Pikeman Archive

Dear fellow Pike(wo)men,

I am a fairly new player in SWG and I must admit that I fail to see the entire broken thing concerning Pikemen, true I have seen a TKA do more damage than me, but what matters is that in many occassions I'm still standing while the rest of the group is lying on the ground or running away in terror. True the Profession (henceforth reffered to as class due to habit) may not be perfectly balanced or on par with other Classes but that does not imply that those who actually picked it (counting out all those who got it from a Holo and whine about it) can't enjoy it.

Perhaps it is my inexperience and the fact that I've not gone up against any too hard opponents (Highest HAM fought is 9k to the day) but the only true problem I face is the high HAM cost the special moves require and the near instant mind drain when those are actually employed, though admittedly that was dispelled by a nice Dancer mind buff. I was not forced to pick the Class from a Holo, I did it on purpose after I saw a Twi'lek Pikeman named Nephillima (if my memory serves me) wielding the LVA, I was captivated by the image and here I am now, working my way up the Pikeman ladder (Currently nearing 1-0-1-1, low I know).

I do not believe the whole point to the game is PvP, seeing how decent a Pikeman can hold out in PvE, and that the number of mobs out there is indeed huge, you can spend a good number of hours having fun hunting alone or with friends. Usually I work with a group of four more and I am the only acting tank; considering my not so good LVA (damned accurancy, only thing I consider semi broken actually), my medium made armor (will get better as I get better as an Armorsmith too ) and my fairly balanced HAM placement, I'd say I can take some good punishment and dish out a good damage inflicted/received ratio, which currently is enough to keep me on my feet in most occassions (I only seem to drop from a lucky head hit after draining my Mind doing specials).

However, I do believe there are some misconceptions (from both Player and DEV alike in my humble opinion) about the Class that can be easilly (I believe) amended. Pikes do not have a much longer reach than 4m, considering you must grip the weapon from haft firmly to execute any serious maneuvre and not just hold it from one end and flail it around like a stick. They do, on the other hand, have a far more deadly impact force than any other melee weapon, discounting hammers perhaps, a fact that is not so well displayed by the damage output of any WS crafted lance or any lance I've seen for that matter. Moreso there is a huge lack of variety where Pikes are concerned, as you progress up the ladder you have a choice of three weapons, dependant on what you are fighting, not meaning to get technical but in the Middle Ages there were more than 30 different types of Polearms, each with is own special technique and effect. That is not to say that we'd need 30 Polearms as well but a bit over 3 would be appreciated, I think.

I shall reserve all further comments until I've gotten some more experience in and out of game so as to know how the Class operates a bit better. Any comments, suggestions, criticisms well accepted.

Regards.
:

hia matey! welcome to a great profession; you'll surely enjoy yourself on your way to mastery and absolute melee power Check out the FAQs and Tips & Tricks for some really good idaeas and suggestions on how to help you get a good start. I hope to see more of you on the boards young pikeWan!

And I aswell welcome you =)