What's your primary melee weapon?

[nillian]

I use 1h Axe. Don't really know why, I Just got one when I started and thought it was cool, been using them ever since. Use a shield with it sometimes, to bump my parry up against the big critters, and as I don't PvP I can't comment on it's effectiveness there!

Besides, I hate melee.

[d29565]

Like Nilli, I hate melee.

But, I still do it for the HP and all. My highest is Long Mace, and I still like it. But I have to say, I've always loved the Long Sword as well. They just didn't have electric swords...really was a tough decision to level 2H mace..*sigh*

[sidusar]

Sword and shield.

I wanted a shield so I'd be as invulnerable as possible while I run across the regions of Atys with cuttler and kincher nipping at my heels. My time is precious, I can't be expected to go all the way around that pack of varinx when it's so much faster to run right through it.

As for the sword, I just liked it best. I recognised a spear would make me a better fighter, and a mace would make me a better tank, but I didn't like them.

Though in kitin invasions like yesterday, I almost regret not having chosen the spear. A sword is nearly completely useless against the hordes of kinrey (60% protection) and kidinak (80% protection). But according to this poll, for every piker/lancer who can ignore their armor we have 5 homins using slashing weapons on them, so at least I'm not alone.

[iwojimmy]

Sword and shield.

I wanted a shield so I'd be as invulnerable as possible while I run across the regions of Atys with cuttler and kincher nipping at my heels. My time is precious, I can't be expected to go all the way around that pack of varinx when it's so much faster to run right through it.

As for the sword, I just liked it best. I recognised a spear would make me a better fighter, and a mace would make me a better tank, but I didn't like them.

Though in kitin invasions like yesterday, I almost regret not having chosen the spear. A sword is nearly completely useless against the hordes of kinrey (60% protection) and kidinak (80% protection). But according to this poll, for every piker/lancer who can ignore their armor we have 5 homins using slashing weapons on them, so at least I'm not alone.

Just like to point out, Pointy weapons cant "ignore" armour, we spend extra effort to penetrate it.. at a cost in hp/stam, and in inferior damage overall..

The max-damage crowd, if they pick their targets for weakness v slash, can kill - and therefore level - faster than the poor general purpose pierce users

(only writing this because the servers are down )

[jared96]

I was unhappy with the weapon changes as implemented some time back as I watched my damage drop by 20% which could mean the difference in a solo fight . Despite the drop, IMO, the best "tank" weapon is the pike. Well if you take the definition of a tank to be the guy who protects the rest of his team the pike's long reach both helps hold multiple aggro and keeps them from inflicting as much damage on you easing the healer's job.

After capping out in pike and making the mage run with the last few levels for for 250 on plods, I was sorely disappointed not to get a pikeman in the group. Once they start cloning I could reliably hold 3 or 4 plods off the mages with a pike and circular attack....5 was not outta the question. I still get at least 1 or 2 PM's a weekend asking "we need you and ya pike" from peeps trekking their n00bs to get tp's in other lands.

Ya wanna take down a boss or do a one on one battle, another weapon might have advantages, but with multiple aggro, to my mind, pike is wep I reaching for first.

[tylarth]

Circular aggro holding is best done with a fast weapon, its not the damage but the hitting, so dagger is best for that, but i far prefer spear (+shield) for tanking bosses + minions, i'm there to hold the aggro while the elem kill the thing in safety in many ways my damage is not that relevant.

[sidusar]

Just like to point out, Pointy weapons cant "ignore" armour, we spend extra effort to penetrate it.. at a cost in hp/stam, and in inferior damage overall..

The max-damage crowd, if they pick their targets for weakness v slash, can kill - and therefore level - faster than the poor general purpose pierce users

Yes, I know ignore armour is a stanza and not an intrinsic part of piercing weapons, but when you're up against 60% or more protection, it's worth it.

Q250 axe: 662 damage at 27 hpm for a total of 17874 damage per minute.
Q250 pike: 441 damage at 33 hpm for a total of 14553 damage per minute.
Axe uses increased damage and bleeding for about 180% more damage, total of 50000 damage per minute. But against 60% protection, only 20000 damage remains. Against 80% protection, only 10000 damage remains.
Pike uses increased damage and ignore armour and does 29100 damage per minute to both.

The max-damage crowd can level faster, but they pay for it when they're up against elite kitin