
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