To begin, let me clearly state that from an objective point of view, the Blunderbuss Sniper loadout has dominated high level play virtually without exception for a long time now, to the detriment of the weapon I’d like to propose some changes for: the sword. In light of the adjustments to the blunderbuss, i.e: removal of one shot capability, massively increased knockback distance and consistency, only having to hit 1 pellet, the sword has been put in an even worse position than it was pre-patch. Given the ease with which you can utilize the knockback capability of the blunderbuss against an aggressing sword user, it has effectively become a soft reset with a 2.5 second cooldown of the reload animation. What this means is, as a sword user tries to close the gap on a blunderbuss user, if they fire on them and hit even one pellet, the knockback is so great that the sword user does not have time to close the gap again before the blunderbuss user has reloaded, and the cycle repeats until sword user dies, not even mentioning that the created distance allows more opportunity to swap and land a sniper shot. What I propose is an addition to the block function of the sword, so that it braces you against knockback to a degree, ~50% I’d estimate but I’m not a dev. Of course this bracing would only work directionally, as with normal sword against sword blocking, so that you still have to be spatially aware and track your opponent, and it would not reduce incoming damage, meaning one blunder volley and one snipe on a slowed, blocking opponent would likely kill them outright. I just feel it’s far too easy to completely reset a fight against a sword user exclusively utilizing the blunderbuss, and I feel this change would help bring the sword back in higher level play, especially in close quarters like on sloops, where the sword is meant to shine. I understand with how the netcode is that such a change would likely be a bit inconsistent, but that beats the feeling of trying to approach a blunderbuss user with a sword, which I would liken to having a grown up put the palm of their hand on top of your head as a little kid, while you swing at the air.
