Never thought I'd say this myself considering that the hours i sunk into this game have exclusively been on the multiplayer mode, and for the past two years +change I've spent on multiplayer, it's apparent to me that Bannerlord's multiplayer is beyond saving, even when the competing Chivalry 2 is in a state that could best be described as "sitting on their laurels".
Archers
I think the biggest and easiest problem to mention is how overpowered archers are in BL MP. I know more often than not, players have enough honor to not spam the ever loving **** out of them, though I've also seen my fair share of games where a disproportionate quantity of archers can be used as a valid substitute for individual player skill, and is made even worse when arrows have a nonzero chance of penetrating shields. In cases like these, the only forms of counterplay against an all-archer team is to be an archer yourself, or quit the game and play Chiv2 instead cuz that game has archer limits (16% specifically).
I know there are other problems in BL MP besides archers, but I think that if class limits were a thing for server hosting tools (and a similarly strict limit on archers for TaleWorlds servers), I'm pretty sure that would've kept at least a decent chunk of people in the game, rather than install the Epic Launcher for what actually is a medieval PVP game instead of a third person shooter dressed like one. I know i've said this multiple times, but Gundam Evolution exists if i wanted to play a shooter.
Factions
One big gripe I had with Bannerlord's balancing that I personally never experienced with in Warband is how factions are balanced... or should I say imbalanced. Similar to singleplayer, we have Vlandia, Battania, Khuzait, Aserai, Sturgia, and Empire. Yes, I can understand that trying to balance a PVP game around these different factions would be a difficult undertaking, but I've played this game long enough to believe that some of the imbalances are intentional design decisions.
I doubt there's a sane person left that's still playing Bannerlord's multiplayer, but for when those folks stuck around before giving up on BL MP, it's apparent to me that no one really liked playing against Vlandia due to a lot of good things they have going for them: their peasant has the best mace in the game, the Voulge may as well be a 2h blunt weapon, and it's faster than both mauls, they're better at spamming archers than other factions, and their cavalry are almost impossible to kill.
Meanwhile, Aserai has very few options in countering enemy armor, and Sturgia has even fewer. Khuzait v Aserai is arguably the fairest fight I can think of, though when either Aserai or Sturgia is up against Battania or Vlandia, you can guess who will win when heavy armor is pitted against a woeful lack of blunt weapons.
And if we wanna really scrape the bottom of the barrel for a lack of game balance, let's look at Empire! At a glance, they seem to be an overwhelmingly average-performing faction. However, they've got one fatal flaw behind their apparent adequacy: their 100 cost unit, which is honestly the absolute worst in the game and I don't know how far off the deep end you have to be in order to defend their terribleness.
Imperial Recruit
Yes, I get it. The Calradian Empire has such a massive army that they have a lot more soldiers than they have the equipment and other resources they need to properly equip and train them, so they instead rely on sheer force of numbers to overwhelm the stronger grunts of other factions. The biggest problem of designing a faction around this is that in a multiplayer game, both teams are often expected to have even headcounts, so designing around "strength in numbers" is automatically a bad idea. However, the fact that the recruit remains as unplayably bad as they've been since 2020 has me convinced that TaleWorlds intended for the Empire to have the downside of "ragequit if you die as this unit" when playing as non-Recruit units.
Regardless if you suggest that the recruit should be buffed, or for everything else to be buffed around the downside of having to play the recruit if you die without scoring a kill, the TaleWorlds community will be up in arms about anything that involves taking away a source of free kills because god forbid that you give a fighting chance to every possible faction matchup. If i'm perfectly honest, the faction balancing in Bannerlord and the community's insistence that it should remain unbalanced is the main reason why I think BL MP is a lost cause, but there are a couple more problems
Battle Mode
I feel like this mode is more or less an anachronism due to the gold system in Bannerlord vs the gold system in Warband. From what I remember of WB MP, Battle is more or less a medieval version of Counter-Strike's Fight Yard mode, where you have only one life and the more kills you get before dying, the more cash you can spend on the next round. I don't think this necessarily works with Bannerlord's class/perk system and if anything, I think a one life mode actually makes Vlandia better, while Sturgia, Aserai, and Empire are much worse than they are in other modes. Meanwhile, Chivalry 2's counterpart lets you use your favourite loadouts even if you consistently die without scoring a kill
Siege mode
On paper, it could've been a better "big battle" experience than Chivalry 2's Team Objective mode, since you could theoretically have 50v50 battles, and I can tell you that such a packed server can be a lot of chaotic fun. However, said fun is often ruined when a group of players are in a private group chat on Discord, and one of the "defending" players coordinate with whoever's on the attacking team to make some backcaps that'd normally be impossible without the attacking players having spies on the enemy team, and no one seems to notice said spies fast enough to initiate a votekick. I think what could've fixed Siege Mode is if you had to capture A/B/C before capturing D/E/F before capturing G (although some maps would need to have a "not required" or "always capturable" flag on specific points). Fortunately, i think even the few players left in Bannerlords multiplayer seem to agree that Siege mode is poorly implemented even considering a lack of sanity on their end.
Conclusion
Between TaleWorlds intentionally making things unbalanced and a community that is adverse to anything that threatens their ability to farm free kills, I don't think it should come off as a surprise that people would rather install the Epic Games Launcher if it meant playing a better medieval PVP game. Hell, Chivalry 2 has been on Steam for a year, so "I'm loyal to Steam" is no longer a valid reason to keep playing Bannerlord's multiplayer. Heck, since Chiv2 has been on Steam for a year, I think there was plenty time for TaleWorlds to improve upon the multiplayer mode in an attempt to stay relevant but again, between intentional imbalances and a community that wants to keep farming for their free kills, I think there's really only one thing that can be done for Bannerlord's multiplayer.
I think TaleWorlds should actually try and strike a deal with Torn Banner Studios and Tripwire Interactive LLC for an indefinite crossover promo between Bannerlord and Chivalry 2, with two tiers and an additional loyalty reward independent of said tiers:
Bannerlord promo
Requirement: Simply own both Bannerlord and Chiv2 on Steam. We could even have a Bannerlord/Chiv2 bundle for this. Could include some lower-tier cosmetics based on Calradia's countries to wear in Chivalry 2
Bannerlord loyalty
For people like me who have wasted too much time on Bannerlord and want to have something to show for that time wastage, in the form of extra XP to allocate between classes in Chiv2, and some higher tier cosmetics based on Calradia's countries
The True Butterlords
An independent third tier that you can simultaneously have with both Promo and Loyalty tiers (If you never played BL MP but own Chiv2, you'll have Bannerlord Promo/Butterlord). This is the tier intended for people who have owned Bannerlord and Chiv2 prior to the creation of a crossover bundle. Includes the following helmets to wear in Chiv2:
Agatha: Death Mask of King Harlaus
Mason Order: Death Mask of Sanjar Khan
Tenosia: Death Mask of Sultan Hakim
Given the nature of my suggestion, i think this would require Taleworlds to actually shut down their multiplayer mode, although they could have a 6 month grace period to earn Bannerlord-themed cosmetics to wear in Chivalry 2, or be stuck with silver tier cosmetics come server shutdown. After said shutdown, I think TaleWorlds can afford to the master server up and running for a year to allow players to import their Bannerlord progression to Chivalry 2.
And because we all know that there's enough of a following for Mount&Blade for a potential third game, I think TaleWorlds should just make Chivalry 3 the M&B3 multiplayer at an official level.
For the record, me saying "euthanize the multiplayer dog" is not me wanting TaleWorlds to focus their efforts entirely on a singleplayer game, but rather disappointment towards a huge time sink that has nothing to show for it, even when the competing game is no longer tied to a universally loathed game client. As for why I am posting this in the general Bannerlord forum instead of the multiplayer one, it's clear to me that the current MP userbase cares only about farming free kills from weak units and/or playing as overpowered units themselves. The complete removal of multiplayer will not only free up development time for singleplayer updates, but I think the combining of a termination of service with the crowning of another game as the official replacement will force the current multiplayer userbase to a game where they will actually have to work for their wins instead of treating a PVP game as an outlet to stroke their fragile ego.
Archers
I think the biggest and easiest problem to mention is how overpowered archers are in BL MP. I know more often than not, players have enough honor to not spam the ever loving **** out of them, though I've also seen my fair share of games where a disproportionate quantity of archers can be used as a valid substitute for individual player skill, and is made even worse when arrows have a nonzero chance of penetrating shields. In cases like these, the only forms of counterplay against an all-archer team is to be an archer yourself, or quit the game and play Chiv2 instead cuz that game has archer limits (16% specifically).
I know there are other problems in BL MP besides archers, but I think that if class limits were a thing for server hosting tools (and a similarly strict limit on archers for TaleWorlds servers), I'm pretty sure that would've kept at least a decent chunk of people in the game, rather than install the Epic Launcher for what actually is a medieval PVP game instead of a third person shooter dressed like one. I know i've said this multiple times, but Gundam Evolution exists if i wanted to play a shooter.
Factions
One big gripe I had with Bannerlord's balancing that I personally never experienced with in Warband is how factions are balanced... or should I say imbalanced. Similar to singleplayer, we have Vlandia, Battania, Khuzait, Aserai, Sturgia, and Empire. Yes, I can understand that trying to balance a PVP game around these different factions would be a difficult undertaking, but I've played this game long enough to believe that some of the imbalances are intentional design decisions.
I doubt there's a sane person left that's still playing Bannerlord's multiplayer, but for when those folks stuck around before giving up on BL MP, it's apparent to me that no one really liked playing against Vlandia due to a lot of good things they have going for them: their peasant has the best mace in the game, the Voulge may as well be a 2h blunt weapon, and it's faster than both mauls, they're better at spamming archers than other factions, and their cavalry are almost impossible to kill.
Meanwhile, Aserai has very few options in countering enemy armor, and Sturgia has even fewer. Khuzait v Aserai is arguably the fairest fight I can think of, though when either Aserai or Sturgia is up against Battania or Vlandia, you can guess who will win when heavy armor is pitted against a woeful lack of blunt weapons.
And if we wanna really scrape the bottom of the barrel for a lack of game balance, let's look at Empire! At a glance, they seem to be an overwhelmingly average-performing faction. However, they've got one fatal flaw behind their apparent adequacy: their 100 cost unit, which is honestly the absolute worst in the game and I don't know how far off the deep end you have to be in order to defend their terribleness.
Imperial Recruit
Yes, I get it. The Calradian Empire has such a massive army that they have a lot more soldiers than they have the equipment and other resources they need to properly equip and train them, so they instead rely on sheer force of numbers to overwhelm the stronger grunts of other factions. The biggest problem of designing a faction around this is that in a multiplayer game, both teams are often expected to have even headcounts, so designing around "strength in numbers" is automatically a bad idea. However, the fact that the recruit remains as unplayably bad as they've been since 2020 has me convinced that TaleWorlds intended for the Empire to have the downside of "ragequit if you die as this unit" when playing as non-Recruit units.
Regardless if you suggest that the recruit should be buffed, or for everything else to be buffed around the downside of having to play the recruit if you die without scoring a kill, the TaleWorlds community will be up in arms about anything that involves taking away a source of free kills because god forbid that you give a fighting chance to every possible faction matchup. If i'm perfectly honest, the faction balancing in Bannerlord and the community's insistence that it should remain unbalanced is the main reason why I think BL MP is a lost cause, but there are a couple more problems
Battle Mode
I feel like this mode is more or less an anachronism due to the gold system in Bannerlord vs the gold system in Warband. From what I remember of WB MP, Battle is more or less a medieval version of Counter-Strike's Fight Yard mode, where you have only one life and the more kills you get before dying, the more cash you can spend on the next round. I don't think this necessarily works with Bannerlord's class/perk system and if anything, I think a one life mode actually makes Vlandia better, while Sturgia, Aserai, and Empire are much worse than they are in other modes. Meanwhile, Chivalry 2's counterpart lets you use your favourite loadouts even if you consistently die without scoring a kill
Siege mode
On paper, it could've been a better "big battle" experience than Chivalry 2's Team Objective mode, since you could theoretically have 50v50 battles, and I can tell you that such a packed server can be a lot of chaotic fun. However, said fun is often ruined when a group of players are in a private group chat on Discord, and one of the "defending" players coordinate with whoever's on the attacking team to make some backcaps that'd normally be impossible without the attacking players having spies on the enemy team, and no one seems to notice said spies fast enough to initiate a votekick. I think what could've fixed Siege Mode is if you had to capture A/B/C before capturing D/E/F before capturing G (although some maps would need to have a "not required" or "always capturable" flag on specific points). Fortunately, i think even the few players left in Bannerlords multiplayer seem to agree that Siege mode is poorly implemented even considering a lack of sanity on their end.
Conclusion
Between TaleWorlds intentionally making things unbalanced and a community that is adverse to anything that threatens their ability to farm free kills, I don't think it should come off as a surprise that people would rather install the Epic Games Launcher if it meant playing a better medieval PVP game. Hell, Chivalry 2 has been on Steam for a year, so "I'm loyal to Steam" is no longer a valid reason to keep playing Bannerlord's multiplayer. Heck, since Chiv2 has been on Steam for a year, I think there was plenty time for TaleWorlds to improve upon the multiplayer mode in an attempt to stay relevant but again, between intentional imbalances and a community that wants to keep farming for their free kills, I think there's really only one thing that can be done for Bannerlord's multiplayer.
I think TaleWorlds should actually try and strike a deal with Torn Banner Studios and Tripwire Interactive LLC for an indefinite crossover promo between Bannerlord and Chivalry 2, with two tiers and an additional loyalty reward independent of said tiers:
Bannerlord promo
Requirement: Simply own both Bannerlord and Chiv2 on Steam. We could even have a Bannerlord/Chiv2 bundle for this. Could include some lower-tier cosmetics based on Calradia's countries to wear in Chivalry 2
Bannerlord loyalty
For people like me who have wasted too much time on Bannerlord and want to have something to show for that time wastage, in the form of extra XP to allocate between classes in Chiv2, and some higher tier cosmetics based on Calradia's countries
The True Butterlords
An independent third tier that you can simultaneously have with both Promo and Loyalty tiers (If you never played BL MP but own Chiv2, you'll have Bannerlord Promo/Butterlord). This is the tier intended for people who have owned Bannerlord and Chiv2 prior to the creation of a crossover bundle. Includes the following helmets to wear in Chiv2:
Agatha: Death Mask of King Harlaus
Mason Order: Death Mask of Sanjar Khan
Tenosia: Death Mask of Sultan Hakim
Given the nature of my suggestion, i think this would require Taleworlds to actually shut down their multiplayer mode, although they could have a 6 month grace period to earn Bannerlord-themed cosmetics to wear in Chivalry 2, or be stuck with silver tier cosmetics come server shutdown. After said shutdown, I think TaleWorlds can afford to the master server up and running for a year to allow players to import their Bannerlord progression to Chivalry 2.
And because we all know that there's enough of a following for Mount&Blade for a potential third game, I think TaleWorlds should just make Chivalry 3 the M&B3 multiplayer at an official level.
For the record, me saying "euthanize the multiplayer dog" is not me wanting TaleWorlds to focus their efforts entirely on a singleplayer game, but rather disappointment towards a huge time sink that has nothing to show for it, even when the competing game is no longer tied to a universally loathed game client. As for why I am posting this in the general Bannerlord forum instead of the multiplayer one, it's clear to me that the current MP userbase cares only about farming free kills from weak units and/or playing as overpowered units themselves. The complete removal of multiplayer will not only free up development time for singleplayer updates, but I think the combining of a termination of service with the crowning of another game as the official replacement will force the current multiplayer userbase to a game where they will actually have to work for their wins instead of treating a PVP game as an outlet to stroke their fragile ego.
