Never really made it to endgame DAoC in the day but really excited about the start of the server. Tried playing on Uthgard when it relaunched but population died off too fast for me to hit 50.
Any advice for melee players as far as things like useful keybinds/macros/etc?
How quick our your reflexes? Are you willing or capable of switching weapons often? These type of questions will help the good players give you good advice. (not me )
How quick our your reflexes? Are you willing or capable of switching weapons often? These type of questions will help the good players give you good advice. (not me )
I'd say pretty good. ive been playing mobas (league of legends currently) for years now and currently sit around high plat/low diamond (top 3-5% ish) and I tend to think of mobas as high reflex games.
As far as swapping weapons, I havent tried a ton of it, can it be macro'd or is it click/dragging?
I'm gonna end up doing a blades/shield hero. No CS or LW. Need to try something no one else is doing.
If you're looking for a good defensive tank then a Shield BM is also a good choice
Better than hero?
Not better, just.... different. BM has evade, Hero has moose, BM has the triple wield ability for a bit more damage (on a timer). BM also has prevent flight (snare proc).
Hero has prevent flight too and had chain armor. But the point is, there is no pro point playing a shield hero only because the very little defence plus not outweight the dmgpotencial you give up
How quick our your reflexes? Are you willing or capable of switching weapons often? These type of questions will help the good players give you good advice. (not me )
I'd say pretty good. ive been playing mobas (league of legends currently) for years now and currently sit around high plat/low diamond (top 3-5% ish) and I tend to think of mobas as high reflex games.
As far as swapping weapons, I havent tried a ton of it, can it be macro'd or is it click/dragging?
You'll be fine no matter which you choose! I only ask because some people like me have slowed down with age.
Just as a thought: Why don't you consider a warrior in that case? 50 weapon/shield, 28 parry and you could still switch to 2handed whenever you wanted to...
It must be pointed out that limiting yourself to 1h/shield will cripple your defensive ability, since the Hero's spear has an excellent back snare positional style, which is considerably easier to land in practical peeling situations than blade's side snare. BM is an inferior option regardless. Their evasion doesn't come close to matching Hero's scale armor and moose form. You'll still be viable, but they only shine when played to their full DPS potential using dual weapons, which you won't be doing. For that reason, Hero all the way, even if you avoid taking advantage of spear.
Some tips:
Learn qbinds. Example: /qbind 1 5 2 would target whatever ability is in the 5th slot on your 1st page, and the side bar (2). /qbind 1 5 1 would target the default bar at the top of the screen. After inputting the /qbind command, whatever key you click next becomes bound to that key slot. So click tilde (~) for instance, and if slam is on that 5th slot, you can now click tilde instead and execute slam. That's a fine key for it.
Put important instants within hand reach, but out of the way of styles to avoid fat fingering them, like shift+W and shift+E for purge and moose form. I keep bow on C to interrupt, but it's fine binding something else to that, like an instant potion heal. I have my positional snare on 1, /stick on 2, anytime style on 3, and a parry or block reactionary on 4. Roll your fingertips from 4 to 3 when fighting standard face-to-face, queueing the reactionary to execute first. Follow-up and less used styles are 5-10. I keep sprint on the default V key, /face on F, other actives on H J and K. T to /assist, Y to guard. Autorun on Z. Rebinding Q and E is popular, but I value them for quick strafing. B and N are acceptable defaults for switching between 1H and 2H respectively; easily rebound if the distance is uncomfortable.
Also learn how to macro assist. /macro assist /macro as /assist %t That creates a macro to put on your bar. Target someone whom you wish to assist, then click the macro key. It will create a new macro for the target. Drag that icon to your dedicated /assist slot whenever you need to assist someone new.
Oh, and some players abuse out-of-game macros or scripts and won't admit to it. They will have different setups than mine that work well, but aren't actually legitimate on this server, like binding a sequence of multiple actions or styles to a single key. That is furthermore a double-edged sword, so to speak, because sometimes the sequence isn't suitable to the situation.
Even though Pierce has better damage vs Mid tanks I would recommend going as a 50 Shield 50 Blades Blademaster with just enough Celtic Dual for the rear snare (easiest positional to use). Here's why:
Slam incoming target. Then /stick your target. Regardless of Purge, you use Fireblade then Spectrum Blade. Now they're attack speed debuffed for 20 seconds. They're going to run (probably towards your backline). If you are sticking to them then you will automatically be dragged to their rear arc. Now you are behind them. Now you use the /switch macro to swap to Celtic Dual. Now you use Snow Shower to hinder them. Then you can go back to shield if you need to (if they are close to the ones you are protecting) or not (if they are running away) and use the rear Blades style chain which is Revenging Blade to Brilliant Blade. You can use this chain with Shield or Celtic Dual. If you are face to face you can use Fire Blade to Spectrum Blade combo over and over to keep them debuffed and put out some good DPS yourself. If you stay in their rear arc then keep spamming Revenging Blade/Brilliant Blade chain.