The Weight of the Unarmed Skill

[Gaiadin]

It seems to me that the unarmed skill is being weighted too heavily in terms of its usefulness in the current combat system:

Unarmed: Affects chance to hit while unarmed, as well as chance to avoid damage with Dodge, Combat Meditation, and Death or glory?
Melee: Affects chance to hit with melee weapons and chance to avoid damage with only the shield maneuver.
Marksmanship: Affects chance to hit with bow and arrow.

With this model, an archer is forced to take on two separate skills (unarmed and marksmanship) in order to achieve the same balance of survivability:hit chance that someone using melee gains from a single skill (melee). This imbalance is slightly offset by the fact that much less marksmanship is required to hit, but even so then the Dodge maneuver is still 50% less effective than Shield so to actually achieve the same avoidance rate, the archer needs 50% more unarmed than someone using melee would need in that skill.

My biggest concern, however, is with two-handed weapons. Obviously you aren't using a shield so your melee skill will be of no use to you in terms of avoidance, even though a two-handed axe or sword(should they ever appear) is clearly a melee weapon. So instead you must level your unarmed skill to raise your avoidance while using a two-handed weapon. That seems extremely counter-intuitive.

Finally, my suggestion: Have every maneuver determine its avoidance based on the weapon(or lack thereof) equipped. In other words, if you have a melee weapon equipped, and your combat maneuver is Dodge, it will determine your avoidance based off of Dodge's general formula and your melee skill. If you have no weapons equipped, it will use your unarmed skill. If you have a bow equipped, it will use your marksmanship.

[jorb]

Well aware of all those things and plan to redo the combat system.

[sabinati]

My biggest concern, however, is with two-handed weapons. Obviously you aren't using a shield so your melee skill will be of no use to you in terms of avoidance, even though a two-handed axe or sword(should they ever appear) is clearly a melee weapon. So instead you must level your unarmed skill to raise your avoidance while using a two-handed weapon. That seems extremely counter-intuitive.

the trade-off there is that the b12 axe does a shitload of damage.

[bajuba]

Well aware of all those things and plan to redo the combat system.

high five!

[Gaiadin]

My biggest concern, however, is with two-handed weapons. Obviously you aren't using a shield so your melee skill will be of no use to you in terms of avoidance, even though a two-handed axe or sword(should they ever appear) is clearly a melee weapon. So instead you must level your unarmed skill to raise your avoidance while using a two-handed weapon. That seems extremely counter-intuitive.

the trade-off there is that the b12 axe does a shitload of damage.

Yep. I'm not arguing that it shouldn't have a deficit in the avoidance department, it definitely should (It's harder to maneuver with a giant man-cleaver.) But it shouldn't be called unarmed.

Well aware of all those things and plan to redo the combat system.

Burn!

[kobnach]

Well aware of all those things and plan to redo the combat system.

If you do, please document the new system clearly from the moment it goes live.

[NaoWhut]

And please, help a poor ranger
today, they are becoming an
endangered species in the vast
world of H&H and WE can stop
it. all you have to do is take that
damage on the arrow and give
it a little push! 1,337 damage
more would do... please...
help a ranger or there may never
be the joyful sight of a ranger
raping a bear thoroughly after
successfully trapping the beast in
a carefully planned trap just so
the rare ranger isn't harmed in it's
very own environment!

Please, help a ranger today
OR WE SAIL BY YO HOUSE MOTHA

[XkrikX]

doesnt blaze like to use a bow?

[jorb]

Well aware of all those things and plan to redo the combat system.

If you do, please document the new system clearly from the moment it goes live.

Sounds like a plan. The old combat system was done before we started writing announcement posts.