There's some reason for not having all 4 melee weapons (knives, swords, axes and mauls) with the same attack speed? I mean... give axes a better strong attack or more penetration, give maces a better impact damage so they broke other weapons faster and give swords more durability because they're crafted to parry. There is not need for an "attack speed" balancing...
A few observations and experience from other games with melee combat. 1. Speed advantage for Eldar = built in gap closer for melee archetypes as well as a built in escape technique. That's huge, gargantuan, for melee archetypes in any game. The lack of a definitive "Special" ability like a gap closer or something else(anything!) for non shield bearing Ork, LSM and CSM Ground Assaults is killing the viability of the archetype. 2. Perhaps it's just me but from the front, coming at me, I cannot tell Eldar animations apart until AFTER they've fired. A wind up for a bash looks like a wind up for a strong attack looks like the wind up for a fast attack. Just because their animations look different AFTER they've fired... whoop dee doo. I can clearly see the tell tale signs of an incoming bash, strong attack, or fast attack from a LSM or CSM playing. Vs Eldar the split second you see that shoulder roll back a bit, all three animations are too similar and give Eldar a bit of an unintended advantage in RPS. Even Orks are somewhat vague, but it's barely just enough to see coming. I'd really like to see both Ork and especially Eldar "tells" for their RPS moves to be distinctly more different than what we're currently seeing. 3. Perhaps I'm taking crazy pills but I can hear a strong attack spamming Banshee coming from across the room. AFter I've watched them spam Strong Attacks vs a would be basher(to the basher's demise) I counter with fast attacks and by god if that first incoming strong attack doesnt stun me regardless if I rolled the correct counter.
On paper and in theory exclusively. In practice, when LSM will run 10 meters, Eldar will run 11. Hardly any difference, however 3-4 additional bolter shots DO make a tremendous difference. Matter of inexperience with the faction, the animations are as transparent as from other factions, but you won't know that until you play as them and learn them. That's what happens when you're off your meds. RPS works ok, banshee isn't excluded in any way.
I like this idea, but the specifics are off. Presonally, I'd go with the Sword having no bonus, with Axe and Mace being +100 LP, and getting improvements to damage or impact respectively. Eldar swords would then be effectively "o LP Axes", because Eldar get bonus damage.
I mean. Considering that the only option Eldar have for melee classes is sword. What's wrong with ours being more powerful? We don't have the option to use axes, mauls or powerfists. Hell I think I'd trade the extra damage for a wider variety of melee weapons. Scorpian's Claw.. pleeeaaasseeeee. It's pretty annoying to see LSM swimming in toys but pointing at one of ours and saying "that one is better".
Well here's another question: Why is it that MC force weapons have +15 charge, but no bonus durability? Or is that just sort of a place holder until we get the proper choice between Force Staff (power maul) Force Sword (power sword) or Force Axe (power axe) with equivalent stats?
Interesting topic, but I have a different question. Should all Iratus threads be automatically locked?
Anyone else remember when Combat Knives would drop a Marine in 'bout two hits, or when you could actually kill a melee specialist with it without being SUPER SKILLED. Those were good times. I would hang out around corners and knife the crap out of people. Personally, I would really, really, really hate to see any kind of mechanic implemented that forces ranged classes to melee with melee specialists. I purposely went out of my way to choose a rifle over a pistol and dedicated melee weapon because I intend to use it as much as I can. If I want to shoot some guy swinging a sword at me in the face, I should be allowed to do that, and it turns out that's the way to go about it in a world that adheres to any semblance of logic or reason. I shouldn't have to play his game at a severe disadvantage. The damage debuff one is the worst idea out of all of them, because you really can't make that make any kind of sense. Getting stabbed or chopped doesn't suddenly make my gun less deadly. That's not how it works. Melee should be a higher risk, higher reward thing. You should have to be smart and play well to be successful with it. The day you can just charge across open terrain straight at someone with a gun, actively shooting you, and expect to come out on top, is the day I finally lose faith in this game (I haven't yet, crazy huh?).
I agree in general that melee weapons should have the same damage stats across the races. I honestly thought they were, but that explains how I can get so many melee kills on Hawk (other than the fact that 90% of my melee attacks are from behind as a Hawk). @Garden_Heater Currently swords are absurdly more powerful than other melee weapons, so until the issue of swords being too powerful is resolved properly, it's not really a disadvantage. As for Eldar being physically weakest, you could easily argue that skill and precision is much more important when it comes to ability to kill. You could safely argue that Eldar's precision is what grants them higher damage, or some fluff. Best to leave lore/background/fluff reasoning out of the argument, since it's completely subjective.
