I disagree with this part.
The same way swords aren't horse stoppers - but can hurt them (well, not QUITE at the moment, but in theory), spears aren't a main weapon against other infantry - but can still hurt them. Spears by their nature aren't that viable as main weapons, due to them having only 2 attack directions and thus, relatively easy to counter. However, they are still an excellent support weapon in Xv1 situations and groupfights.
Arguably, in the hands of a skilled player, they can even be considered to be too strong, due to them being capable of dealing damage at the very start of their animation and just generally spammable if used well. Granted, in their current state they can be quite unpredictable and do damage when you don't expect them to, but bounce when you do. With practice though, spear+shield becomes an excellent combo for groupfights + anti cav (also, at the moment, not QUITE, but eh). Which, imo, is as it should be.
Why? In real life, spears ARE viable main weapon. In this Game no other weapon does have that many restrictions.
- 2 attack directions, so easy to block
- If the enemy is to close, you bounce. this also varies if you use the top attack or the bottom attack
- sometimes you bounce where you shouldn't and vice versa
- The release is very slow.
- stabs are way harder to land, than swings.
- Because of these points: If packet loss comes in, good luck. Now every hit is gambling.
- Because of this points, feinting is useless because you give your enemy more time to close the gap again. You will bounce and eat the hit
- Shield can block both spear attack directions with a left or right block
and even if you manage all of that, you are doing less damage, than a One handed weapon. Compare that directly to a 2H Weapon. All this, just for 30cm reach, that you lose on the other side? This isn't event remotly balanced.
Also keep in mind, that we talk about grabbing a spear with 2H. Shield and spear is halfway decent. The only thing that has to change there is the minimum required range, and this weird release.
If spears keep like that, they will not be used. How many 2H spear users did you see in your last games? And how many of them could do anything, as soon as you enganged? Hell i have a faible for spears, and even i don't want to play them anymore. Why should anyone, whos not into spears, choose it, if he has to deal with all of this?