In this thread, I will be discussing every single thing I think is bad about the game, which frankly is a lot at this point. Before doing that I want to introduce myself and explain to you why I feel like I have the right to criticise the game.
I have played the previous game for exactly 2674 hours,which includes all the dlcs, a fair amount of both multiplayer and singleplayer mods and the native game as well. Since the launch of Bannerlord, I have played it for about 130 hours, all of which are in multiplayer. I have around 150 multiplayer wins, only two of them being captain battle. I was a huge fan of the warband combat system and as most of the people who use this forum, anticipated the launch of bannerlord with great enthusiasm. This should give you an idea of why I am making this post, I want this game to be good and fun.
As you might have guessed by now, this post is regarding only the multiplayer and is completely opinion based, so take this with a pinch of salt.
Gameplay Problems
In this section, I will be discussing the problems regarding the gameplay.
Balance
The balance in this game is affected by various systems such as the combat system, classes, maps and horses(this subject deserves it's own thread). I will discuss these systems with the help of the previous game, as bannerlord is the successor of warband.
The combat system:
-It feels clunky, neither fast nor slow. The animations are cool but it doesn't feel right.
-The damage calculations are waaaay off. Sometimes when I've just started my attack and it has no speed it does max damage, but sometimes when it's in the sweet spot it does less damage than when I've just started my attack. I think this has something to do with how the speed is calculated. The calculation of speed needs to be fixed.
-I said before that the animations are cool, but they are just that, cool. So many times when I was playing the game I was fooled by the animations and got frustrated. They need to get clearer.
-The throwing weapons do absurd amounts of damage. I get that they are heavy chunks of wood and metal. Historically and logically their damage makes sense, half of the time. The other half of time, the speed of the projectile is so low that in real life, it would be considered lucky if the projectile even stuck to something. The reason for that absurdity is because the weapons have a fixed damage and the speed effect is often overlooked during the damage calculation process. The speed effect needs to have a bigger role in damage calculation.
-Bugs. There are several bugs that concern the combat system and when they occur they frustrate me. You may, for example, experience a bug when you are doing a chain attack or trying to feint. About %30 of the time, the second attack doesn't start. There are a couple of known bugs and I'm sure someone made a list, so I won't bother listing more.
-Some melee weapons have more range than they visually represent and some of them have less range.
I could write more about the combat system but it would be too long, so I'm just gonna top this off by with one sentence that explains why I think the combat system has these many problems. It just isn't as responsive as warband's system.
This guy did a pretty good job tweaking the combat system, so I would recommend checking this thread: https://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?threads/modified-combat-parameters.394857/ Thanks @Gab, you are a legend.
Classes:
I will start by saying that I do not, one bit, approve of the class system. I think the equipment system of warband was much, much better than the class system we have now, but this has been discussed widely in the past, so I will just put a link the the thread that has the most responses, as the critisism there is great(Couldn't find the thread made by Callum, it's name was something like Class system discussion so if anybody could link that thread, it'd be great, but here's a thread that has 20 pages of replies instead https://forums.taleworlds.com/index...experienced-players-multiplayer-scene.408815/).
The devs have in the past, more than a few times, stated that they have no intention to change back to the equipment system, so I will just critisise the class system. If there was even a slight bit of hope of equipment system being implemented, I wouldn't be wasting my time with the class system.
All the factions will be discussed one by one.
Empire: Overall, a pretty balanced faction. It has a good infantry, a two hander, a skirmisher, balanced archers and decent cavalry. Kudos to taleworlds for this faction!
Vlandia: This faction is very much in the strong side. Their units are cheap and strong at the same time. The infantry is strong, the two hander is ok and their skirmisher is the cheapest in the game. Their crossbowmen have both the biggest shield and the strongest crossbow in the game, even the 110 cost arbelist has more damage than every bow in the game. Their cavalry has the max armor possible in the game, a decent mount, a lance and a big shield. All these traits make Vlandia OP.
Battania: Although they have many advantages, their lack of decent cavalry balances this faction. Pretty balanced faction in my opinion.
Sturgia: This faction is in the strong side even though they lack a decent archer. The main reason for this is the strength of their cavalry and infantry. Their infantry can get to 48 armor, which is only 2 less than the max armor possible, and their axe does more damage and is faster than a sword(don't let the tooltip fool you!). If you don't believe me, here is a comparison of stats:
Overall, I think Sturgia needs a bit of balancing.
Khuzait: I have to say, I have mixed feelings about Khuzaits. Their infantry is cheap and unlike Aserai, isn't absolute trash. Their archers are pretty decent. Their cavalry is balanced, not the best but not the worst by any means. And unlike any other faction in the game, they have dedicated horse archers! Taking all these into account, I am inclined to say Khuzaits are on the strong side as well, but to be honest, I'm not sure. I don't feel dread when playing against them, not like the times I play against Vlandia or Sturgia.
Aserai: I'm gonna go straight to the point, Aserai is trash and strong at the same time. They lack the most basic unit in the game, a playable infantry, yet their skirmishers are a pain in the tushy. Even their veteran archer, with the right perks, can outperform their infantry in terms of melee finesse. Their cavalry has the fastest horse, which says a lot about them. Aserai is completely dependant on the players, if you come across a skirmisher spam, you'll say that it's OP. Personally, I think it's weak.
Maps:
Currently, we have only 3 skirmish maps, which in itself is a problem as playing the same maps over and over gets repetitive real fast. Adding the fact that as all three of these maps are problematic to some extent, it's clear they need a lot of work. I'm not a captain mod player, so I will leave out those maps and only focus on skirmish maps. I am not a map expert so this section will only be superficial.
Xauna: The previous version of this map was fine except some glitches, like being able to get on the roof of a burning building, so Taleworlds decided to fix these bugs by changing the map completely, arguably for the worse. I honestly liked the previous version because how balanced it was, now it feels gloomy and unsure as to what kind of a map it wants to be.
Town Outskirts: This map heavily favors cavalry, as there are too many places where a rider with his lanced couched under his arm can pop out and kill you without you seeing them. The outlay, combined with how OP horses are makes this map outright garbage for the players who want to play archers or sometimes even infantry. If that isn't enough already, this map has many places where you can get stuck and stairs that are buggy when approached from certain angles. This map deserved the overhaul Xauna got.
Trading Post: Overall, this map is the most balanced out of all three, but it is also the most problematic performance-wise. It has the most ridiculous fps drop on Flag A and overall poor fps. It has a map exclusive bug, where sometimes the characters along with some buildings just dissapear(both myself and some of my friends experinced this bug but it's kind of impossible to take a screenshot of that happening owing to the nature of the bug).
Horses:
You might be wondering why I put a subtitle just about horses, but I felt it was needed as horses are currently game-braking.
-Stat-wise, they are just strong. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem as it is known that horses are sturdy animals, but coupled with their other issues, their stats make them even more OP.
-They are almost unstopabble. Countless times I hit them with my spear head on whilst they were charging me full speed, but they just kept coming. I remember when I had an awlpike, the horse was charging me full speed and it was directly in front of me, and I hit it for 105 damage yet it didn't stop. And amateour sketch of the angles from which you need to hit a horse to stop it is as follows:
-The couched lance has no cooldown and is incredibly easy to use. You just need to pick up some speed, press X and most of the times you are guaranteed a top spot on the scoreboard.
-Most horses are too big, which makes hitting the rider a hard feat to pull off.
Technical Problems
A big part of why I currently don't enjoy the game as it is right now has to do with technical problems. I would really love to explain these problems in detail, but I am not an expert of these subjects, so this is just a gross, but clear enough, understatement of these problems
Optimisation:
I really don't have to say more than this: Current optimisation of the game is garbage. This is probably the first thing in the game that needs to be tweaked.
Custom servers:
Right now, there are no custom servers and this situation drasticly reduces the game's replayability. The custom servers in warband provided players with new stuff every server they joined. In bannerlord, there is Captain Battle, Skirmish, and Team Deatmatch(I'm not counting duel because they didn't even bother making a gamemmode for it). Custom servers were the reason I put so many hours into warband, and in an indirective way, made me promote the game. When players play the game for more hours, more people will want to buy the game, which may provide a solution to the matchmaking problem.
Development Process
Before starting, I would like to state that I deeply respect the devs for what they have done and as a Turkish person myself, I am proud of the work they have put up. Having said that, everyone needs a bit of critisism, so here it goes.
-When the game was in the late stages of alpha, the Bannerlord forum became accesible to everyone, not just the players who had closed alpha keys. After that happened, me being so passionate about the game, I started to follow every new thread that was opened, so that I had a clear idea what the game was going to be like. My impression for most of that time was that when the players were complaining about something, the devs were either unresponsive, or didn't listen to the players because they were so proud of their product, they ignored the flavs in it. Here's an example about the class system(which has been the hottest topic forever):
Credit to @Caius_III for the screenshots
Until the game launched, I would dedicate about an hour everyday to reading the new threads ever other day yet the impression the devs left on me didn't change.
-In the first weeks of launch, there were constant updates, which were great and honestly everytime an update launched it felt like a gift from the God. But for weeks now, there hasn't been a single update. I know the pandemic isn't such a big factor in the process because in one of the developer blogs, it was said they could still get the job done efficently while working from home. I don't know what it is, it might just be a big update. But if you don't update your early access game for weeks, it has to be a BIG update, otherwise I'm just going to be dissapointed.
Fun
The last subject I want to talk about the game is the fun aspect of the game. For all the reasons I talked about above, the game just doesn't feel fun, rather it feels like a burden to play. You might be asking why I even play this game anymore but I already answered this question, I want this game to be good and fun.
Conclusion
As I said in the beginning, this is all based upon my experience with the game. If you have something to add or disagree with any of my points, feel free to reply to this thread. Any critisism is good critisism.
I have played the previous game for exactly 2674 hours,which includes all the dlcs, a fair amount of both multiplayer and singleplayer mods and the native game as well. Since the launch of Bannerlord, I have played it for about 130 hours, all of which are in multiplayer. I have around 150 multiplayer wins, only two of them being captain battle. I was a huge fan of the warband combat system and as most of the people who use this forum, anticipated the launch of bannerlord with great enthusiasm. This should give you an idea of why I am making this post, I want this game to be good and fun.
As you might have guessed by now, this post is regarding only the multiplayer and is completely opinion based, so take this with a pinch of salt.
Gameplay Problems
In this section, I will be discussing the problems regarding the gameplay.
Balance
The balance in this game is affected by various systems such as the combat system, classes, maps and horses(this subject deserves it's own thread). I will discuss these systems with the help of the previous game, as bannerlord is the successor of warband.
The combat system:
-It feels clunky, neither fast nor slow. The animations are cool but it doesn't feel right.
-The damage calculations are waaaay off. Sometimes when I've just started my attack and it has no speed it does max damage, but sometimes when it's in the sweet spot it does less damage than when I've just started my attack. I think this has something to do with how the speed is calculated. The calculation of speed needs to be fixed.
-I said before that the animations are cool, but they are just that, cool. So many times when I was playing the game I was fooled by the animations and got frustrated. They need to get clearer.
-The throwing weapons do absurd amounts of damage. I get that they are heavy chunks of wood and metal. Historically and logically their damage makes sense, half of the time. The other half of time, the speed of the projectile is so low that in real life, it would be considered lucky if the projectile even stuck to something. The reason for that absurdity is because the weapons have a fixed damage and the speed effect is often overlooked during the damage calculation process. The speed effect needs to have a bigger role in damage calculation.
-Bugs. There are several bugs that concern the combat system and when they occur they frustrate me. You may, for example, experience a bug when you are doing a chain attack or trying to feint. About %30 of the time, the second attack doesn't start. There are a couple of known bugs and I'm sure someone made a list, so I won't bother listing more.
-Some melee weapons have more range than they visually represent and some of them have less range.
I could write more about the combat system but it would be too long, so I'm just gonna top this off by with one sentence that explains why I think the combat system has these many problems. It just isn't as responsive as warband's system.
This guy did a pretty good job tweaking the combat system, so I would recommend checking this thread: https://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?threads/modified-combat-parameters.394857/ Thanks @Gab, you are a legend.
Classes:
I will start by saying that I do not, one bit, approve of the class system. I think the equipment system of warband was much, much better than the class system we have now, but this has been discussed widely in the past, so I will just put a link the the thread that has the most responses, as the critisism there is great(Couldn't find the thread made by Callum, it's name was something like Class system discussion so if anybody could link that thread, it'd be great, but here's a thread that has 20 pages of replies instead https://forums.taleworlds.com/index...experienced-players-multiplayer-scene.408815/).
The devs have in the past, more than a few times, stated that they have no intention to change back to the equipment system, so I will just critisise the class system. If there was even a slight bit of hope of equipment system being implemented, I wouldn't be wasting my time with the class system.
All the factions will be discussed one by one.
Empire: Overall, a pretty balanced faction. It has a good infantry, a two hander, a skirmisher, balanced archers and decent cavalry. Kudos to taleworlds for this faction!
Vlandia: This faction is very much in the strong side. Their units are cheap and strong at the same time. The infantry is strong, the two hander is ok and their skirmisher is the cheapest in the game. Their crossbowmen have both the biggest shield and the strongest crossbow in the game, even the 110 cost arbelist has more damage than every bow in the game. Their cavalry has the max armor possible in the game, a decent mount, a lance and a big shield. All these traits make Vlandia OP.
Battania: Although they have many advantages, their lack of decent cavalry balances this faction. Pretty balanced faction in my opinion.
Sturgia: This faction is in the strong side even though they lack a decent archer. The main reason for this is the strength of their cavalry and infantry. Their infantry can get to 48 armor, which is only 2 less than the max armor possible, and their axe does more damage and is faster than a sword(don't let the tooltip fool you!). If you don't believe me, here is a comparison of stats:
Overall, I think Sturgia needs a bit of balancing.
Khuzait: I have to say, I have mixed feelings about Khuzaits. Their infantry is cheap and unlike Aserai, isn't absolute trash. Their archers are pretty decent. Their cavalry is balanced, not the best but not the worst by any means. And unlike any other faction in the game, they have dedicated horse archers! Taking all these into account, I am inclined to say Khuzaits are on the strong side as well, but to be honest, I'm not sure. I don't feel dread when playing against them, not like the times I play against Vlandia or Sturgia.
Aserai: I'm gonna go straight to the point, Aserai is trash and strong at the same time. They lack the most basic unit in the game, a playable infantry, yet their skirmishers are a pain in the tushy. Even their veteran archer, with the right perks, can outperform their infantry in terms of melee finesse. Their cavalry has the fastest horse, which says a lot about them. Aserai is completely dependant on the players, if you come across a skirmisher spam, you'll say that it's OP. Personally, I think it's weak.
Maps:
Currently, we have only 3 skirmish maps, which in itself is a problem as playing the same maps over and over gets repetitive real fast. Adding the fact that as all three of these maps are problematic to some extent, it's clear they need a lot of work. I'm not a captain mod player, so I will leave out those maps and only focus on skirmish maps. I am not a map expert so this section will only be superficial.
Xauna: The previous version of this map was fine except some glitches, like being able to get on the roof of a burning building, so Taleworlds decided to fix these bugs by changing the map completely, arguably for the worse. I honestly liked the previous version because how balanced it was, now it feels gloomy and unsure as to what kind of a map it wants to be.
Town Outskirts: This map heavily favors cavalry, as there are too many places where a rider with his lanced couched under his arm can pop out and kill you without you seeing them. The outlay, combined with how OP horses are makes this map outright garbage for the players who want to play archers or sometimes even infantry. If that isn't enough already, this map has many places where you can get stuck and stairs that are buggy when approached from certain angles. This map deserved the overhaul Xauna got.
Trading Post: Overall, this map is the most balanced out of all three, but it is also the most problematic performance-wise. It has the most ridiculous fps drop on Flag A and overall poor fps. It has a map exclusive bug, where sometimes the characters along with some buildings just dissapear(both myself and some of my friends experinced this bug but it's kind of impossible to take a screenshot of that happening owing to the nature of the bug).
Horses:
You might be wondering why I put a subtitle just about horses, but I felt it was needed as horses are currently game-braking.
-Stat-wise, they are just strong. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem as it is known that horses are sturdy animals, but coupled with their other issues, their stats make them even more OP.
-They are almost unstopabble. Countless times I hit them with my spear head on whilst they were charging me full speed, but they just kept coming. I remember when I had an awlpike, the horse was charging me full speed and it was directly in front of me, and I hit it for 105 damage yet it didn't stop. And amateour sketch of the angles from which you need to hit a horse to stop it is as follows:
-Most horses are too big, which makes hitting the rider a hard feat to pull off.
Technical Problems
A big part of why I currently don't enjoy the game as it is right now has to do with technical problems. I would really love to explain these problems in detail, but I am not an expert of these subjects, so this is just a gross, but clear enough, understatement of these problems
Optimisation:
I really don't have to say more than this: Current optimisation of the game is garbage. This is probably the first thing in the game that needs to be tweaked.
Custom servers:
Right now, there are no custom servers and this situation drasticly reduces the game's replayability. The custom servers in warband provided players with new stuff every server they joined. In bannerlord, there is Captain Battle, Skirmish, and Team Deatmatch(I'm not counting duel because they didn't even bother making a gamemmode for it). Custom servers were the reason I put so many hours into warband, and in an indirective way, made me promote the game. When players play the game for more hours, more people will want to buy the game, which may provide a solution to the matchmaking problem.
Development Process
Before starting, I would like to state that I deeply respect the devs for what they have done and as a Turkish person myself, I am proud of the work they have put up. Having said that, everyone needs a bit of critisism, so here it goes.
-When the game was in the late stages of alpha, the Bannerlord forum became accesible to everyone, not just the players who had closed alpha keys. After that happened, me being so passionate about the game, I started to follow every new thread that was opened, so that I had a clear idea what the game was going to be like. My impression for most of that time was that when the players were complaining about something, the devs were either unresponsive, or didn't listen to the players because they were so proud of their product, they ignored the flavs in it. Here's an example about the class system(which has been the hottest topic forever):
Until the game launched, I would dedicate about an hour everyday to reading the new threads ever other day yet the impression the devs left on me didn't change.
-In the first weeks of launch, there were constant updates, which were great and honestly everytime an update launched it felt like a gift from the God. But for weeks now, there hasn't been a single update. I know the pandemic isn't such a big factor in the process because in one of the developer blogs, it was said they could still get the job done efficently while working from home. I don't know what it is, it might just be a big update. But if you don't update your early access game for weeks, it has to be a BIG update, otherwise I'm just going to be dissapointed.
Fun
The last subject I want to talk about the game is the fun aspect of the game. For all the reasons I talked about above, the game just doesn't feel fun, rather it feels like a burden to play. You might be asking why I even play this game anymore but I already answered this question, I want this game to be good and fun.
Conclusion
As I said in the beginning, this is all based upon my experience with the game. If you have something to add or disagree with any of my points, feel free to reply to this thread. Any critisism is good critisism.
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