After a few more hours poured into the game, I can see small adjustments, but the main issues could still be fixed.
The main issues in my eyes are the next ones :
- Hip rotation speed, in Warband when you want to turn around, you can do it immediately, there's no delay required in order for your character be able to " follow " your mouse movement. It's maybe more realistic but you feel less in control. Even though it has been reduced drastically, there's still a feeling of ice skating when you're fighting.
- Still a problem with archery, projectiles seem to be too slow, and it seems like there's a little delay when you release, makes the whole thing feels arcady and unatural. Warband nailed it. The ugly crosshair doesn't help
- Feints are hard to read mostly because of the lack of sound design.
- Shield directional blocking system, I still think it's a bad idea it makes the whole thing counter intuitive and more difficult especially in 1 vs 2, 3 fights,... but, if you want to keep it that way, increase the size of the shields, it's too easy to get f**ked and overrun because you can easily get hit on the side,... It would also considerably help the infantry to block projectiles which too often end up in your feet, elbows,... because of both the shield directional blocking system which makes you block in the wrong direction allowing you to get shot and the " size of the shields " which are too little.
- Seems like there's also a big problem with how wide the swings are, combined with your realistic collision system, it makes team fights and fights in small areas a pain in the a**. I get it's intentional to make it more realistic etc,... and I get why it's satisfying in a way when you feel like your sword gets stuck in enemies when you land a hit,... but it's a big issue and it should be reduced in order to make the experience more fun and reduce the frustration players can feel when they are struggling to land simple hits.
- The most important issue right now, is the fact that there are no dedicated servers. Aside from everything else, I think what's killing your game right now, gameplay aside, is the fact there are no dedicated servers. Dedicated servers combined with modding, map editors,... could save the game, I'm serious. It's the most important thing you should do right now. I'm conscious most people playing the game, even in multiplayer are not big tryhards,... who want everything to be on point, they just want to have fun on great maps and be able to play with their friends, in order for them to be able to enjoy the multiplayer, you have to give them a platform, servers they can add to their favourites, with maps created by the community, infinite possibilities. The multiplayer population would increase considerably I'm sure of it. I swear, this has to be done asap.
- Removing the class system for a system closer to the one we had in Warband is also a great idea, and it would be the second most important thing you could do with adding dedicated servers,... It would save you a precious amount of time, you wouldn't have to balance anything anymore except for weapons,... people would feel more free,... I know I'm dreaming but...
I'll keep playing to see if there are other things I notice and I'll come back to make adjustments later for sure.
Edit :
- After playing a few matches of Skirmish, I feel like the competitive potential of the game is dead. Should just allow custom servers, modding tools and map editor to the players, get rid of the class system and allow some more customization in the character editor and just make it a fun sandbox game with a lot of servers, sieges, battles,... and people having fun in massive battles on a huge amount of maps, allowing them to choose the pieces of equipment they like,...
Don't think anything is going to change gameplay wise, at least, not anything that could fix the core mechanics and bring the native competitive community back to the game. I think that the game is highly unbalanced and that there are too many mechanics that have to be changed in order to make it a balanced and comfortable experience. Some people are having fun though and I get it, I'm having fun too, I just think that we're hoping for things that will most likely never happen and competitive possibilities are close to non-existent. There are some really strong players out there I've ended up against, players far better than myself but let's be honest, for the same skill gap, on Warband, those guys would've at least been able to clutch rounds against multiple infantries/archers or dismount 2 - 3 cavs by themselves without getting stuck and all that sh*t,... here it's simply impossible, except if you're playing against a bunch of people who are braindead.
Anyway, good luck for the ones who are hoping for more competitively speaking but for the future of the game though, I strongly suggest the devs to just get rid of the class system / allow players to own their own servers / give modding tools - map editor to the players / bring back battle and game modes built around teamplay in order to encourage massive battles,... and there you'll get more players to have fun on your game and spend hours with friends playing around and roleplaying in big battles while having fun customizing their characters,...
Multiplayer could look like that right now :
