Swordsman Archive
Thread: SWORDSMEN'S ROUND TABLE: In the beginning there was a swordsman...
MissileToad wrote:
This I like very much
Ehogack wrote:
Pikeman -> Crowd Control(Carbinier). Lots of area status/posture changes. #3 on DPS, #3 on toughness/defense.
Swordsman -> Heavy Hitter(Rifleman). Huge damage with good piercing. #1 on DPS through armor piercing being fixed not necessarily speed, #4 on toughness/defense.
Fencer -> Defense Specialist(Pistoleer). Awesome status and range/melee defense. #4 on DPS, #1 on toughness/defense.
Teras Kasi -> Little of each(BH). Fast enough to engage in close quarters and dish out hits as well as take them, decent damage with some armor piercing, moderate defenses. #2 on DPS, #2 on toughness/defense.
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I like this idea too...
TKA should be somwhere inbetween fencer and swordsman. Not great at anything but good at everything. The meditation line is HUGE in the scheme of things. Free heals, free buffs, and poison-disease-bleed cures. They should really be limited in their attacking abilities
really.... there tanks... not riflesman ... there up front ... how can you not expect them to do damage when there the ones making the push....
Tka's need to be able to do better against more than one attacker.... not saying make them gods... put they should be able to hold the front line while the others pick off the attackers...no power or speed ... justthe way they take damage...and then tka will bejust fine the way it is... they dont need anything else added or taken away... Swordman on the other hand.... need some speed and they'll be fine.....
Pikeman... Devs just forgot that they made this profession......
Fencers need to hit for more damage..... speed is good along with there defense....
to sum it up ....all of these professions should have something the other doesn't ..... a skill or a defense,, attack... ahhhh.... A PURPOSE....
if you choose anyone of these professions now.. your only purpose is to build some hibrid of a melee fighter.... if they all had a purpose associated with them then you would choose your melee profession based on what you want to do... not what you want to build....
I would like to see Swordsmen as the top damaging class, however, we would suffer versatility for shear power. I would like the speed to stay the way it is, with damage perhaps increasing a little, however, our weapons would be limited to kinetic (and blast with power hammer) damage, and no utility abilities (KD, effective posture change, etc). And the most important thing to me is that we actually have sword weapons. Cleavers, Claymores, Katanas, and all kinds of other traditional swords. Less axes
TKA would be the most verrsatile class, with average defenses, average attack, good speed, and the ability to meditate and hit all ham bars effectively, and KD.
Pikemen should be a high-damaging class on par to Swordsmen, but they should be more versatile, and have a little less defenses than Swordsman. Multiple KD, a very nice KD, large range on damage/speed of weapons and several different damage types.
Fencers should be the number one tank class, with the ability to absorb damage and avoid it altogether like none other. They should also have the ability to cut through defenses (already somewhat present wth their Stun poles). They should sacrifice versatility. THey should be the opposite of a Swordsman.
Ummm the only thing wrong with swordsman the way it is, is the low def and lack of variety in moves. ANY other changes will only ruin it. Please dont ruin my favorite profession like so many others have been.
i have seen a few melee recreation battles, and it is a form of swordsman that is defense, but it is not the two handed swordsman, its thepeople weildingmedium size swords like longsword, or broad swords, ect, and a shield, as they have a fast but heavy attack, with a shield as extra defensive protections, the heavy swordsman run in to battle with light armor, and kill whatever gets in their way with recless abandon, and shere strength. but this is after the first charge where the pikemen attack from behind. proper fencing is one on one combat with dodging and defensive stances with the main focus being on chest attacks to fell the enemy when they show an opening. so i dont see where us as heavy swordsman come in as a line of defense... but i am talking from what i have observed, and done.
Getting down to the absolute fundamental level.. Ranged vs. Melee.
Ranged: Ranged combat places the defensive focus on keeping distance between oneself and the target. Mobility and the utilization of Cover whenever possible should be the priority. Defensivebenefits from the ability to strike from a distance should come at the cost of limitations in the effectiveness of high-end armor, due to penalties to Mobility. Possibly increased delay times between actions when high-end armor is being utilized. There should be enough of a bite to encourage ranged fighters to use light-armors the majority of the time. A delay definately needs to be in place for equipping/removing equipment. On the offensive end, Ranged combatants should be very lethal, yet suffer from accuracy issues against moving targets, or when moving themselves.
The role of ranged is primarily based around hit and run tactics, or ranged defense from a dug-in position. Versatile, yet limited offensive/defensively.Picking off critical targets in the back-lines, or providing suppression fire to slow the advance of the enemy should be the roles they are best suited for. Once pinned down in close quarters, the Ranged combatant should suffer badly.
- Defensive Ability: 1/10 to 5/10 depending on class
- Offensive Ability: 5/10 to 7/10 depending on class
Melee: In agalaxy of blasters and star destroyers, anyone crazy enough to delvevery deep in Melee combat should have spent plenty of time looking at ways to utilize current technologies to increase survivability at LEAST long enough to get within range of a target. Overall, Melee needs greater defensive capability across the board than Ranged fighters. Heavy armors should be manageable, dodging, parries, and counter-attacks should all be highly developed. While every Melee is extremely limited by having to close range with a target, once within that range overall damage output should be heavy, and accuracy much higher than ranged counterparts, NOT susceptable to nearly as much reduced accuracy from movement. (I'd love to see a way for Melee to "Lock-On" to a target that they are engaged in combat with, basically following them automatically until one or the other is dead, or the Melee overrides it. Forgive my ignorance if this is already the case, I only recently made the switch to Melee 2 weeks ago and have yet to come across anything like this.)
The role of Melee is primarily to provide front-line support. Dealing with the brunt of an attack, to better allow for the survivability of their group, breaking dug-in enemy positions, and playing "Sentinal" in tight interior positions are the type of roles Melee should be playing. Versatility suffering a bit at the cost of raw defensive/offensive power.
- Defensive Ability: 5/10 to 8/10
- Offensive Ability: 6/10 to 8/10
Further Melee breakdown:
TKA: The most versatile of Melee professions. Lightning fast attacks that can shred through lightly armored opponents, yet limited against heavily armored foes. Utilizing the lightest of weaponry, the TKA is extremely mobile, and capable of firing off a large variety of special attacks at minimul cost. Shock-Troop type role would be very cool. Able to get close to and cause havoc with the enemy very fast, and shred a lightly armored opponents almost as quickly, yet limited in their capability to cause true damage a highly armored foe.
Fencer: Similar to the TKA in versatility, emphasis in the abilities to dodge and counter attack. The Fencer relieson pinpoint accuracy to disable an opponent. While limited in the ability to withstand direct hits, the Fencer aims to avoid damage completely whenever possible by dodging, and counter attacking at every possible opportunity. The Fencer attacks with careful, precise strikes, capable of specifically targetting each HAM, with very high accuracy, and relatively low special costs. At the pinacle of training, the Fencer can cause extreme damage to any HAM on anyone light to moderately armored, and cause the most intense wounds of any profession. The Fencers role is that of the gun, very versatile in types of damage available, and providing the unique ability to bring a continuousattack to an end by causing an alarming amount of wounds.
Swordsman: The most limited versatility, emphasis on damage absorbtion through heavy armors, and cracking heavily armored defenses. Able to absorb higher damage than any other profession, yet hit more often than its melee counterparts, and slower on the attack. Swordsman provides the role of the Tank, and partial tank-buster with an assortment of weapons geared aroundgetting through heavy armors. Swordsman suffers from limited damage types available, only able to target the Health pool. Highly trained Swordsmen may cause intense bleeding. (Possibly include a defensive ability similar to Riflemans Cover, that would grant increased ability to absorb damage while dug-in in a relatively small location, and blocking those who try to pass. Main idea being a defending role against forces attempting to storm an interior facility.)
Pikeman: Versatile mix of Tank, and Gun, at the cost of accuracy. Due to the range of their weapons, Pikemen are particularly capable of parrying an enemies attack, and staying outside the range of other Melee weapon types. Pikeman have a wide variety of weapons, from lightweight staff-type weapons granting high speed, defensive bonuses, and high damage to lightly armor targets, to very slow bladed weapons with the highest armor piercing in the game. The role of the Pikeman is to break dug-in positions, and functions extremely well against all of their Melee counterparts, yet are vulnerable to ranged attacks. The Pikemans accuracy drops considerable against targets right up against them, but are capable of pushing back out towards an ideal range at high levels of proficiency.
(You know, speaking from a general Ranged vs. Melee perspective again, heavily increasing the capacity of shield generators to absorb ranged damage, and adding more usability of each generator similar to KOTOR would be a great thing for SWG. Cutting most blaster fire down by a long shot for X amount of damage before a generator needs to recharge would help promote further melee confrontation by giving melee weaponry a higher advantage to make up for proximity issues.)
I like the idea of taking out our status changes and our posture changes for the most part, and simply up our toughness/defense vs.and hitting power. Make us good at one thing, destroying. Whether that be by dismantling the target with a katana, or bludgeoning it to death with a hammer, make us the tank/hitters.
Fencers need to have high defenses and secondary defenses. They need to be able to avoid being hit all together. They should also have the most accurate weapons. These two elements would account for all of their frilly finesse.
Pikemen should be the crowd thumpers. They should have the most reach and the ability to hit several targets with effectiveness that is unmatched. They need cones and spins. Pike's should also be the kd kings.
Now for the Teras Kasi. They should have the ability to target any pool (without bleeds) and should be the status and posturechangers. Also in order to throw them a bone over the loss of thier uberness, they should recieve several types of damage through the form of gauntlets that contain release mechanisms.
The think to keep in mind when balancing all of the melee professions is that you should give each one its advantages, but you don't have to gimp them in the other areas. For example, pikemen can still hit hard, but that may not be their speciallty, or a fencer may beable to status change, but not as well as a TK. These new changes will hopefully bring about a sense of realism, but mostly i hope they simply bring some sort of balance. Let the fencers be the best duelers, the pikes be the best guards, and the tks be the best soloers, i just want to see big numbers flash in the combat log.
- Swordsmen hit hard and hit best. They have the best AP.
Defence:
A good offense. The faster an enemy dies, the less damage that it deals.
Crowd Control:
- Very little
Status Change:
- Stuns, dizzies, blinds, posture change as a result of other specials
Specials:
- Increase AP
- Force opponent to move backward/side
- Lower damage to get a better counterattack
- Best against machines (more important when vehicles/droids show up on the field)
Even if our role is notto be crowd control, I don't want to lose ourcrowd destroyingability via the area attacks. Getting in the middle of a dozen enemies and using Domination is a major fun factor in this profession - I don't want to see us becomesingle-target specialists 
like TK is
Swordsmen-complete tanks, very high toughness and high damage, low melee def
TKA- fast, high defenses, low toughness
Fencer-Same as TKA but with less melee def and a littl more toghness
Pikemen-Somewhere in between Fencer and Swordsmen