Pikeman Archive

I wanted to get some of my feedback out in the community so players who haven't been on TC5 yet (and even those who have) have some information on the CU.

The CU turned outvery close to how the design documents laid it outimho. Obviously, there were changes made along the way (quite a few of them) that affected this, but overall I felt that the team stayed true to the overal goals of the CU and have acheived quite a bit. There's a lot of cool features that I love with the CU and there were even some surprises that made it even better. Not everything about the new system is what I would have liked, but no system will please everyone and the things I don't like are very minor for the most part. I'm very happy so far, while still cautious to try and make sure things hit live balanced.

It's *very* cool to be able to log into the game and immidiately go out and hunt without having to search for buffs like in the old system. Having only the health bar take damage simplifies things a lot, and eliminates problems with one HAM bar being all powerfull and hard to balance, along with problems that the old HAM cost system had such as self-inflicting damage for using specials.The ability point system feels much betterand makes things much smoother within the game and allows for more tactical decisions when in combat as far as what specials to use and when.

I beleive that with this new system balance will be much easier to acheive between professions. Granted, player's will always find some way to get an advantage over others by finding overpowered specials or template combinations, but since a lot of things that were difficult to judge balance by were removed, it should be much easier for the team to tweak any unbalanced gameplay. Things such as toughness, block/counterattack/dodge, and mitigation have been removed whichI'm quite happy with, since those led to major problems in the old system.

I love the new grouping. There are a few issues with grouping that are being tested and hopefully ironed out, but getting together and fighting with friends hasn't been like this since the begining retail days. It's been a great breath of fresh air and for the first time in a long while, I'm losing track of time when playing, which is how games are supposed to be if you ask me

We're just now seeing players advance into the elite professions now that skill trainers have been added to TC. So far, though, I'm very excited about the new role changes, and the balance that is being struck between professions. Every profession is going to have advantages and disadvantages that can be comtriuted/mitigated through template choice. That's a great way for them to do the profession system. It also means that, unlike the old system, every combat profession will be wanted in groups and comtribute to any combat template nicely.

The new interface in the system will be hit or miss depending on the person. I don't mind it at all, but others don't like how it reminds them of other games. For the most part though, I've noticed a trend that the more time players spend testing, the more they get used to the system. It will definatly be a major adjustment for all players, but I don't see this as being particuarly deturmental to most players' enjoyment of the game. That's just my personal opinion though, I'll leave this one up to you

So, what about pikeman?

I've gotten to polearms4 and it wasn't that bad of an experience. Unlike before when I first grinded pikemanoh so long ago, the experience was relatively painless (for me anyways,my toonhad several trips to the cloning center though and might dissagree w/ me). The weapon certifications make a lot more sense now, and the progression of weapon certs, mods, and specialsso farseems solid. This weekend I'll get up to the pikeman level since I'll have a bit more time to grind, and will have a more solid opinion on how our profession is. I feel we're in for good times though

So that's a basic overview of what I'm feeling so far in the CU. I didn't cover everything but I think I hit on most of the big stuff. I think that for the game in general, it's one major step in the right direction, and I feel that for the pikeman profession, it's going to leave us with a greater sense of satisfaction and bring a lot of fun to us

Aidelon Kejaci
Legends Among Warriors
Former pikeman correspondent December 2003 - August 2005.

R.I.P. Pikeman!

how do u get on tc5 and r u garantied to get on it??

Ro'dy Acciptridea a Proud Citizen of metropolis Neo Rome..
Poking my Pike on places where it shouldn't be poked..

have they started the next phase?

w00t!

Vaca Dormir

-Master Pikeman-