Arena Enforcer

[Alba Kebab]

I'm no historian but I don't think knights were common during the middle ages? Far as I know knighthood was more of a status then anything else. Full plate armor and a well trained horse were pricy, far from what common soldiers could afford I think.
I think you're right about the misconception that full plate makes for impenetrable defense though, just as it's a common misconception that said plate is immensly weighty. I blame the d&d fantasy culture for that one.
Still, realism or no this game went with the heavy armor slows you down to a crawl unless you're a behemoth, so you'd kind of expect the impenetrable defense portion to follow.

We may be going off track a little here to the discussion, but since it's interesting.
Of course not, no armies in history were made up of knights only, it was always knights at the core with support infantry, archers, conscripts, mercenaries etc. Whilst they are not common and only make up a small percentage in an army, maybe a few hundred knights in an army of thousands, they are typically where all the kings and princes are. Normally most of the causalities are from the grunts/fodder troops and very light for knights, but whenever an important noble gets killed in battle, it means knights died, since you'd almost need to kill an entire retinue of knights before you can kill the nobility commanding it. So whilst historic accounts on actual numbers can be vague, but when they record the high commander who's the most important or the 2nd most important noble in the land was killed in battle and almost an entire army was lost, you can safely assume plenty of dead knights happened, and there's a long enough list of important Polish/Russian/Hungarian Grand Dukes and Princes who was killed in battle with Mongols.
Of course, armor were not as heavy at the time of the mongol invasion as it was in later middle ages when things like gothic plates came into being, but nevertheless, the armor the nobles and their knights had at the time would still be miles heavier than the armor and weaponry the Mongols had.

[Kreegan]

Because when Cyn rage quit he sent all the top war glads to the hol. Before he did that The Returned was the dominate gladiator in the arena coming in a close second in season 1. He was a heavy plate mail wearing tanking bastard.

Like I've said maybe a gazillion times already, pointing at gladiators who had hundreds of trophies spent on them to become as effective as they were is a poor example. Very poor actually. Not all of us come from countries where we can afford to pour 100+$ on a MMO monthly. The Returned costed how much? 1150 gold or something like that? For how long did she fight without all of her achievement slots used? I don't know if Cyn had to respec her if he didn't like her performance but we've had examples about overnight respecs worth many trophies just because some top dog was not faring well. And finally - the Returned was fighting with a 2H weapon, which was and is much more effective against most of the builds on the arena than a War with a shield + whatever.

Defensive war glads often win the battle royals or are one of the last to go due to their armor and defensive abilities.

That's not even true and if it was - Battle Royal is less than 5% of the game.

The reason you don't see a lot of ultra defensive gladiators at the top is they aren't as fun to play not because they are lacking.

That's just your opinion. They were just as fun or dull to play a few months ago but they were maybe 2-3 times more of them then.

While some would have you believe they've "tried everything" in trying to get a war glad to the top obviously they haven't. Another common excuse you'll hear is "I've tried many strategies", ok, great, obviously not one that suits your gladiator and the current meta game in your bracket. This game is fluid and ebbs and flows based on where your glads are and what other players are doing at that time.

If you're speaking from experience, which is your defensive War glad who performs well? If not, then you're just speculating for speculation's sake.

If your idea of a "defensive" gladiator is one who stands around on the sand like a metal punching bag then you deserve to lose more than you win.

It's not and it isn't for a long, long time. The defensive Wars who just sit until their opponent drops are fewer than the fingers of a hand at the moment. You're lagging several months behind, I even wonder if you check what is happening in the upper brackets.

If you stay away from the offensive type skills and techniques again you are leaving options on the table instead of bringing them with you onto the sands.

The only purely offensive skills in the War tree are DFA and War Cry. DFA deals quite unspectacular damage if you don't get extra offensive skills from the Rage tree (and an Armoured Fortress build obviously can't get them) and War Cry is wasted on a defensive gladiator. So what's left?

[Dainoji]

Kreegan, you are right, I'm wrong as is everyone else when debating with you. I'm terribly sorry to have offered up information that you don't agree with, and even more sorry to have wasted your time with incorrect observations. Clearly you have it all figured out so why don't you send Nate a checklist of exactly what needs to change and by how much and we will all hail you as the savior of defensive gladiators throughout the great realm. I could point to some more good examples and offer up more good reasons that don't support your position but why bother, you've already figured it all out, so what would one or two more "exceptions" matter when you have all the facts in front of you already.

[Kreegan]

Well, I think I asked you pretty specific questions about why do you think like you do and where does your experience come from, but you refuse to answer them. I have the nasty habit to demand proofs and arguments when people persistently claim something which looks unjustified so if that annoys you, feel free not to answer me.