High demand?

[Maroon]

Ok, i dont know, but this happend to me sometimes with shield up (not with cade in the hand btw) that bots apart from normal slashing "kick" me to get through shield block. Youre the expets so tell me what it was

Ah, that's true, sometimes when an enemy is very close to you, you stagger as if you got kicked. Dunno what it is, but it sure is annoying

[quote author=Maroon link=topic=11249.msg93363#msg93363 date=1364133530]
[quote author=Winthorpe link=topic=11249.msg93324#msg93324 date=1364127205]
Game mechanics are not very kind to shielders when it come to rewards, especialy if youre dead. Bots with crushthrou, bots able to kick and bad slashers/leechers and morons in general makes you think why should one shield...

1. Only Prince, Heimdallr, and Thor have weapons with crushthrough

[/quote]
Jotne, (chosen) valkyries, Thors and Odins Chosen have crushthrough, no to forget these hammer guys on normal mode.. mac.. whatever
[/quote]

True, didn't think of those, although the normal mode guys dont get like Brutes dont get crushthrough. Almost never got far on Hard

[WheresMyVodka]

[quote author=Winthorpe link=topic=11249.msg93324#msg93324 date=1364127205]
Game mechanics are not very kind to shielders when it come to rewards, especialy if youre dead. Bots with crushthrou, bots able to kick and bad slashers/leechers and morons in general makes you think why should one shield...

1. Only Prince, Heimdallr, and Thor have weapons with crushthrough

2. Bots can't, never could, and will never be able to kick.
[/quote]
you forgot about tyr valks

[cinematicchief]

I'm still a relatively new player so let me offer my perspective.

When I first joined the game I was often frustrated by how quickly I'd die. This of course gave me plenty of time to observe what others are doing. I saw the snipers and wasn't really interested in sitting back and just shooting at stuff. I saw the crossbowmen and wondered why I wouldn't just be a sniper. I saw a commando and wondered why they could take 20 hits when II could barely take one. Then I saw the skirmisher. He jumped around gracefully and solo'd entire waves by himself. I was in awe.

I turned my first dude into a skirm and it was fun. I didn't have the athletics to kite and I couldn't kill much beyond the first couple waves, but it's immensely satisfying to throw things into people to kill them. I grew frustrated how I couldn't hit anything that didn't fill the crosshair.

I then saw a crossbowman kite, take hits, kill things at range, and melee effectively, everything I couldn't do on my low level skirm. I rolled a new redshirt and enjoyed the accuracy even if I couldn't quite get a handle on the range. I was too inconsistent with the crossbow so I decided to respec and embrace the class I usually end up playing with in games.

After switching to infantry, I've been pretty pretty happy with it. I still haven't figured out how to be as effective in melee as some other people I see running around, but when I get frustrated I'll switch to my skirm. Infantry has required the most effort than any of the other classes I've tried.

tl,dr: Melee is hard. Combine that with with how you are rewarded significantly better by killing directly rather than some sort of supporting role and you can see why ranged is so prevalent.

I didn't play an archer yet as that is simply not my style, but of the ranged classes, they probably have the lowest barrier of entry. Plus with an end name like "Sniper", the name alone generally attracts more people than any counterpart.

[Lord Striker]

Then I saw the skirmisher. He jumped around gracefully and solo'd entire waves by himself.

And here, ladies and gentlemen, we can see the skirmisher in his natural habitat.

[Unknown_Soldier]

I also totally agree. I have 6 shield skill and most other commandos with 8 refuse to shield and Im left with the job. I dont understand it anymore before INF was so popular..

[Mr_Awesome]

I'm still a relatively new player so let me offer my perspective.

When I first joined the game I was often frustrated by how quickly I'd die. This of course gave me plenty of time to observe what others are doing. I saw the snipers and wasn't really interested in sitting back and just shooting at stuff. I saw the crossbowmen and wondered why I wouldn't just be a sniper. I saw a commando and wondered why they could take 20 hits when II could barely take one. Then I saw the skirmisher. He jumped around gracefully and solo'd entire waves by himself. I was in awe.

I turned my first dude into a skirm and it was fun. I didn't have the athletics to kite and I couldn't kill much beyond the first couple waves, but it's immensely satisfying to throw things into people to kill them. I grew frustrated how I couldn't hit anything that didn't fill the crosshair.

I then saw a crossbowman kite, take hits, kill things at range, and melee effectively, everything I couldn't do on my low level skirm. I rolled a new redshirt and enjoyed the accuracy even if I couldn't quite get a handle on the range. I was too inconsistent with the crossbow so I decided to respec and embrace the class I usually end up playing with in games.

After switching to infantry, I've been pretty pretty happy with it. I still haven't figured out how to be as effective in melee as some other people I see running around, but when I get frustrated I'll switch to my skirm. Infantry has required the most effort than any of the other classes I've tried.

tl,dr: Melee is hard. Combine that with with how you are rewarded significantly better by killing directly rather than some sort of supporting role and you can see why ranged is so prevalent.

I didn't play an archer yet as that is simply not my style, but of the ranged classes, they probably have the lowest barrier of entry. Plus with an end name like "Sniper", the name alone generally attracts more people than any counterpart.

Once you hit 52, the skrim is the fastest unit in-game, you'll be able to out run those pesky archers.

[cinematicchief]

I know each class becomes fully realized at 52, but a new player isn't looking at the journey to get there. They aren't used to the huge gap in effectiveness between a redshirt and a fully decked out player. As such, they will tend to stick with a class that they can immediately feel useful in (read, get kills with).

[cyberstorm]

I also totally agree. I have 6 shield skill and most other commandos with 8 refuse to shield and Im left with the job. I dont understand it anymore before INF was so popular..

All you say is true most of these guys dont want to shield (I am shielding every time).
A reason for that are the slasher who think they are effective with a claymore (which is short and not very powerfull) or low levels who graps the high tier equipment the whole time and the ones who cant save that are some reasons why i dont want to shield.
I hope you understand my point of view.

[Unknown_Soldier]

I understand you. I agree. If they dont want to pull their own weight and help by letting more effective people use the equipment and let better slashers slash..Then hell with them. I do it sometimes.

[Vdude]

On almost every normal server I go on with my commando, (or my sergeant/heavy skirmisher hybrid) I find myself shielding. I suppose it doesn't appeal to many people because it is much less rewarding than it is to be a slasher, or to shoot into a crowd of enemies. Moreover, new players don't think about the distant future, and more so about the near future, and shielding isn't really something you can do until you're a commando, or, at least, a sergeant.