Hello! I kind of thought about most of these ideas in the back of my head one night and decided, "Yeah this could probably work." and now we're here.

With a year of experience in the PVP side of things, it has been both fun and troubling seeing it evolve overtime with pre-and-post combat additions especially adrenaline as being a big game changer. Though with my experience with playstyles and entirely new ways of combat, i feel as if there could be more improvements in the system as well as quality of life for PVPers in the present and potential future.

First off, I do want to point out some basic guidelines and roles in the PVP scene that I've seen from my time here:

Bruisers:

These are your typical fighters, usually Bruisers occupy weaponry or paw fighting of any sort.. they have their advantage in sheer numbers as well as being able to dish out decent damage in fights. Currently this is the most common play-style in the PVP scene.

Tanks:

Uncommon, sometimes rare, Tanks are warriors who have specialized in taking in as many blows as possible through various means. I am very familiar with this playstyle, and have played it a multitude of times, though sometimes it always feels like Tanks outwardly are the strongest archetype outside of a few exceptions i will mention later..

Shadows:

Shadows, adopted usually by thieves or stealth-builds, Shadows operate in you guessed it, the shadows, and often do not take conventional approaches in fights. Which means, they do not play fair! Trees and dark places are usually where they dominate playstyles like Tanks while Bruisers give a run for their money.

Although these three archetypes are very simple, they have a lot of complications and match-ups that make a sort of triangular balance:

Shadows -> Tanks -> Bruisers - >

So on so forth, normally this would be the case, though I have seen some issues lately in regards to the playstyle match-ups in recent time:

Imbalances:

This triangle, at least from what i see, isn't balance and clearly some archetypes are just better than others and to be honest and fair, I will explain each flaw and problem with said archetypes.

Bruiser Problems:

Bruisers.. don't really get much options in fighting against Shadows, while reasonably they get destroyed by tanks, bruisers cannot do much against a Shadow and even with new artificer tools such as Root Bombs being able to set up unfavorable scenarios, a bruiser has to be able to afford root bombs, which are known to be pricey as well as not being able to aim well; meaning Bruisers cannot reliably counter Shadows.

If Root bombs were a lot more accurate or had a different way of interacting with other opposing critters in a PVP scenario then I believe Bruisers could still stand a chance, but realistically they are the weakest archetype from what I've seen.. not as fast as shadows or healthy as tanks. But, they make up the majority in the triangle.

If i had a suggestion to make Bruisers more competent, giving them more options to deal with both Tanks and Shadows would help tremendously such as artificer tools or even critter-made tools!

Tank Problems:

Realistically speaking, i do not have much problems with being a tank-player since tanks are naturally gifted with being unstoppable (depending on who is what they're fighting).

Though i have seen some problems with tanks themselves where they might be a little too indestructible for their own good? The only way to defeat a tank proper without the intervention of rare mechanics or status effects is to hire another archetype I most especially want to talk about after this.

So making Tanks a little more easy on the defense said for both Bruisers and Shadows might help Tanks be more likely to take on protecting roles in groups as opposed to being one-man armies.

Shadow Problems:

I have mentioned some previous problems in relation to bruisers, but Shadows at the moment do not have a clear way to be punished or countered for their playstyle.. If for example the environment provides a tree then Shadows will use it to their advantage, as well as open spaces where they can move away from an opponent's POV. Normally this would be acceptable, but from what I've seen with a lot of players it doesn't seem very fun to go up against Shadows in general for both Tanks and Bruisers alike.

Much of the playstyle in my eyes seems to be a mixture of hit and run and nothing more than that, which doesn't seem too fun and i do believe that there could be more additions and options for Shadow players to play around with, while also retaining their dominant-ground.

As I've suggested before, a small rework of root bombs or even new combat tools could be very healthy for the PVP scene as both archetypes can reasonably enjoy fighting without either feeling too one-sided.

If anyone has played this game for a long while, they will know that Mages, or more specifically Orange Mages are uncontested, being one of the strongest archetypes in the PVP scene without question.

Not only can a prismatic wielders one shot most bruisers, even tanks struggle without the input of spell resistance, which requires all archetypes to either invest in being able to withstand this archetype, or not and face the wrath.

As you can imagine, this brings up a lot of problems for the PVP scene, an archetype that only requires 30 intervals + prismatics + and a few treebark potions to be formidable in combat?

Even without prismatics, they can be quite cumbersome to fight against if one is equipped with armor or any defenses with little to no resistance.

I hate to imagine that Orange Mages in some point where more players are active would disrupt the balance and force fighters to either become mages or be destroyed if one chooses to fight one.

From the way i see it, the only way I could imagine at the moment where Orange Mages can start being more healthy and approachable in the PVP scene is that if Mages had wind-ups before using any moves, some of which can be interrupted, so it requires a lot more input from the other end while giving more agency and responsibility to both non mages and a mages alike.

Beyond that, i see no other additions or changes besides that, and i wish Orange Mages can find themselves able to integrate in the PVP scene.

That is all i have to say, of course my observation is not perfect: which means it is open for criticism or discussion in what would be best for Farwoods' PVP scene.

I hope you enjoy reading this one out!

@Quarrel
To note, I made this forum out of necessity to that I can get off my mind about my current thoughts on the state of PVP. (Which explains why not everything is explained, and feels rushed)

As for the neglection of potions, poisons, enchantments, etc:

One part of me is conflicted, I definitely did not have much to say for these specific mechanics because I've seen some potions or enchantments where they could very well change the outcome of a match, and I can't really list all of them, but i can say for certain that there are some enchants as well as some poisons that are practically win conditions ( given, if the affected does not have any potions to counteract the effects of said mechanic )

So it would be really hard to consider them for PVP alone, but yes I do agree that both poisons and enchantments do help with counteracting specific archetypes, namely orange mages as well.

Though, i do have to mention that these mechanics are conditional, and i feel like it shouldn't really be the only method for say, Bruisers to counteract either Orange Mages or Shadows. I do want more depth with how PVPers can counteract and make more healthy and skilled matchups, as opposed to letting said archetypes or entire subsets being at the top.

Rootbombs being iffy:

I won't judge on this one, Root bombs are relatively new, and can be fixed at any given point. Though, a part of me wishes Rootbombs had a more AOE approach as opposed to being thrown, much like a "you're stuck with me" scenario instead of making vine houses and inconveniencing the battlefield.

Only time will tell if Root bombs will find more proper uses!

Orange Mage Counters:

I think i should've specified what kind of Orange Mages i am talking about, while yes any of the three archetypes can reasonably take out an Orange Mage if they're clever about it.

I am more-over, concerned with how it might be approached in the future, even with rules like Playing to win. I do want orange mages to have a spot in PVP without the fear that many might think "orange mages are overpowered", when one of them duels them.

Again, my response may not be perfect or exactly what you're looking for, but I am glad there are some concerns and thoughts!

Also, dueling is a silly way to judge the combat system which, like everything else in the game, is balanced around group play. Not everything should be perfectly balanced in a 1v1. Different builds have different roles which can be used to overcome an opponent's strengths. It's like chess, a game of preparing for the fight you're expecting and exploiting weaknesses. It would be very boring if we cared about what build was "best."

I feel like some sort of wind up would sort of make combat less fun, at least for me with a low investment combatant. (20/20 in parrying and swords specifically) Running around and chasing critters in combat is also one of my favorite parts of duels, even if running away might just let me get a few hits or dodge one hit in a spar.

With orange mages specifically, spells can backfire, even if your crystal doesn't shatter, you can blow yourself up without spell resistance. Mages are also a more consistent investment, you will always need more crystals and you'd likely want a backup of at least the same quality before you use one in a duel. Granted I do think mages are easier to make money on than fighters and thus might have better armor/enchantments, but dedicated fighters and battlemages very much give the vibe of "you need resources or a faction backing you up" even compared to smiths. (Even paw fighters feel this way, cheaper but you still want armor eventually)

Flingers and archers specifically feel like they'd be more in line with your complaints towards shadows, since they can just aim and run away before you can catch them if they're fast enough. I'm not sure because I've never fought either so I can't say. Flingers specifically seem very good concept wise, since you could realistically have them do everything for themself to prepare for fights. (Other than the armor)

My complaints are mostly towards how good armor is. I expected something, but just a wooden armor is blocking a lot of damage (not sure about the numbers) and that's only with a sacrifice of roughly two items per dex point loss, granted you also become slower to a considerable and very noticeable degree.

Sorry for the very long explanation, I wanted to explain everything clearly as I could.