Please tweak some of the bow skills

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Please increase the velocity of snipe and heavy attacks, that will make snipe an actual good dps skill

Right now it travels TOO slow to even be a threat, if the speed is increased it would make bow a massive step closer to being a viable main hand weapon.

New idea for a replacement for snipe,

Rapid fire
Range: 28m
Cast time: 1.2 secs
Target: single target
Description: fire a 5 deadly arrows in rapid succession dealing X physical dmg each arrow.

The skill can have a GCD of .7 secs in between cast times this change would also make LA weaving vaible to get hawk eye stacks since you suffer no movement speed penalty and the arrows travel quickly to their targets.

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No one got any ideas?

WhoThenNow7

I would like to see some tweaks as well, because I think it would be cool to be able to use bow as a main dps.

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I would be nice Snipe has a 3 sec flight time which sucks if that velocity was reduced to 1 sec or even .7 that would greatly help archers

@Wrobel

Lynx7386

Add crossbows while we're at it.

Autolycus

Please don't. Snipe is already a very strong dps skill.

Here's a screenshot of a friend I run with. He is a Khajiit NB. This is purely self-buffed, getting only Pierce Armor from the Tank (as is standard for solo dps tests).



Notice how his strongest snipe was for 34k, and his average is 28k. In a 2H stam pve build, my WBs crit for 26-27k, and that's with 26k max stamina and ~5200 WD.

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Autolycus wrote: »

Please don't. Snipe is already a very strong dps skill.

Here's a screenshot of a friend I run with. He is a Khajiit NB. This is purely self-buffed, getting only Pierce Armor from the Tank (as is standard for solo dps tests).

Im speaking from a solo play stand point. Yes with a group and the boss aggroed by a tank plus proper positing you can easily do that

But on your own it's virtually impossible( vMSA and Solo PVP)

Autolycus

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

Autolycus wrote: »

Please don't. Snipe is already a very strong dps skill.

Here's a screenshot of a friend I run with. He is a Khajiit NB. This is purely self-buffed, getting only Pierce Armor from the Tank (as is standard for solo dps tests).

Im speaking from a solo play stand point. Yes with a group and the boss aggroed by a tank plus proper poisoning you can easily do that

But on your own it's virtually impossible( vMSA and Solo PVP)

No sir. This individual was the first person to clear vMA on the NA server. He also has Flawless Conqueror. I know it's hard to swallow, but it's true.

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Lynx7386 wrote: »

Add crossbows while we're at it.

I really wish we had them in the game I would use that instead. Idk something to use that is ranged so I don't have to play a melee build.

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Autolycus wrote: »

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

Autolycus wrote: »

Please don't. Snipe is already a very strong dps skill.

Here's a screenshot of a friend I run with. He is a Khajiit NB. This is purely self-buffed, getting only Pierce Armor from the Tank (as is standard for solo dps tests).

Im speaking from a solo play stand point. Yes with a group and the boss aggroed by a tank plus proper poisoning you can easily do that

But on your own it's virtually impossible( vMSA and Solo PVP)

No sir. This individual was the first person to clear vMA on the NA server. He also has Flawless Conqueror.

Did he run with Bow only? NOPE I doubt it. Plus solo pvp it's terrible.

Autolycus

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

Autolycus wrote: »

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

Autolycus wrote: »

Please don't. Snipe is already a very strong dps skill.

Here's a screenshot of a friend I run with. He is a Khajiit NB. This is purely self-buffed, getting only Pierce Armor from the Tank (as is standard for solo dps tests).

Im speaking from a solo play stand point. Yes with a group and the boss aggroed by a tank plus proper poisoning you can easily do that

But on your own it's virtually impossible( vMSA and Solo PVP)

No sir. This individual was the first person to clear vMA on the NA server. He also has Flawless Conqueror.

Did he run with Bow only? NOPE I doubt it.

Yup.

Solariken

I would like to see the projectile speed of Snipe increased slightly by reducing the arc that it travels in. It looks really awkward lobbing arrows way up in the air like it functions currently - it's not very sniper-like. : /

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Autolycus wrote: »

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

Autolycus wrote: »

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

Autolycus wrote: »

Please don't. Snipe is already a very strong dps skill.

Here's a screenshot of a friend I run with. He is a Khajiit NB. This is purely self-buffed, getting only Pierce Armor from the Tank (as is standard for solo dps tests).

Im speaking from a solo play stand point. Yes with a group and the boss aggroed by a tank plus proper poisoning you can easily do that

But on your own it's virtually impossible( vMSA and Solo PVP)

No sir. This individual was the first person to clear vMA on the NA server. He also has Flawless Conqueror.

Did he run with Bow only? NOPE I doubt it.

Yup.

I would love to see that, I doubt that he literally use bow for every encounter every boss fight etc. But you seem like a credible person so I will reserve my judgement.

But what about solo PVP then? What am I suppose to do with the bow skills against zergs or in duels?

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Solariken wrote: »

I would like to see the projectile speed of Snipe increased slightly by reducing the arc that it travels in. It looks really awkward lobbing arrows way up in the air like it functions currently - it's not very sniper-like. : /

If this was chaged bow would be in a better place, its frustrating sniping a target when they get closer to you with low dmg numbers because the projectile is slow.

Plus it ruins Muh Immersion.

Autolycus

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

Autolycus wrote: »

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

Autolycus wrote: »

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

Autolycus wrote: »

Please don't. Snipe is already a very strong dps skill.

Here's a screenshot of a friend I run with. He is a Khajiit NB. This is purely self-buffed, getting only Pierce Armor from the Tank (as is standard for solo dps tests).

Im speaking from a solo play stand point. Yes with a group and the boss aggroed by a tank plus proper poisoning you can easily do that

But on your own it's virtually impossible( vMSA and Solo PVP)

No sir. This individual was the first person to clear vMA on the NA server. He also has Flawless Conqueror.

Did he run with Bow only? NOPE I doubt it.

Yup.

I would love to see that, I doubt that he literally use bow for every encounter every boss fight etc. But you seem like a credible person so I will reserve my judgement.

But what about solo PVP then? What am I suppose to do with the bow skills against zergs or in duels?

Bring a friend, and kill them while they are distracted!

In all seriousness, I think bow is best utilized for ganking in pvp. I'm not the guru for bow pvp, I use it primarily to supplement melee (purely as a preference). But I believe that is the nature of the weapon; it's meant for "ranged" battles (I mean magicka users are technically ranged, but most magicka users have class skills to benefit CQC), and duels are typically not ranged battles.

I am happy to see them making changes (like with Eagle Eye) and a heal component to Scatter Shot, but in all truthfulness, bow would be more competitive in pvp with a shorter flight time. However, I stress the importance of scaling down the damage of snipe if it can land more frequently. Shortening flight time doesn't necessarily mean more casts, right, so it's entirely possible that a higher velocity would simply mean it's harder to dodge.

Now, if we shortened the cast time on snipe, the damage would most certainly have to be scaled down to keep it in balance. We're looking for utility here. Bows don't need a damage buff, they need to be more versatile if anything!

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Autolycus wrote: »

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

Autolycus wrote: »

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

Autolycus wrote: »

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

Autolycus wrote: »

Please don't. Snipe is already a very strong dps skill.

Here's a screenshot of a friend I run with. He is a Khajiit NB. This is purely self-buffed, getting only Pierce Armor from the Tank (as is standard for solo dps tests).

Im speaking from a solo play stand point. Yes with a group and the boss aggroed by a tank plus proper poisoning you can easily do that

But on your own it's virtually impossible( vMSA and Solo PVP)

No sir. This individual was the first person to clear vMA on the NA server. He also has Flawless Conqueror.

Did he run with Bow only? NOPE I doubt it.

Yup.

I would love to see that, I doubt that he literally use bow for every encounter every boss fight etc. But you seem like a credible person so I will reserve my judgement.

But what about solo PVP then? What am I suppose to do with the bow skills against zergs or in duels?

Bring a friend, and kill them while they are distracted!

In all seriousness, I think bow is best utilized for ganking in pvp. I'm not the guru for bow pvp, I use it primarily to supplement melee (purely as a preference). But I believe that is the nature of the weapon; it's meant for "ranged" battles (I mean magicka users are technically ranged, but most magicka users have class skills to benefit CQC), and duels are typically not ranged battles.

I am happy to see them making changes (like with Eagle Eye) and a heal component to Scatter Shot, but in all truthfulness, bow would be more competitive in pvp with a shorter flight time. However, I stress the importance of scaling down the damage of snipe if it can land more frequently. Shortening flight time doesn't necessarily mean more casts, right, so it's entirely possible that a higher velocity would simply mean it's harder to dodge.

Now, if we shortened the cast time on snipe, the damage would most certainly have to be scaled down to keep it in balance. We're looking for utility here. Bows don't need a damage buff, they need to be more versatile if anything!

Agreed Agreed Agreed this is all I want Im tired of being forced to use melee weapons to fight people just want to shoot from range like in GW2 Runescape etc.

Here's a post I made not to long ago talking about about bow in DB update

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/267944/regarding-dw-bow-builds#latest

Autolycus

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

Agreed Agreed Agreed this is all I want Im tired of being forced to use melee weapons to fight people just want to shoot from range like in GW2 Runescape etc.

Here's a post I made not to long ago talking about about bow in DB update

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/267944/regarding-dw-bow-builds#latest

I mostly agree (checked out your other post too). I do consider snipe a spammable skill, and I personally don't have that much trouble queuing up my snipes in pvp. There are some strategies to boosting survivability and damage and still using bow primarily. For instance, someone attempting to fight me in melee range while I'm using bow might force me to put up Blade Cloak and Arrow Barrage, possibly even Trap Beast or another defensive utility (like hard CCs, e.g. petrify, defensive rune, agony, javelin) that sets them up for an attack.

On my stam sorc, a common practice in duels for me was to start in melee and back off, swap to bow and intentionally "entice" my opponent to close into melee range again. Typically someone with a moderate amount of dueling experience (or just pvp exp in general even) would think to rush me when they see me pull out my bow. So, instead of finding ways to prevent people from doing so, I sought ways to turn that practice into a fatal mistake. I'd swap to bow, apply defensive rune, and once they rushed me they are forced into a hard CC. This opens a window of opportunity for a number of things, including snipe and WB.

Similar strategies can be done by other classes, like on a DK for example, being rushed while using a bow might get me to cast a petrify or stone fist, followed by talons, scatter shot, then snipe. DKs have some other pretty good options when forced into melee too, like Searing Strike.

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Autolycus wrote: »

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

Agreed Agreed Agreed this is all I want Im tired of being forced to use melee weapons to fight people just want to shoot from range like in GW2 Runescape etc.

Here's a post I made not to long ago talking about about bow in DB update

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/267944/regarding-dw-bow-builds#latest

I mostly agree (checked out your other post too). I do consider snipe a spammable skill, and I personally don't have that much trouble queuing up my snipes in pvp. There are some strategies to boosting survivability and damage and still using bow primarily. For instance, someone attempting to fight me in melee range while I'm using bow might force me to put up Blade Cloak and Arrow Barrage, possibly even Trap Beast or another defensive utility (like hard CCs, e.g. petrify, defensive rune, agony, javelin) that sets them up for an attack.

On my stam sorc, a common practice in duels for me was to be in melee, and intentionally "entice" my opponent to close into melee range by swapping to bow. Typically someone with a moderate amount of dueling experience (or just pvp exp in general even) would think to rush me when they see me pull out my bow. So, instead of finding ways to prevent people from doing so, I sought ways to turn that practice into a fatal mistake. I'd swap to bow, apply defensive rune, and once they rushed me they are forced into a hard CC. This opens a window of opportunity for a number of things, including snipe and WB.

Wow never though of those skills (trap beast, blade cloak) i'll have to give them a shot.

Since I'm a NB in duels I used to use the fear that placed a ground trap and ward of melee builds but then it was changed in some update, now I run eternal hunt for the poison rune cloak after its triggered and reposition myself to safety and fire snipes only to have them all dodged by one dodge roll but then I usually have to swap DW to fight because bow doesn't work out well

For open world I pretty much gank other wise Im free AP lol but even ganking doesn't allways work because of Impen and uncritable dmg shields.

Autolycus

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

Autolycus wrote: »

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

Agreed Agreed Agreed this is all I want Im tired of being forced to use melee weapons to fight people just want to shoot from range like in GW2 Runescape etc.

Here's a post I made not to long ago talking about about bow in DB update

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/267944/regarding-dw-bow-builds#latest

I mostly agree (checked out your other post too). I do consider snipe a spammable skill, and I personally don't have that much trouble queuing up my snipes in pvp. There are some strategies to boosting survivability and damage and still using bow primarily. For instance, someone attempting to fight me in melee range while I'm using bow might force me to put up Blade Cloak and Arrow Barrage, possibly even Trap Beast or another defensive utility (like hard CCs, e.g. petrify, defensive rune, agony, javelin) that sets them up for an attack.

On my stam sorc, a common practice in duels for me was to be in melee, and intentionally "entice" my opponent to close into melee range by swapping to bow. Typically someone with a moderate amount of dueling experience (or just pvp exp in general even) would think to rush me when they see me pull out my bow. So, instead of finding ways to prevent people from doing so, I sought ways to turn that practice into a fatal mistake. I'd swap to bow, apply defensive rune, and once they rushed me they are forced into a hard CC. This opens a window of opportunity for a number of things, including snipe and WB.

Wow never though of those skills (trap beast, blade cloak) i'll have to give them a shot.

Since I'm a NB in duels I used to use the fear that placed a ground trap and ward of melee builds but then it was changed in some update, now I run eternal hunt for the poison rune cloak after ita triggered and reposition myself to safly fire a snipes only to have them all dodged by one dodge roll but then I usually have to swap DW to fight because bow doesn't work out well

For open world I pretty much gank other wise Im free AP lol but even ganking doesn't allways work because of Impen and uncritable dmg shields.

I would at least look into them. It can be tricky, because it can be tough to figure out how to fit everything we want on our limited bar space. Chances are you won't use everything I suggested trying, maybe one or two, and who knows, you might decide you don't like them at all! The defensive rune / petrify strategy isn't a one-and-done strategy, but it's definitely saved me before and it's earned me a few kills when I would have otherwise (probably) died instead.

Autolycus

I had another thought.

Gap closers are a super common practice in pvp, as we all know. There are some minor details that, upon a closer look, reveal opportunities to turn the tide. The biggest drawback to gap closers is that the further away one is when the gap closer is cast, the easier it is to avoid (the easiest to avoid being Crit Rush, but remains true for all, including Ambush). I love pulling this one off.

The moment you see someone initiating a gap closer, get your finger on the dodge roll. Right before they land at your feet, like the split moment prior, dodge roll toward them (so that you're now behind them), and hit them with a hard CC like petrify or agony. You won't be hit by the gap closer, and it will buy you a few seconds to do whatever you want. Assuming they have the stamina to break free, that still takes 1-2s plus they still have to turn around and target you. Gap Closers are typically used to initiate a fight (although not always) so doing this puts you at an advantage right off the bat, both in terms of resources and positioning.

I've not tested it yet, but I anticipate the new Flanking set will benefit archers and some of these little strategies quite a bit. It has an obvious drawback to it too though, so we'll see when DB hits. They're reviving a lot of other really good sets that might be a lot better.

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Autolycus wrote: »

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

Autolycus wrote: »

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

Agreed Agreed Agreed this is all I want Im tired of being forced to use melee weapons to fight people just want to shoot from range like in GW2 Runescape etc.

Here's a post I made not to long ago talking about about bow in DB update

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/267944/regarding-dw-bow-builds#latest

I mostly agree (checked out your other post too). I do consider snipe a spammable skill, and I personally don't have that much trouble queuing up my snipes in pvp. There are some strategies to boosting survivability and damage and still using bow primarily. For instance, someone attempting to fight me in melee range while I'm using bow might force me to put up Blade Cloak and Arrow Barrage, possibly even Trap Beast or another defensive utility (like hard CCs, e.g. petrify, defensive rune, agony, javelin) that sets them up for an attack.

On my stam sorc, a common practice in duels for me was to be in melee, and intentionally "entice" my opponent to close into melee range by swapping to bow. Typically someone with a moderate amount of dueling experience (or just pvp exp in general even) would think to rush me when they see me pull out my bow. So, instead of finding ways to prevent people from doing so, I sought ways to turn that practice into a fatal mistake. I'd swap to bow, apply defensive rune, and once they rushed me they are forced into a hard CC. This opens a window of opportunity for a number of things, including snipe and WB.

Wow never though of those skills (trap beast, blade cloak) i'll have to give them a shot.

Since I'm a NB in duels I used to use the fear that placed a ground trap and ward of melee builds but then it was changed in some update, now I run eternal hunt for the poison rune cloak after ita triggered and reposition myself to safly fire a snipes only to have them all dodged by one dodge roll but then I usually have to swap DW to fight because bow doesn't work out well

For open world I pretty much gank other wise Im free AP lol but even ganking doesn't allways work because of Impen and uncritable dmg shields.

I would at least look into them. It can be tricky, because it can be tough to figure out how to fit everything we want on our limited bar space. Chances are you won't use everything I suggested trying, maybe one or two, and who knows, you might decide you don't like them at all! The defensive rune / petrify strategy isn't a one-and-done strategy, but it's definitely saved me before and it's earned me a few kills when I would have otherwise (probably) died instead.

Yep that's the tricky part balancing skill bars I went for an offensive bow bar and defenive melee bar but that doesn't work so I have to balance melee offense and bow defensive together.

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@Autolycus

Will they be bringing back hawk eye?

Also the gap closer strategy you mentioned is somethibg that I've been doing for a while (nice to see like minded ppl with good ideas) but againt NBs I usually fail because they fear immediately after Ambush.

Autolycus

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

@Autolycus

Will they be bringing back hawk eye?

Also the gap closer strategy you mentioned is somethibg that I've been doing for a while (nice to see like minded ppl with good ideas) but againt NBs I usually fail because they fear immediately after Ambush.

I'm pretty sure Hawk Eye is coming back... I saw it somewhere on a PTS thread that was sharing the results of drop rates from the coffers on these revived sets. I'll try to find the link and share it here. (Found it, here's the link!)

Ambush is probably the most difficult gap closer to dodge this way since it's hard to track a character mid-teleport. We may be seeing more of the gap closers going this route in future updates, from the sounds of things. Unfortunately the best advice I can give to this right now is to learn to anticipate these attacks before they happen, which of course, you can't really do against an invisible target.

What class are you? I might be able to come up with something of use against NBs.

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Autolycus wrote: »

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

@Autolycus

Will they be bringing back hawk eye?

Also the gap closer strategy you mentioned is somethibg that I've been doing for a while (nice to see like minded ppl with good ideas) but againt NBs I usually fail because they fear immediately after Ambush.

I'm pretty sure Hawk Eye is coming back... I saw it somewhere on a PTS thread that was sharing the results of drop rates from the coffers on these revived sets. I'll try to find the link and share it here. (Found it, here's the link!)

Ambush is probably the most difficult gap closer to dodge this way since it's hard to track a character mid-teleport. We may be seeing more of the gap closers going this route in future updates, from the sounds of things. Unfortunately the best advice I can give to this right now is to learn to anticipate these attacks before they happen, which of course, you can't really do against an invisible target.

What class are you? I might be able to come up with something of use against NBs.

I'm a NB.

Autolycus

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

Autolycus wrote: »

ShadowStarKing wrote: »

@Autolycus

Will they be bringing back hawk eye?

Also the gap closer strategy you mentioned is somethibg that I've been doing for a while (nice to see like minded ppl with good ideas) but againt NBs I usually fail because they fear immediately after Ambush.

I'm pretty sure Hawk Eye is coming back... I saw it somewhere on a PTS thread that was sharing the results of drop rates from the coffers on these revived sets. I'll try to find the link and share it here. (Found it, here's the link!)

Ambush is probably the most difficult gap closer to dodge this way since it's hard to track a character mid-teleport. We may be seeing more of the gap closers going this route in future updates, from the sounds of things. Unfortunately the best advice I can give to this right now is to learn to anticipate these attacks before they happen, which of course, you can't really do against an invisible target.

What class are you? I might be able to come up with something of use against NBs.

I'm a NB.

Okay, keep your Blur active 100% of the time. Best case, ambush misses due to Evasion.

I use my magblade build as gankbait for stamblades all the time, but the catch is that I usually have at least one other person in my party (prefer small-scale, but like to have a partner) and stronger self-heals. Normally what I do for gank baiting is keep Double-Take up, and when I am ambushed and feared I do an immediate break-free, sap, concealed weapon, dawnbreaker. This typically melts gankers outright.

I'm thinking the best way to counter it in a bowblade setup might involve a bar-swap, so I'm not totally sure this will work and I'd have to test it to be certain. If you can't avoid the ambush or the fear, you should follow your break free with a vigor or rally, and then hit that NB with agony. This will buy you some time to rebuff and hopefully turn the tides. I would recommend following up agony with high burst, so perhaps try stringing together steel tornado, surprise attack, and soul harvest while your opponent is breaking free from agony (don't forget killer's blade!)

Alternatively, break free and pop vigor, then lay down arrow barrage and blade cloak and stay in it. If you have enough area damage you can force them out of range and unleash the snipes. If they don't back off, some combination of agony, scatter shot, and snipe might do the trick while your aoes are running.

Remember always to ani cancel / weave / block cancel your abilities. I'm guilty of this too, but it's easy to undervalue that split second where you block-cancelled an attack, and it coincides with an enemy soul harvest or something. If you happen to block that, it really helps your chances.

Edit: It might be worth noting here that I always run detect potions in cyrodiil, stam or magicka. I usually offload my Major Brutality/Sorcery and Major Intellect/Endurance to my detect pots, reserving my bars almost exclusively for class buffs and damaging skills.

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@Autolycus excellent ideas I'll try them out! Thanks!

Vythri

Use Agony? Wouldn't Crippling Grasp be better since it gives you movement speed buff allowing you to put distance between you and the target without having do waste stamina with a dodge roll?

It would be cool if they changed one of the Agony morphs to a stamina morph though. That may be a little greedy...

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Vythri wrote: »

Use Agony? Wouldn't Crippling Grasp be better since it gives you movement speed buff allowing you to put distance between you and the target without having do waste stamina with a dodge roll?

It would be cool if they changed one of the Agony morphs to a stamina morph though. That may be a little greedy...

I mentioned that in the pts NB thread. But yeah if it scales of off stamina I would use it.

Autolycus

Vythri wrote: »

Use Agony? Wouldn't Crippling Grasp be better since it gives you movement speed buff allowing you to put distance between you and the target without having do waste stamina with a dodge roll?

It would be cool if they changed one of the Agony morphs to a stamina morph though. That may be a little greedy...

It depends on whether or not you consider it a waste of stamina to dodge roll. If you time it properly, it's not waste at all, rather it turns into a combo.

But, the main reason I suggest Agony over Cripple is because it's unblockable. There's not a whole lot by way of defenses against it. It's a tide-turner.

Vythri

Autolycus wrote: »

Vythri wrote: »

Use Agony? Wouldn't Crippling Grasp be better since it gives you movement speed buff allowing you to put distance between you and the target without having do waste stamina with a dodge roll?

It would be cool if they changed one of the Agony morphs to a stamina morph though. That may be a little greedy...

It depends on whether or not you consider it a waste of stamina to dodge roll. If you time it properly, it's not waste at all, rather it turns into a combo.

But, the main reason I suggest Agony over Cripple is because it's unblockable. There's not a whole lot by way of defenses against it. It's a tide-turner.

I didn't know it was unblockable...

As for the stamina thing with dodge rolling, I guess my point was more along the lines of not needing if you cast Crippling Grasp. Just an unnecessary stamina drain when you could use magicka instead.

Toc de Malsvi

@Autolycus

After going back and forth with you previously and spending some time evaluating I think there are two points where the bow is weak and force it into a ganking role for PVP, and a shunned spot in PVE groups.

#1 Scattershot and morphs. Scatter shot is a bad CC, the damage is too high and the range too low, while the CC is virtually non existent as it works counter to putting Poison Arrow/Volley and morphs up. A simple fix would be to make it knock the target down as well as knocking them back 5m. Give one morph a heal and the other minor maim for 3-5s. Also lower the damage, currently it is high enough to tempt you to use it but not high enough to repeat use, while the CC is pathetic.

What is important about Scatter Shot's weakness is that it forces ranged focused builds to wait until their opponents are in melee to use a poor CC option. This moves players away from trying to take on opponents in the open. There are other class options, but this is the bow's option and it is neither good nor does it synergize or make sense from an Archer perspective.

#2 The long shots passive. Bow's are inherently weaker because of a lower weapon damage scale, given the right buff's and positioning though they can certainly compete as you have shown. This passive while looking unique and interesting is fairly annoying outside of pve dps in a group setting. In both VMA and PVP this passive is virtually non existent as a benefit as targets will spend 90% of their time right on top of you. This is a passive that would be better suited as a master weapon bonus. One solution is to grant the weapon damage increase against targets struck by snipe or one of its morphs for 10s or so. Another would be to change this bonus to Piercing Shots and give passive armor penetration, while slightly upping the base damage of bow's.

With the combat system currently in place bow's sacrifice significant output when not used at significant range, this forces players towards ganking unaware opponents rather than taking them on in a fair open fight. In PVE fight's where you are forced into melee put the bow at a disadvantage, that plus the poor output and play of most bow builds causes groups to shun players who main bar bows.

To add to this bow damage is mostly delayed damage which is not something that many find friendly towards challenging content. Given a Maelstrom Weapon bow's have two of the best DOT's in Poison Injection and Scorched Earth, however they lack in immediate direct damage, Snipe takes too long to reach the target. To add to that bow's offer excellent support options as a back bar weapon, while receiving relatively poor support from other weapon lines.

Destruction Staff's do not face this restriction while having a 17m CC that can be morphed into a 28m CC, with variable choices from knockback+knockdown, immobilize, or stun. They also face no damage penalty based on range. I bring up Staff's because they are the only other ranged DPS weapon.

To summarize bow's are not in a particularly bad place however they have significant weakness' that push them towards a ganking/support role. Of course on the other hand they could be like DW relying on a combination of Maelstrom weapons and class skills to be useful...