Indeed the shield bash and taunt situation will have to be resolved eventually. Maybe tweaking them a bit and moving around. Shield bash could be made t2 in def instead of 9lives(had not it triggered once) or instead of fortified mind. Or just simply remove them alltogether and get some other utility perks up.
Sure you won’t be able to do the “standart tank” thing without taunt, but i’m realy not sure if it’s needed at all. The few times I used taunt made no visible difference, so just dropped it and all is very fine without it.
The problem is that at this moment there are 2 stronger perks (bags and path) 1 medium (student) and 3 useless compared to the others. Now if the strong ones (relatively strong) will get nerfed then the whole utility tree will fall. There will be less reason to go there, even tho I personally find it quite nice especially the t2 t3 perks. And no, don’t think that “rally” perk makes them all invalid instead as of now it seems to be a strong addition to the t2 skillset. And to me the utility is overall still better than the def tree while being around the same or not much weaker than the offense. But that’s how I play, having some pure damagers and some long combat types works out agains all the enemies while had only use for 2 t2 def skills and 2-3 t1.
I disagree, it’s still useful to 2-handed-weapon users – it’s just that they can only have the shield up after attacking every other round, as opposed to every round as before the change or with your suggestion. It also enables an archer to draw both a melee weapon and a shield and still attack, use an ability, or move during a single turn.
Starting with a 2h, lets say the enemy closes in, my turn. If I hit with the 2h I can switch to the shield after(6+2). But my next turn I will be able only switch back to 2h and hit(2+6). Not being able to switch back to the shield. That makes you shielded every other round if for some insane reason you decide to cycle through. But yes as is it allows archers to switch to 1h and shield and do an 5ap worth of action. The only one who benefits atm from this skill are archers. Now it’s not hard at all avoid situations when the enemy closes in with an archer. Making them extremely rare. Making the whole skill quite useless. You could say “Hey the broken weapon switch is still cool” and you wouldn’t be wrong. Unfortunately it is even more rare that BOTH weapon and the shield breaks at the same turn, and even then the difference(between skill and no skill) is only one action. It’s hardly arguable that a battle will usually depend on that exact one action. All these things are situation specific. Making the skill rare sitiational only. You gain more by chosing almost any other skill, this one is a waste. Still yes, it was owerpowered. In my opinion a balance still has to be found.
If you combine it with Bags and Belts, you can carry 4 crossbows (plus a melee weapon) and fire off 4 bolts in 2 rounds. If you don’t have Quick Hands you can still fire 3, but Quick Hands also enables you to switch to and load an unloaded crossbow in a single turn so you can perform the technique again later in the battle, if you happen to have a turn where you don’t have a decent shot. Those crossbows can also be fired in melee range if necessary, unlike bows. Before the change, you could’ve fired all 4 bolts in a single turn.
That is a walid point up till you can fire 4 xbow in 2 turns. To reload an xbow you still need 7 points. So after the first barrage you will need 4 rounds to reload all and be able to shot again. You will not do that. No one will. It is way simplier to fight with only one after the initial shots.
And yes before you could fire up to 4 xbows in the very first round, and again I don’t say it is ok. Even so it is not that big of a difference considering it is a once per battle barrage.
Why would it work as a free swap per turn and after that all others for 2? Because this way the xbow shot and switch to melee, the javelin throw and switch, the billhook switch and hit become valid again. Well not so much the hook one it still can be done. But now the javelins that I was using constantly with all chars having quick hands and the xbow shot even if I did only one are no more a valuable tactic. With the change a very nice mechanic of the game got destroyed. Why would it become valuable again if you will have to pay for a 1h and shield still 2ap? Easy, for the specific builds with 2h or only a 1h light assaults. There is nothing better than the light assaults circling around throwing javelins then switch to their primary and hit the enemy in the back.
You will be able to shot 3xbows the first turn yeah, then one more and switch to 1h and shield. You will still need 7ap to reload, and you still will use this barrage tactic once per battle. Now just to mention, no one is forcing you to use it at all, I don’t use it for example just because don’t like it. But I do use the one xbow or javelin and then swtich with my shieldwall dudes. Still in my eyes it is way less a problem than not being able to use nice game mechanics that proven to work and be emersive. Even if you look at the history, it is not uncommon for mercenaries use the shot xbows till the enemy aproaches into melee.
Unfortunately making all swaps cost 1ap will not work. It will result in same as it was before the nerf.
