Another Crossbow Skill Suggestion

Nutronic

So was dinking around and thought of other suggestions I saw for a crossbow line. I personally don't think we need a whole other line, but maybe tweaking the existing line might work better. You could even add in Short Bows and the line would essentially work like Destruction Staff. Also, I apologize in advance for the formatting. I just really wanted columns, but messing around with this for a few hours might have been over kill lol.


Current Active Abilities

Poison Arrow - Shoot an arrow coated in Baandari poison, dealing 6 Poison Damage and an additional 16 Poison Damage over 10 seconds.
-Poison Injection - Poison effect deals more damage vs low health enemies.
-Venom Arrow - Interrupts spells, putting the caster off balance.

Volley - Launch a multitude of arrows into the sky to rain down, dealing 1 Physical Damage to enemies in the target area every 0.5 seconds for 5 seconds.
-Arrow Barrage - Increase range and radius.
-Scorched Earth - Arrows light ground on fire, dealing area damage.

Scatter Shot - Blast an enemy with an explosive arrow, dealing 6 Physical Damage, knocking them back 6 meters, and leaving them disoriented for 5 seconds.
-Draining Shot - Enemy snared when disorient ends.
-Magnum Shot - Deals increased damage and knocks you away from target.

Arrow Spray - Fire a burst of arrows in one shot, dealing dealing 6 Physical Damage to enemies in front of you. Also reduces enemies' Movement Speed by 40% for 5 seconds.
-Acid Spray - Deals poison damage. Adds damage over time.
-Bombard - Affected enemies are also immobilized.

Snipe - Plant a masterfully aimed arrow in an enemy's vital spot, dealing 15 Physical Damage.
-Focused Aim - Reduces enemy armor and allows them to be hit from further away
-Lethal Arrow - Deals poison damage and applies the poison status effect. Reduces enemy's healing taken.

New Active Abilities

Quick Shot – Quickly take aim and shoot. Based on the type of ammo deals 6 poison, 20 bleed over 8 seconds or .
-Injection Shot – Unique ammo effects last longer and have additional effects. Poison deals more damage to low health targets. Barbed causes bleed. Enchanted do magic over time.
-Heavy Shot - Interrupts spells, putting the caster off balance.

Volley - Bows launch a multitude of arrows into the sky to rain down, dealing 1 Physical Damage to enemies in the target area every 0.5 seconds for 5 seconds. Crossbows make 3 quick shots which deal 2, 4, 8 area damage.
-Arrow Barrage - Increase range and radius with bows. Cross bows gain 1 second cast time but shoot 6 shots over 1.5 seconds dealing 2, 2, 4, 4, 6, 8 damage.
-Scorched Barrage - Arrows lit on fire ignite the ground, dealing area damage. Bolts dipped in burning oil cause 3 fire damage over 3 seconds and snare enemies.

Scatter Shot – Blast an enemy with an explosive arrow or bolt, dealing 6 Physical Damage, knocking them back 6 meters, and leaving them disoriented for 5 seconds.
-Draining Shot - Enemy snared when disorient ends.
-Magnum Shot - Deals increased damage and knocks you away from target.

Arrow/Bolt Spray – Bows fire a burst of arrows in one shot, dealing 6 Physical Damage to enemies in front of you. Crossbows fire six shots in a fan knocking enemies back 2 meters. Also reduces enemies' Movement Speed by 40% for 5 seconds.
-Cone of Arrows/Bolts – Deal additional damage based on ammo type. Adds damage over time.
-Bombard - Affected enemies are also immobilized and gain minor defile, fracture, or breach.

Snipe - Plant a masterfully aimed arrow or bolt in an enemy's vital spot, dealing 15 Physical Damage.
-Focused Aim - Reduces enemy armor and allows them to be hit from further away
-Lethal Arrow - Deals ammo based damage on hit and applies minor defile, fracture, or breach.


Current Passive Abilities

Long Shots - Gives you a damage bonus of up to 6% against enemies at longer range.
Accuracy - Increases Weapon Critical rating by 3.
Ranger - Reduces the Stamina cost of Bow abilities by 10%.
Hawk Eye - Increases the damage of your Bow attacks by 8% when striking off balance enemies.
Hasty Retreat - Increases your Movement Speed by 15% for 2 seconds after you execute a dodge roll.

New Passive Abilities.

Ranger - Reduces the Stamina cost of Bow and Crossbow abilities by 10%. Also added effects from different ammo types: Normal ammo can have a poison applied for 100% poison chance. Barbed quivers have a 25% chance for bleed damage. Enchanted quivers cause magic damage and have 5% chance for minor mangle.
Skilled Shots - Gives you a damage bonus of up to 6% against enemies at longer range With a Bow. Gives you a damage bonus up to 5% increased damage with Crossbow if up close.
Accuracy - Increases Weapon Critical rating by 3 on Bows. Increases weapon speed by 2%, 4%, 6% on Crossbows.
Hawk Eye - Increases the damage of your Bow/Crossbow attacks by 8% when striking off balance enemies.
Haste- Increases your Movement Speed by 15% for 2 seconds after you execute a dodge roll with a Crossbow or 10% for 1 second after landing a critical hit with a Bow.

I changed a few names to better reflect how the abilities are used or make them more open. The main idea here is that there could be some cool customization in this skill line instead of adding a whole other line. Namely if they added Quivers (possible weapon slots for jewel crafting), those would be your "arrow/bolt" types. I think it might be a tiny bit confusing at first, but mixing and matching the different ammo types with the different bow/xbow effects would be fun. This also leaves room for them to add short bows if they so choose.

Anyway, the main difference between Bows and Xbows should be the rate and power of fire. Bows have a variable amount of power to them, but should be a bit more precise and overall better for longer shots and light attacks. Crossbows I think should behave in 1 of 2 ways: Either they have a slightly slower light attack and slightly faster/stronger heavy attack OR they should behave like restoration staves: slowish light attacks but a quick succession heavy attack due to a magazine clip. Either way, I think this is something fun to discuss and let Zos chew on maybe for next year .

If anyone else has ideas it would be really cool to see em!

frould

I think both xbow and bow should have same Accuracy and Haste passive. hasty dodge roll is why i like to use bow.
Skilled Shots for xbow should have higher % than bow cuz you take more risk.
Ammo type is sound fun don't know why ZOS not use it.

bow and xbow main difference is when reload ammo. bow faster, xbow take longer time then bow will deal more dps, xbow will deal more burst damage.
for realistic how xbow heavy attack? i guess take more time and reload 2 ammo at once (basic twin shot).

.. and xbow can't fire curve projectile shot unless very very far away. volley circle aoe xbow sound magical. cone aoe is acceptable.

Nutronic

Don't get me wrong, I love the hasty passive too, but doesn't it seem just a bit too strong and not at all like a retreat tactic? Most people just use it to chase in PVP so I figure for something big and cumbersome like an Xbow it could make sense, but for a regular old, why not just embrace the chase mechanic most people already use it for and just add an hit hard n' run buff?

I like your suggestion for the higher damage on Xbow for skilled shots, just hope it wouldn't feel to OP. Especially considering this passive should proc on Xbow abilities?

Ammo types I think would be a fun way to add some variety to bow and make it a bit more viable for classes aside from just NB. Heck, I think a DK with Xbow would be really strong simply due to ingenious weapons and the heavy attack rapid fire of the Xbow! I personally can't decide which would be a better firing style for the Xbow though, more bursty but slower attacks or quicker weaker shots that hit harder if closer. Bow already hits pretty hard, and it's not too difficult to proc heavy attacks with only a slight pull on the string (granted you don't get the full stam recovery bonus but there has a to be a "drawback" somewhere :P)

And I agree that Xbow shouldn't shoot curved projectiles, that is why I think it works well as a "shoot at their feet and make em dance" kinda ability for volley would work best.

What do you think of the ammo types? I was thinking the poison quiver should be the only type you could add a poison to since it seems that will be something the Dark Brotherhood will probably add when it comes out. Also I thought about maybe letting magical arrows be enchanted, but an enchanted bow plus enchanted arrows might be a bit too OP. The barbed arrows I like the best because bleeds can crit every tick and it makes an attractive damage choice for physical crit builds. Where as Enchanted arrows/bolts could work to synergize better with magicka type builds/passives. I also think just adding ammo in as part of the sorely needed jewel crafting would add a weapon component to the craft and make feel more worthwhile. The other option being to add them to woodworking which also works too.