They are not nearly as bad as people make them out to be.

They are expert opportunists, and jacks of all trade. They do a number of things no other class can do - and then borrow a load of things from several classes to boost that.

Their failing is that they are a very warrior-like class, and they generally don't succeed when played like a warrior. You don't have legacies, or the option of good defenses. You have to prep hard to enter melee, but mages and priests are going to be your meat on a good day. What you won't be doing is becoming a powerhouse like an AP or well geared warrior. While you're versatile, you are not defensive enough to fall into any powerhousing catagory. It's the one thing all Powerhouses have in common - that they have great ability, but also great defenses and plenty of escape options. Orcs just don't, but niether do thieves or rangers. Yet no one complains they can't pk worth shit.

And so people know - Mamlauks just rock hard. Swat, brute force and hack are overpowered - just no ones really realised it yet. (especially hack, check out something other than 'hack arm'. It's a versatile skill just hard to practice).

Yhorian