I agree. It’s the sole and only melee weapon I can live with. I still want the bow to come back into viability for main usage though.
Some players prefer to ignore melee completely, I wont be the only one. But as the testlive is right now, ranged deals ~half the dmg of some melee (40 str -> 90 dmg (68 daggers); 40 accu -> 48 dmg) - and speaking of t1, the crude bow with eighter bone or stone arrows… Even fistfighting deals more dmg. Only exploiting weak AI leaves bow a little, VERY little viability. It’s now probably meant as a finisher, but reality goes more like if someone got you down to 50% HP, one is probably dead already. (Wont be the assassins who will run for their life - they will probably be twohits, but better geared guys who possibly wield 2hand weapons will run out of stamina before they can even start to run. Meaning even daggers (or swords first heavy) would be better in finishing than some bow…
After checking out the new TestLive for 3 hours last night, the combat feels much better.
People really love the daggers for their forwards-movement. I’d suggest adding more forwards-movement to the other weapons as well, including the swords, maces, axes, and greatswords. The spears are fine to not have forwards movement added. The ‘core’ weapons (one-handers) definitely need more forwards movement, in order to catch fleeing (or ‘walk-dodging’) players. This would affect both players and thralls.
Bow damage is contentious, but I feel that it’s the right move. Being in melee range means that you’re exposing yourself to melee damage. If you can deal risk-free damage at range, without being at immediate risk of death, then you shouldn’t do much damage. I agree that there are some people who play primarily with bows. But without risk, there should be little reward.
So long as you can kill small game in a single hit with the Tier-0 bow, then it is good. You’re obviously not going to be very effective against animals with thick hides, such as kappas or crocodiles, until you increase your bow and arrow tier. The Tier-0 bow is extremely flimsy, like a backyard bow. You need to get the Hyrkanian bow, or a similar Tier-1 or Tier-2 bow, before you can say that you’re a serious archer.
There are certain animals that you can hunt for profit, such as deer. But you’re probably not going to make a profit hunting rocknoses using projectiles. For that, you’ve got to come in with a club.
Yes, I agree with your assertions on the update as well. My main gripe still being that truncheons (mace) don’t have enough forward movement or range. It doesn’t feel like the wide swing of the 2h sword is actually doing AOE damage either, as npc’s slightly off center don’t get damaged most of the time.