Pikeman Archive

Hi everyone.

I'm a master weaponsmith on TC and I've been trying to race a brawler up the tree to test all the incoming melee changes. Unfortunately the patch came early and I'm not entirely ready for it. Well, all day I've been running around trying to keep my harvesters alive (many bugs are making this an extra hard task recently) and check out as much as I can of the new code.

Right now TC is down, so I guess I'll go ahead and "dump" what I've go so far.

First off, I'm compiling data on the changes to the melee skill trees. They are extensive. I'm creating a web page with all the data and I'd like to even put up some comparisons of old trees to knew and total stat boosts to each of the melee professions.

What I've got so far is here:

http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~stgabrie/melee_trees.html

That's got the swordsman and fencer trees in table form. I was getting pikeman and TKA as well but then we crashed. Check that web page later and they will be added along with some tables showing just the changes that have happened.

Other things worth noting so far:

• As a brawler you receive Center of Being as an active defensive ability. This appears to block a significant portion of incoming damage for a limited duration. Later in the elite professions you pick up boosts to the effectiveness and duration of this ability respective only to a specific weapon. I have not tested this extensively yet and cannot comment on just how the effectiveness translates into actual protection.


• All melees except TKA's received a big boost to their dodge/block/counter defensive abilities.


• TKA's got a new skill modier called defensive acuity. No idea what this does yet. Interestingly, one of their skill blockes receive a +110 bonus to this. I have to imagine that this is a typo (novice and master receive only like +25 or so).


• TKA's got a HUGE boost to damage. They now receive +70 damage at novice and at master and 60 along the tree yielding a +200 damage bonus in the TKA tree alone.


• Status defenses got boosted across the board.


• No word yet on delay cap changes. I just started my brawler character last week and while he's doing quite well, he's not close to being able to test cap changes. I do know some masters that I may try to corner for some testing.


• Strangely enough, with all this there seem to be no real changes to polearm accuracy. I will have to make some new polearms when we get back up.

I'll try to keep this post updated as I find out more.

Also, if correspondents want to come and test any of these issues (particularly delay), I will be happy to help out. Right now TC is bugged such that no item transfers are possible, but once that is squared away I am able to provide good quality melee weapons of any flavor. Contact Flynn or Gaffyn on TC. The rest of you guys will have to run surveys like the rest of us though if you want a weapon. =P

--- Flynn and Gaffyn McDonnell

Hi everyone.

I'm a master weaponsmith on TC and I've been trying to race a brawler up the tree to test all the incoming melee changes. Unfortunately the patch came early and I'm not entirely ready for it. Well, all day I've been running around trying to keep my harvesters alive (many bugs are making this an extra hard task recently) and check out as much as I can of the new code.

Right now TC is down, so I guess I'll go ahead and "dump" what I've go so far.

First off, I'm compiling data on the changes to the melee skill trees. They are extensive. I'm creating a web page with all the data and I'd like to even put up some comparisons of old trees to knew and total stat boosts to each of the melee professions.

What I've got so far is here:

http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~stgabrie/melee_trees.html

That's got the swordsman and fencer trees in table form. I was getting pikeman and TKA as well but then we crashed. Check that web page later and they will be added along with some tables showing just the changes that have happened.

Other things worth noting so far:

• As a brawler you receive Center of Being as an active defensive ability. This appears to block a significant portion of incoming damage for a limited duration. Later in the elite professions you pick up boosts to the effectiveness and duration of this ability respective only to a specific weapon. I have not tested this extensively yet and cannot comment on just how the effectiveness translates into actual protection.


• All melees except TKA's received a big boost to their dodge/block/counter defensive abilities.


• TKA's got a new skill modier called defensive acuity. No idea what this does yet. Interestingly, one of their skill blockes receive a +110 bonus to this. I have to imagine that this is a typo (novice and master receive only like +25 or so).


• TKA's got a HUGE boost to damage. They now receive +70 damage at novice and at master and 60 along the tree yielding a +200 damage bonus in the TKA tree alone.


• Status defenses got boosted across the board.


• No word yet on delay cap changes. I just started my brawler character last week and while he's doing quite well, he's not close to being able to test capchanges. I do know some masters that I may try to corner for some testing.

I'll try to keep this post updated as I find out more.

Also, if correspondents want to come and test any of these issues (particularly delay), I will be happy to help out. Right now TC is bugged such that no item transfers are possible, but once that is squared away I am able to provide good quality melee weapons of any flavor. Contact Flynn or Gaffyn on TC. The rest of you guys will have to run surveys like the rest of us though if you want a weapon. =P

--- Flynn and Gaffyn McDonnell

Hi everyone.

I'm a master weaponsmith on TC and I've been trying to race a brawler up the tree to test all the incoming melee changes. Unfortunately the patch came early and I'm not entirely ready for it. Well, all day I've been running around trying to keep my harvesters alive (many bugs are making this an extra hard task recently) and check out as much as I can of the new code.

Right now TC is down, so I guess I'll go ahead and "dump" what I've go so far.

First off, I'm compiling data on the changes to the melee skill trees. They are extensive. I'm creating a web page with all the data and I'd like to even put up some comparisons of old trees to knew and total stat boosts to each of the melee professions.

What I've got so far is here:

http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~stgabrie/melee_trees.html

That's got the swordsman and fencer trees in table form. I was getting pikeman and TKA as well but then we crashed. Check that web page later and they will be added along with some tables showing just the changes that have happened.

Other things worth noting so far:

• As a brawler you receive Center of Being as an active defensive ability. This appears to block a significant portion of incoming damage for a limited duration. Later in the elite professions you pick up boosts to the effectiveness and duration of this ability respective only to a specific weapon. I have not tested this extensively yet and cannot comment on just how the effectiveness translates into actual protection.


• All melees except TKA's received a big boost to their dodge/block/counter defensive abilities.


• TKA's got a new skill modier called defensive acuity. No idea what this does yet. Interestingly, one of their skill blockes receive a +110 bonus to this. I have to imagine that this is a typo (novice and master receive only like +25 or so).


• TKA's got a HUGE boost to damage. They now receive +70 damage at novice and at master and 60 along the tree yielding a +200 damage bonus in the TKA tree alone.


• Status defenses got boosted across the board.


• No word yet on delay cap changes. I just started my brawler character last week and while he's doing quite well, he's not close to being able to test cap changes. I do know some masters that I may try to corner for some testing.


• Strangely enough, with all this there seem to be no real changes to polearm accuracy. I will have to make some new polearms when we get back up.

I'll try to keep this post updated as I find out more.

Also, if correspondents want to come and test any of these issues (particularly delay), I will be happy to help out. Right now TC is bugged such that no item transfers are possible, but once that is squared away I am able to provide good quality melee weapons of any flavor. Contact Flynn or Gaffyn on TC. The rest of you guys will have to run surveys like the rest of us though if you want a weapon. =P

--- Flynn and Gaffyn McDonnell

Hi everyone.

I'm a master weaponsmith on TC and I've been trying to race a brawler up the tree to test all the incoming melee changes. Unfortunately the patch came early and I'm not entirely ready for it. Well, all day I've been running around trying to keep my harvesters alive (many bugs are making this an extra hard task recently) and check out as much as I can of the new code.

Right now TC is down, so I guess I'll go ahead and "dump" what I've go so far.

First off, I'm compiling data on the changes to the melee skill trees. They are extensive. I'm creating a web page with all the data and I'd like to even put up some comparisons of old trees to knew and total stat boosts to each of the melee professions.

What I've got so far is here:

http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~stgabrie/melee_trees.html

That's got the swordsman and fencer trees in table form. I was getting pikeman and TKA as well but then we crashed. Check that web page later and they will be added along with some tables showing just the changes that have happened.

Other things worth noting so far:

• As a brawler you receive Center of Being as an active defensive ability. This appears to block a significant portion of incoming damage for a limited duration. Later in the elite professions you pick up boosts to the effectiveness and duration of this ability respective only to a specific weapon. I have not tested this extensively yet and cannot comment on just how the effectiveness translates into actual protection.


• All melees except TKA's received a big boost to their dodge/block/counter defensive abilities.


• TKA's got a new skill modier called defensive acuity. No idea what this does yet. Interestingly, one of their skill blockes receive a +110 bonus to this. I have to imagine that this is a typo (novice and master receive only like +25 or so).


• TKA's got a HUGE boost to damage. They now receive +70 damage at novice and at master and 60 along the tree yielding a +200 damage bonus in the TKA tree alone.


• Status defenses got boosted across the board.


• No word yet on delay cap changes. I just started my brawler character last week and while he's doing quite well, he's not close to being able to test cap changes. I do know some masters that I may try to corner for some testing.


• Strangely enough, with all this there seem to be no real changes to polearm accuracy. I will have to make some new polearms when we get back up.

I'll try to keep this post updated as I find out more.

Also, if correspondents want to come and test any of these issues (particularly delay), I will be happy to help out. Right now TC is bugged such that no item transfers are possible, but once that is squared away I am able to provide good quality melee weapons of any flavor. Contact Flynn or Gaffyn on TC. The rest of you guys will have to run surveys like the rest of us though if you want a weapon. =P

--- Flynn and Gaffyn McDonnell

Hi everyone.

I realize this is a bit of repeat of some data, but I'm posting this to all the brawler forums and I thought I should give you guys the same treatment. I'll keep this updated as more info comes in.

I'm a master weaponsmith on TC and I've been trying to race a brawler up the tree to test all the incoming melee changes. Unfortunately the patch came early and I'm not entirely ready for it. Well, all day I've been running around trying to keep my harvesters alive (many bugs are making this an extra hard task recently) and check out as much as I can of the new code.

Right now TC is down, so I guess I'll go ahead and "dump" what I've go so far.

First off, I'm compiling data on the changes to the melee skill trees. They are extensive. I'm creating a web page with all the data and I'd like to even put up some comparisons of old trees to knew and total stat boosts to each of the melee professions.

What I've got so far is here:

http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~stgabrie/melee_trees.html

That's got the swordsman and fencer trees in table form. I was getting pikeman and TKA as well but then we crashed. Check that web page later and they will be added along with some tables showing just the changes that have happened.

Other things worth noting so far:

• As a brawler you receive Center of Being as an active defensive ability. This appears to block a significant portion of incoming damage for a limited duration. Later in the elite professions you pick up boosts to the effectiveness and duration of this ability respective only to a specific weapon. I have not tested this extensively yet and cannot comment on just how the effectiveness translates into actual protection.


• All melees except TKA's received a big boost to their dodge/block/counter defensive abilities.


• TKA's got a new skill modier called defensive acuity. No idea what this does yet. Interestingly, one of their skill blockes receive a +110 bonus to this. I have to imagine that this is a typo (novice and master receive only like +25 or so).


• TKA's got a HUGE boost to damage. They now receive +70 damage at novice and at master and 60 along the tree yielding a +200 damage bonus in the TKA tree alone.


• Status defenses got boosted across the board.


• No word yet on delay cap changes. I just started my brawler character last week and while he's doing quite well, he's not close to being able to test cap changes. I do know some masters that I may try to corner for some testing.


• Strangely enough, with all this there seem to be no real changes to polearm accuracy. I will have to make some new polearms when we get back up.

I'll try to keep this post updated as I find out more.

Also, if correspondents want to come and test any of these issues (particularly delay), I will be happy to help out. Right now TC is bugged such that no item transfers are possible, but once that is squared away I am able to provide good quality melee weapons of any flavor. Contact Flynn or Gaffyn on TC. The rest of you guys will have to run surveys like the rest of us though if you want a weapon. =P

--- Flynn and Gaffyn McDonnell

I see several changes for swordsman/fencers.

But I may be wrong about the "across the board" bit.

--- Flynn and Gaffyn McDonnell

Well as I stated, TC is down.

It'll probably be down for the night. Such is life on TC.

However, this one I can field without that. Nope, no changes to anyone else's damage IN THE SKILL TREE.

I still have to make a new copy of each weapon to test its stats (they could have changed) and delay caps need to be boosted. If fencers went down to .5s speed cap and TKA's stayed at 1s, for example, then that would be a rather significant damage upgrade to fencers that wouldn't come out in the skill tree itself.

--- Gaffyn andFlynn McDonnell

And while there is still lots of testing to go, I have to say that yes I have some concerns about TKA's. They were already the best melee class and from what I've seen thus far, they are benefitting the most from this patch. By the way, I got to watch a TKM in action today. Hits up to 2k with a crappy VK. He seemed to be hitting very fast but I wasn't able to corner him to test out his cap.

--- Flynn McDonnell

Nice job thanks for the info. Btw.. looking at the master heavy swordsman box.. i see its missing 5melee/range defense.. is that a typo or have we been nerfed? =)