1-handed weapons
Primarily, the 1-handed weapons have been given their modifiers, and some have received some other changes as well. The new stats for every weapon are below, with stats that weren't changed in italic.
Dagger
max damage at q250: 138
max speed: 60 hpm
weight: 7 to 3.5 kg (formerly 4 to 2 kg)
dodge: 0 to +20
parry: -20 to 0
adv dodge: 0 to -20
adv parry: +20 to 0
1H sword
max damage at q250: 367
max speed: 39 hpm
weight: 8 to 4 kg
dodge: -10 to +10
parry: -10 to +10
adv dodge: +5 to -15
adv parry: +10 to -10
1H axe/mace
max damage at q250: 441
max speed: 34 hpm
weight: 8 to 4 kg
dodge: -10 to +10
parry: -15 to +5
adv dodge: +5 to -15
adv parry: +15 to -5
1H spear
max damage at q250: 303
max speed: 44 hpm
weight: 8 to 4 kg
dodge: -5 to +15
parry: -20 to 0
adv dodge: +15 to -5
adv parry: +5 to -5
So what do all these numbers mean? Firstly they mirrored the 2H weapon change onto the 1H ones, with spear getting 20% less damage and 10% more speed just like pike, and 1H axe&mace getting 20% more damage and 10% less speed like their 2H cousins. As for the modifiers, 1H weapons are now better at hitting dodging opponents (while 2H weapons are better at hitting parrying opponents). Also, the 1H sword, axe and mace now allow for both dodge and parry modifiers to be positive, meaning they're still viable in dodge mode as well as parry mode. Dagger and spear on the other hand, have much better dodge modifiers than parry modifiers nd are clearly meant to be used in dodge mode primarily.
Bucklers
To supplement the dodge weapons, bucklers can now have up to +20 dodge as well. So a versatible 1-hander could carry both a +20 dodge buckler and a +30 parry shield and switch between them as the battle demands.
Buckler
Dodge: 0 to +20 (formerly -5 to 0)
Parry: 0 to +20
Protection: 7.9% to 11.9%
Shield (unchanged, but for reference)
Dodge: -10 to 0
Parry: +10 to +30
Protection: 15.9% to 23.9%
2-handed weapons
Some of the modifiers on 2H weapons have been changed as well:
2H sword
weight: 12 to 6 kg
dodge: -20 to 0
parry: 0 to +20
adv dodge: +30 to +10 (formerly +20 to 0)
adv parry: 0 to -30 (formerly 0 to -20)
2H axe/mace/pike
weight: 12 to 6 kg
dodge: -20 to 0
parry: -10 to +10
adv dodge: +30 to +10 (formerly +20 to 0)
adv parry: 0 to -20
2-handed weapons are now even worse at hitting dodging targets, I assume to further differentiate them from 1H weapons. Seems a bit overkill to me, but meh. And 2H swords are a little better at hitting parrying targets than the other 2H weapons now, probably the devs felt the 2H sword needed a little boost to better compete with the 2H axe, which is fair enough.
Staffs
And then lastly, mostly as a novelty, the new modifiers for staffs, which seem otherwise unchanged:
1H Staff
dodge: -10 to +10
parry: 0 to +20
adv dodge: 0 to -20
adv parry: seems broken? (better precraft gives a worse postcraft)
This makes staff the only 1H weapon that can have +20 parry, thus allowing the highest theoretical parry, but otherwise doesn't make it any more usefull than it was.
Opinion
Overall, I like these changes. I personally would've done some of the stats differently, like the +15 to -5 adv dodge on spear, shouldn't that just be +5 to -15 like the others? And increasing the weight of daggers that much, that was just unnecesary. But hey, you can't have it all perfect, and I do like the greater variety in the different 1H weapons now, as well as dodge now being a (more) viable alternative to parry in melee. (Aside from the intuitive sillyness of carrying a buckler around actually increasing your chance to dodge, gamemechanically it's fun, and finally gives bucklers their own distinct use!) So thank you, devs.
Suggestions:
- If spear is to be a dodge weapon, it doesn't make much sense that it can't be wielded alongside a dagger while a sword can be. Ideally, just allow all 1H weapons to be wielded alongside a dagger. (And why not alongside a staff too?
) - Gameforge had planned for all weapons to be a different weight as well (ie. axes being heavier and pikes being lighter, thus axes costing more stamina per swing to compensate for their higher damage), but never got around to implementing it because it would be disbalancing without all the modifiers in. Thus the 2H weapons are still all the same weight, and same for all the 1H weapons. Now that the modifiers are in, these weights should be changed as well in order for the weapons to be balanced correctly.
- Is an upgrade planned for the "slow" stanza for maces to bring them on par with bleeding and ignore armor?
- Will the ranged weapons receive their modifiers as well?
