Intro:
I always thought Hard mode was extra hard on Warriors.
In my opinion this is because Warriors can't "dance" around enemies, attacking safely while avoiding big risks and taking damage. They rely on their knockdown values so that they become safer during their recovery animations. Hard mode makes reaching the stagger and knockdown thresholds harder, and Warrior's skills end up needing to hit the enemy 2 or 3 times to start working. Their long recovery makes using these skills risky if they don't do anything though, so you can't really spam them.
Leveling up and getting better gear patches out these issues but you become very reliant on that.
Warriors also don't have many good skills in my opinion. If you don't count "Ladder blade", "War cry" and "Act of atonement" because of their extremely situational nature you're left with 7 skills.

Aim:
This mod doesn't aim to completely overhaul the vocation to something new. I quite like the vanilla feeling of Warrior and don't mind a challenge or an underpowered vocation.
This mod is balanced around Hard mode, giving some tools that Warriors can use to be more consistent regardless of their equipment. Hopefully it has the side effect of reducing the "jumping light attack" nature of the vocation too.

Changes:
"two.arc" changes:
"Hack" had the first hit replaced with a bit of a faster animation that has less recovery. The final vertical slash loses its multiple hit property for better damage and now leaves enemies at your feet with the knockdown. (It will always knock down small enemies*).
"Devastate" is now a combo that can loop back into itself relatively smoothly.
"Transfix" turns into "Pommel Bash". Very reliable and makes room for other skills to be equipped. (It will always stagger small enemies*).
"Eviscerate" turns into Indomitable lunge's final uppercut. (It will always knock down small enemies*).
"Jumping heavy attack" now leaves enemies at your feet and does a bit more damage.
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"Spark/Corona Slash" now always knock down small enemies*.
"Whirlwind Slash" now tosses the enemy far upwards, enough to take fall damage. It will always stagger/knockdown small enemies*.
The unused old "Eviscerate" inflicts the "lowered defense" debilitation. This change is for the new "War Cry" (two.arc handles the change).
"Savage/Indomitable Lunge" now hit as frequently as the level 3 version. They always stagger/knockdown small enemies*.
"Escape/Exodus Slash" initial hit always staggers small enemies*.

"two00.arc" changes:
"Upward strike" has the same exact damage and effect as the upgrade "Whirlwind slash". It just lacks the last hit.
(Just an alternative animation since I prefer this over the upgrade).
"two01.arc changes:
"Pommel strike/bash" turn into an evasive backwards roll with i-frames. It's very clunky compared to the yellow vocation version but can get the job done.
(Still experimenting with the amount of i-frames and overall the whole skill).
"two08.arc" changes:
"War Cry" becomes a new move similar to the old Transfix/Eviscerate combo. The first stab will always stagger small enemies*.
("Battle Cry" remains the same).

* ["small" enemies include scaled up Saurians, Skeletons and Undead as well as Wights and Liches.]

INSTALLATION:
Drop the contents of the folder in your "DDDA/nativePC/rom" directory, or choose only what you want to copy over.
Backup the files you replace.

This is a work in progress as I figure stuff out but I decided to upload what exists. It only applies to Longswords for now so I can settle on the changes first but also because I'm lazy. I will do Warhammers eventually when I'm satisfied or if enough people bother me about it.
I'd love feedback on the changes.

Special Thanks to:
Nnstan for the useful tutorials.
0mnific for the inspiration and help.
Maxfriend23 because without him none of this would be possible.