Hello I am a Huge Nerd(tm) with Opinions(c) on available gear and talents in the game and it would probably be best to dump them all into one post rather than making a separate thread for each since they're really not that substantial on their own and have probably been brought up several times already.
1. The Divine Bastard Sword is really, truly terrible.
This thing is lame. With a perfect max damage roll, the highest potential max damage through upgrading is 107, compared to the Celtic Royal Knight Sword's much easier to obtain 106. That's one whole max higher, stuck behind a pure random stat roll rather than giving the player some sway over its quality through Blacksmithing's minigame.
What's more, the two weapons share set bonus effects, except for the bash enhancement. This means, were you to dual-wield, the CRKS holds a massive advantage over the DBS. In the case of using a sword and shield, the CRK pairs just as well with the Divine Shield as the DBS, gaining the same exact set bonuses at minimal loss to max damage.
Even better is the Frosted Borealis Hammer, featuring the same exact set bonuses as the CRK, at a whopping 123 max after upgrades, handily beating both weapons out before enchants. A human who just wants to use a one-handed weapon and a shield is better off using a hammer intended to be dual-wielded by giants than the sword designed to pair with the Divine Shield in terms of raw damage.
However,
I will concede that Rift and Guardian pair well if the player wants to make heavy use of final hit while keeping a sword and shield equipped, rather than switching out to a 2-hander or dual-wielding. Rift is a suffix enchant exclusive to the DBS which grants up to +45 max. That's pretty hard to meet with other 1-handed weapons, the next closest options being Blade (up to +40 max, farmed from Corrib Cabin, meaning only 3 attempts per day if you only have one character capable of running it) and Heavy Rain (up to +70 max, which comes from Crom Bas, so good luck pal). On top of that, both Rift and Guardian grant up to +3 to the attack speed set bonus, meaning the player only needs to make up for 4 points with gear. With max attack speed rolls on both enchants, the player only needs to equip a languhiris chest piece to bring their Fast attack speed to Very Fast. It's not the most optimal setup to use with final hit, but it makes the skill far more effective for those wanting to keep a shield close.
tl;dr why is a hammer intended for giants the best option for humans to pair with the divine shield reeeeEEEE
2. Lances have been left in the dust.
It's no secret how powerful mounted lance charge becomes after stacking reforges. It's one of the best burst damage options available on a 2.5s cooldown (or 0.5s if you manage to get a limit broken reforge). However, fighting with a lance on the ground has fallen by the wayside as other talents have been updated with new skills and improvements to old skills.
This isn't a bad thing, by the way, old things being made better is good. I'm saying lances could benefit from the same treatment.
When they were released, lances served as a clunkier, but potentially harder-hitting option for close combat. They played similiarly, the only real difference being the minimum distance required to attack with a lance and being able to use Lance Charge as a strong opener. Over time, it's become less and less attractive as an option, as close combat has received skills like Bash and Rage Impact, and giants have received the racial skills Stampede and Final Strike, none of which function with lances (probably for the best in the case of Bash). What's more, Lance Charge is only so powerful while mounted, meaning any content that frequently despawns pets more or less locks players out of using their favorite toothpicks if they want to be efficient.
The only solution I can really think of is to give lances more tools to play around with while lance charge is cooling down, so it doesn't feel like the only viable option for the entire weapon class. A pseudo-charge that pierces through enemies in a linear aoe, sliding the player forward while leaving the mobs in place (think Stampede without carrying the enemies along). Updating windmill to knock enemies back to the lance's minimum attack range while equipped with one, for those who haven't unlocked the ego ultimate skill. Maybe even giving them their own unique sweeping attack, like a miniature Giant Full Swing. Aranwen describes using a lance as "like fighting with a giant," referring to how difficult it is to handle, but I much rather prefer "like fighting as a giant."
PS give elves rapiers and let them use lance skills that way kthx
tl;dr please make lances more than just charge spam, my favorite weapon class has been tarnished
3. The Assorted Gripes part
If rapiers aren't going to be given to elves as pseudo-lances or used in a new talent, they can pretty safely function as 2H swords. Scythes are in the same boat and can be safely classed as 2H axes if they aren't planned to be used in a new talent.
Every 1H close combat weapon gains +1 max damage per erg level except for swords, which gain a whopping total of +21 at level 50. Ouch. Same goes for wands and (lol) atlatls. They really don't have a reason to have such poor erg bonuses. Now, I can't name anything else to give atlatls, but swords and wands can straight up copy hammers/axes and staves respectively and I don't think anyone would bat an eye.
Fighter could do with some de-janking. Since the timer to use the next combo skill is treated as a skill in and of itself, using any other skill (or, god forbid, hitting esc) cancels the chain entirely, meaning you have to start from step 1 again. Very bad for those not invested in erg or rev/pers knuckles. In fact, the entire talent could do with some changes that lift it up out of mediocre status pre-rev/pers. Nothing that impacts its later performance, but definitely something to improve its early performance.
Bead Burnishing did not need dan ranks, but here we are I guess, too late now.
And that's it. All of the recent updates have been STELLAR, make no mistake. I absolutely love all of the recent buffs to talents, especially my beloved puppets and guns, and I hope to see more like it given to other talents that struggle early on or otherwise haven't gotten much love lately.
Thank you for coming to my tedd talk.
Edit for bonus gripe: Blaze would be great if it worked with close combat weapons, kthx
