Slightly radical idea but what if we got rid of the ability to get bonus damage on backstrikes for supports? Warlocks and sorcs are definitely spawned en masse and it's not out of the kindness of their hearts to heal. I also think it's not a coincidence that the top two factions have supports who can wreck face in melee right now. Just a thought. Hopefully this doesn't look stupid as I'm typing this on my phone haha
You know what is funny? Painboyz cant do backstabs :/. But I think that first we need to check out if the melee system is working. Then also we should check if it is ok to carry a high penetration weapon (even if it breaks fast) for such a low cost. Nerfing the backstab seems like no impact for me.
I agree with the points you raise about the two support classes but I don't know if removing the backstab bonus will do anything to reduce the spamming of these classes. Whilst they can support and go toe to toe with dedicated melee classes I don't know what will stop them being spammed
As much as I hate dying to back stab, I feel it's important. It adds another layer of depth to the rather shallow melee system we have now. With back stab dmg, players try to position themselves, wait to counter, and plan to attack from the back for extra damage. If you take this away it will only make melee less fun and much simpler. Warlocks and Sorcs can be troublesome but I don't think taking away back dmg is a right direction to move in. They and everyone else should be rewarded for landed a back attack. It also causes more situational awareness.
I don't think we need to nerf the melee support classes. The sorcerer, for instance, already has to balance gear costs across a wide variety of items and can't specialize as far into the melee or defensive stat focus as a strict melee player can. On top of that, this game seems to be going with providing support through combat medics rather than through dedicated healbots, which in my opinion is a much better strategy than making characters who are really good at healing and nothing else. It certainly gets more supports onto the field and makes their jobs more interesting and varied to play. Essentially, I think you're trying to solve a non-issue. EDIT: oh, and don't forget the space-wolf apothecary. He's got a Mace, and yet space marines aren't miraculously wrecking face.
Bear in mind which faction you're talking about. For every decent player, we've got three brainless lemmings trying to be SPESS MUHREENS. THE EMPRAH'S FURY.
Even with that broken fire mace the only thing they can win is a high blood pressure for the amount of salt the got.
