Fencer Archive
Thread: The Future of Fencer: Your thoughts?
I like most of these ideas, but if our new weapons are not going to have a higher damage, we need some type of group exp.
For example, I usually group with 2 friends (bounty hunters). I pull, and take care of adds. They can do incredible damage with lightning cannons, that I can't match, without a bit of luck and spamming my highest special. This leads to little or no exp for me sometimes, and with the frequency of this, my experience suffers.
I like soloing, but grouping with my friends makes the game a lot more fun. We need group exp, it doesn't even have to be a lot, like say 5% combat exp is divided up between the entire group. The way everquest group exp works.
Also, the way the new skills are set up, you get something for each 1st tree, nothing for 2nd, and something for the 3rd. I say mix them up a little, maybe move one skill from 1 and 3, and move them to 2. That way getting a 2nd level seems a little bit more rewarding.
Qain
I would love to be able to equip a Knife and a saber at the same time and have an move associated with using 2 weapons. Also, I would like the knife to be a "throwable" weapon as well (even if the knife is unretrievable after being thrown, it would be a cool option for the Fencer to have. After all, Grenades are throwable!!!)
Thats all from me 
Spartan
A lot of good things have been said, so I won't repeat them, but i do want to express my opinion of Dual-wielding.
If it is implimented, then I seriously hope they make it so that someone with one sword/weapon is equal in nearly all ways to someone using two swords/weapons. I do not want it to become that I must use two weapons to maximize my potential. I have played many games that have the dual-wielding option, and have dual-wielded in none. I personally just don't think it looks good. However, I do have an idea that might be a good compromise:
(Following is hypothetical)
Weaponsmiths can craft small knives or daggers (NOT the weak versions we have now) that you certify for at various levels. When you equip your main weapon, you can also select one of these to be a secondary-equipped weapon. Some specials, or all, may have a second animation instead if you have a weapon secondarily-equipped. In the animation, you pull the knife/dagger out of your boot of some other hidden place and attack with it as well as your main weapon, then re-sheath it at the end of the combat (or when an animation runs that doesn't use it.) Using the knife/dagger would increase the damage significantly, or not so much, but would also slow you down a tad. Or it could speed you up and lower your defenses a bit. I don't really mind, so long as it doesn't lower the damage.
So, for example, you have your new_weapon_X equipped. You go up and attack a durni or something with Scatter 1. If you have a dagger secondary-equipped, then instead of the current animation, you might do something like stab the body, two hits to the legs, unsheath your dagger (or if necissary, have your dagger suddenly appear in your left hand) and a stab to the head (with the dagger.) This would also remove needing anew combat stance fordual-wielding, though it would require alot of work from the motion-capture people (I only want the animations if they're motion-capped,) so it probably won'thappen for a while.
Just my thoughts.
Valkari idea is the same as mine so i not gonna repost it in different words. Master title weapon cert is needed though like a much stronger version of the stun baton or some type of sword.
What should be special or unique about Fencers that set them apart from the other 3 melee professions?
What should be the "basic flavor" of Fencer special attacks?
What kind of battlefield (mass PvP) role should a Fencer hold?
What kind of HAM cost dispersal should a Fencer's weapon typically have?
What kind of utilities would you like to see Fencer's have?
I would like to have a "disarm" move. If you've ever watched any fencing, or even the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean" (ain't Johnny Depp cute?lol) they have the ability to basically knock their opponent's weapon out of their hand. In PvP, it could make them have tore-equip their weapon, and PvE maybe give a delay likeWarcry does(maybe 3, 6, and 10 seconds at master).
A master-only weapon would be really nice, something with good damage, around 350 max(unsliced), to balance have the speed beover 3 but lower themind cost. Higher action cost would work well, with our speed we would tire quickly...I started fencing becaue of the Rykk blade, how about a nice long broadscimitar?
I would dearly love to have just one knockdown or posture change. The only one we get is in the brawler tree, unless something isn't working like it's description. Why have 3 dizzies if I have to use a brawler skill to take advantage of it? How about a leg-sweeping spin that would pair with our AOE dizzy and have a chance ok knocking down everything in range? We do need crowd control.
I see us as the defensive tank, the one who keeps aggro but evades instead of doing major damage. In the battlefield, we would be thefront line shock troops, taking the battle right up to the enemy, and letting our ranged companions pick their shots...the ones nobody can hit...I want to hear someone say "Here comes a Fencer,run!"
I'm sorry, this has turned into a book hehe. I even wentand put paragraph breaks in!
Rosar wrote:
What sort of idiot would use a rapier as a longsword? I mean, they don't have a true cutting edge. Anyone could just look at a rapier and see its function.
Rosar, firstly, one handed does NOT equal long sword. So your comment isn't even applicable to the state of one handed weapons.
Secondly - rapier was BOTH cutting AND piercing.
I know - I studied 17th century rapier for years. I own several pieces, both reproductions and originals.
Brush up on your history before *you* look like an idiot... again.
Seena
Tanking:This is how i feel about the tanking issue..Yes i know we can take hits but so can tka and pikeman and swordsman if there wearing armor.... we should be light on our feet and high speed and quick with ourmovements, we shouldnt just be sitting there taking hits all the time, if you guysare wanting us to that then you just give us shield and a long sword and call us paladins and that my friend is not what i wanna be... We are master of one handed weapons, not shields and armor and taking hits... Dodging, Attacking and just plan and simple quick is what should help us tank not anything else...
The future -
After reading through these posts, i have come up with some ideas:
Duel Wield - Receive NO COMBAT ATTACK bonuses - and we can only duel wield a dagger. But With duel wield Comes 3 Specials ParryAndLunge1, ParryAndLunge2, ParryAndLunge3.
When Duel wielding our attacks hit for a DAMAGE penalty.because we cannot use full power as we have another weapon in our hands, we should also be a little slower.
But we recieve a Bonus to Melee Defense.
What happens is : We Duel Wield a dagger w/ whatever sword you like. and we Use special ParryAndLunge1, what happens is, the next attack used Against US - we have a chance to Parry this attack with our Duel wielded dagger, (imagine us deflecting the blow with the smaller dagger), and then its followed by a Lunge attack directly following the parry.
We will Receive PAL1 (parryandlunge1) early on and it does some good damage. PAL2 will be located somewhere close into the tree and a 3 second delay will be associated with this.
PAL3 will be located in the Master Box and have a pretty strong attack associated with it, with a 5 second delay and a stun associated with it.
It would be on a 7 second timer so we could not spam it, because i see it as being very quick.
I also see us maybe getting a passive parry in addition to Dodge to make us more defensive.
How i view fencers : Fast and Smart.
I think fencers should be the quickest of all the melee prfofessions and have a reduced speed cap, i see us also as being the hardest to hit, We should parry/dodge everything.
Battlefields : This is a major downpoint for us...on the battlefield we should not shine and we should be used sparringly. we should be the group who comes in from the flank and surprises the enemies so we can get up close.
because if we were to rush in we should not last long, fencers need to use speed and smarts to outwit the opponent, make then use specials and miss until they basically kill themselves for us...we should not be winning any fights in one hit.
well thats what i think
Very interesting and informative reading. Keep it coming.
I want to remind everyone to keep this civil. We aren't really "grading" each other's ideas at this point... just collecting them. After we have collected enough that most of the ideas begin repeating, I will compile them into a single post and we can discuss the primary elements and work with them until we have something we can compromise on.
Actually, it wasn't me who firstmentioned longswords, it was someone else, near the top of the page, who also described someone who lacks the basic sense to use a rapier as it is intended. Sure, fighting with a longsword and fighting with a rapier are two verydifferentstyles, but it's hard to imagine someone confusing the two weapons.
Longswords aren't single-handed weapons, as most games and movies and such portray them. I know this. I own a few pieces, myself. That's not my point.
Look, I'm not trying to antagonize anyone, here. I wasn't actually intending to insult anyone. My post wasn't even all that serious. It just amused me to picture someone using a rapier as a longsword. I see now that it probably wasn't a good idea to focus on a specific version of a general weapon.
Anyway, my point:
Rapiers, like most every sword in existence,*can* be used as both a cutting and thursting weapon, but almost everyone associates them with thrusting. The term 'rapier' is actually quite general, covering everything from the 'real' rapier, 16th and 17th century 'cut-and-thrust' blades, the the flimsy, whip-like foils of modern sport fencing, but in all cases the rapier's primary function *is* as a thrusting weapon. Anyone who bothers to look up even the basic, dictionary definition of a rapier, or has actually seen one, would immediately associate the weapon with thrusting. It's very easy to contrast a so-called "broadsword" (a term invented to describe nearly every sword intended primarily for cutting) with a rapier.A typical rapier's blade doesn't begin very wide at the hilt, and tapers to a very sharp point at the end. It can be used for cutting, sure, but it wouldn't be nearly as effective as a thrust. Thrusts are innately far more lethal than cuts, anyway, which makes rapiers quite lethal. A "broadsword" begins with quite a heavy, solid, wide blade and may also taper to a sharp point, depending on the style of sword, but is more often than not used primarily as a cutting weapon.
I've only just begun to explore the vast field of medieval and Renaissance weaponry, so *please* forgive me if I'm not accurate, and please correct me if I am mistaken in anything I post. That will definitely help me a lot more than calling me an idiot. Not that it wasn't warranted, but it certainly doesn't help any.
Thrusts are innately far more lethal than cuts, anyway, which makes rapiers quite lethal
U know i would love to see a special that would actually show the thrust animation... But ya know i really cant see my self Thrusting with a gaffi.... Which leads back to specials that areunique to the weaponsu have chosen at the time.
By the way i apoligize for my spelling and some of the way thei put things.. im from the south and its just the way i talk... lol but some of its just misspelling and bad grammer 
Definitely status attacks...hands down we should be the king's/queen's of this.
butter knives replaced with something more menacing..well at least visible..cant tell you how many times people have asked me how far I am in the TKA tree. Get rid of the pimp sticks...the common tusken wields this weapon made of junk...
What kind of group role should a Fencer typically serve?
We are the casters of the first stone...we jump in... confuse the enemy and pray that the heavy hitters fulfill their respective roles.
Hmm...i'm torn between rewarding Masters with a High end lower Ham cost like weapon vs The higher level weapon requiring more HAM cost....
I do like the way things are now for us...but I realize that change is necessary to move forward.
I do like the way things are now for us...but I realize that change is necessary to move forward.
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I'm sure I'm *not* alone in this, but I'd like to see fixes for current issues before the Dervs, er, Devs, incorporate any of the stuff you're suggesting, which is all great, by the way. It looks like they're already on that, though, so I shouldn't worry. Still, I'm simply concerned more problems with balancing and functionality will be introduced with new additions. Of course, everyone is probably concerned about that.
I'll just hope for the best and give my suggestions as they come.