User blog:Thousand Troops/The Warrior is not an Advanced Vocation

When someone thinks of the word "Advanced", generally a few terms come to mind, depending on what is being described as advanced. Some of those terms include "greater than", "better than", "more skilled", "more intelligent" "moving forward". You would never use the terms "worse than", "less than", "less skilled", "moving backward", etc, to explain the word Advanced.

Now while the Warrior is more "advanced" in certain aspects relative to the Fighter, as a whole I would argue that that is not the case. The Warrior to me feels more like a step back, then an "advance". The Fighter is faster in all aspects, capable of using the same armor, is better able to mitigate damage (shield and higher PhysDef stat), and better suited to clinging to enemies. The Fighter also does not need to rely on "charge time" skills as much as the Warrior.

The fact that the Warrior feels like a step back relative to the Fighter is somewhat perplexing. Afterall, the Ranger and Sorcerer feel like advanced forms of the Strider and Mage respectively. Both can use the same weapons as their base vocation, plus exclusive weapons for their own vocation. '''Both expand upon and improve the skills and abilities introduced by their base vocation. This isn't the case with the Warrior, it's closer to a vocation all it's own, and has little to do with the Fighter.''' All other vocations match up with their Hybrid, Advanced, or Base versions, but the Warrior is more like a tacked on Vocation and not as relevant to the others.

Here are the reasons why I feel the Warrior suffers as an Advanced Vocation:
 * Slowest attack, evasion, and foot speed of all Physical classes
 * Despite the long reach of the sword/hammer, the Warrior is often so slow and enemies so quick and evasive, that swinging at the air or pounding the dirt are common aspects of Warrior combat.
 * While able to soak up loads of damage and not get knocked around as much, the Fighter/Assassin/M.Knight are able to stop damage all together with their shields, and the Strider/M.Archer/Ranger/Mage/Sorcerer can remain far enough away so as to not get hit. Obviously every class is going to get damaged, but the Warrior has to be in the thick of it and has no means of blocking, which makes them unique in that regard.
 * Despite the above requirement of the Warrior, they do not have the higest PhysDef stat, and their HP stat is barely better then the Fighter. Honestly I would gladly take a reduction of 3 HP a level, if I can get a extra 1 PhysDef a level (as the case is with the Fighter).  Couple this with the Fighters ability to block, and that 3 extra HP a level for the Warrior looks stupid.
 * While the Warrior's weapons are typically a little bit stronger then Swords and Maces, they aren't that far off enough to make up for the lack of speed inherent in the Warrior. If the fighter can land three hits on an enemy in the time it takes a Warrior to land one, then suddenly the Fighter is the one doing more damage regardless of weaker weapon.

I think the Warrior should be changed to "Swordsman", a class which is more akin to a Samurai. Some tweaks would be:
 * Wields the normal swords used by Fighter/Assassin/M.Knight in two hands, and has Skills directly related to two handed swordsmanship.
 * Has a handful of unique two handed weapons (like a Katana or Claymore), exclusive to the class. This would be similar to the Ranger being able to use Long Bows.
 * Reduce their ability to take as much punishment as the Warrior, but allow them to block and parry with their sword to make up for the lost soaking skills.
 * Allow them to wear heavy armor like the Fighter/M.Knight, and light armor like Assassin/Strider/Ranger/M.Archer.
 * Give them a speed comparable to the Fighter, and health and PhysDef comparable to the M.Knight.
 * Give them a a strength stat higher then the Fighter

Regardless of a new class being made in place of the Warrior, it's still clear to me that the Warrior is not Advanced relative to the Fighter and needs some tweaking.