Brawler Archive

Greetings, this is my assessment of unarmed brawling as a whole. I will not simply complain about the downfalls of unarmed brawlers, but also comment on the advantages of the profession. There are good things about this chosen work that should remain, while there are also bad things that need much reconsideration and fixing. While unarmed brawling is viable, in my opinion, it is still underpowered compared to other chosen professions.

Unarmed brawling is a great choice for new players. The lack of need for a weapon is enough to draw many people to the discipline. In the first weeks of the game, I find that brawlers and marksmen alike are advancing beyond the abilities of weaponsmiths. While people are now beginning to achieve things such as Teras Kasi Novice, Pikeman Novice, Rifleman Novice, etc., the weaponsmiths are finally reaching skills to craft weapons for mere advanced marksman and brawler skills. No vibro weapons have yet been crafted on Bloodfin, and I personally have not seen any ranged weapons that are supported by expert and master skills in the marksman profession. Since unarmed brawlers don't *need* vibro knucklers, this comes as a great advantage.

While compared to other players, unarmed brawlers may seem less than adequate. However, a good player will always triumph over the NPC creatures in the game. Any unarmed brawler with skill and wit will defeat any creature within areasonable /con. I know this from experience, as I have actually defeated NPCs that /con yellow and have no trouble with NPCs that /con white. This may not mean anything to some players, but the ability to defeat a creature of that strength is a very good thing.

Although many people complain, I find that skills such as Intimidate, Berserk 1, and Unarmed Blind are very effective. Blind significantly decreases the damage of an opponent. In my experience, blind decreases the damage done from each hit by about 10-15. Blind also has a long duration, usually sticking to the opponent for the entire fight. Intimidate halves the damage inflicted by an opponent, but only lasts enough time for you to attack 5 or6 times. Berserk doubles your own damage output and has a similar duration as Intimidate. However, I find that Intimidate has about a 50% success rate and Berserk is successful about 75% of its uses.

These many benefits of playing an unarmed brawler come at a price, unfortunately. There are disadvantages to take into consideration, a great many disadvantages at that. Many, including myself, feel that unarmed brawlers are less than their brawling brethren in addition to completely disadvantaged compared to any marksman. This is, in part, due to damage output compared to other combative professions, as well as the kiting tactic used by marksmen in which no brawler may triumph.

Other brawling disciplines seems to have a huge advantage over unarmed brawlers. Not only do their weapons allow them to deal more damage, but they each have the ability to target a single HAM bar and focus on a character's weakness. Unarmed brawlers are forced to spread their damage between all three HAM bars. The same can be said for marksman. Pistoleers and Fencers may target the health bar, Carbineers and Pikeman may target the action bar, and Riflemen and Swordsmen may target the mind bar. Therefore, while an armed brawler or marksman may kill an unarmed brawler infive or sixhits, it would take an unarmed brawler to do the same in twelve or more hits. Armed brawlers may use Intimidate and Berserk as well, effectively doubling the damage that is already greater than unarmed brawlers.

Unarmed brawlers also suffer a -5 To-Hit penalty at all times, fighting players and NPCs alike. Obviously, this is a bug. Bug or not, unarmed brawlers still suffer it. I do not know if this applies to other brawling disciplines, but it is a weakness, however small and insignificant it may seem.

And lastly, all brawlers suffer outrageous action costs for special attacks. Although the entire profession as awhole is designed to depend upon special attacks, the costs of using the attacks are unbearably high. While your opponent is killing you, you are effectively killing yourself while attempting to kill your opponent. On my character (which is a Trandoshan Teras Kasi Studentat the moment) I spend about 30 action points to use Unarmed Hit 1. Unarmed Hit 1 adds about 30 damage to my attack. So, I am doing as much damage to myself as I'm adding to my attack. The higher level status attacks cost more action points. I find myself using 2 or 3 special attacks/abilities per fight at most. My action bar is always the cause of my incapacitation or death, and I've increased all action attributes to the maximum for the Trandoshan race at the cost of much health, strength, and constitution. When I am incapacitated or killed, I usually have half health and full mind.

Unarmed brawler seems to be less than satisfactory, although still a playable discipline. While there are many great benefits, there are more great disadvantages that outweigh the benefits. In effect we find ourselves performing at what seems to be less than intended by the developers. I don't think we were intentionally made to be weaker, we have just been overlooked. The assumption that Teras Kasi Artists were allpowerful in the beta testing period has left us "nerfed," without the first consideration that we may have been nerfed too badly. I encourage anyone to play an unarmed brawler, but do so knowing that we are less than we should be at the moment. If you are playing for strength, choose another brawler type or be patient and wait for unarmed brawling to be fixed. If you are playing because you like to see your natural weapons at work, unarmed brawling is still good enough for you.

Have a good 4th of July.