Scarcity of bows in game

mojavemike1

Why are bow drops so scarce in the game?...I get tons of swords, axes, maces but no bows. My archer is lvl 27 and I am still using a lvl 20 bow. It needs fixing.

Opioid

Or you could always just make one for yourself, find one in a guild store or find someone to make one for you.

DenverRalphy

Just random bad luck. I loot them all the time. However, at level 27, crafting a suitable bow should be easy peasy.

Pele

A friend of mine has the same issue. She rarely gets wood weapons, but has an abundance of metal weapons. I was the opposite.

RNG can be finicky.

Also, this:

Opioid wrote: »

Or you could always just make one for yourself, find one in a guild store or find someone to make one for you.

emeraldbay

Bows aren't that scarce if you craft them.

Jokes aside, when you think about it, bows have a low chance of dropping because the odds are against them. You find an equal amount of drops for blacksmithing, clothing, and woodworking, but can you say that you always find what you're looking for? of course not.

Let's say each woodworking item has a 5% chance of dropping. Factor in the fact that you have 4 types of staves, that means that bows have significantly less chances to drop than staves.

Apply the same to blacksmithing- you get tons of blacksmithing weapons, but how often do you get the specific type of weapon you're looking for? How often is it that you go looking for a two-handed mace drop, and actually find one? The odds are stacked against you, and the best way to get what you want is by crafting it yourself. If you're waiting on drops to get all of your weapons and armor, you may find yourself in for a tough ride.

Edit: Alternatively, just have someone make the bow for you. You may not even have to pay for it- some people even craft for free, myself included.

mojavemike1

I'm not talking about crafting... I have never crafted or purchased...never had to. My sorcerer lvl 44, mage lvl 28 and warrior lvl 27 use only dropped weapons and do just fine...my archer is struggling because of poor bow drops.

Govalon

Well you should start using crafted weapons. They have more basepower than dropped weapons of the equivalent level and rarity and you get to choose your trait and style everytime! I often craft weapons for anyone who brings mats. And I improve them to green for free! no mats even required. For blue and better you need to bring own mats but only 3 is needed to upgrade green to blue

emeraldbay

mojavemike1 wrote: »

I'm not talking about crafting... I have never crafted or purchased...never had to. My sorcerer lvl 44, mage lvl 28 and warrior lvl 27 use only dropped weapons and do just fine...my archer is struggling because of poor bow drops.

Well, if your sorcerer and mage use staves and your warrior uses metal weapons, of course they're fine. Staves and metal weapons have the upper hand in dropped loot because there are more of them than there are bows or shields.

All I can say is that by only relying on drops, you're swindling yourself out of the best gear in the game.

deruddb14_ESO

I get tons of bows, but few daggers and 1 handed swords. And light armor, but little medium.

Armianlee

I have the opposite issue, I am trying to get decent 1h stuff and all I get in drops are bows, staffs and 2h swords.

Fleymark

I definitely hit a spot in the mid levels where I never saw bows drop. Have gone thru a period recently (low vrs) where I haven't seen shields either.

OP if you collect the wood for your tier I'm happy to make any bow with any trait you want at cost for the upgrade mats. I just don't keep wood outside of my tier around.

kijima

I specialize in making bows, I have made many blue and purples and the odd yellow from time to time when I get enough mats. I've found that vet content, not many people want bows as they seem in abundance, but yes, in the lower levels there aren't many decent purple bows getting around.

When I craft them, I seem to find my lower level purples sell within 24 hours.

Curragraigue

Join a crafting guild. I just dropped 10 lvl 26 bows in the guild bank for people to deconstruct. If you wanted gear you could take it to use just put something back in for crafters to make more gear with.

Plenty of options to pick up weapons other than relying upon drops. I sometimes get lots of bows and staves and sometimes I get lots of blacksmithing armour. It is, and is meant to be, random.

Evergnar

Dropped bows have always been scarce for me in game. I mostly get 2H and staffs.

Auralia

Bows never drop for me. So that's why I always craft them. I seem to mostly get 1H axes and maces.

twev

emeraldbay wrote: »

Bows aren't that scarce if you craft them.

Jokes aside, when you think about it, bows have a low chance of dropping because the odds are against them. You find an equal amount of drops for blacksmithing, clothing, and woodworking, but can you say that you always find what you're looking for? of course not.

Let's say each woodworking item has a 5% chance of dropping. Factor in the fact that you have 4 types of staves, that means that bows have significantly less chances to drop than staves.

Apply the same to blacksmithing- you get tons of blacksmithing weapons, but how often do you get the specific type of weapon you're looking for? How often is it that you go looking for a two-handed mace drop, and actually find one? The odds are stacked against you, and the best way to get what you want is by crafting it yourself. If you're waiting on drops to get all of your weapons and armor, you may find yourself in for a tough ride.

Edit: Alternatively, just have someone make the bow for you. You may not even have to pay for it- some people even craft for free, myself included.

Thats why I research items on mules while my main crafter is already using all research slots.
I can then create a copy to research on my main whenever I need, and not have to either store one for research, or hope I find another when I need it.

Just my opinion.