Swamp Slogger
Posts: 184
Joined: Tuesday, 4th November 2014, 07:22
I want Strength Weight back.
Okay, I understand that it's a fringe mechanic that will only have a substantial effect on a minority of characters, and that it's notation in game had mysteriously vanished over the past few versions... But why remove it? The solution (imo) is to explain it better to newbies, not to take out something that adds a bit of depth to weapon choice.
The change hurts species with a high Dex/Str disparity the most - Ogres, for instance, will be highly affected, as will late game users of Short Blades, of all things... What's the point in this?
Furthermore, the removal leads to silly places; the ideal Quick Blade user is now someone with perhaps enough Stealth to get off a stab, but also as much STR as possible (I guess this makes Shadow Dragon Armor more viable...). The ideal user of a Whip or similar light, fast weapon that's not a Short Blade is just the strongest guy available - stealth isn't even a factor (So, I guess Ogres will use whips?).
To explain my rationale about weapon choice in the new system; a) high attack speed makes STR more important because more instances of damage (think slaying), b) High accuracy means that DEX scarcely helps user offensively, as you will already be hitting due to high accuracy. Similarly, a high dexterity character "ought" to use the heaviest weapon they can get the skill to lower delay on. Big accuracy penalties aren't really an issue - in fact, without them DEX is essentially entirely defensive.
Why? The only reason I can think of is to "not distract new players with something trivial," ("It is better for the Strong" messages were super vague) but is this actually good for the game? Strength Weight is an interesting mechanic, and perhaps the solution is to make Str/Dex play *more* of a role in the effectiveness of weapons (INT is already a major factor in spell damage/power) so that it cannot be considered trivial.