[POLL] reach weapons

[FantasticFwoosh]

Bottom post of the previous page:

Clearly the answer is reach mobs

I admit I don't have much experience with coding but I'd imagine you could copy and paste some monsters' code and do some modifications to create some variants of existing monsters that might be more range oriented with some slightly different or recolored sprites. One idea that comes to mind,since everyone loves spiders, are jumping spiders. Their code could more or less the same as regular spiders but with the ability to lunge at people one space away from them to bite the shit out of them and possibly tackle them. Their sprites could basically be the regular spiders but edited to look like they've got thicker legs or look a bit hairy

Heeeh? heh?

Well spriting a jumping spider would be difficult because they look a certain way with great big flat faces. This is just something unrelated from my spritedump.

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I've left some comments on the PR about how ashwalkers could create a bone halberd as a spear/axe alternative (axe being close range, halberd being long)

But i dont think a halberd or any reach weapon is going to wreck as much as a KA on lavaland Kor so its completely pointless to be worried about it, it just makes melee roles a little bit lax, and ranged mobs will mean that guns/KA's are going to be mandatory versus those types. For example if a bone halberd has shitty close range damage, its going to get blocked by legion heads all the time.

As far as ruining lavaland with ranged weapons, we've already done it with KA mods, the KA is the staple weapon to kill almost any boss in that PvE enviroment. What i really want to see the with this PR is a new magical loot effect item like a skybulge that strikes out physically but can shoot a projectile/effect while still behaving like a physical staff. (because you rarely ever see wizzes remember they have those things except in a round where everyone gets one)

[ShadowDimentio]

Let us make glass halberds with two wired rods and a glass sheet, leave spears alone.

[Jacough]

I like that Fwoosh. Not sure they should look like actual jumping spiders because let's face it, jumping spiders IRL actually look kind of adorable. These jumping spiders are hell bent on lunging at you and liquifying your internal organs so they should look pretty damn terrifying and intimidating.

What I'd like to see with reach weapons would be for them to be much more awkward and skill based to use than say, a fire extinguisher or tool box. The idea I had and would like to see with the scythe would be for someone engaged in melee combat with it would be to constantly shift stances (primarily wielded vs. unwielded) to keep their opponent within attacking range and potentially parry their attacks while said opponent is probably trying to stay as close as possible to get in hits, backing off when the scythe wielder goes into his defensive stance and trying to bait him into giving him an opening.

As for the claymore and Zweihander what I kind of want to see is a sort open ended approach to how you use it. Do you want to use the claymore one handed so you can have a shield or firearm in the other at the cost of longer click delays which leave you open to attacks if you miss or do you want to wield it two handed so you can get in fast swings at the cost of having significantly less defense?

The zweihander would probably mean giving up your precious back slot if you want to store it so you don't drop it if you slip or some random assistant runs up and disarms you. In the right hands it could serve as a deadly weapon assuming you're precise with your swings due to the longer click delay. Alternatively you could use it as an execution weapon with a taser in one hand and the sword in the other but since it actually requires two hands to swing you'd either need a belt or some way to store that taser or drop it, meaning a belt, armor, or backpack (which in turn would mean having the zweihander in hand at all times and again, stuns and random disarms mean losing it).

[Armhulen]

The spiders should buckle onto you and knock you over, dealing damage as long as it's on you

[PKPenguin321]

What is this about spiders

[Armhulen]

What is this about spiders

I dunno but I like it

[FantasticFwoosh]

I raised the point in IRC, but if a ashwalker tribe is doing well enough to actually afford halberds (or salvage spear addons them from the mining base scrap) then I see no reason not to allow for that for the investment of the weapon being pricey, a very successful ashwalker tribe to hunt co-operatively with halberds to kill a dragon or low level boss.

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The spiders should buckle onto you and knock you over, dealing damage as long as it's on you

It should turn sideways when you're standing up so it doesn't look like the sprite is on your head (kind of a meatspike kind of deal) and more on your front/back. Get ready to disarm & *spin the spiders off wildly.

[PKPenguin321]

Reach weapons seem highly abuseable against AI mobs.

they are already a joke

[Nilons]

I feel like this will throw things so far out of whack, itll fuck with the entire combat system. Imo youd need to build into this change not just introduce it. To not have this be a trainwreck youd need to make gradual smaller changes until the combat meta was something that this would work in, like when you put a goldfish in its bowl you make sure the waters the right temperature. I think the current combat climate wouldnt work with reach weapons.

[DemonFiren]

you should have to choose between reach and flexibility tbh

like the extra range is nice and they're good at stopping charges, but close-range weapons should be faster or be usable without wielding or not slow you down or something fuck if i know