Hey guys, seems every time i got into a cantina or tavern theres a bunch of guys sat around moaning about teras kasi.
"these guys do the same damage as pikemen!"
"these guys beat everyone in pvp"
"these guys are too tough"
"these guys have enough skill points for 2 profs"
"these guys shot jfk, raped my sister, killed my parents"
and etc.
ok firstly - in the extended universe, the teras kasi were formed to keep tabs on the jedi, hunt down rogue jedi and keep balance in the jedi order. the fundamentals of teras kasi involve using the force that is within them and concentrating it into their fists/head/feet/elbows when they land blows. they can crush bones with unbridled ferocity in the eu and i believe this is reflected well in the game.
secondly, getting teras kasi novice is one of the hardest things you can do in the game save jedi itself. it takes great patience and determination. the rewards that come with not only the attainment of novice but later master are well deserved for your efforts.
thirdly, i reckon the people that state that tk have too many defences arent looking objectively. a tk only has three trees dedicated to combat and its defences. if this was spread out over four it would be similar to fencer, pikeman, et al.
The next point is that those who do moan that tk own in pvp really dont know how to play the game at all. i recommend they should go learn how to fight and then come back - teras kasi masters are easy to beat when you stop trying to apply ONE HIT INCAPS and apply TACTICS and STRATEGY (although i know a lot of the children in this game regard tactics as getting buffed then trying one hit incaps).
of course they are going to own in pvp when most of the duelling is done in the imp outpost on dant and in ah tavern - what do you expect from a master of close quarters combat??? if they bring back the battlefields you should fight one there in the open expanse - things will turn out different from trying to fight them indoors. perhaps battlefields should be brought back online and that this is the only place you could duel with "ghost-towns" in there for those who want to fight close quarters and avoid the "running pistoleer" syndrome. if this was to come about it would not only highlight that tks arent massively overbalanced but also cut back on the number of tkms in the game who only play as that prof to win pvp in anchorhead.
My last point is this for all those who use the stupid "but in real life an unarmed fighter couldnt beat a . . ." in rl im a 2nd degree black belt in taekwondo, black belt in shotokan and just starting in muay thai. if a guy across the street shoots a gun at me im going down. if that same guy is right next to me im pretty confident i could humiliate him. i have sparred with weapons and sparred unarmed against weapon wielders and there is no contest. the whole point of martial arts is to beat those who are armed. there is no records throughout history of swordsmen being trained to fight against unarmed combatants. again though, ill stress that that last point is just for those who like to use the rl argument (invalidated when your a wookie or fighting a stormtrooper)