Poll: Do you feel like the Devs are taking this mod in the right direction?

[Zetus]

1. Items:
We are supposed to be playing as last Swadians defending what is left from their homelands, yet I see that 99% of the players look like anything but Swadians. I know You have to feed no-lifers with shiny items like katanas, alien axes (obsidian axe) or sailor moon spears (sun spear?), and You want to provide average player with some appearance customization but right now if a player wants to have decent gear there's no way he can assemble it from Swadian-like items. I am sergeant and last patch took my helmet of my head and now I can choose between a khergit , vaegir and nordic, if I want to have the best protection available on my level. This takes away the climate of the mod and makes me wonder why isn't this mod "Mercenaries vs Nordboys".
2. Maps
As one said before: choke points are lame but they are fun as hell. Until reading this topic I thought that shields are meant to be used as barricades, because that is a lot of fun too. Of course I don't approve plain AI exploiting like it happened in that room on Jeldan Citadel. Still when a team builds a shield wall in a choke point and defends it together (plus some dudes with healing boxes) it is the moment when this mod shines. Cooperation in it's purest form. However with Your recent changes maps are now like: walk backwards until Your health bar is depleted or You reach the end of the map.
Jeldan Citatel used to be the best map ever! Now (as i said somewhere before) we have one epic uphill struggle path and two ridiculous back entrances directly to Swadian spawn. Falling back can be cool when You fall back together. Now You can't fall back at all because of bots in Your ass. Same goes to Lake Town. It could be epic "defend the wall" yet it's "defend the wall.. surprise!: bot in Your ass". I don't want a pure grind box, but making bots pour from ridiculous places and from all sides isn't cool at all and with the fact that "backpedal fight" is the only remaining tactic it's even less cool.

And what You did to Swadian Town is well, artless?

[Makagulfazel]

Walter Sobchak here.
The biggest problem with this latest patch is the over powering of archers. This is a classic RPG imbalance. They already have the benefit of avoiding aggro and out running enemy troops, so why in the hell would you make their damage output greater than the melee class?
To try to attract more people to the hard servers, melee damage output should also be increased to compensate for the risk we take by approaching enemies that can typically kill us in 2-3 hits. I also recommend disabling automatic blocking, so that the use of two handed weapons comes with additional risk to balance out the extra damage and reach they provide.
One last little snippet - I don't know if it was the patch or because I wore banded armor briefly, but I can no longer wear my gauntlets. I also can't see them in the marketplace. I'm a commando/archer.
Thanks for all the work. This mod has unregrettably absorbed days of my life.

EDIT:
Uhhhhhp, just saw that mail mittens are the only option intentionally

[OneEyE]

but I can no longer wear my gauntlets

http://forum.nordinvasion.com/index.php?...236.0.html

[Makagulfazel]

Yeah, caught that last minute. Thanks for the link, regardless.
Another option is to make the Nords with shields actually protect their heads. Either make it hard for everyone or easier for everyone.

[OneEyE]

The Archer class is really OP at hard mode atm. I hope they will change it. Its not that Inf or Cav are weak but if we try to play with teamwork they are the big profiteer. There is a big unbalance in my opinion. And making them weaker in melee isnt a solution. Its like the same if you take all archery and crossbow skills away from the Infantry class, nobody cares.

[pleasurus]

Oh hi, Mark. It's me, Kenny Powers. I completely agree with what Mak/Walt says. While I am not against the archers having the damage they have now, I do think it is unbalanced. As a commando, I should be able to do more damage than an archer given they have a ranged and run speed advantage. Considering that the difficulty goes up each wave, I'm not really sure they need nerfing. A damage boost for melee classes should suffice for a nice balance. Then I won't feel like such a turd going 40-10 while a top notch archer like sepsis goes 150-2. Thank you for the great mod and all of the work, but please think of the children.

[royalewithcheese]

Walter Sobchak here.
The biggest problem with this latest patch is the over powering of archers. This is a classic RPG imbalance. They already have the benefit of avoiding aggro and out running enemy troops, so why in the hell would you make their damage output greater than the melee class?
To try to attract more people to the hard servers, melee damage output should also be increased to compensate for the risk we take by approaching enemies that can typically kill us in 2-3 hits. I also recommend disabling automatic blocking, so that the use of two handed weapons comes with additional risk to balance out the extra damage and reach they provide.
One last little snippet - I don't know if it was the patch or because I wore banded armor briefly, but I can no longer wear my gauntlets. I also can't see them in the marketplace. I'm a commando/archer.
Thanks for all the work. This mod has unregrettably absorbed days of my life.

EDIT:
Uhhhhhp, just saw that mail mittens are the only option intentionally

I have to agree with you concerning the archers. I actually have no problem with them being as powerful as they are damage-wise, but like you say, melee players are currently screwed by comparison: a sniper can destroy early mobs with two headshots, while as a Commando I need to clobber the same Nord 3-5 times with a morningstar, all the while at risk of dying in 2-3 hits (we run this risk even in shieldwalls). This also has a pretty nasty effect on populated Hard mode servers in that archers get most of the kills on early waves and, accordingly, most of the drops.

On a related note, I think ALL Hardmode items/mats need to be dispersed randomly like Assist xp (someone else has suggested this). That way, healers and shield-wallers (like Click) are rewarded for teamwork, which is, after all, the entire point of Hardmode if I'm not mistaken.

EDIT: I voted yes in the poll by the way. Like every mod/project, growing pains are natural and ultimately beneficial.

[Senni]

I have to agree with you concerning the archers. I actually have no problem with them being as powerful as they are damage-wise, but like you say, melee players are currently screwed by comparison: a sniper can destroy early mobs with two headshots, while as a Commando I need to clobber the same Nord 3-5 times with a morningstar, all the while at risk of dying in 2-3 hits (we run this risk even in shieldwalls). This also has a pretty nasty effect on populated Hard mode servers in that archers get most of the kills on early waves and, accordingly, most of the drops.

On a related note, I think ALL Hardmode items/mats need to be dispersed randomly like Assist xp (someone else has suggested this). That way, healers and shield-wallers (like Click) are rewarded for teamwork, which is, after all, the entire point of Hardmode if I'm not mistaken.

EDIT: I voted yes in the poll by the way. Like every mod/project, growing pains are natural and ultimately beneficial.

I agree with everything you mentioned , very nicely written

[JOPO]

No more Str cap from Melee exp at commando class ?

[Makagulfazel]

I agree with everything you mentioned , very nicely written

Yes, Royale better conveyed my feelings on the balancing issues of the latest patch. As far as the actual poll, I did vote "Yes" because - as Royale said - growing pains are expected.