Whips could be pretty awesome; either as their own class or lumped in with swords (which would be easier by far). Whips could be an intermediate between swords and guns in terms of both range and attack power, but with an attack speed in the sword range.
Maybe as a 2-3* Token reward for some future boss? with divergent recipes for 4* & 5* versions (various elemental whips, thorn whip, chain whip, etc.).
So, may I pretty please have a 5* Flame Whip to quest for?..
-Simon
Oakgear has proposed a theory of how primary and secondary weapons team up to make PvE character classes. But this theory is not really very accurate in describing how Spiral Knights is played or must be played. For example, many swordsmen use bombs as backups (Shivermist Buster) and many gunners use swords as backups (Leviathan). So adding a new weapon type (whip) would not really require any significant reorganization of how people choose their PvE character class.
If there was a whip
All other weapons would be backups and a team with only whips is a doomed team
My cousin is a bomber and when he fights with someone else or alone he'll use a sword
I myself use a gun when I can't use my sword.
The gunner theory I have no proof, but why not?
whips are well and good, they make pretty cool looking weapons, if not overly practical, and they would be a nice addition, but id much rather see pole arms (spears, halberds) implemented before whips
@Oakgear
Those are neat ideas, but way to complicated. I don't see the devs ever taking that kind of time for a specialty item like this. A normal sword style melee attack would me much more practical to implement.
@Geregias
I agree, I would love to see pole arms. Thing is I don't think they will give us that, because it would require dropping the shield. I would love to see dual welding both handguns and swords, as well as large 2 handed rifles and launchers. I think the thing holding all of those back is the Devs don't want use to go shiedless. Though I think if they made a PvE guardian like shield this sort of thing might be possible and promote teamwork to boot (but I'm not going to hold my breath on any of those ideas).
...would polearms mean dropping the shield? most spears are wielded one handedly, pretty much only phalanx spears, and halberds are wielded with both hands
do a search for medieval spear men - all carry shields as well (well nearly)
i agree that dual wielding and two handed weapons wont be implemented, not just because it removes the shield but because its such a huge programming job to implement changing styles - and shielding is such a huge part of the game as well
@Geregias
Ahh, your right was not thinking about spears which were used in conjunction with a shield all over the place, Spartans, Greeks, Romans...
Spears would be a really fun addition as well. Only thing is it would be another pure piercing weapon maybe split versions too.
Here is how the SK clockworks classes are set up
Swordsman (Uses sword and occasionally gun)
Gunner (Uses gun and occasionally bomb)
Bomber (Uses bomb and occasionally sword)
With this new whip idea the classes will need an edit and everyone will want to use it disrupting the average behavior of how people use weapons.
This has to be as different as possible.
A whip definition will be made by me.
The whip acts as a retractable weapon.
So basically, there needs to be an aspect of how Indiana Jones used his.
A whip will be used to stall an enemies attack if about to attack you.
The whip can be used to drag enemies to you so you can attack with a sword or continuously attack with a whip.
However, if the enemy is heavier than a SK than the whip pulls you towards the enemy and knocks the enemy back.
The damage however must be lower than an average sword, but has an extremely fast time.
The charge up attack depends on the details of the whip.
For instance I'd like to see another frumious fang weapon and the "barble whip" can dig deep under ground and come up under an enemy as a spike encasing the enemy in a thorn trap.
Then when this happens the user can use the whip without worry of an enemy attack because the trap lasts 5 seconds.
The first right click is whipping the enemy to the right.
The second one to the right.
The last brings you toward the enemy or him towards you.
A normal whip with no special aspect will make you spin around and any enemies in the affected area will be damaged.