Fencer Archive

Thread: Some Constructive Input Please

Lade
Fri Aug 15, 2003 5:15 pm
#1

As you all are aware of the KD nerf TKA is nearly impossible to play now at any rate worth while. So I have been debating whether to pick up Fencer as well for the Defense. So my question(s) are is Fencer a better choice than say Swordsman or Polearm? What sword should I look into getting (currently Master Brawler and 1 box away from Master TKA). Armor worthwile at all and if so what type? As TKA it causes me more harm than good. Also any suggestions/tips you may have for me.
Gutshot
Fri Aug 15, 2003 5:42 pm
#2

Lade, check out the series of posts I am working on in the Tera Kasi forums. I have the first one up now entitled "State fo the Pikeman (as evidenced by recent posts)".


http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=teras_kasi_artist&message.id=9321


I have been looking at the other melee profession boards the last few days trying to decide which to move to myself if they leave TK in it's present state.


Fencer looks good, I'll say in passing. It's the most like TK out of Pole, 2h and 1h. They even have bleeds, which TK lacks. Great defense, stylish moves, and can dizzy and lunge til their eyes bug out (just like tk's are now doing).


I'll try and get a fencer and 2h post up soon in the TK forums.

_Tlaloc_
Fri Aug 15, 2003 7:31 pm
#3

Lade:


Fencers are fun, pick up the skill and see what you think. You can always untrain if you don't like it.


Gutshot:


I'm going to try and be nice here, but it won't be easy...


Look, we're all sorry TKAs got their knockdown nerfed. It wasn't the right decision, and I'm sorry it happened to you guys. The HAM costs are obviously out of whack, and even Holo has stated that they're looking into the situation where a TKA will get a 700 point HAM cost for KD. It probably won't be fixed tomorrow, but it will get fixed - too many people are pissed for it to stay this way.


I read your posts. But why they hell are you trolling the boards trying to get everyone else nerfed? All melee are having problems right now. Pissing and moaning about how other classes have it easier than TKA is not going to help anyone. The best it will do is make all melee suck.


Maybe you can't have your toys, so now you're going to take everyone else's - I don't know. Writing exposés about all the other melee trying to say we are now uber isn't helping anyone. I understand that TKAs don't exist in a vacuum, but you have good arguments to make just based on your own class.


Incase you aren't aware, KD got nerfed because people were spamming it as an "I win" button against Players and Mobs alike - it needed to be fixed, but not as harshly as was done. The last thing fencers need is for someone to find a similar"feature" in a fencer tree and have all the ex-TKA/BH bandwagonersflock tous.


- Washu

Gutshot
Fri Aug 15, 2003 8:27 pm
#4

"Pissing and moaning about how other classes have it easier than TKA is not going to help anyone. The best it will do is make all melee suck."


Who's pissing and moaning? I am collecting information to both help folks looking for a new profession, as well as collecting information on other professions' capabilities in both pve and pvp. My other threads about how badly off TK is at present can be construed as pissing and moaning - there's a whole lot of that going around in that forum as of late. I am trying to do something positive here.


They could read this same information themselves on your board, the 2h swordsman board, and the pikeman board. I am just saving them time putting some recent info together.


You honestly think that my collecting some snippets of recent posts and putting qoutes and urls to the original message into messages about how fencers, 2h swordsmen and pikemen are faring is going to getyou nerfed?


You think nobody from SOE at least casually monitors these boards and see what you are posting anyway? DidI ever once ask for any of the classes I am looking at to be nerfed down to our level? No.

_Tlaloc_
Fri Aug 15, 2003 9:11 pm
#5

I was bitchier than I intended in my last post. For that I apologize.


Perhaps I misinterpreted the point of your posts. It looked to me that you were just searching the threads and coming up with the most aggregious examples of high damage and questionable tactics you could find in an effort to point the finger at "sweeter grapes".


If that was not your intent, then I stand corrected.


Classes like TKA and BH brought this nerf upon themselves because they attracted l337 doods looking to use well known tricks to gain an advantage. And I'm not faulting the players - these were game features, and they were just using them. My fear is that this flood of powergamers will shift to my beloved class and ruin it too.


The TKA knockdown would have been dealt with much differently if it were not being exploited to great gain by the TKA community. As you have pointed out in other threads, Lunge -> Dizzy is at least as powerfull as Knockdown. However, it takes a little more time to execute, and can be avoided more easily. But I'm sure the TKA population will soon begin using it with great flair, and then it too will be nerfed. It is this exposure and overuse that makes fencers nervous.


Problems with people getting hit repeatedly with knockdowns and dizzies will likely be fixed soon by the Devs. And if they are given enough time it will be fixed correctly. It is when people exploit these moves in great numbers that the Devs are forced to make heavy-handed and less thought out changes - because the problem becomes an emergency, and not just an annoyance. I would be willing to bet the extreme HAM cost on knockdowns was not the Dev's first choice - but it was the easiest to implement until a better system could be put in place.


Just don't bring this fate upon fencers by makingus the next big fad. That's all I ask of you, and the other TKAs that will likely soon join our ranks.


- Washu

Haschel
Fri Aug 15, 2003 9:33 pm
#6

Hmm...well, I'll just say this. Fencers are, IMHO, in the best melee spot right now. We now have the best HAM costs on specials, we have speed comparable to TKA's, we have the best status defense mods (except for Combat Equilibrium and anti-Stun) for the most part, and Lunge/Dizzy is still just as effective against humanoids (which Fencers fear other classes will begin using and get nerfed). Our damage is still kinda so-so and Lunge/Dizzy is rather mediocre against non-humanoids, though, so it's not nearly as overpowered or spam crazy as a true KD was,thus it's less lucky to get slapped with the nerf stick. Everyone knows Pikemen are borked all to hell and have been for some time and they should actually get raised up. Swordsmen occaisionally try to say they're doing the worst, but mind damage will become alot more crucial now in PvP with the 75% damage redux...so they might take on a role of much greater potency. I'll admit that I don't know how badly TKA's were affected by the mega-patch, so we'll just have to see...



Galford
Master Fencer, Master Brawler, Teras Kasi Artist 0/0/0/4, Doctor 0/0/0/1 (Skill points: 2/250....bah)
Eclipse

"I'll show you that no matter how hard they try, scum are still scum." - Vesper, Star Ocean 2
Gutshot
Fri Aug 15, 2003 9:49 pm
#7

Hehe don't worry - I doubt that will happen - most TK folks seem they'd rather quit the game than switch class. I am trying to let them know that if they still can stomache levelling another melee class, the other professions have good things to offer (as well as their problems). I myself love melee so started doing the research for my own purposes and thought I'd share.


As for the nerf, most of the TK community agreed *something* had to be done about knockdown, but what they did was basically kill knockdown and we realized that we really don't have anything else going for us. Same thing that allowed the l33t dewds to solo reds was what allowed the average TK to take on white cons/destroy missions. Knockdown was our defense as well as our offense. Personally I think they should have boosted resist rates through the roof (especially for anything above a white con), but judging from players testing things, it seems all resistances have been turned *off*, so perhaps this was the quickest/dirtiest fix for them.


I got sent to the cloning facility by a white con boar and a blue add yesterday, and I am a TK master, hehe. It's a sorry state that TK has been reduced to. I went back and killed them, and they yielded 50 and 150 unarmed exp - not talking combat exp, but fullunarmed exp. That's how low of a mob can decimate a TK master now. This wasn't some white conning Piket on Dantooine, it was a pig on Corellia.


You guys know exactly what I mean as fencers. You've had to get along without knockdown and your class is very similar to ours in terms of speed and damage. Where's our defense? Where's your defence? We simply don't seem to have any. With TKs low damage, reduced damage on specials and increased ham costs, we frankly are the worst of the melee classes right now.


Everyday since the patch some TK has been posting - "new uber trick to get massive exp" and explains the dizzy/lunge combo again. It's really sad. Unarmedlunge2 also escaped the HAM nerf for now, and I imagine that's going to be the next to go.


Personally, I wish they'd remove knockdowns altogether - I think that'd make everybody much happier in the long run. Nobody likes lying helpless on their butt. Problem is, what do they give BH/TK/Pikemen/Fencer to replace it?


Hope there's no hard feelings, I don't think I'll bother doing a fencer report as I am getting yelled at by the TKs themselves for posting such information anyway. They don't want the information being spread around either it seems =)


Thanks for understanding!

Haschel
Fri Aug 15, 2003 9:53 pm
#8

Eh, well, Fencers usually get beaten all to hell if they don't hit a Dizzy/Lunge early. Aside from the Pikemen, we had the suckiest damage output in the past, so we had to usetricks like Bleed (which the other armed melee classes get), Blind, Lunge/Dizzy, Intimidate, etc...in truth, the best advice I can give is get some good medic skils and pray to all holy hell that the mob you're fighting can't specifically target the mind bar or you're gonna die. Every 6 attacks or so if I have to go head to head with a creature I'll toss a heal up. *shrug* That's the main reason I use a vibroblade, actually, to preserve my HAM's enough while spamming MeleeHit2 or BodyHit2 to toss a couple heals in.



Galford
Master Fencer, Master Brawler, Teras Kasi Artist 0/0/0/4, Doctor 0/0/0/1 (Skill points: 2/250....bah)
Eclipse

"I'll show you that no matter how hard they try, scum are still scum." - Vesper, Star Ocean 2
Lade
Fri Aug 15, 2003 11:07 pm
#9

Alwyas had the intention of picking up another Melee class for the defense abilities mainly. Fencer caught my eye for that very reason, if I remember correctly their overall defense was higher than Swordsman or PIkeman. Been thinking of Mastering Fencer and picking up Swordman and Pikeman with 1 level of defense branch of each, at least I believe that was what my points would allow me to do. I have a Rykk blade atm and was wondering if I should get a Curved Sword or collect the resources (if available) for a Stun Baton or 2?
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