Pikeman Archive

Hey there all, I don't pipe in much but when I do I usually feel that it is something important. Ever notice that this board is the least read and has the fewest posts? Ever notice you see a pikeman once in a wild dream? Ever here this question about 15 times a day: "Pike? was that your holo? I'm so sorry man." (more of a statement really, annoying still the same.)

Well, i'm posting on something that I feel should be of top priority to all pikeman. Not a "wish list" because frankly all professions have those, and until I see things working, I really don't care about the fantastical. However, i've been every other melee this game has to offer, I love em! I'm somewhat the melee junkie. And all the other boards, even ones that aren't melee have one thing in common. A top 5 issues. I'd like all you pike wielders to help me out here, and let these devs know exactly what problems we're having. I'll start with my 5.

1. My primary issue is the damage! I'm sick and tired of using a weapon that should be down right LETHAL and being out damaged by a fencer (without a doubt my least favorite melee). Here I am with a spear, or an axe that is about 8 feet long and this little chump with a stun baton is not only hitting HARDER, but faster than I could dream. Two hand sword, even WORSE. I've been 2 hand, it's one of my all time favorites. And i'm sure if anyone else has seen one in action, or been one themselves, they'll tell ya, the damage is simply incredible!! With my hammer at master I was hitting rancors for 5-7k a hit with mind hit 3 and 2 hand sword 3. Even with the curved sword I was never really surprised to see a 3-4k strike. Here I am now with a HUGE weapon, and my top teir attacks are hitting for a MAX of 2.5k if i'm lucky and have the prone modifier. This needs to be fixed, and fixed NOW.

2. HAM costs on specials! I'm not sure what the devs were thinkin, but to expend a ham cost of upwards of 200 points for a single move is outrageous.. I've even migrated stats to try and lessen the effects, I still lose my ham in about 5 moves. Now if issue number one were fixed, I think I could live with the current costs, but the HAM cost to damage ratio is simply WAY to high. It's not worth the effort.

3. Another problem I have goes hand in hand with problems one and two. SPEED and ACCURACY! Again, the damage done does not warrant the unbeleivably long delay on specials a pike has to live with. I've timed it many times, Leg hit three (personal best hit by the way, 2.3k on an unarmered KD's opponent) is about 5 seconds before my next attack. Same goes for sweep 2 and just about every other special with a "2" in it's name. You try planning tactics for an attack that you can't even get a second one in before it's effect is up.. Again, i'd live with it, if the DAMAGE were bumped.. In my opinion, it's alot like rifle, yeah I hit harder, but i'm slower, it's a trade.. Currently pike are Gimped with these three flaws, and are virtually useless. And the accuracty is a JOKE. Not until you get support 2 can you even really use the LVA effectively, and even then it's about a 2/5 miss. Yet again, livable if the damage were appropriate, but it's not.

4. AOE!!! I have an entire profession pretty much dedicated to AOE attacks. But I can't hit ANYTHING that is outside of about 3 meters with these attacks. Basically, I have to be literally STANDING on my target and hope the others are within that 3m shell. **edit**! I have a weapon that by itself should reach about 4m. Then account arm reach and other movement, we're talkin a ring of destruction that should be around 8m minimum, in my opinion should be 12m. I say again, I WEILD A FREAKIN SPEAR, a polearm if you will, A LONG HAFTED WEAPON! Range for the Pikeman should by far excede the other melee professions, but again, things aren't as they should be.

5. Finally we reach the end of my complaints.. What is number 5? Well, i'd have to say, defense. Polearm are primarily a defensive study. They are incredibly effective damage weapons, but they are renowned for their defensive abilities. I've yet to ever see my char Block a hit. Why an a TK get upwards of 50 unarmed toughness when a pike MAXES at 26 (31 if they master brawler). My effect defense is nice, but I never actually see it work, i'm too busy lying on my back most the time to pay attention. The melee and ranged defense mods are horrible, until you get that nice +15 bump at master, and even that's not very good. And for me, why bother using center of being. It expends too much mind for it's short effectiveness.. My specials cost so much, I need as much mind as I can so I can heal myself every 3rd attack.

I LOVE PIKE! Don't get me wrong, but I want it fixed so bad I can taste it. I wanna cry when a novice TKA can out damage me and then some. I wanna HURL when a two-hand sword who isn't even novice yet can beat me in a duel (usually accounts for me trying to use 2 special moves, inevetably miss and get hit once for the incap). Pike is virtually the most broken profession except perhaps chef and droid engineer. Yeah there's other prof bugs, but these are the top 3 that I notice get no attention at all, and need it the most. STOP NERFING CH long enough to realize other professions need fixed!

Thanks for listening (reading) sorry I went on for so long.

Oh, and I have no idea what star rating I have, nor do I really care, so bomb me if ya want, it makes no diff, I just wanted to be heard.

Our top 5 have pretty much been the same for a long time now, you can find them floated at the top I beleive (not sure, I might have un-floated them). We've decided to stick to the list untill further issues pop up as the combat pass occurs.

Hmmm.. Thnx Gunman... The only ones i've read are the wish list ones.. But I can't read these things for any more than an hour, I start getting a migraine. lol I do have one wishful attack though, one that I believe is right in line what what we are sposed to be..

1 word: IMPALE!!!!!!!

Accuracy, Ham, Block, Toughness, and Dmg are the big issues. We've also asked for a class definition.

and id like to add that block needs redone

blocks only 50% dmg compared to CA and Dodge, fine then make it have something to balance that, like status effect is blocked.

Imagine, a TKM hits you with the Dizzy/KD but you just stand up and drop him

now tell me if im wrong.... if you swing a sword at me and i block it with a metal pole wouldn't that be more like....i dont know....say 100% blockage?

I dont think anyone really knows what block does and SOE likes to keep ppl in the dark for whatever reason. Does block reduce 50% damage after armor is taken into account, or not? Who knows, they will never tell us cause we can then test to see if it works or not. No one really wants to find out their work/coding was flawed.

So, pike is broke, it will probably always be broke. I know this and accept it. So when i win a duel or PvP fight I know I did the impossible.

It is funny though that I have to spend all but 15 skill points in a variety of melee professions just to get an edge on TKM or Fencer. If they put the points in the other melee professions, I would be a joke in a duel with them. Sad but true. Oh well, enough of the negativism.

You are right in the fact that our defense STINKS, so does swordsman too. A nice increase in defense vs melee and defense vs ranged would be very nice and make sense (more on melee than ranged). Also, Def vs. KD and Posture change too. You do have a large walking stick to help support you, right?

As far as BLOCK is concerned. I say let it stop all the damage but delay our next attack or damage the weapon we are using. However, since we are already so delayed in our weapon speed that might be a bad idea.

Anyway, when is phase two of the ART OF COMBAT hitting TC or live? I want to see what new weaons there are and what has changed with our wiffle ball bats. (sorry for the hijack)

Is range in there somewhere gunman? I have longer reach with my arms as TK than I have with my pole as pikeman. I would say that is a huge issue...

Range was shot down by the devs because all specials for melee were raised to 10m.

The basic problem with your thoughts here, though good, is that it requires a very simple precondition for it to matter...

That the devs know that a Pikeman class exists, let alone care about it.

Since the devs don't seem to give a flying f--- about the Pikeman profession, and never really have, I think you should pretty much stick with the assumption that the class will never be fixed. Ever.

And no, I'm not being sarcastic.

Otabie, i understand your problems, but i have a few solutions for you.

1. Your weapon must really suck becouse 2K is a very average hit for me. My higher hits are 5-7K i usually require a knocked downed opponent for one of those. My weapon is a LVA with 160-500 Damage at 4.5 speed. What is yours? This could be your problem.

2. Listen to these words and listen to them carefully. "Tatooine Sunburn". Find a chef, no matter what you do, you MUST get a chef. THEN, buy a crate or 2 or how ever may you want. THen use one at a time in each battle. Once you have folloed these instructions you will never look back.

3. Master the proffesion. Pikeman is not at all a rewarding proffesion until you are Master or at least very close to it. Once you become master you will find the speed and accuracy very tolerable i think.

4. The AoE attacks are the most impressive thing in the world. Run into a room and do Spin Attack 2(Damage+Dizzy), Sweep 2(Area Knockdown),Stun Attack 2(area stun, never seemed to matter, but why not), then spam the hell our of Spin Attack 2. With any luck a few of your enemies will stay dizzy+KD and you will be dispatched by the following attacks. When you hit every one in a room for about 2-3K every 2 seconds, people will be very impressed. And the area range can't be too big or it won't be fair. Area attack reachess 6 meters. That seems short, but remeber, that is the radius. The diamitor is 12m, just liek you wanted. You just have to position yourself better, and watch the carnage ensue.

5. Yes, pikeman defense is relitively terrible. So make sure you use your center of being. Get some nice Ubese armor with over 60% kinetic defense if you can. Always always always have a sheild generator and have it sliced. Rember, when a sheild genorator reaches 0 condition it still provides 50% of it's original protection, and it dosen't hurt you to wear them, and a good one will proved 20% defense even at 0 condition and there is no reason not to wear them.

Pick you battles. You can't fight a TKA, not withought buffs, armor and then you need a TON of luck.
Bleeds if you can't hurt something in battle, try bleeding it. Even if its armor is too high.
I keep buffs on my hotkeys for emergencys, Tatooine Sunburns(+1500 to strength and stamina for about 3-4 minutes), Bivoli(+300 to mind for about 16 minutes), Nutron Pixie(Second Chance),and Muon Gold(Stupid TKA,Swordsman,Rifleman, and eye shot)

If you can take a battle in doors that is where you want to be.

and i think thats it
good luck.
Now go impress.

Oh, one thing that was funny. I was in dearic and a Master Bounty Hunter wanted to fight me in the med center, just for fun.
He excepted the Duel while still within my range...........ohhhhh.....stupid man.
I Hit Sweep1(300 damage), and Polearm Hit 3(1100).
When he regained conciousness he was exclaiming...WHAT CLASS ARE YOU!?!, and HOW DID YOU DO THAT!?!...and.... I NEVER DIED SO FAST!
I told him i was pikeman, he wanted a rematch.

We went outside, so i new i was dead. He wanted to start the duel at 25m.
I said "okay"........ohhhhhh......stupid me.
He burned me then spammed eye shot, i was dead before i got close to him. There i lay on the street burning, untill the third incap took me.

Point is...pick your battles. Know your limits, and your weaknesses. And NEVER, under ANY circumstances, duel a commando. They always burn and then go..."LOL" as you lay dieing(even though the bounty hunters have burn too, they are not as bad at it)

Otabie, when I say they've done nothing for Pikeman, I'm of course being generous. After all, Pikemen were at least marginal in PvP for the first two weeks after release. They they "fixed" them. Since then, I believe we've gotten +30 accuracy and a new type of lootable lance.

That's it. Most times Pikeman doesn't even make the development notes, and sometimes when we do the notes don't even refer to the class name properly.

So Bio-engineers got fixed and are now worth something. How about Chefs? How about Droid Engineers? How about the entire Entertainer group of classes? The devs fixed ONE profession to make it better over the course of 6 whole months. I suppose that in some worlds, 12.5% isn't bad...

ARK! You have tested ranges while standing still, I TEST THEM WHILE GETTING MY ASS HANDED ME! That wasn't yelling at you, just trying to explain my exasperation. I will NOT HIT more that 1 opponent with an area attack if they are OUTSIDE of 3-4m. Simple as that, I've even looked over my combat menu, MISS MISS MISS MISS MISS. WHile the target creature is actually hit. Maybe in a duel, on flat ground, standing perfectly still you can do this. Me personally, like I said, maybe sumthin wrong with my char, I can't hit BLEEP that isn't in that we little circle.