Has anyone considered that some toons  will be able to run faster then others?  I would imagine a fully armored heavy knight type person would be rather slow without his mount (or at least not as agile as an archer). Possibly, the enemy has a diffrent skill set then you and instead of running after you pulls out his bow and/or uses spells to freeze or simply damge from afar. Ranged skills are also far more useful when you are nearly sure that you will hit but the other person won't chase you down, you aren't sure of either in Darkfall I would imagine. 

Originally posted by Halnodor2

 Has anyone considered that some toons  will be able to run faster then others?  I would imagine a fully armored heavy knight type person would be rather slow without his mount (or at least not as agile as an archer). Possibly, the enemy has a diffrent skill set then you and instead of running after you pulls out his bow and/or uses spells to freeze or simply damge from afar. Ranged skills are also far more useful when you are nearly sure that you will hit but the other person won't chase you down, you aren't sure of either in Darkfall I would imagine. 

I can imagine a lot of things  are possible.

1) Why not have a ranged skill of your own?  Even if you prefer to play a melee centric player, there is -nothing- stopping you from becoming quite adequate w/ a bow(or magic) when the situation arises.  Thats the great thing about skill based games.  In fact I think it would probably be as unwise to neglect your range abilities as a warrior, as it would be to neglect your melee abilities as an archer.

2) I suspect the stamina system will make it difficult to keep range against a person and kite them while also taking potshots.  Also I would think the first person nature of using ranged attacks,  the fact you have to aim your shots,  and trying to combine that w/ kiting will make it much more difficult to do well than a game where you simply autotarget.  Especially if you move more slowly while moving backwards(I'm not sure if thats the case,  but it generally is).  Thats all speculation though, and I'm sure outstanding players will do quite well regardless.

3) Mounts combat.  At this point you can't use archery or magic while mounted(last i heard).  I don't care how slick of a kiter you are, you aren't going to outrun a mounted melee character for long.

Honestly I think the game is going to be a largely melee centric game in smallscale combat.  You'll definitely want to plink as many arrows/fireballs into your enemy as possible before he closes ranks, but you'll probably want to switch out to a melee weapon at that point.

I think archery and ranged damage magic will used more-so in larger scale pvp conflicts(ie city sieges, naval combat, largescale battles) where things like kiting aren't really even an issue.  Instead the focus will be on positioning and proper protection of your ranged support so they don't get mowed down by calvary or a flanking unit.

The melee players can dodge spells and arrows, if they're fast enough. They could wear light armour and catch up to the archer, then beat him with a strong weapon. The archer actually has to aim, so he could miss and lose time. Its difficult to run and shoot at the same time, same with spells. You can run out of arrows and mana--the other guy can catch up and just swing a mace in your face.

Personally, it seems to me with the FPS, aimed combat the advantage is to the melee character. I don't think archers are going to be able to hit a melee character that is smart and doesn't charge straight at them. 

Originally posted by Kyleran

Personally, it seems to me with the FPS, aimed combat the advantage is to the melee character. I don't think archers are going to be able to hit a melee character that is smart and doesn't charge straight at them. 

Well maybe you are right, but i play a lot of fps games and usually it doesn't matter how you try and dodge i can hit you with a sniper rifle (which is hard when you are close up).  Of course i have considered that a sniper rifle isn't an arrow but at close range its pretty much the same aiming idea.

Edit: I am not trying to blow my own horn either, i am just saying that i am not the only one who can do that.