Personal Opinions

Enjoying the mod quite alot so far, definately a favourite alongside cRPG, can make for some great battles and I also can't wait to see what's in store for the future.

That being said, I have one personal dislike, having no reticule seems kind of pointless right now, for those of us that aren't sad enough to stick something to our screen to act as a reticule it's not really an equal playing field. I'm not bothered about not having a reticule, I'm bothered about the fact other people can easily just stick something on their screen to create one.

Being shot in a hectic melee by an arrow should be a rare occurance, but today it happened alot, too much, it's especially annoying when you are fighting multiple guys using a 2h or polearm w/o shield and you are still getting shot by their team mates arrows, through their team mates who are moving too.

This is something I expect the 'no reticule' idea was meant to make difficult, but it doesn't seem so, combined with the fact arrows fly very fast, which means you hardly need to lead shots, being able to shoot through gaps of team mates easier and the fact that people will without a doubt stick stuff to their screen to make a reticule, makes the bowman class annoying as hell even at close range when you're in the middle of a melee fight consisting of multiple enemies.

Yeah, I expect someone to tell me to "get a shield", I understand that this timeframe consisted of many shields, but this is a game and if everyone just used 1h + shield, it would be boring as hell. I get across the entire battlefield being shot at by arrows, relying on movement and cover to not get shot, only to be shot ( giving the melee guy the kill blow on me ) or to be shot multiple times to death when I've actually entered a huge melee.

Of course it doesn't happen all the time, but enough to be seen as an issue by myself, some maps and depending on who's playing it doesn't happen much at all, other times with other players, it happens too often. This issue only stands for bowmen, throwing and crossbow all seem pretty fine to me.

So, people are welcome to share their own opinion on this subject and any constructive criticisms they may have of the mod.

I'm just a bit confused by your post (not trying to be a jerk).

You are saying that archers shouldn't be able to shoot into melee? and that they should get the reticle back because it is pointless not to have it?

I blame my tenuous grasp of American English and sentence structure 

Yeah, I'm getting sniped from far away even when I'm fighting 2+ people. That doesn't even happen in native, and unlike native (tk city) I've seen very few friendly fire incidents from overeager bowmen. Maybe it's just that the best bowmen are the first to grab the available slots in Vikingr mod, because the rest of us without any skill in that department don't play without a reticule? 

Yeah, I've been getting my ass kicked by archers as well. Come and fight me face to face like a man, cowards! 

it's not that hard to aim the center of the screen, even without a reticule, or anything stuck to your screen. besides, i get as many TKs as kills shooting into melees, so i usually don't.

Coy said:

I'm just a bit confused by your post (not trying to be a jerk).

You are saying that archers shouldn't be able to shoot into melee? and that they should get the reticle back because it is pointless not to have it?

I blame my tenuous grasp of American English and sentence structure 

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What I'm saying is, I thought the idea of taking the reticule away was to make shots difficult, not impossible, as it stands I am getting shot in melee more than I do in cRPG, which is crazy and it's due to the fact that the arrows are so fast and having no reticule is obviously not a problem for some people and the ones that choose to stick something on their screen, giving them a reticule.

I felt that the idea was to really make the bowmen a long range class as it should be, rather than a close range killing machine. With arrows being so fast it's only down to the bowmen whether he hits you or not at close range because you can not move fast enough to make any difference.

I just feel that the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages of using a 2h or polearm, they are easy to kill for good and 'cheating' ( lol ) bowmen at any range and then when they do get into melee, they are using a slower weapon and they have to manually block everything, only to be shot by arrows half of the time. It makes playing 2h/polearm w/o shield pointless on too many occasions and takes the fun out of the game for me personally, which is why this statement is just my personal opinion.

The problem I am pointing out with the reticule is that people are without a doubt making their own reticule, making it an unfair playing field for those who aren't lame enough to stick something on their screen that gives them one.

There are some good archers that I know would be very accurate without a reticule, but there are too many archers suddenly ingame that are shooting with near 100% accuracy at all ranges ( basically, if you're standing still they will hit you unless the arrow itself doesn't go straight ).

Crossbows are not much of an issue, they are slow reloading, the guy has to stand still to do so, they are easy targets, throwing weapons travel relatively slow and are unnaccurate anyway so they are no problem, people do get killed in melee by them, but not much. This is why I feel that arrow speeds should be slowed down, making it more difficult to shoot into mass melees and kill enemies and if it bothers anyone much, bring back the reticule, because people are making their own anyway.

Lol, another huge post. It's all just my own opinion, it's not what I am demanding or think the mod team should do what I feel, it's just something I hope will be far improved, thus me giving my constructive opinion on it . Btw I'm not typing in 'American English' xD.

Alright, that cleared up my confusion, thanks.

it's due to the fact that the arrows are so fast and having no reticule is obviously not a problem for some people and the ones that choose to stick something on their screen, giving them a reticule... The problem I am pointing out with the reticule is that people are without a doubt making their own reticule, making it an unfair playing field for those who aren't lame enough to stick something on their screen that gives them one.

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As to archers "making their own reticule" I know that the 4-5 archers in TKoV that have been playing Vikingr archers (myself included) are not somehow cheating the system. In fact I highly doubt that there are more than 1 or 2 archers in the NA servers that do "cheat" with a reticule. After playing even 1 map without a reticule it isn't that difficult to figure out where the arrow is going to go.

I felt that the idea was to really make the bowmen a long range class as it should be, rather than a close range killing machine.

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Firing at enemies at extreme range isn't a viable tactic when you have 20 arrows and the enemies are spread out and moving 50 meters away.

I just feel that the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages of using a 2h or polearm, they are easy to kill for good and 'cheating' ( lol ) bowmen at any range and then when they do get into melee, they are using a slower weapon and they have to manually block everything, only to be shot by arrows half of the time. It makes playing 2h/polearm w/o shield pointless on too many occasions and takes the fun out of the game for me personally, which is why this statement is just my personal opinion.

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As for making polearm without a shield useless. Well, that is kind of the point, armies of the time did not make extensive use of 2 handed polearms (with the exception of axes) simply because there was no reason for them. Both your opponent and yourself are wearing minimal if any armor, and it was extremely rare when troops would take the field without some form of shield. The only exception to that being the Vikings, who didn't have to worry to much about being injured, as they were, for the most part, attacking defenseless hamlets.

Naturally you are entitled to your opinion, but the mod creators had already explained how they were going for a more "realistic" feel.

Well I am talking from EU server experience here, not played US server much, there is without a doubt more than just a couple of players with their own kind of reticule. I never said extreme range, I said long range, long range as in not close range, lol. It also depends on who's playing, sometimes there are hardly any bowmen and it doesn't really make a difference, other times there are a bunch of bowmen and the issue arises.

I already mentioned that I know what the mod was aimed for, but my opinion was based on the fun factor, I also said I don't expect them to change it, just that I hope it will change. By polearms and 2h I am mainly talking about the axe weapons.

I expect to see alot of shielders, would just be nice to be able to play something other than a 1h + shield and in my opinion the issue is that arrow speed is too high, slower arrows = more skill required, and less sniper shots hitting a guy in the middle of 3 enemies. Bowmen already have many advantages, shields don't even have the magnetic force fields, a shielder can do nothing about that, but an archer can do alot about his missing reticule.

Any reason why you would disagree with a speed reduction on the arrows? you say yourself that aiming without reticule isn't that difficult and if the modders are going for a 'realistic' feel then I'm pretty sure you know that they never used to shoot their arrows into a melee where their friends were fighting, because it wasn't worth the risk.

The reason why it's done so easily right now is because of the arrow speed, I don't expect it to be wiped out or impossible, but when there are multiple people fighting, it should be very difficult to hit an enemy through team mates due to the lead needed on the arrow and infact shouldn't even really be tried. Arrows should be fired before the two armies melee forces meet, like real life, or for picking off easy targets away from the main fight.

Tiberius Decimus Maximus said:

Yeah, I've been getting my ass kicked by archers as well. Come and fight me face to face like a man, cowards! 

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I will Vikingrape you, kamerad.

McBeverage said:

I will Vikingrape you, komerad.

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i will help him, and then raid your village!!!!!!

Splintert said:

it's not that hard to aim the center of the screen, even without a reticule, or anything stuck to your screen. besides, i get as many TKs as kills shooting into melees, so i usually don't.

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Actually the arrow doesnt fly to the centre of your screen... practice a bit and you'll get a good idea about where the arrow will head. Archery in this mod is easy if your able to guestimate quite accurately. It took me about 1/2 a day of constant practice, barely hitting anyone to get semiproficient with archery in the mod, although it probably helps that i dont do archery on native so i'm not fighting against my own instincts about where to aim

Leesin said:

That being said, I have one personal dislike, having no reticule seems kind of pointless right now, for those of us that aren't sad enough to stick something to our screen to act as a reticule it's not really an equal playing field. I'm not bothered about not having a reticule, I'm bothered about the fact other people can easily just stick something on their screen to create one.

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That sounds like something that would not work at all, really. It would be more obstructing than helping to stick something on the screen, I'm pretty sure of that.

Also, you mention that you get shot while in melee by enemies, most arrows that tend to go towards me while I'm in a melee often strike the people I'm fighting in stead.

Tiberius Decimus Maximus said:

Yeah, I've been getting my ass kicked by archers as well. Come and fight me face to face like a man, cowards! 

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I tried to protect ye' from arrows.

Tried using archery in first person mode? Even without a reticule its really quite easy to aim (around) The middle. Its given you wont have 100% accuracy as you would with a reticule, but you'll be pretty close to having 90% of your shots in the direction of your enemy if you use first person. I may have been one of the annoying archers you talk about, lol. Yes i shoot into melee's, no, i rarely hit teammates, and yes i've once shot 3 headshots in a row on Vikingr. And no, i dont have something stuck to my screen

My advise is get a shield =/ They're either free, or not much. Just keep blocking the shield, then when you get up close you draw your shiny 2H axe... And pray the archer wont shoot you in your feet

And oh, the arrows their speed is just fine now =/ If your a archer and up against someone that knows how to move, they can dodge most of your arrows untill they reach you. The speed isn't that great behind arrows, they're easy to dodge if you see them comming. If you know there's a archer shooting in your melee fights, try to stay behind the enemy your fighting in the hopes the enemy archer shoots him

I dislike 1st person mode simply due to the narrowing of your field of view that it gives you, i'd rather hit 70% of my arrows and get blindsided less often then hit 90% but get bumrushed by the flanking fast infantry... 

I haven't any kind of problems wielding 2h, even as berserker.

The thing is: You either advange with others and hold your shield high or try to sneak alone from the side where the shield isn't necessarity.
When fighting in heath of battle, use your 2h only when your flanks are cowered by others. Also, don't chase retreating foe, thats good way to get well-earned arrow in middle of your forehead.

It's all about the looks: Don't look like good cannonfodder and the archers probably won't take extra-attention on you

The problem is, I don't look like 'cannon fodder', I get to the fight without being shot yet I find myself being shot by arrows in melee far more than out of melee, I wouldn't care if it was the other way around, it's just my own personal opinion that the arrow speeds are too high and that's what allows people to snipe inbetween team mates to hit people who are fighting so easily.

Leesin said:

The problem is, I don't look like 'cannon fodder', I get to the fight without being shot yet I find myself being shot by arrows in melee far more than out of melee, I wouldn't care if it was the other way around, it's just my own personal opinion that the arrow speeds are too high and that's what allows people to snipe inbetween team mates to hit people who are fighting so easily.

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That's interesting - because arrow speeds have been nearly halved from Native standards.
Non the less, you can expect some tweaks to archery next patch; higher air resistance for arrows and lower weapon proficiencies for archers (but with a slight boost to damage to make up for it).

Halved? well by arrow speed I obviously mean shoot speed on bow, but they still look fast as hell, maybe that's because I haven't played native for an insanely long time and I also play cRPG where shoot speeds are slower so that you need to lead your shots alot more.

It's only my personal opinion of course and I already mentioned that sometimes it's not a problem at all, just when there are a few or more good archers on a team, they seem to pretty much dominate the rounds due to low armour values all around and barely having to lead shots due to shoot speed, which is an advantage at every range.