Swordsman Archive

In recent news of the up and coming profession changes, I was obligated to check the local forums of my favorite profession. As I was reading the many posts on what a swordsman should be, compared to the other melee classes, I found that the most common thing I heard was, all power, low defense.

First of all, I personally, and maybe some others, really, really don't want to be an all powerful one hit killer, one hit killed kind of character. In fact, I would go so far to say I would like more defenses, to better protect my allies and myself. Usually, concerning games like these, we all can't get what we want. But what if there is a way to make it acceptable for everyone, not just a single ridged form, where every heavy swordsman is exactly likes, every other heavy swordsman. I am certain that a new system for melee combat to make the game much more fun, and much more enjoyable for everyone. And as you might be wondering, I have thought up the basics for such a system.

When the latest patch came out, Bio Engineers had an incredible boon. I think the new bio engineer system is so cool, and interesting that I made me want to be one. For anyone who has read about it, or heard about it from a friend as I have you will know that the customizability and flexibility of the bio engineering system is the envy of every profession. I say, why can't heavy swordsman be flexible? These thoughts lead me to the idea of making 4 new posture changes. Each posture change will allow the swordsmen use his or her knowledge in strength, speed, accuracy, and defense. With each the most obvious changes would take place enhancing the swordsman in one area of interest. It would also be nice if we hide actual different animated postures with this instead of just some numbers on a chart. Each posture change can be learned as the swordsman learns the intermediate level of their corresponding box. The second idea is have major and minor posture changes. For instance, using the defensive posture and having a minor focus on power would up my defense and a little bit more to power, while having a major in speed, and minor in defense would raise the speed of the wielder and with concerns for defense. I suggest that each combination of postures be learned as the swordsman progresses, with the opposite postures at the master level skill boxes. (Like speed vs. accuracy, defense vs. power.) Changes in posture during combat would most likely take as long as a full round, and a minor change perhaps less or the same.

This system would open up many options for the players. I have heard many references to what a swordsman should be; a gallant knight, in shiny armor; the barbarian, Conan; or a skillful samurai. Each have their perks, and each have there down sides, but it would not be possible to have each if we were all high power, low defense swordsmen, which might be considered a Conan. This would also open up new doors for tactics. I am sure we would all like a boost in defense while chasing after pesky npcs and those crazy pcs who carry guns. And lets not forget the pvp with melee, where certain stances would be better against other, and the decision of when you change and the prediction of what your opponent will change to next. This sounds much more like really sword fighting in my opinion, as some have said, there are relatively few blows actually taken in real combat, your usually dead after the first.

A player's choice of weapon should not be based on how if it's the highest-level weapon or not. Different weapons are better suited for different occasions and should remain true in a game that tries to simulate a realistic experience. I suggest there be a large variety of weapons to accommodate each and every type of playing style available. I believe its already planned to have each weapon a varying degree of mastery to wield, either that or a weapon will just have really good stats that are reduced, or a weapon with low stats that increases as the swordsman's skill increases. A weapon does become more dangerous in the hands of a master, which should be especially true for TKA. There should be a sword with high attack speed, one with high attack power, and one with excellent range. For a defensive sword I would suggest one with high condition that could absorb blaster shots and/or kinetic attacks. Bone armor seems take well to energy damage perhaps we need a bone sword. For a defensive sword I would image we would require a +block modifier, perhaps only available with a defensive posture and a with minor defense at a reduced amount, if a block succeeds it would absorb the energy in the sword having it take the damage, much like armor or a personal shield generator. Other swords could either have special damage types or with middle of the road stats in-between the 4 extremes. This also brings up using a power sword with say the speed posture. I think it would be safe to assume that with higher speed, the power would go down as it would more difficult to land attacks properly. But if speed uses a speed-based sword it would use its abilities to full effect without penalty.

Leading into specials, I don't think there should be any special that is unusable while using a certain posture, but they might be effected by the. For instance, the head hit skills go well with the speed tree. If you read about Japanese and maybe other Asian sword fighting techniques, they implement a very swift chop to the head, usually seen in anime when the kids are practicing their kendo. The chop is to split the skull and spill the brain, which is the reason why the katana is so sharp. The attacker is then supposed to retract the blade completing the chopping motion so the blade does not get toughly lodged in the mans skull, leaving the samurai defenseless in the chaos of battle. If the blade is not pulled back fast enough the blade will be stuck in the head of the dead man and the samurai will most likely die trying to pull it free. This also brings up some of the western heavy sword fighting styles of the time. The blades are usually not even sharp on a large sword, like a claymore for instance. There was really no point because the sword fight involved who got the sword over the shoulder first and smashed it down on the other guy's head. If the person missed, they were basically screwed, as the sword would be lodged in the ground, not to mention they were extremely heavy.

Another interesting aspect of sword fighting is catching your opponent of guard and making them lose their stance to give and opportunity to strike. With the swordsmen many, many posture change moves could now be put to some actual use in pvp. Obviously, a successful posture change would net the opponent most likely placed in the posture of their minor, as the major, or just places them in the standing stance, which would be mean. If the change were used on a person with only a major and no minor they would be booted to standing. Also, in pvp an unsuccessful may net the successful opponent some sort of bonus to the next attack or a free normal hit (non special attack) or just a bonus to the counter attack mod for that attack. Successfully changing the posture of your opponent could have disastrous effects to the situation in the hands of a knowledgeable swordsman. You could forcibly make the opponent move into a weakened position compared to your position or would force them to change posture. In pvp, a posture change should only do damage if it succeeds and not even if it doesn't.

This system of postures could be, and would be best if applied to other brawler classes as well. Not only does it at much more strategic effect but is also some what more realistic in terms of character differences. It also adds much more unpredictability and guesswork to combat that reflects real life fighting. I would appreciate any comments, arguments, and ideas this may or may not have sprung. I hope to play my character the way I want to play it and not the way the majority wants it played. Thank you for your time, if you read this far lol.

bah no one cares about tactics and defense. They just want to run in fullybuffed in 80% composite spamming two hand hit 3 with their power hammer.

There's nothing better so far I've seen in the game than running into a group of enemies and hitting domination a few times. Muahahahaha.

-- Ypi