iSailor
Recruit
Let's face it: Warband's multiplayer was unbalanced mess. It was OK as an afterthought, but it had two things going for it that really made it a masterpiece. First thing is fashion - let's admit it, we loved customizable equipment because we loved to dress up our virtual murderous doll. The second thing is mod support. Modding allowed various communities tweak the game as they pleased, so they would no longer be restricted to what developers gave them. I know the devs don't read the forums and they will never alter the game in a way that satisfies players if it means sacrificing their own vision, but I felt like ranting on how multiplayer fails on basic levels. These design choices are issues only because we don't have mod support, and I consider then solved in case of Warband.
#1 Ranged weapons
So with the current state of ranged weapons, ranged classes are just better than other infantry units. Why? Because they can deal significant damage with pin-point accuracy at (sometimes very) long distances. If you know how to compensate for projectile drop and travel time, you can pretty much kill somebody across the map. And there's no counterplay to it. You might say: just take a shield. But that's not true, at all. All shield does, is it allows you to close the distance. But once you are close and personal, only then an actual fight begins. Currently, ranged classes are often times well armored and they don't suffer any disadvantages in hand-to-hand combat. Furthermore, using shield telegraphs your swings more, so if enemy player is proficient at manual combat, he will outplay you every time. So to kill ranged player, you usually have to to invest in certain tactic to even engage in actual combat.
My fix: nerf long ranged accuracy significantly, so that shooting at very long distances will be much more random. This way, there will be no more camp-sniping on siege and it will give more realistic impression of a battlefield, where arrows shoot left and right. Archers would still be able to be fairly accurate at close-mid ranges, so that taking a shield would still be a viable choice for closing distance. Also, they should get substantial melee nerf, so that any specialized melee unit will have upper hand in close combat. Moving while reloading should interrupt it - this way archers would no longer be able to walk away and no-scope 360 or hide behind a wall, changing into tactical stationary unit.
#2 Shields
Bannerlord's combat improvements (combos, momentum, feinting, stunning with well-timed blocks) were advertised heavily over the course of development. It's a pity you don't ever have a chance to see them in MP, and it's mostly because of shields. Shields in videogames are well known for making for passive gameplay - good example is Dark Souls series, where gameplay was made much more engaging and faster after shields were less prevalent. Unfortunately, current abundance of shields in Bannerlord MP slows down the gameplay and reduces it to pushing two buttons. Too many classes have shields, and with some of them, you are forced to spawn with one.
My fix: remove shields from many classes, leaving only designated turtle class or maybe one more soldier with optional shield. Another way you can go about the problem is to just nerf shield durability, so that you can reliably break opponent's shield within standard 1v1 situation. Currently there thing's just don't budge.
#3 Horses and spears
This is the most broken mechanic in the game. Right now, horse gameplay is all about riding circles around the map, bumping and impaling random people. There's no thought involved, no skill involved. You literally press left-right to steer and LMB to take that sweet kill, with occasionally being sniped by ranged unit. And unfortunately, there's no counterplay to horses either. In theory, spears should solve the problem, but they don't. Firstly, horses have very weird hitbox and they seem to not register many hits. Secondly, even a well aimed spear often deals puny damage. And third, the biggest problem - cavalry can just ride to the side and avoid the spear completely. And just like that, spears are rendered useless.
My fix: improve horse hitboxes, buff spear damage and most importantly - rework cavalry. I believe horses should have two "modes". First mode would be like it is right now, but the horse would remain much slower and rider wouldn't be able to one-hit impale enemies. The second mode would be the designated "charge" mode, when your horse rides really fast and you can break even close formations at cost of handling. In charge mode, you could deal great damage, but steering the horse would be almost impossible - you would only be able to ride straight. That way, horses would gain tactical significance and could allow for great pushes, but would no longer be able to ride away from a spear, punishing the player that made bad judgement.
#1 Ranged weapons
So with the current state of ranged weapons, ranged classes are just better than other infantry units. Why? Because they can deal significant damage with pin-point accuracy at (sometimes very) long distances. If you know how to compensate for projectile drop and travel time, you can pretty much kill somebody across the map. And there's no counterplay to it. You might say: just take a shield. But that's not true, at all. All shield does, is it allows you to close the distance. But once you are close and personal, only then an actual fight begins. Currently, ranged classes are often times well armored and they don't suffer any disadvantages in hand-to-hand combat. Furthermore, using shield telegraphs your swings more, so if enemy player is proficient at manual combat, he will outplay you every time. So to kill ranged player, you usually have to to invest in certain tactic to even engage in actual combat.
My fix: nerf long ranged accuracy significantly, so that shooting at very long distances will be much more random. This way, there will be no more camp-sniping on siege and it will give more realistic impression of a battlefield, where arrows shoot left and right. Archers would still be able to be fairly accurate at close-mid ranges, so that taking a shield would still be a viable choice for closing distance. Also, they should get substantial melee nerf, so that any specialized melee unit will have upper hand in close combat. Moving while reloading should interrupt it - this way archers would no longer be able to walk away and no-scope 360 or hide behind a wall, changing into tactical stationary unit.
#2 Shields
Bannerlord's combat improvements (combos, momentum, feinting, stunning with well-timed blocks) were advertised heavily over the course of development. It's a pity you don't ever have a chance to see them in MP, and it's mostly because of shields. Shields in videogames are well known for making for passive gameplay - good example is Dark Souls series, where gameplay was made much more engaging and faster after shields were less prevalent. Unfortunately, current abundance of shields in Bannerlord MP slows down the gameplay and reduces it to pushing two buttons. Too many classes have shields, and with some of them, you are forced to spawn with one.
My fix: remove shields from many classes, leaving only designated turtle class or maybe one more soldier with optional shield. Another way you can go about the problem is to just nerf shield durability, so that you can reliably break opponent's shield within standard 1v1 situation. Currently there thing's just don't budge.
#3 Horses and spears
This is the most broken mechanic in the game. Right now, horse gameplay is all about riding circles around the map, bumping and impaling random people. There's no thought involved, no skill involved. You literally press left-right to steer and LMB to take that sweet kill, with occasionally being sniped by ranged unit. And unfortunately, there's no counterplay to horses either. In theory, spears should solve the problem, but they don't. Firstly, horses have very weird hitbox and they seem to not register many hits. Secondly, even a well aimed spear often deals puny damage. And third, the biggest problem - cavalry can just ride to the side and avoid the spear completely. And just like that, spears are rendered useless.
My fix: improve horse hitboxes, buff spear damage and most importantly - rework cavalry. I believe horses should have two "modes". First mode would be like it is right now, but the horse would remain much slower and rider wouldn't be able to one-hit impale enemies. The second mode would be the designated "charge" mode, when your horse rides really fast and you can break even close formations at cost of handling. In charge mode, you could deal great damage, but steering the horse would be almost impossible - you would only be able to ride straight. That way, horses would gain tactical significance and could allow for great pushes, but would no longer be able to ride away from a spear, punishing the player that made bad judgement.
