weapon mastery

[allthesedamnnamesaretaken]

How essential is it to put skill pts into mastery? does proficiency raise MUCH slower without mastery, or should I still be able to level at a reasonable rate? can anyone tell me from their experiences? I don't really want to put any more pts in it unless i'm maxed all proficiencies. Feels like a waste to me

 

[Sturmspawn]

I usually stop at three. I expect to see B&M get a point or two every three battles or so, regardless of 'limits.' I most often play mounted archers - with Master at 3 I still see a point or two every battle going from 140 to 200+. After that it starts to slow down considerably. Below proficiency of about 80, it helps to have master at 2, or so it seems.  Despite assertions with respect to 'difficult' shots making that happen faster, it almost seems more like a count of successful shots within a given battle without scoring the difficulty of them. It's a weird loop - the more proficient you are, the more you get proficiency bumps, until you reach a certain plateau. This is all subjective, of course, and based strictly on .808 - I've never played any other versions. Progressing from 1 to 3, I try to ensure that master exceeds proficiency in my specialty by about twenty, so I can add in XP-generated pro points. After that, I rely soley on battle generated pro points and spend the level jump points on other areas. Of course, I could be doing that all wrong, but I offer the info anyway.

 

[Ingolifs]

I tend to pump it as far as I can. The more weapon mastery you have, the easier it is to gain proficiency through weapon use.

 

[Ingolifs]

No wonder you get lynched all the time.

 

[thesneakster]

I usually put 2-3 in as well. why? because by the time you fill that up.
why? i tend to find that at that stage an extra 100 or more points makes such a small difference it doesn't matter

 

[nunoalves]

usually i cover 180 proficiency points with weapon mastery so i can increase my proficiencies at a decent rate on level up. After that, increasing proficiencies at level up starts getting too slow... one or two proficiency points per level up barely make a difference.
I never noticed any difference on the proficiency gain through combat with or without weapon mastery points. Does this really make a difference? Are there any known formulas or experiments to back it up or is its just a myth?

I always thought it was dependent on damage inflicted and shot difficulty (when applied) and level of the enemy. After a certain amount you gain a proficiency point... this amount increases as the proficiency level goes up.

This is how we can explain gaining 2 or 3 points in polearm proficiency when doing couched lance damage to named heros in the arena for example... we have very low polearm proficiency at the start so the "pool" for each point is filled faster and with such huge amounts of damage we can fill 2 or 3 pools in a row. This doesnt happen with regular fighters so it looks like enemy level enters the equation too...

 

[Merentha]

I max it out at character creation and pump it to 5 shortly thereafter.  The primary gain isn't the increased cap, but rather the increased speed at which you gain weapon proficiency.

 

[nunoalves]

I max it out at character creation and pump it to 5 shortly thereafter.  The primary gain isn't the increased cap, but rather the increased speed at which you gain weapon proficiency.

can this be confirmed? I'm not doubting it... just would like to know for sure

 

[Sturmspawn]

Just so you know - this discussion is also taking place  on
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,20869.0.html
in Zendar Town Square. I have suggested that they move that to here.

 

[barton quint]

Really? I never put any points into it at all.

Give me points in the shield or athletics skill any day.

Really?  What do you do with weapons points when your character levels up?  Do you just have tons of them festering, unused, in your character screen?  I think thats one of my initial reasons for upgrading weapon master... couldn't stand to think of those unused points... 

  And I wonder, what kind of weapon proficiencies does someone with no weapon master points have compared to someone with a high level of weapon master?  My characer is around a level 30 (I think, he's on a different computer) with a WM of 6, and my main weapon proficienies of two handed and crossbow are up to about 300.  (and my throwing prof. is none too shabby at somewhere over 250) I also wonder what difference that makes on the battlefield.  Some people say not much, but my character seems pretty badass...

It certainly does seem like you gain experience proficiency in battles quicker as your WM limit goes up.

 

[An4Sh]

people who say weapon prof doesn't have much of an effect on battles have absolutely no idea what they're talking about.

 

[Master BOB]

It has a relatively big effect, but depending on your personal looking at it, the advantages can be also be relatively unimportant. As Merentha said, the main thing is not the higher maximum, but the speed you increase you proficiencies through fighting. The higher the difference between the maximum (given of WM) and your actual proficiency, the faster it will increase. So it makes sense to increase WM at the beginning, if you increase it at all.
I played some chars with WM 10 and some with only 2, and I must admit, the faster increase of proficiencies is significant. I had a level 25 char with an his main weapon prof high above 400, and another char at level 30 had about 250 at his main skill. So the difference is really big, but the reason why many people say it's relatively useless is the fact, that the weapon prof isn't that important after you reach a certain level. It matters only at the beginning. I tried it out with a melee character and I really didn't have the feeling that 8 more points in WM are significantly helpful. Sure it gives a nice bonus (higher prof is always better), but it's usually not worth the 8 skillpoints you'll have to invest. Especially at higher levels you will fight for every single point, so if you don't want to increase WM for style (as I do), I suggest leaving it to 2-3.