Mounted combat balance

[Tacticaldonut]

I have asked this question several times during stream and gotten sidestep answers:

Why is Mounted Archery so powerful compared to Mounted Mages?

The reason i ask this question is due to the many negative traits Mounted Mages must work through to accomplish anything. We can't turn while prepping, we are very easily interrupted if hit. Keeping our mounts alive requires a lot of time to produce decent armor vs arrows and weakspot chance negates that. Mounted Archers just need a bow, and decent ones require easy materials. There is a base attribute that negates some spell damage, but nothing against phsyical damage other than small amounts of hp. Mounted Archers have way less time to full draw an arrow than it does to cast any spell other than spurt MAYBE, and we know you ain't winnin with spurt.

The answer i have gotten:

'The way magic works, you are fully concentrating on a spell, so you cannot steer as well.'

Rebuttal: Concentration is nerfed to 35% while mounted and is already a huge problem when not mounted. The only downside Mounted Archers have is getting staggered if they get hit, they don't lose their current draw on a shot, and can turn while aiming.

'You need 2 hands to cast a spell.'

Rebuttal: You definitely need 2 hands to use a bow....

'Archers do not have many of their special skills yet. Mages have lots of utility.'

Rebuttal: There are 3 spells that i think qualify as utility against Mounted Archers; Corrupt (it has a medium range and is easily cleansed by having the 20pts in ecu, a potion, or just shooting between ticks), Earthquake (need to be literally ontop of them), and Heals(very low ECU requirement of 10, almost anyone can get it, including the Mounted Archers) Mounted Archers can just stay out of our largest-spell-range and kill our horse, then us. Preventing us from doing anything at all.

Currently in open world, mounted combat, it feels like if you don't have a bow, you lose. It feels like my only options as a pure mage is to run, and try to outheal damage (usually doesn't work because i have to stay straight, giving them easy shots), or fight and hope they are extremely bad at aiming. Any halfway decent Mounted Archer can win a 1v2, 1v3 if they are against Mounted Mages or Footies.

I fully understand that everyone should have their strengths and weaknesses, but the negatives put on Mounted Mages seems extreme. As a pure mage, my argument is from this side, i'm sure Footies have some say in this as well, although i think a lot of them are able to use some points in bows as well due to stat distribution.


Possible Recommendations (some, not all):
Remove the ability for Mounted Archers to turn while aiming, making it consistent between MA/MM.

Revisit concentration as a whole. Why does it need to be nerfed on Mounts if that's ALSO the reason we can't turn?

Lower damage from bows while mounted by 15-20%, and/or revisit Weakspot chance for Mounted Archers to be lowered.

Increase range on some spells ex. outburst, corrupt.

Increase the ECU requirement on some spells ex. Purify, Heal.

These are listed from my opinion on what i think would be most helfpul down to least helpful, but i still think they are all options that could be looked at.

I'm open to being proven wrong, or having a nice discussion on this, but i will say, every mounted combat i have been in has been severely dominated by the Mounted Archers, both on my team and against me. It just feels like they are a bit OP when it comes to smaller Mounted combat scenarios.

 

[Jackdstripper]

Because arrow damage can be mitigated simply by wearing better armour. Wear steel or tung steel (or a shield) and arrows do very little damage. There is nothing an MA can do to bypass that damage reduction, he is just stuck plinking for 10 damage a shot to a well geared opponent.

There is nothing you can wear to lower magic damage. Magic shield can be bypassed by a simple spurt, and magic spells hit for the same amount of damage no matter what the target is doing or wearing. On top of that a mage can heal himself and his horse very rapidly, and prevent you from healing with corrupt, so he has great survivability. There has to be some drawback to this playstyle or it would be too OP.

A Mounted mage has to have a counter, and currently its MAs. As an MM the only thing you have to worry about is foot archers (but you can just ride away) or MAs which is indeed a hard counter. Thats not a lot of counters.

 

[Tacticaldonut]

Steel or Tungsteel is not exactly "simple", also wearing steel or tungsteel means the Mounted Archer just gets close enough to hit me instead of my horse because i'm so slow. And since i can't turn that leaves me trying to cast through being hit at a 35% chance to succeed even casting one spell, when most of my spells take enough time for 2 arrows to be drawn. Also horses have big heads and weakspot negates some armor, so not totally true.

You don't need to wear anything to lower magic damage, just take the built in stat psyche and you lower it and have a chance to take HALF damage by resisting. Casting on a horse is also intentionally longer, preventing rapid healing. Also Healing takes 10 pts in ecumenical, most people can do the same thing. Corrupt has a medium range, most MA's barely stay close enough for my longest range spell.

I'm not asking to be godly here, there is just a longgg list of negatives to Mounted Mages that i think are in place to prevent hybrid builds from being too strong, but that in itself just feels like terrible balancing practice. Some of this may even boil down to the bonuses from stats not being super linear, but i can't say i'm very familiar with that. All i know is my 138 int doesn't seem to have a huge impact over someone with 100ish int.