Let's talk about the Estoc...

[Matt516]

 

The weapons in PoE should not be more "balanced", if anything they should be more unbalanced. The point is that they should be more diverse, not more alike. They should not be more unbalansed to make one weapon always best and another always worst, but to make them clearly shine under different conditions. I can't think of a game of the top of my head that does this better than PoE so I'm happy as it is, but I'm sure it can be improved further.

Balanced does not mean homogeneous.

You can have different weapons all of which have different areas of specialty, which are still balanced against each other.

 

When each weapon is useful and best in different circumstances, and no one weapon dominates all the others, that's balance.

When one weapon is the best weapon under 90% of situations, that's not balanced.

 

 

Exactly. It's not about them all being the same - it's about there not being an obvious winner. Estoc is the obvious winner. Greatsword is terrible in comparison. Which makes Matt sad, because a Barbarian using Carnage with an Estoc just looks and feels wrong.

[PIP-Clownboy]

 

 

The weapons in PoE should not be more "balanced", if anything they should be more unbalanced. The point is that they should be more diverse, not more alike. They should not be more unbalansed to make one weapon always best and another always worst, but to make them clearly shine under different conditions. I can't think of a game of the top of my head that does this better than PoE so I'm happy as it is, but I'm sure it can be improved further.

Balanced does not mean homogeneous.

You can have different weapons all of which have different areas of specialty, which are still balanced against each other.

 

When each weapon is useful and best in different circumstances, and no one weapon dominates all the others, that's balance.

When one weapon is the best weapon under 90% of situations, that's not balanced.

 

 

Exactly. It's not about them all being the same - it's about there not being an obvious winner. Estoc is the obvious winner. Greatsword is terrible in comparison. Which makes Matt sad, because a Barbarian using Carnage with an Estoc just looks and feels wrong.

 

 

Thats why you go quarterstaff Barb

[Judicator]

 

 

The weapons in PoE should not be more "balanced", if anything they should be more unbalanced. The point is that they should be more diverse, not more alike. They should not be more unbalansed to make one weapon always best and another always worst, but to make them clearly shine under different conditions. I can't think of a game of the top of my head that does this better than PoE so I'm happy as it is, but I'm sure it can be improved further.

Balanced does not mean homogeneous.

You can have different weapons all of which have different areas of specialty, which are still balanced against each other.

 

When each weapon is useful and best in different circumstances, and no one weapon dominates all the others, that's balance.

When one weapon is the best weapon under 90% of situations, that's not balanced.

 

 

Exactly. It's not about them all being the same - it's about there not being an obvious winner. Estoc is the obvious winner. Greatsword is terrible in comparison. Which makes Matt sad, because a Barbarian using Carnage with an Estoc just looks and feels wrong.

 

Eh, my Barb is using an Estoc and loving it.

[tnc]

Estocs and two handed swords are best 2H weapons by far. Estocs give DR and two handed swords have two damage types. Many enemies have high piercing DR and it's the disadvantage of Estocs, but still... Spoilers ahead:

 

The best Estoc in the game is Blade of the Endless Paths. You get it after clearing the Endless Paths!!! I think it's definately in the top five weapons. It gives extra attack speed(1.2) + marked effect (+10 accuracy to an ally attacking the same target) and it's top quality (12 acc. x1.45 dmg). Also 5 DR bypass that estocs have. I believe you can enchant it further. Imo best late game weapons are the ones that give attack speed since it's really hard to get and later on attack speed has the biggest impact on dps. And also endurance leech is really good.

 

There's also 'Drake's Bell' found early in the game, from a bounty quest. It has beast slaying and really effective against Dragons, one of the tougher enemies (maybe the toughest actually, anyone fought that Adra Dragon?) you'll ever face in POE. Btw i just noticed you can charm Drakes easily with a level 1 Druid spell(charm beast). It might even charm bigger dragons, since i think they're also beasts. I think that might need a nerf lol.

[Grand_Commander13]

Estocs and two handed swords are best 2H weapons by far. Estocs give DR and two handed swords have two damage types.

 

The Estoc is actually in a weapon group with the Poleaxe, a two-handed weapon that also has two damage types. A match made in heaven, I'd say.

[tnc]

 

Estocs and two handed swords are best 2H weapons by far. Estocs give DR and two handed swords have two damage types.

 

The Estoc is actually in a weapon group with the Poleaxe, a two-handed weapon that also has two damage types. A match made in heaven, I'd say.

 

 

Yeah but too bad unique poleaxes in the game suck!! There are only four of them and they have the less useful stats such as 'crits can inflict prone' or '%10 hits converted to crits'. Really bad dps-wise!

[Grand_Commander13]

Eh, I make my own stuff.