Backpedaling is too slow

[Combine_Kegan]

Now while I'm perfectly fine with how the character's movespeed is affected by your weight limit, I can't say I'm thrilled with the slow backpedaling. It feels so counter intuitive for a game played first person to make backpedaling so useless, this wouldn't be a problem if there was a backhop or at least actual windup animations for enemy attacks, but neither of those are present, so melee combat feels like it quickly boils down to standing your ground with a shield if you have one or just start swinging and praying you have enough HP to outlast your opponent.

Is there anything that can be done about this?

[Cintra]

The combat in this game is based in movement. You need to attack, turn around, run, keep a good position and attack again, repeating it. It's not a static combat xD

[Combine_Kegan]

and that's the problem, trying to backpedal away from monsters is something you really can't do. In a game where movement is so important, the inability to backpedal really hampers your mobility.

And turning your back to monsters isn't really a good idea.

[mistersneak]

But turning your back to the enemy really is a good idea if you can outrun him. In many cases you risk taking another free hit before you get out of range, but you have to decide if it's worth it to up your chances of surviving.
This is a problem of expectations. In other first-person fantasy melee games, doing the "get in > attack > backpedal to avoid being attacked" dance works - and enemies can't really do it back to you. In Barony it doesn't work unless your speed is insanely high (in which case go for it). It is different, and in that way it poses a different challenge than other FPMelee games.

[Combine_Kegan]

The slow backpedal might not be so bad if there was a means to push the enemy back or stun them, I'm aware of the sleep and confusion spells but as a melee guy it seems like your only option in a tight situation is to turn your back and get potentially cut down.

[0 SH00B3RT 0]

Originally posted by Combine_Kegan:

Now while I'm perfectly fine with how the character's movespeed is affected by your weight limit, I can't say I'm thrilled with the slow backpedaling. It feels so counter intuitive for a game played first person to make backpedaling so useless, this wouldn't be a problem if there was a backhop or at least actual windup animations for enemy attacks, but neither of those are present, so melee combat feels like it quickly boils down to standing your ground with a shield if you have one or just start swinging and praying you have enough HP to outlast your opponent.

Is there anything that can be done about this?

I don't mean to come off as rude, but...

Combat in this game is not even based off of movement, it seems more like a D&D game working in real time. Which roughly translates to," you gotta think before you leap." Plus, it's realistic to make backpedaling slow. Picture it like this, you hop back and then they hop forward to close the distance. If you actually want to retreat, you would need to turn a full 180 degrees, or where ever you're going to run, in order to run away.

Now, I'm all for adding an evade ability to dodge enemy attacks, but what I would really like is little combat books to teach you new combat stances, like brawling, protective, aggressive, evasion.

Brawling means, you do more damage with your fists, and take a more damage trying to protect yourself. Everyone starts with brawling. Found in a book called "How to be drunk 101 and look good doing it too."

Protective means, you have a higher chance to block, and a chance to parry or stun the enemy, and lowers the damage from blocking. Found in a book all about defense.

Aggressive, means you do more damage with all weapons, swing slightly faster, take more damaging blocking, but you can shield bash to stun. Found in a book all about offense.

Evasion, means you have a chance to evade melee attacks. Found in a book all about dodging.

Now, my advice to you OP would be to use a shield, block, then attack, and quickly block again.

Increase your AC (Armor Class, which is D&D terms for how much armor you have.)

Increase your Constitution (This is known as Health/Edurance in D&D.)

Figure out a new way to defeat that enemy, like using hit and run tactics, throwing rocks at it's face, using magic, luring it into a trap, etc. You just need to think.

Also, you can charge your melee attack up as to do a critical. Once your weapon starts to shake just a little from the charge, release the button, score critical, enemy dead. I tend to do this, as I go to meet an enemy and it's quite effective, more so if they don't see you.

Happy adventuring.

[Lyite Angel]

I feel like the combat in Barony is like the one in Morrowind, except there seem to be no RNG for hit and damage, which is a shame imo.
I would like to see more dice throwing in Barony. For hit, dodge, damage and block.
Shielding manually should be like a guaranteed block but essentially just for tanking for your teammates, and perhaps the shield takes more damage.

I never go for a melee class in Barony for the reason that it doesn't really seem to work in it's current state. It's just a trade of health, which can be fully avoided when you're ranged.

[PAINWHEEL]

Melee combat needs to be reworked. You can not block-attack-block and can not step aside or roll to dodge. To be able to hitt and run with your back turned you need realy good experience with te game mechanics and lots of attantion and pation. Overlall the melee combat is bad. Very bad and i hate it. So ill never go for melee until its fully revorked.

[lyutkin]

Backpedaling is OK. Its mechanism is a part of combat system. It prevents you not to exploit 'hit-back-hit' tactics.

Originally posted by PAINWHEEL:

... To be able to hitt and run with your back turned you need realy good experience with te game mechanics and lots of attantion and pation.

This.

Originally posted by PAINWHEEL:

Overlall the melee combat is bad. Very bad and i hate it. So ill never go for melee until its fully revorked.

Not its not. You just have to learn it.

[mistersneak]

You really can block-attack-block. Just practice it for more than a minute, you'll find it's very possible.

[Turning Wheel]

Originally posted by Lyite Angel ||GH|| ☭:

I feel like the combat in Barony is like the one in Morrowind, except there seem to be no RNG for hit and damage, which is a shame imo.
I would like to see more dice throwing in Barony. For hit, dodge, damage and block.
Shielding manually should be like a guaranteed block but essentially just for tanking for your teammates, and perhaps the shield takes more damage.

Funny you mention this, because right up until a few weeks before our original release we actually had hit-chances just like Morrowind! We took them out after we disabled them by accident and discovered the game was just way more fun to us that way. Turns out it's more fun to empower the player with real expectations about what they can do, rather than tell them what they might possibly do if the luck of the dice roll is on their side.