THE STATE OF BANNERLORD MULTIPLAYER AS OF NOW, ACCORDING TO MY OPINION

So I’ve been playing the multiplayer beta for around 8 hours now and I’d like to share my thoughts and concerns. Disclaimer: I am of course only reflecting on the multiplayer experience.

As of now there I think there are many problems with the multiplayer. But first I will talk about some positive changes.

The graphics: The graphics look great. I don’t agree with some design choices but overall the game looks very good and it is obviously a huge step up from Warband. I especially love the heavy cavalry and the more eastern looking factions like Khuzait and the Empire.Animations: I think the animations have improved greatly and the movement looks less goofy than it did in the previous games.Captain mode: Although it needs some heavy balancing, I enjoy the new captain mode. I’m actually starting to like thecompass in the top of the screen and I use it a lot to find flags or teammates.Performance: This might be a controversial one, as the game does not seem to run well on some systems. But for me it was a nice surprise as the game runs very smooth. (Running a gtx1080 and a I5-6600k.Cavalry AI: Cavalry AI seems really good, they run through units and then fallback to attack again, all on their own.

Now for the problems I have with the game, and unfortunately there are many. From what I’ve seen and played now it seems that Taleworlds does not know or understand what made Warband’s multiplayer fun and what the community actually wanted, as there are many negative changes that I just cannot explain. I have a feeling that Taleworlds was mostly in contact with the competitive scene, which is of course very tiny, and therefore implemented systems to make the game feel more familiar to new players who come from the ever growing range of competitive FPS (matchmaking, stat tracking etc).

By doing this they have destroyed the “character” that Warband has and the character that makes it a fun multiplayer experience. Warband is so much fun because you can join your favorite server, meet people there that you have played with before and most importantly, those players all have their own identity. I have multiple characters with multiple names for every mod or server that I play on and I know that most players have this as well. You can also choose your own equipment which makes your character recognizable on the battlefield. Or you can go naked with only a greatsword, like so many of us do. I like to link you this thread that specifically talks about this problem: https://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,386404.0.html

If this doesn’t change and the matchmaking stays like this I am afraid that the servers will be empty just months after its release. Its only fun for so long to always play as the same dude with the same equipment. I know mods might change this but I’m concerned that they won’t if Taleworlds won’t take the first steps.

But all this is overshadowed by an even bigger problem and that is the combat itself. Just like the changes to the matchmaking/server browsing, I just don’t understand who even wanted this? The combat was always the best part about Warband’s multiplayer, that’s the initial attraction. Why did they have to change it? Nobody asked for this. The biggest problem is of course the swing delay. It is so bad that most people don’t even seem to believe it’s intentional. I keep seeing people complaining about input lag and bad servers. It’s not latency, it’s intentional. The fact that people don’t even want to believe it’s intentional should be enough to convince Taleworlds that this is a bad change. The combat feels slow, unresponsive and it’s simply just not that much fun (compared to Warband). If they wanted to make the combat slower they could have reduced the weapon speed or something, but making a game feel unresponsive is always bad.

I will now make a list of changes that I think are needed to make the multiplayer a fun experience:

- Do not advertise the matchmaking as the primary option for multiplayer. It should only be used for competitive gameplay which absolutely should not be the focus of Mount & Blade multiplayer (just look at the servers that have the most players in Warband: Persistent servers, Roleplaying servers, Tropical Island)

- Put the server browser in the forefront.

- The possibility to create multiple characters must make a return.

- More equipment customisation options must be available in most gamemodes (skirmish, team deathmatch).

- The swing delay MUST be removed. The combat has to feel responsive.

- Shieldbashing and kicking are useless as of now, the stagger should be slightly longer.

- Infantry AI does not seem to know what to do against cavalry, they don't use their spears or attack to slow.

- Infantry AI does not seem to know how thrown weapons work.

- Charge AI is problematic, most of the time your units attack enemies on the other side of the map instead of the ones in front of them.

- The command system does have some nice changes but it's not intuitive. The facing command is just weird and is hard to use. It also needs more commands like weapon options.

It's going to be a rough ride but I still hope that Taleworlds is going to cater to the multiplayer fans and make a great MP game.

EDIT: I've been told the competitive community is also concerned about these changes, so I stand corrected on that point.

Submitted September 22, 2019 at 11:59AM by Stokviz https://ift.tt/2QkITfN