Fencer Archive

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Fordep wrote:

The only complaint I have about fencer right now is it is not really fencing that you are doing...

The stance is all wrong (which I can forgive) should really be sword first... Sword first at an angle is a pure defensive and reactive stance. Works great with a car radio antennae...err foil but with a real single handed bladed weapon it puts you at a disadvantage. You'll still have to bring it above your head to do any real damage.

the weapons seem more like something a street thug or a british cop would carry around... t /agree no more clubs please

here is no parry orrisposteskill they gave us dodge instead but yeah I'd rather have parry.

and

a lack of a secondary weapon or shield (fencers tend to use either a buckler or a main-gauche = left handed dagger) I'd rather go with the extra weapon. Our defenses are good enough but our offense plain suxxors.

All I really ask out of fencer is a Foil or a Rapier BLAH... and this is not going to be another slashing sword for the most part, It should have AP1 or maybe even 2 and be used in a thrusting motion 60-80% of the time. The rapier was designed to be a piercing weapon and penetrate weak spots in armor or aim for non-armored spots. The rapier was actually a thrusting AND slashing weapon. Current variants are poor models of what they were really like and would be literally broken into small pieces in a fight (saber vs. foil....$50 on the saber) Also remember that during the age of the rapier armor was on the serious decline thanks to gunpowder making it obsolete. The most you'd have to worry about back then was a front side breastplate. Draw cuts and hacks were the attack of the day since they did so much more damage than thrusting.

We could even forget giving the weapon AP1 or 2 and give fencers a special attack like find weakness in which you gain AP1 or 2 for just that attack. Attacking a weak spot in armor is one of the most propogated bits of fencer fiction to date. Dont fall for it the next time someone tells you that.

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Still too many references to "wire weenie" fencing aka "sport fencing". There are alot of weapons out there that are "one handed" and weigh more than 1lb.

p.s.- If you're a "sport fencer", try playing around with a Del Tin blade or better yet take up "saber" rules (yes its still legitimate in the sport fencing world). From there you'll get a better idea of late period one handed weapons.

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Fordep wrote:

thanks for the info

I did not mean actualy piercing armor... ie driving through the center of a breast plate, I mean weak points in armor as in the joints where you actualy may only have chain armor which is easily pierced but very stong against slashing.

As of now fencer qualifies more inthe Eastern/Middle Eastern weapon styles with a short curved sword that seems oriental and a scimitar type sword as well. And as I understand Fencing was a truely western style of fighting.

If they didn't intend any of it to be like Fencing then I would not have a problem with it as long as they called it somthing more like One Handed Melee Sytles or Light Sword Styles or something like that.

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Well, he was talking about piercing the chain parts, too. Chances were that if you could see and aim the point of your weapon through one of the individual creasesof metal or holes in chain, you were grappling with the guy and trying to shove your dagger through it,typically ruining the dagger. What westerners think of as fencing is a far cry from sword fighting or duelling as it took placehistorically. You know why Olympic fencers wear padding? So they don't get hurt. Same reason people wear armor in the game.Now ifyou look at the faceprotection of a fencer, you'll see a bunch of little holes. That's so they can see when they're fencing. If you're able to jam the point of your sword through one of them from three feet away while the guy is moving around, you'll have some idea of how difficult it would be to do this in a real fight when your life is on the line. Granted this is a game and it's about fantasy, but we're drawingreal life parallels, right?

In any case, weapons adapted to the armor and armor adapted to the weapons. It is a dillema because traditionally, armor piercing in melee came solely with the application of more force and that was applied with more muscle and leverage. Hence bigger swords and pikes. Now I've seen traditional one handed weapons that were light and were quite effective at piercing the best armor of the day. The only thing is, those weapons were clubs.

I think everyone in this forum is seeing the difficulty the devs had with naming this profession. It's not just swords. It's not just western duelling with foils. People are having a tough time agreeing on what this profession really is. There are certain aspects we can agree on.

1. One handed melee weapons are usually faster than two weapons

2. We dodge a great deal which is pointless vs high end contentthat never miss.

3. We would like varied specials or improved weaponry (or both) to satisfy point 2.

Sound about right so far?

Ukko

Message Edited by capzyL on 08-26-2004 06:58 PM

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capzyL wrote:

Fencer imo, is the most "balanced" profession in the game

Message Edited by capzyL on 08-26-2004 06:58 PM

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