I would like to preface this by saying I quit the game in January just to come back now and see how the multiplayer has changed. I have 600 hours in bannerlord mp and have become increasingly frustrated by the lack of development in this game, and the continued absence of private servers.
Some points of note:
Skirmish melee:
The melee feels objectively unfun. To me, the meta strategy is clear; spin to win. Especially, the damage and range of two handers make melee a ***** to deal with when just wanting to play to relax. If you ever find yourself blocking back and forth in skirmish, you have already lost. Damage is too high for there to be much skill across a round, so thusly the way to melee is to kite and bait people. This is bad as a meta mechanic, when melee skirmishes all turn in to who can spin the most, it gets increasingly less fun. The medieval combat game becomes less about block attack and more into spam. Two handed weapons, especially the glaive, still can spam hits when positioned right against a shield. As a new player, it must be really frustrating to deal with when you can competently melee in single player and then are faced with people who freeze your shield in multiplayer. Archery is in an ok spot right now. Throwing weapons are in a good place. Cavalry is not.
Skirmish Cavalry
For the small maps, there needs to be a limit on how many cav should be allowed. Honestly, cav is unfun as a mechanic on every map, except trading post. I played a lot of cavalry in NW. This part of the game was the most fun to me, but here it seems poorly implemented in what it is meant to do in a battle. Bump cav hits should only be possible with a sword. Getting hit for 50+ damage with a lance after a bump is all too common when playing with people who practice cav. If you are playing as heavy inf, that hit is 1/4 of your life for the whole round at least. Cav would be fine in a large battle where the mechanics don't need to be perfect for someone to have fun.
Too many 3v3s
Anytime except peak hours, I am playing 3v3s constantly. The 6v6 skirmish is bad, but a 3v3 is worse. The maps feel empty, and the match is boring. I do not understand why no maps or game modes were made to handle a 12v12 (trading post could handle this and be pretty fun). Instead, as a game, it is going the opposite direction in gravitating to lower pop to just start a game. But simply that game is so unfun, I would rather not play.
Lack of MMR:
There may be a MMR system, but I never see it implemented. I get that game pop is too low, but really the only way to fix this now is to make a 12v12 mode so the new players will have fun and want to come back. It should not be the old players' responsibility to stop pubs getting stomped. Personally, the only fun I have in the game is playing with friends, but I feel this is not an option when a 3 stack in peak hours is often enough to guarantee a slaughter of the other team.
Frame rates dropping since my return
In the games I have played over the past 3 days, my frame rates are dropping in melee in every other match. It is happening to my friends as well as we try to play your game. This is especially bad as it was not this way 2 months ago. I had high settings then and now I am being forced to play on low just to make the melee bearable again. This also does not happen every game. I do not think playing competitive is an option if the game has this problem with inconsistent lag. The server menu additionally feels laggier.
These are some of the most glaring issues in the game. For these reasons, we have seen the mp game pop go lower and lower, only compounding the initial issues. The same old experiences are being played out with changes made seemingly being reversed in the next few patches (eg menavs and cav being constantly altered back and forth in their strength) It is becoming more and more apparent to me there has been no earnest attempt to fix any of these issues in the year this game has been in EA.
Some points of note:
Skirmish melee:
The melee feels objectively unfun. To me, the meta strategy is clear; spin to win. Especially, the damage and range of two handers make melee a ***** to deal with when just wanting to play to relax. If you ever find yourself blocking back and forth in skirmish, you have already lost. Damage is too high for there to be much skill across a round, so thusly the way to melee is to kite and bait people. This is bad as a meta mechanic, when melee skirmishes all turn in to who can spin the most, it gets increasingly less fun. The medieval combat game becomes less about block attack and more into spam. Two handed weapons, especially the glaive, still can spam hits when positioned right against a shield. As a new player, it must be really frustrating to deal with when you can competently melee in single player and then are faced with people who freeze your shield in multiplayer. Archery is in an ok spot right now. Throwing weapons are in a good place. Cavalry is not.
Skirmish Cavalry
For the small maps, there needs to be a limit on how many cav should be allowed. Honestly, cav is unfun as a mechanic on every map, except trading post. I played a lot of cavalry in NW. This part of the game was the most fun to me, but here it seems poorly implemented in what it is meant to do in a battle. Bump cav hits should only be possible with a sword. Getting hit for 50+ damage with a lance after a bump is all too common when playing with people who practice cav. If you are playing as heavy inf, that hit is 1/4 of your life for the whole round at least. Cav would be fine in a large battle where the mechanics don't need to be perfect for someone to have fun.
Too many 3v3s
Anytime except peak hours, I am playing 3v3s constantly. The 6v6 skirmish is bad, but a 3v3 is worse. The maps feel empty, and the match is boring. I do not understand why no maps or game modes were made to handle a 12v12 (trading post could handle this and be pretty fun). Instead, as a game, it is going the opposite direction in gravitating to lower pop to just start a game. But simply that game is so unfun, I would rather not play.
Lack of MMR:
There may be a MMR system, but I never see it implemented. I get that game pop is too low, but really the only way to fix this now is to make a 12v12 mode so the new players will have fun and want to come back. It should not be the old players' responsibility to stop pubs getting stomped. Personally, the only fun I have in the game is playing with friends, but I feel this is not an option when a 3 stack in peak hours is often enough to guarantee a slaughter of the other team.
Frame rates dropping since my return
In the games I have played over the past 3 days, my frame rates are dropping in melee in every other match. It is happening to my friends as well as we try to play your game. This is especially bad as it was not this way 2 months ago. I had high settings then and now I am being forced to play on low just to make the melee bearable again. This also does not happen every game. I do not think playing competitive is an option if the game has this problem with inconsistent lag. The server menu additionally feels laggier.
These are some of the most glaring issues in the game. For these reasons, we have seen the mp game pop go lower and lower, only compounding the initial issues. The same old experiences are being played out with changes made seemingly being reversed in the next few patches (eg menavs and cav being constantly altered back and forth in their strength) It is becoming more and more apparent to me there has been no earnest attempt to fix any of these issues in the year this game has been in EA.
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