Bows in ESO a lot weaker than bows in earlier ES games

cwy · August 2015

I've played all the Elder Scrolls game and always played as archer, but, boy, was I disappointed with the bows in ESO. I've only played for a few hours, now at level 7. Will the bow get better later?? Will I be able to draw the bow faster? Will I jump higher so I can jump to a sniper location where my enemies can't reach? Thank god we get unlimited arrows, otherwise it would truly be torture. The only good thing about a bow seems to be its sneak attack. But even with cloak and sneak and dodge roll, it still takes A LOT longer to kill an enemy with a bow than other weapons, mainly because of the long draw time. I suppose bows would be useful in group combat where your friends charge with melee weapons while you shoot from the back. Is that really what the game intends us to do? That it is no good for solo?

Waffennacht · August 2015

Yes you can draw faster, no you can't jump higher, it gets better but yes bow not nearly as good, people do use it

cwy · August 2015

For now I just use a bow for the sneak attack, then quickly switch to another weapon, like a staff, which kind of kick ass in this game. Staves fire much more rapidly, can heal and restore, can "power attack", although the auto-aiming seems a little "generous". Bows have no auto-aiming, which further adds to their suckiness.

Etaniel · August 2015

cwy wrote: »

For now I just use a bow for the sneak attack, then quickly switch to another weapon, like a staff, which kind of kick ass in this game. Staves fire much more rapidly, although the auto-aiming seems a little "generous". Bows have no auto-aiming, which further adds to their suckiness.

Bows have auto aiming. Bows are completely viable and deal good damage. Using only light or heavy attacks won't get you anywhere (mostly), it's all about using a light/heavy attack in between each skill that you use/cast.

Rosveen · August 2015

cwy wrote: »

Will I jump higher so I can jump to a sniper location where my enemies can't reach?

That leads to farming exploits and is cheesy as hell, even in single player games. You're not supposed to be ever be completely invulnerable. Not that it would help you against ranged enemies anyhow.

Bows are useful for kiting and crowd control. There were bosses I soloed only because I could stay ranged. However, bows don't really have any spammable hard hitting skill like other weapons, so they are weaker in this area. I miss my sneaky archers from other TES games. Then again, they were stupidly OP...

Xvorg · August 2015

Bows do have both, snare and stun. Knockback, dot, aoe, dot aoe. They have a minor debuff on healthregen and set off balance 100% effective against casters. The only thing theta lack is a hot.

Not ti mención their passives

And you want them to do more dmg?

Athas24 · August 2015

I use a bow primarily on my night-blade and have NO issues 1-2 shotting things. He's only V2 and wipes the floor with things rather easily using the bow. I'd check which morphs you are using vs the recommended morphs for your build/play style. There could be an issue there. Lethal Arrow is awesome, a fully drawn heavy hit is awesome, poison injection is great, acid spray is really viable, magnum shot has allowed me to Solo tons of World bosses. The passives are great too. ... of course you won't be as overpowered as you will with a bow in Oblivion or Skyrim but that was just game breaking strong and stupid imo... Plus being an mmo there needs to be some balance or it's not fun either.

Xvorg · August 2015

What people forget is the fact that everything should be combined. No solo weapon build is able to do the job, you must combine the weapon skills with class, aw, guild, world and armor skills to get a good build.

Sure, I enjoyed a lot playing Obli, I liked a lot my control humanoid iron bow, but that's a different game.

TheBull · August 2015

I agree!

Trayzard · August 2015

it's a MMO combat system... one of the top reasons to buy a new SingleplayernThe Elder Scrolls Game would be to play again with nice bow mechanics

chevalierknight · August 2015

You mean bows are well done in eso they are broken in most eso games

Winterpsy · August 2015

Check the patch notes that's coming. Bows get a damage bonus.

cwy · August 2015

I notice the blacksmith and clothier always have a lot more people than the woodworker, so it does seem more people are using melee weapons than bows. And there is always NO ONE at the alchemy and enchanting stations, lol. No surprise, since alchemists and enchanters need lots of ingredients, and they fill up inventory slots, and this may discourage people to make potions and enchantments.

To the earlier poster who said bows have auto-aiming, are you sure about that? When I shoot something further away, I always have to "arc" the arrow the right way, always resulting in a few misses, just like in earlier ES games.

Xvorg · August 2015

cwy wrote: »

I notice the blacksmith and clothier always have a lot more people than the woodworker, so it does seem more people are using melee weapons than bows. And there is always NO ONE at the alchemy and enchanting stations, lol. No surprise, since alchemists and enchanters need lots of ingredients, and they fill up inventory slots, and this may discourage people to make potions and enchantments.

To the earlier poster who said bows have auto-aiming, are you sure about that? When I shoot something further away, I always have to "arc" the arrow the right way, always resulting in a few misses, just like in earlier ES games.

Are you kidding?

You know there are crafting stations which provide you sets which are waaaaaaay better compared to those in the towns stations?

By the way, did you know that staves and shields are also crated in the wooodworker stations? And those 2 are used a LOT.

Auto-aiming is a fact and it works with staves and bows.

Instead of making wrong assumptions, you should read more about the game. Here you have a good start

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Combat

cwy · August 2015

Ah finally some defensiveness that always makes threads interesting. I don't want to read too much about the game to avoid spoilers or spoilerish info. As I said, I'm only at earlier levels, and I'm doing what people in a place like this usually do: discuss about the game. If other people's opinions distress you, then don't read or post, very simple isn't it. I'm at early levels, and I can only post what I saw: blacksmiths and clothiers are overcrowded while other stations are often deserted. Maybe low-level players find it easier to play with those items.

Xvorg · August 2015

That's why you cannot come here with assumptions. Ok, you noticed that one woodworking station at an early zone was not so concurred but there can be a lot of explanations for that. For example in Glenumbra, the woodw station is far from the rest of the crafting areas. It took me a couple of days to realize were it was located. At early levels it is not much populated compared to the same station in Davon's watch, which is always crowded (since the other crafting stations are pretty near to it)

The thing is that based on that observation, you made an entire asumtion regarding bows which is far from being real. Bows are used a lot in this game. It is true that they have lower dmg, but as you, I've played every simgle TES game since Morrowind, and bows have always had lower base dmg than their melee counterparts. Even their crits were lower (a melee crit in Oblivion received an x6 multiplier, while a bow, just a x3, for example).

As soon as you get to Coldharbor, you will see how people goes a lot to the Woodw stations.