Shattered Kingdoms

I've always looked at swashies more as a tank melee than a dps melee. They shouldn't necessarily be able to out-do or even match the damage of a barb, but they should be able to evade, parry, or otherwise reduce the damage an enemy barb can do to the point where there's a balance. Mercs struck me as middle-of-the-road, with a decent emphasis on both offense and defense, but shouldn't be the be all and end all of either as barb and swash should be of their respective ends of the spectrum.

The change to massive weapons really made that view of swashes moot, however.

I don't think their damage is an issue, if I remember right. It is that they are a frontline fighter but can't take a hit.

Yes, and backstabs and cleaves and things are destructive to a swashbuckler. They just need to be a bit hardier or faster to make up for it. Maybe an advanced version of dodge or endurance. You would assume that a swashbuckler would be better able to predict attacks and dodge the initial one, or that years of sword fighting would make them just a little bit tougher. I'd hate to see swashbucklers go to second row or get heavy armor. Especially with these new changes, they're just not on par with mercs and barbs and knights, but they're still in the front row.

Those skills hurt everybody.

No, and I wouldn't want to detract from the power of cleave or backstab. There'd still be a chance that the swashbuckler could get wtfpwned by them. But they should be just a little more able to dodge or resist their effects with some sort of enhanced skill.

I mean, I'm not attached to the idea or anything, I'm just currently playing a swashie and trying to figure out how they could be made better in the PVP arena, so I'm speaking from a biased point of view. I'm just throwing out ideas.

One of their defensive abilities needs to be enhanced or a new ability. Either they become specialized in wearing light armor so they get access to a skill to boost their defense or allow them to parry even more often then now. Maybe a skill that is a temp boost that can only be used on defensive that is on a cooldown.

Jennbo, your swashbuckler just finished leveling and hasn't been in any pvp, right? I'd try just playing for a while. Stand behind a pet if you're just hanging around, and don't get discouraged about your class if you die due to being unprepared in terms of pk experience with the char/buffs/consumables. I think you'll find that your character is pretty durable.

backstab would kill a dwarf barb in adamantite, provided he didn't train counterstrike. Cleave is a little different, but with a weapon like a halberd it can be pretty nasty, and it also has a chance to auto kill the victim.