cRPG

cRPG => Suggestions Corner => Game Balance Discussion => Topic started by: Michael on January 20, 2011, 11:58:09 pm

Title: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Michael on January 20, 2011, 11:58:09 pm
Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?


DaveUkr - rage quit

Gnjus - thrower

others - are there any?

So, I have done my private testing, my dedicated level 20 crossbowman looks like this:

(click to show/hide)

The crosshair is almost tight, not as tight as in native, what is fine I think.

The reload lasts ages. After each shot I can go to the kitchen and make a sandwich or something while my guy is reloading. What is also fine I think.

But the damage is not enough.

I let him use the best stuff money can buy (sniper + steel bolts).

I have many hits, but no kills.

Even those agi Ninjas with cheap armor survive a close distance shot.

To tell the truth, even archers survive a shot (usually).

What is this?

If you want to avoid that crossbows are used as a sidearm by black armored tincans, that is what upkeep is for, or not?

And my main is a lancer/ pikeman, so a crossbow buff would hurt me a lot.

Also, I made this char like others for testing purposes only, I will delete him soon.

I have tried all classes, and I think this one is really too hard to play, especially when I see that with my dedicated thrower I had a k > d at level 7.

Archery, cavalry, strength infantry, at level 20 I could usually bring a k > d.

With this one, only on a few maps (like this castle map some admin abusers always have to change before the first round).

 
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Tai Feng on January 21, 2011, 12:18:37 am
Gnjus is throwing because it's overpowered.
Dave is sulking, pointlessly.


The others are doing same thing they were doing before: rolling archers who are superior to xbow in every way.

You can still see plenty of xbows, but they are not pure xbow like you, because it's pointless to be pure xbow. Try having a melee weapon and some proficiency. Even Native xbowmen were designed to be hybrids.



The main problem of xbows is that they are BORING like hell. In Native they're not, but in crpg they have to be "balanced" with super slow reload. Well guess what, people want to PLAY the game, not reload entire game.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Michael on January 21, 2011, 12:26:13 am
My first generation was a crossbowman/2h hybrid, I have played it for some months, and I dont remember all my kills, but I would say I killed about 50 % with crossbow.

The snipers damage was 100, a one shot kill for Ninjas, archers and other people without iron flesh or plate.


Same in native. In Nord Town etc. about 50 % of enemies I kill with crossbow, if not more. Less armor, way faster reload, similiar damage.


I think its true. chadz is done with playing actively. He killed his own domain in his own mod. lol =)


The long reload time wasnt a problem for me, I understood it as a challenge. I had to be aware, I had to see the archer first and I had to hit him, otherwise I would be dead in arrow spam.
I couldnt waste a single bolt to low levels, I had to focus and kill the best 2h players before they killed half of my team. I liked it. Otherwise I wouldnt have played it for so long, I dont play to collect kills, I play for fun.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: bruce on January 21, 2011, 01:11:43 am
I had a crossbowman but I retired it for some reason to make a thrower... anyway, going to level it again. But if I do, it's definitely going to have some powerstrike, melee proficiency and a melee weapon, pure ranged and then running away like a my old friend when someone approaches with a melee weapon deserves to be pathetic.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Trael on January 21, 2011, 09:36:43 am
I do have deidecated crossbower with this name...
lvl 24
sure i do have long sword and 86 in 2h prof, but i also have 121 crossbow prof and im most likely going to be raising only crossbows prof from now on.

Problem just is that long sword + sniper crossbow + steel bolts combinet are already at 25k gear point that equals pretty close to +- 0 gold with how autobalance has been handling me for last couple of weeks.

So i end up being delicate flower without armor, dying to basicly anything even with my iron flesh 5. Problem just seems to be that these days even mid to low armor targets wont seem to much care about getting hit by bolts. Have to admit that last patch that returned some of crossbows damage did good, after it i was able to get some frags in siege defense (but pretty much not anywhere else...).

i could use my other crossbow (hunters i got first), it reloads like magic compared to snipers crossbow, but then again i think only thing i have been able to frag with it has been one archer with incredibly lucky headshot from ½ map away (quite ballistic fire pretty much hitting target to head from up), but really if my sniper crossbow does not allways kill targets without armor (!) (yes i have seen this too..) then im not expecting all that much better from hunters crossbow in damage...

back when i started playing and grinded gold to get that already expensive sniper crossbow slowly on old system, even mightiest tincans seemed to pay attention to it and try to avoid getting hit, becouse dedicated crossbower was quite serious damage dealer to them, these days every punk lowarmor ninja seems to just rush at me saying "well i can take one or two hits if they dont get me in head, and your reload is so slow that you wont be able to deliver but maybe one to me before i nodachi/katana spam you..."

i liked times when with sniper crossbow there was matter of choosing your targets "that one is peasant, not worth it becouse that heavily armored 2h spammer knight should come around that corner just soon trying to slash tru my team... and if i can put bolt in that ill end up saving quite many of my teammates from that flamepatterned blade.."

these days it seems to be "oh anything i can see if i just would end up damaging or maybe fraggins something"

it was still fun to play crossbower, but well i guess part of it is becouse i already have sniper crossbow & steel bolts and with their current prices cant dont really need any extra gold... as i cant support any other gear to spawn, recently been looking at buying cheaper 2h to be used instead of longsword for most of time...

oh dear being sick and sleeping at home causes me to have these spontaneous rushes of half-readable text, when i havent really talked to anyone for couple of days (makes throat hurt...) or really written anything... "something that even kind of could seeeemmm like sssooooooccciiiiaaalll interractiiioooonnnn..."

sry for this... ;)

edit: funny thing is my other chars are: pure polearms char (uses selection of GOOD polearms, gear cost something like < 15-22k) and quite effective, 1h+shield (havent yet seen where gear and effectivity sets..), now for lols 3agility thrower (most likely wont have interrest to heirloom stones enough to have them as proper option to keep that interresting...)
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Astinus on January 21, 2011, 10:02:48 am
Dedicated crossbowmen have no reasons to exist. Crossbow is the perfect and cheaper hybrid way. Yeah you can focus more on the xbow than the melee weapon, but that's all, going pure crossbow is not the way it should work
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Ninja_Khorin on January 21, 2011, 10:49:13 am
I don't know how, but I've been one-shotted more than once by crossbowmen and they weren't headshots. Same with archers
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Trout4711 on January 21, 2011, 10:49:50 am
Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?

Well, don't you know that ranged combat is "a my old friendgy and cowardly style of fighting" and has no place in Mount & Crybabbies?
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Thomek on January 21, 2011, 01:02:56 pm
my lvl 27 char was just one-shotted by a sniper xbow. Don't see a lot of xbows around though, so hard to tell.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Paul on January 21, 2011, 01:19:44 pm
This lobbyism crap isn't even funny anymore. I have a mid-level crossbowman using a simple crossbow with the ninja-buffed steel bolts and he's super effective. Fortunatly I'm playing both, archer and crossbowman, so I can compare and don't have to rely on this kind of pseudo-feedback.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Trout4711 on January 21, 2011, 03:23:52 pm
This lobbyism crap isn't even funny anymore. I have a mid-level crossbowman using a simple crossbow with the ninja-buffed steel bolts and he's super effective. Fortunatly I'm playing both, archer and crossbowman, so I can compare and don't have to rely on this kind of pseudo-feedback.

It is actually good to hear that at least one of the developers has first hand knowledge about the stuff they are changing...

Please continue that trend!
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Gnjus on January 21, 2011, 03:40:39 pm
Gnjus - thrower

Wrong. I have 125 in 1handed and 113 in throwing. PS 6, PT 6. What does that make me ? Certainly not a full thrower, there are quite enough of those around, the guys who you see running with nothing but axes (mostly, some use jarids or lances) and they have PT like 10 or more, and basically one-shot everything (while i mostly dont). Im just a poor hybrid shielder.



Gnjus is throwing because it's overpowered.

Wrong. I'm throwing because that's the only other thing i wanted to try beside xbows (cant do 2handers since i suck at manual blocking, cant do archery cause religion forbids me, id like to go cavalry but it actually sucks since maps are mostly not suited for it, horses go down fast and they are quite expensive), i respeced the same day patch arrived without checking things out on forums or in-game...if it sucked id still be a hybrid as i am now, since i never retired. So basically i was amongst the first throwers out there who wanted to play throwing because they like it, not because they think (or know) its OP after the patch.

Check your facts boys, before you mention my name in vain.  :)



Edit:

I don't know how, but I've been one-shotted more than once by crossbowmen and they weren't headshots. Same with archers

Grow stronger.  :)
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Braeden on January 21, 2011, 04:16:50 pm
Quote
So basically i was amongst the first throwers out there who wanted to play throwing because they like it, not because they think (or know) its OP after the patch.

Umm...first post patch throwers, you mean.

Anyhow, I have a dedicated 2-h who has evolved into a largely dedicated crossbowman who has melee capacity because I found the crossbow to be just that much more effective fighting against ranged spam.  Now, I probably have a bit easier time because the average ATS map provides a lot of cover to shoot from, but I do fairly well on the native maps which come up as well.  I also have a pure crossbowman, but he is mostly for fooling around.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Gnjus on January 21, 2011, 04:30:35 pm
Umm...first post patch throwers, you mean.

Well ofc, it is post patch we are talking about here. It is very well known what i was before the patch (a stinking camper, hider and time-waster).  :wink:
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Magikarp on January 21, 2011, 04:35:08 pm
Where have they gone? People started playing them, than it got a damage nerf, so they went back to throwing or archery.
However, people who actually like playing in their own way, choose the weapon they like most, those are the people who still us xbows.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: DrKronic on January 21, 2011, 04:43:21 pm
I added a xbow with steel bolts to my inventory last night and it was very effective

This was the crossbow I imagine the heavy and sniper for those willing to skimp a tiny bit on the rest of their loadout would be even better

I tried making a dedicated xbow pre latest buff and I didn't notice enough of a buff from wpf but that was pre big bolt and latest damag e buff I think a hybrid xbower now would be dangerous
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Thomek on January 21, 2011, 04:51:53 pm
I do believe you gnjus. And I also like your new mobile playstyle!

I also think throwing is completely broken however for 2 reasons.

1: The harder wpf cap. More people spec throwing because its more economical. I would like to see this much softer.
2: The accuracy that pthrow gives you, opens the way for pthrow strength monsters with no or little wpf in throwing.

Throwing should be a trade-off between power and accuracy, right now it is power and accuracy in one. I want to see the agi-thrower, with high accuracy but little damage. Right now, my snowflakes are useless, and I need perhaps 7-8 pthrow to do even hit something. (I just want to stun people and go for headshots, not 1shot people.)

Am I right that Pthrow adds; projectile speed + damage + accuracy + unlocking heavier and more damaging throwing weps?

It's too much, and becomes progressively more powerful for each pthrow.  (And it can be used with shield, although pure throwers often drop the shield for more throwing weps.)

Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Gorath on January 21, 2011, 05:14:10 pm
I still play on my xbowman.
1h/shield + xbow (the heavy and sniper reload too damned slow and don't even do enough damage to justify it imo)
140 1h
100 xbow

However most of the time anymore I leave the xbow at home and save myself the upkeep cost since it's just not that useful.  Sure I get a kill now and then, but with how long even the regular xbow takes to reload I'll get maybe 2-3 shots per round before the rest is spent in melee.  I tried using the hunting/light xbows as well, but they take far too many shots to drop your average mail wearing player that even with the slightly faster reload time it just feels pretty "meh".

When I'm on the siege server and on defense I'll bust out the xbow and go through all 15 shots.  Other than that though, I kind of wish I had gone throwing instead.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Paul on January 21, 2011, 05:38:24 pm
I have a level 25 crossbowman with 7 athletics and 150 wpf (70 polearm). I don't need to pump strength like an archer and 12 str (4ps)is enough to use my military fork effectively even against armored targets. I'm not planning to use the siege crossbow, the normal crossbow is fine to me. Maybe I'll go for the heavy one later.

I am accurate at bigger distances with my high wpf and the internal multiplier. However, my high athletic skill(7) allows me to fight pretty well in big group battles, setting shots from medium or even close range. If it gets too hot I can just turn and run - only few of them can catch me. The reloading time is not long with my wpf, in fact I'm always astonished that I can almost keep up with the rate of fire of an archer with a long or war bow.

With my piercing damage I am a serious threat to armored targets, usually taking out mail clad victims in 2 or 3 body shots - while insta-kill head shots are very well possible thanks to the high precision. Personally the biggest so-to-say "advantage" of my crossbow char is that I am almost forced to have a good awareness of my surroundings thanks to the reloading break. I just look around everytime during the animation. My archer's awareness level is usually close to zero, but this is more my fault...
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Tai Feng on January 21, 2011, 06:11:17 pm
Gnjus I meant exactly that - you switched from xbow to throwing. You always were a hybrid and had huscarl shield and pick/axe (whichever it was) - I didn't feel that needed noting.


As for xbows, I myself use sometimes light xbow on my polearm char which has zero proficiency and I find that xbow mildly useful in some cases. Siege one, I dunno, accuracy and reload times are horrible, not to mention the cost. Maybe siege one is fine with wpf.

I tried making xbow char but it doesn't work for me. One round I would do great, killing left and right. Then next 4 rounds it would completely suck. The worse thing was shooting 3x and round over. If my team charges I can either shoot from across the map or.. well, not do much the entire round. My usual playstyle involves a lot of movement, which is why I use polearms.

Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Gnjus on January 21, 2011, 07:15:29 pm
Gnjus I meant exactly that - you switched from xbow to throwing. You always were a hybrid and had huscarl shield and pick/axe (whichever it was) - I didn't feel that needed noting.

Ofc, ofc, no worries there, but you did say that i chose throwing because it is overpowered which is simply not the case. I didnt know (and i couldnt of known since i re-assigned my skill points as soon as the patch was applied ) how its gonna end up.  :)
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Michael on January 21, 2011, 07:30:21 pm
This lobbyism crap isn't even funny anymore.

Looks like you have missed something, so I guess I ll quote myself:

Quote
And my main is a lancer/ pikeman, so a crossbow buff would hurt me a lot.

Also, I made this char like others for testing purposes only, I will delete him soon.

Already retired.


Quote
I have a mid-level crossbowman using a simple crossbow with the ninja-buffed steel bolts and he's super effective.

Screens or it never happened.


Quote
Fortunatly I'm playing both, archer and crossbowman, so I can compare and don't have to rely on this kind of pseudo-feedback.

Oh hes butthurt.

My archer alt, level 17:


http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/5534/paris1q.jpg


http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/1671/paris2c.jpg


http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/2999/paris3g.jpg



Couldnt bring something similiar with the level 20 crossbowman.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Paul on January 21, 2011, 08:13:35 pm
Wow, that proves it. I stand corrected.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: AdNecrias on January 21, 2011, 09:45:30 pm
You guys are missing the best way to use an xbow. Pick on from the ground, shoot it, drop it. Enjoy your weakened target.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Gorath on January 21, 2011, 09:56:06 pm

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/5534/paris1q.jpg

Couldnt bring something similiar with the level 20 crossbowman.

3-0?  Yeah, you're right.  On a level 20 xbowman you can go far far above that score.

lol, 3-0 and bragging... Oh Finished.  You're too much.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: ShinySpoons on January 22, 2011, 12:33:23 am
My xbowman with 100wpf using the normal xbow and steel bolts take 2-3 hits to kill most targets. More depending on the range. The reload animation doesn't feel very long at all and I frequently end rounds with no bolts left. Generally though, I don't get very many kills with the xbow itself, I'll usually just put one bolt on a target and let someone else finish them off. So, even though I spend most of my time with the xbow, I actually get the majority of my kills with a longsword, which is fine, as people are usually weakened by the time they reach me.

Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Trael on January 22, 2011, 03:31:40 pm
we ended up doing some testing at duel server with rumaahinen just moments ago.

my crossbow char + sniper + steel
we tested different hit locations from different ranges [6k armor + same protection helmet + shoes & near top of line armor]

target:  lvl 27, str 21, powerstrike 7, ironflesh 3, agi 15, ath 5, weapon master 5

results:
1) unarmored target needs 2 hits from sniper + steel to die
2) 6k body armor (mail with surcoat), short distance: 2-3 hits to torso, mid distance: 3-4 hits to torso, long distance no hits
3) 23k body armor (churburg cuirass), short distance: 4-5 hits to torso, mid distance: 5-6 hits to torso, no point in long distance test at this point.
4) 57 armor point helmet, target survives point blank range headshot [personal note: fine with me, if someone really takes top of the line one of most expensive helmets, im fine with them being able to survive one hit to head with massive damage but not going down.]
5) in test with hunting crossbow + steel: target in 23k body armor takes around 2-3% of damage with every hit, so killing with only crossbow becomes practicly impossible without headshots, even from point blank range, based on test headshot, target could take over 3-6 headshots without going down.

target suspects based on his own experience that he would take around 15 hits from some crap bow to go down with better armor and around 5-6 with 6k armor.

gear of tester costs [without _any_ other gear] min. 19 613 gold (just sniper + steel) and with mid tier melee weapon 24k [aka +-0 gold level, without multiplier aka in normal play]
(yes last week or so, i have 3 times seen 3x or higher, glorious autobalance and have went -1k gold balance while using 23-25k gear)


personally:
i still like playing my crossbow char, but yeah, these days it seems to be naked person shooter, instead of serious armor penetrator.
and i can get decent k/d from those naked peoples, if im defending in siege, elsewhere it seems to be mostly just anti cavalry (where i like it, always nice to see how those cav lancers come "hahaa im going to penetrate that crossbow char" just to get bolt in middle of their horses face at last moment, ending up rolling in middle of some pile of my teammates).

target's opinion:
as 2h spammer he now thinks crossbows as joke and does not see that there would be any danger to him from them anymore.

6k armor results were ones that really supprised me, after all we are talking about 20k weapon here.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: B3RS3RK on January 22, 2011, 07:39:03 pm
I leveled a Crossbowman to lvl 20 now, and regarding the effectiveness it feels VEERY similar to my Archer, on some maps I get a good and positive K/D like 8:3 or something while on other maps I get 0:6 or even worse.I play with a light crossbow and steel bolts now, and the biggest Problem dedicated crossbowman have is the upkeep IMO.The light crossbow, which is only able to score kills on wounded or very lightly armored enemies(Mostly), is already 5,1k, which makes around 250 gold upkeep for it.The normal Crossbow is 7,4k and pretty much the highest you can go without losing money regularly.

Of course higher prices are necessary so not everyone carries a x-bow, but still...The only way to fix this would be making some requirements in skill points for the crossbow, for example power draw.

IMO, the crossbows from light to sniper would need a slight price reduction like this:

Light crossbow: about 4000 gold
Crossbow: about 6000 gold
Heavy Crossbow: about 9000 gold
Sniper Crossbow: about 12000 gold

As said, this would also increase the number of people only carrying a crossbow as sidearm for shotgun purposes, but there is no real way to fix this except for making crossbows require a special skill.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Sir_Ironlake on January 22, 2011, 07:50:33 pm
No price reduction. Why make everything similar.

Keep price but make them able to hurt armor. Buff price, but make em able to pierce mail.-
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Jacko on January 23, 2011, 11:05:19 am
Price are fine. I like where xbows are right now, but going dedicated is really only gimping yourself. With all the PS you Can Get, you'd be a fool to not pick up a melee weapon when wpp above 150 doesn't really give anything. Hopefully xbows  are in a good place right now, but we won't really know until most players have loomed their xbows x2 ( I failed loomed so I'm not there either).
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Sir_Ironlake on January 23, 2011, 11:30:10 am
I have an xbow alt that has ~130 wpf in xbow and ~70 in 1hander. And Im having fun, but admittidley most of my well doing is because of my melee skills not the xbowing.

Frankly, the xbow is too weak and takes 2-5 shoots to kill, yr avrg healthy medium armored person. Thats just too much. A sniper xbow *might* kill in 2 hits, but only on light armor. So either you shoot a few peasnts for kills or maybe 1 enemy. The slow reload means you can average about 5 fired bolts a round. So even if you hit 100% (which is kinda asking too much) you can hardly kill much.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Jacko on January 23, 2011, 11:47:13 am
Yeah.. That's kind of the problem right now with xbows. My main is 79 pole and 140 xbow, sniper with steel bolts, and it's not unusual I hit some guy with no clothes in the chest and he survives. I assume he's fairly high lvl with some IF, but still. Anyone with a loomed fully loomed xbow experiencing this as well?
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Siiem on January 23, 2011, 12:00:57 pm
Yeah.. That's kind of the problem right now with xbows. My main is 79 pole and 140 xbow, sniper with steel bolts, and it's not unusual I hit some guy with no clothes in the chest and he survives. I assume he's fairly high lvl with some IF, but still. Anyone with a loomed fully loomed xbow experiencing this as well?

Too be fair, thats not uncommon with any weapon now. However even with armour xbows and throwing seems to be the only weapons that take more then 60% hp in one hit.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Manabalu on January 23, 2011, 12:04:23 pm
I have a masterwork sniper (87p+8p) and usally don't have that problem. Nakeds are always onehit kills, light armor too, if he is not too far away.
All in all I like to be a crossbowmen now. The good crossbows are too expensive as side weapons and the damge of the higher ones is alright again.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Manabalu on January 23, 2011, 12:06:07 pm
Too be fair, thats not uncommon with any weapon now. However even with armour xbows and throwing seems to be the only weapons that take more then 60% hp in one hit.

The problem with higher xBows is: You just have one shot and it is really disappointing if that shot can't kill a naked, like before the last patch.
Anyway a dedicated melee can easily onehit a naked with his flamberge, thats the price class we are talking about...
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: MountedRhader on January 23, 2011, 12:21:18 pm
Love your avatar, Gnjus!  :)

I might try X-bows in a lil' bit after 4 mil xp to retire.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Paul on January 23, 2011, 12:21:34 pm
One thing you have to keep in mind is that damaging an opposing player helps winning the round. You don't have to get the kill do be rewarded. So instead of shooting nakeds - as satisfying that is - going for armored targets as a crossbowman is recommended. If possible, leave the unprotected foes for the archers and focus on the heavy metal with a siege/heavy crossbow.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Radix on January 23, 2011, 12:30:06 pm
I am playing 131 wpf xbow and 101 1h+ norman shield. I use heavy crossbow and actualy never 1hit kill like before, what forced me to aim higher for head what means more misses. If I have a good day, and map is xbowman friendly I can get to the top 3 players, but it requires a lot of effort. I have a feeling that xbow dmg is to low, it even happens for naked guy to survive a close shoot which is totally unfair, cose it is a crossbow and the power is generated from the steel prod.... it actualy should go trough a naked guy and stick in a guy behind him. I feel that xbow is the weakest ranged weapon which is unrealistic but good for game balance I guess. Tips for xbowmans to survive are:

- invest a fair amount of wpf in melee

- use heavier armors u dont need mobility like archers

- always look for cover - xbowman is nothing in open field

- never go for 1v1 fight with archer unless u have a cover

- look around carefully and search for archers that dont move while shooting and snipe them

-if u spot a plate user: aim for him, xbow is very good for damaging plate users what is benefitial to the team

- use  corners of the  houses - jump out, shoot in the group of enemies, hide again to reload - this is a speciality of xbowmans in my opinions, or was cose throwers are taking advantage in that kind of fight
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Siiem on January 23, 2011, 12:43:57 pm
(click to show/hide)

You just hit the top retard list. You must feel honoured.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Jacko on January 23, 2011, 01:03:30 pm
Priority targets, from biggest threat to the least are: Archers, crossbowmen, cavalry, Pole/ 2 handers, shielders.
When I aim and shoot, I have circa 1-5 sec to fire my bolt and get the hell out of dodge. Otherwise, some bugger just like me is gonna pin me.

But the absolute biggest reason to shoot other ranged are:

They are standing still.

Melee move erratic, and when the reloading is as long as it is, I want to make that shot count. Why miss a melee when you can kill an archer?
I love shooting 2-handers and shielders, especially when they have lots of armour and are chopping up my team (I always target my fellow mercs). In most cases it's better to "safe" the shot then to risk it.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: justme on January 23, 2011, 01:56:39 pm
everyone is dodging..
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Jacko on January 23, 2011, 04:09:41 pm
Solution: Ban dodging.

justme: what are you talking about? Of course people dodge, but RANGED stand still when firing.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Gorath on January 23, 2011, 09:38:08 pm
One thing you have to keep in mind is that damaging an opposing player helps winning the round. You don't have to get the kill do be rewarded.

As long as there is a scoreboard in the game that keeps track of your KDR and not damage dealt, then your statement will be innacurate.  Sad, but true.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Siiem on January 23, 2011, 11:50:31 pm
I think the solution here is my "Gravity" Thread.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Rumblood on January 24, 2011, 01:08:04 am
Too be fair, thats not uncommon with any weapon now. However even with armour xbows and throwing seems to be the only weapons that take more then 60% hp in one hit.

Huh? I get one-shotted everytime with a xbow. He's got that one chance though. If he misses, he wont get to reload.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Trael on January 24, 2011, 01:13:22 am
Anyway a dedicated melee can easily onehit a naked with his flamberge, thats the price class we are talking about...

does not even need to be dedicated melee or flamberg, my 20 lvl melee with some cheap 3k 1h sword can oneshot naked people most of time... and if it wont oneshot next swing comes in <2s.

but really... if sidearm crossbows were/are so big problem... why not just make crossbows be totally completely unusable unaccurate and slow to reload when used without any profiency?... aka lower their default stats and give big boost to profiency... that way dedicated crossbowers can have them without all nernerfs they have been laterly having and they are dead cost to sidearmers. currently its in middle of 1) not really changing anything 2) making them obsolite.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: MountedRhader on February 03, 2011, 04:59:20 am
Just to add my 2 cents to the table, I saw some crossbowmen acting in teams today, in teams!!! (not in same clan)
Matter of fact there were 3 or 4 of them and they were holding off on a roof, made me want to buy an xbow and climb up with em! Sure looks fun.  :D
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Fasader on February 03, 2011, 11:24:26 am
This lobbyism crap isn't even funny anymore. I have a mid-level crossbowman using a simple crossbow with the ninja-buffed steel bolts and he's super effective. Fortunatly I'm playing both, archer and crossbowman, so I can compare and don't have to rely on this kind of pseudo-feedback.


A simple crossbow is a hybrid crossbowman's weapon, not suited for a dedicated crossbowman.
This thread is about dedicated crossbowmen and their whereabouts, as for that, mine is retired.

An additional problem with xbows is the frequent rain which makes them work at 75% efficiency or so I've been told by mr. cmp (I've shot a 10 IF fatass-->that's 85 hp in transitional armour four times with my "95" piercing damage and guess what, he lived, came up the hill and slaughtered my buddies :(.)
The 873 upkeep just isn't worth paying for a gimped-by-rain weapon, so a dedicated crossbowman is forced to either use it anyways in cloth armour or take his chances with just a melee weapon.

During sunshine, the damage is okay. You can usually kill archers with 1-shot at close to mid range, long range it often takes two shots (that's with a masterwork siege crossbow btw) but the upkeep still forces you to cry sometimes if you can't get that precious x3 or more.

You also don't see many dedicated crossbowmen because they can't just take an xbow with 3 bags of bolts and run away from any sight of nearby melee and kite them because they have to reload and that can't work as good as archery.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Ganon on February 03, 2011, 11:29:14 am
I have a xbowman alt, it's not too bad. Just too map dependant, and my aim is bad at long distances, but with some practice it can work out. If the masterwork sniper crossbow damage is so bad it can't kill in 4 hits, that's surely wrong. It should kill a tank in 2 hits, 3 if you're really unlucky and roll minimum damage. That's how weapons work normally (except throwing, which do 3x the damage when compared to anything else with same skill and equip).
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Vexus on February 03, 2011, 11:30:33 am
After the huge rise in price my xbow alt is resting till something is done.

I tried playing a map with it was fun but once I got upkeeped round after round for the heavy crossbow I ended exiting server and go with a melee.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: bruce on February 03, 2011, 11:46:14 am
Yes, well, it's quite damn worthless in rain.

Anyway, I'm going to retire into a crossbowman in a few mil xp (currently more of a hybrid), but heirloom the heavy as the sniper just isn't upkeepable unless you take it off a good part of the rounds or go around in cloth. On the other hand, crossbowing is fun, and I at least don't have to deal with 5343224243258123152347432243 throwing weapons flying around in melee. Effective? Well, yes, sortof. Heavy does finish off wounded people, and of course a headshot instakills. For a mailed guy you need about three shots at midrange (assuming he's got IF), clothes you kill in two shots. Not spectacular, but usable.

The biggest attraction to using a crossbow is that when some bundle of sticks walks up to me, I pull out a melee weapon and starts backpedalling, I can just pull out a crossbow to reload and he's going to get back in melee range instead of forcing me to chase his backpedalling ass over half the map. Plus I don't have to charge with the rest of the melee so I don't have to rage about throwing crap, archer my old friends running away half the map, etc.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: justme on February 03, 2011, 12:14:51 pm
and whats with the rain, yesterday i played and on 80 % random maps there was rain... how is that possible, someone wants to turn off xbowmen...
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Tai Feng on February 03, 2011, 01:12:54 pm
The top weapon in each category *should be* so expensive that you can't have it all the time. That is proper balance with current upkeep.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: John on February 03, 2011, 02:10:39 pm
Where oh where have the crossbowmen gone!

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


I got your crossbowmen right 'ere!
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: UrLukur on February 03, 2011, 02:15:27 pm
A simple crossbow is a hybrid crossbowman's weapon, not suited for a dedicated crossbowman.
This thread is about dedicated crossbowmen and their whereabouts, as for that, mine is retired.

(click to show/hide)

Why it is not suited for dedicated crossbowman ? Seem fine for them, you trade damage for speed. Urist is right.

It's not like 1h where you have to pick best weapon to compete, there is tradeoff.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Tai Feng on February 03, 2011, 02:25:24 pm
Where oh where have the crossbowmen gone!

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


I got your crossbowmen right 'ere!

Omg Rhodok troops! I wanna join ;) On what server was that? I assume NA.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: bruce on February 03, 2011, 02:49:41 pm
Why it is not suited for dedicated crossbowman ? Seem fine for them, you trade damage for speed. Urist is right.

It's not like 1h where you have to pick best weapon to compete, there is tradeoff.

It's like 1h where you have to pick best weapon to compete, assuming you want to be a ranged troop ergo compete with other ranged.

It's not just a matter of "trading damage for speed" - you trade range, bolt speed and damage for speed. It's not a weapon for a dedicated crossbowman.




Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: UrLukur on February 03, 2011, 02:53:29 pm
It's like 1h where you have to pick best weapon to compete, assuming you want to be a ranged troop ergo compete with other ranged.

It's not just a matter of "trading damage for speed" - you trade range, bolt speed and damage for speed.

Simple crossbow do fine, as folks with it have access to better armor and melee than those with sniper, and shoot faster allowing them to win in ranged combat. You anyway need more than 1 hit.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: bruce on February 03, 2011, 02:54:08 pm
Simple crossbow do fine, as folks with it have access to better armor and melee than those with sniper, and shoot faster allowing them to win in ranged combat. You anyway need more than 1 hit.

Win in close range ranged combat, more effective to just run over and hit them over the head with a weapon.

Anyway, as you said, its a better weapon for hybridising, or basically, a better sidearm. It's not a dedicated crossbowman's weapon.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Ganon on February 03, 2011, 02:59:26 pm
You are underestimating the impact a good xbowman with a sniper xbow, good armor and decent melee can have on his team winning chances and the multiplier. If you do well, you will get well above average gold and can afford 75-90k total equipment. The problem is not upkeep but xbow balance, and xbows need a little boost, without having them to oneshot people all the time. 5 shots are too many, 1 is too little, as i said 2-3 shots is balanced. Also an increase in accuracy would be nice (not on the xbows but on wpf effect). Anyone tried heirlooming both the xbow and steel bolts yet ?
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Fasader on February 03, 2011, 03:38:26 pm
Why it is not suited for dedicated crossbowman ? Seem fine for them, you trade damage for speed. Urist is right.

It's not like 1h where you have to pick best weapon to compete, there is tradeoff.

because after 138 wpf the accuracy doesn't get any better.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Ganon on February 03, 2011, 03:41:10 pm
because after 138 wpf the accuracy doesn't get any better.

That is nice info for my xbow build, thanks.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Fasader on February 03, 2011, 03:42:55 pm
! ! ! to the item sheet, stats changing time!
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: bruce on February 03, 2011, 03:52:37 pm
It's a hybrid's weapon. Heavy and (really) sniper are for crossbowmen.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Gorath on February 03, 2011, 06:16:48 pm
Don't really see how an x-bowman can be anything but a hybrid.  The reload rate is too slow and damage too low per shot to make it a primary weapon rather than a sidearm for your melee.  That said, I have fun on my x-bowman/1her-shield character.  100 wpf in x-bow with a regular x-bow and steel bolts, but other than in siege servers on defense it's only really good for maybe 2-3 shots before the melee line is in my face and I'm duking it out hand to hand.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Ganon on February 03, 2011, 06:46:28 pm
I almost agree with Gorath (wtf!!), try using roofs, agreed on the rest, dedicated xbowman is a build people make for fun but it's gimped right now.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: bruce on February 03, 2011, 07:48:10 pm
Well, if you're going to play as a crossbowman, play as a crossbowman. Grab a heavy or preferably sniper if you can afford it, stay somewhere a bit off and try to snipe horses (which is a big help to your team when you down one), ranged, maybe some hero meleer if you get the chance. You'll get the opportunity to farm kills when it's melee time (the fighting got near / further away and you're mopping reminders), someone tries to backstab you, etc.

It's a different playstyle then melee with crossbow sidearm, and it's generally a more relaxing one sometimes. Of course melee wpf helps, but it helps for everyone who isn't one of the bundle of stickss which run away from every opportunity to get kills in melee.



Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: UrLukur on February 03, 2011, 07:51:05 pm
Well, if you're going to play as a crossbowman, play as a crossbowman. Grab a heavy or preferably sniper if you can afford it, stay somewhere a bit off and try to snipe horses, ranged, maybe some hero meleer if you get the chance. You'll get the opportunity to farm kills when it's melee time (the fighting got near / further away and you're mopping reminders), someone tries to backstab you, etc.

It's a different playstyle then melee with crossbow sidearm, and it's generally a more relaxing one sometimes.

And killing horses of players like Tommyyy lead to better modifier. Shooting him when he is in melee helps too (but many retards with xbow just join the fray to die in miserable way, instead of killing some hero when i stall his progress with shield :/).
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Chaos on February 06, 2011, 09:31:08 am
I have a hybrid xbowman:

lvl 30 - Spec_Ops_Chaos_Takeda

Strength - 15
Agility - 24

One Handed   1
Two Handed   67
Polearm   1
Archery   1
Crossbow   165
Throwing   1

Ironflesh   0   
Power Strike   5   
Shield   0   
Athletics   8   
Riding   0   
Horse Archery   0   
Power Draw   0   
Power Throw   0   
Weapon master *   8

He does fine using sniper xbow and steel bolts with basically no armor and a miaodao. Melee isnt too great but competitive enough, which is good because melee is inevitable, as it should be.

Unfortunately I've come to the conclusion that using the sniper xbow over the light or regular or even heavy xbows is more or less pointless. why would you give up all that reload speed just to still take 2 shots to kill a naked thrower or a leather covered archer (plus add delay to your shots)? well for me its because im too lazy to get used to the ballistics of the other xbows again. other than that, the class is pretty much fine. imo though, the class was meant to be a lot slower with the reload and a little higher with the damage.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Tai Feng on February 06, 2011, 06:18:53 pm
Does shield on back stop projectiles or lower their damage? Any even slight use of a crossbowman having shield on their back?
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Bear on February 06, 2011, 06:26:27 pm
In singleplayer the damage get reduced by 50% if u get shot in the back while havin a shield there.
alltough i had read somewhere that it also works in multiplayer. :)
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: John on February 06, 2011, 07:03:14 pm
Does shield on back stop projectiles or lower their damage? Any even slight use of a crossbowman having shield on their back?

Yes, it lowers damage.  Just yesterday I shot my friend in the back.  It was raining, he was running away from me and it hit the shield on the back, and that was enough for my heavy crossbow to glance off his brigandine.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Tai Feng on February 06, 2011, 07:39:07 pm
Yes, it lowers damage.  Just yesterday I shot my friend in the back.  It was raining, he was running away from me and it hit the shield on the back, and that was enough for my heavy crossbow to glance off his brigandine.

The damage was also lower probably because of rain. Any chance you can repeat it with just shield but no rain?
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: John on February 06, 2011, 07:58:31 pm
Yeah, that's why I mentioned that it was raining.  All of the circumstances I mentioned contributed to him receiving lower damage.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Heroin on February 06, 2011, 08:50:30 pm
The top weapon in each category *should be* so expensive that you can't have it all the time. That is proper balance with current upkeep.

Ok, so lets make sideswords, german poleaxe, danish/german greatswords, and warbow/longbow all cost the same amount as the current price of the sniper xbow. Bring on the whine.

Anyone tried heirlooming both the xbow and steel bolts yet ?

I have a masterwork sniper xbow, haven't got to the bolts yet. But for those interested, even the masterwork siege rarely 1-shots people, even in light-medium armor. Nakeds or people in peasant tunics are about the only people to get one-shotted. And I've even seen people in black robes survive shot from my masterwork sniper + steel bolts at longer ranges.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: EponiCo on February 07, 2011, 10:18:16 am
I'm pretty sure you can keep the sniper crossbow+steel bolts indefinitely. It's only 20k. My usual battle setup costs 28k without horse. Warbow+Bodkins is just minimally cheaper, but requires more skill points to use. In any case a meleer has a lot more gold to spend on his weapon and armor than someone who takes range with him, which is as it should be imo.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Fasader on February 07, 2011, 11:58:56 am
You can't kite like archers, you need to fight melee as a crossbowman therefore you'll want some armour greater than pilgrim robes unless you want agi builds to 1-shot your poor ass.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Heroin on February 07, 2011, 12:00:36 pm
I'm pretty sure you can keep the sniper crossbow+steel bolts indefinitely. It's only 20k. My usual battle setup costs 28k without horse. Warbow+Bodkins is just minimally cheaper, but requires more skill points to use. In any case a meleer has a lot more gold to spend on his weapon and armor than someone who takes range with him, which is as it should be imo.

1. ONLY 20k? That price tag makes a sniper xbow and steel bolts the single most expensive weapon in all of crpg. And with a performance that is at the very least debatable, the price tag is unquestionably high for what you get. You just compared a single weapon to your entire gear loadout, wherein the prices were similar, and you stated that you felt this was as it should be. LAWL, wow.

2. Best xbow+bolts = 20k. Best bow + arrows = 13k. That is not a minimal difference, as you said. With the other 7k, an xbowman could get a decent set of light/medium armor, which makes sense, since the nature of xbows nearly demands that an xbowman enter into melee far more often than archers.

3. Even if the xbow + steel bolts was the same price as the best bow + best arrows(13k), a pure melee would still have more gold to pay for his weapons/armor(+13k). I think this is not only acceptable, but far more balanced than what we currently have.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Brutal on February 07, 2011, 12:46:10 pm
1.False.  heavy lance + courser is moar expansive

2.xbow doesn't have to spend any skill points, that is  a Huge difference

3. If price are so high it was to avoid the old prepatch way where everybody and their mama had a xbow. It's the same for cav...
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Heroin on February 07, 2011, 01:05:00 pm
1.False.  heavy lance + courser is moar expansive

2.xbow doesn't have to spend any skill points, that is  a Huge difference

3. If price are so high it was to avoid the old prepatch way where everybody and their mama had a xbow. It's the same for cav...

1. You're comparing a mount + weapon to a weapon. That isn't an accurate comparison. My statement stands true. The sniper xbow is the single most expensive weapon in the game, WITHOUT including bolts.

2. xbow requires WM to use effectively, so yes, it DOES require a skill. Just 1 skill instead of 2 like the bow. That difference is paid for in the rate of fire, and lack of mobility while reloading. Without WPF, the targeting reticule is about the size of a throwing lance being thrown by a proficient thrower, which is to say, huge.

3. People who want a ranged option will find one. Personally, I'd rather have xbows than all the thrown spam that is going on these days. Balance > than EITHER of our opinions.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: EponiCo on February 07, 2011, 02:21:36 pm
1. ONLY 20k? That price tag makes a sniper xbow and steel bolts the single most expensive weapon in all of crpg. And with a performance that is at the very least debatable, the price tag is unquestionably high for what you get. You just compared a single weapon to your entire gear loadout, wherein the prices were similar, and you stated that you felt this was as it should be. LAWL, wow.

2. Best xbow+bolts = 20k. Best bow + arrows = 13k. That is not a minimal difference, as you said. With the other 7k, an xbowman could get a decent set of light/medium armor, which makes sense, since the nature of xbows nearly demands that an xbowman enter into melee far more often than archers.

3. Even if the xbow + steel bolts was the same price as the best bow + best arrows(13k), a pure melee would still have more gold to pay for his weapons/armor(+13k). I think this is not only acceptable, but far more balanced than what we currently have.

No, I only compared it to my gear loadout without horse.
I take my 20k courser you take your 20k crossbow and shoot it, you win. I just paid 1k for an item I couldn't use. Anyway, what I wanted to say is that you can easily maintain crossbow/bow+some light armor+some mediocre weapon. (Archery => you take 2 stacks of bodkins, since they hurt only half as much as bolts). IIRC you complained about ease of picking up some ranged, and well, that's the prize.
About effectiveness, you can argue, but I found no problem using a sniper crossbow on maps that offered good cover. If you are going for K:D that's probably the best weapon, since it's very hard to die when spending 90% of the time behind cover while picking off people. Effectiveness for team is harder to say, but you can take out horses and archers that melee can't deal with - and eh, when you headshot Phyrex in his black plate open up a beer and relax the rest of the round. When you are mostly shooting you don't need so good melee, it's either a cleanup job or you make a last stand against scattered and wounded survivors.
So ... if you want to be crossbowman primarily, you can have sniper crossbow+steel bolts + cheap backup weapon for when you are going to shoot mostly (good map, much cav, whatever) and according to my experience that works, and normal crossbow+bolts + semi decent melee gear when you probably aren't.

edit: But yeah, I agree about the throwing, but for me it's simply that throwing needs nerf. If we buff other ranged again to it's level, we are where we were before the patch.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Xant on February 07, 2011, 03:53:10 pm
2. xbow requires WM to use effectively, so yes, it DOES require a skill. Just 1 skill instead of 2 like the bow. That difference is paid for in the rate of fire, and lack of mobility while reloading. Without WPF, the targeting reticule is about the size of a throwing lance being thrown by a proficient thrower, which is to say, huge

Wait, what? Throwing lances are that accurate?
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Heroin on February 07, 2011, 10:47:52 pm
About effectiveness, you can argue, but I found no problem using a sniper crossbow on maps that offered good cover.

With no wpf? If that is what you're saying, I have trouble believing you. Unless by "no problem using it" you mean, you were able to load and fire it without hitting/killing anyone outside of melee.

First off, from "cover" typically means you're far removed from melee range. At that range, with no wpf, hitting someone is like buying a winning scratch-off ticket. Sure, it can happen, but don't bet on it.

Secondly, if you DID pick a winner and hit someone, it's not going to kill them unless they are hurt already, so it's a crap shoot anyhow.

Wait, what? Throwing lances are that accurate?

Not quite, perhaps it is a BIT of exaggeration, but lances can get pretty close to that accuracy on a dedicated thrower.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: EponiCo on February 08, 2011, 02:55:48 pm
No, I had both archer and crossbowman after patch. Gen7 and retiring early is nice.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Heroin on February 08, 2011, 09:11:45 pm
No, I had both archer and crossbowman after patch. Gen7 and retiring early is nice.

Good for you. Then you likely know that xbows are hardly worth it, since they don't kill anyone not already hurt, and getting 2 shots off on the same person doesn't happen unless the person you're shooting at is a moron and/or oblivious to their surroundings.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Trael on February 09, 2011, 12:05:35 am
The top weapon in each category *should be* so expensive that you can't have it all the time. That is proper balance with current upkeep.
not true, all my other chars can use best weapon or multiple near best weapons all the time, with other items.
crossbower can use only 0 upkeep, cheap 2h and sniper + steel, and does rarely do damage or hit becouse damage and firerate.

btw... do i just feel like it or is accuracy somewhat reversed on crossbows?
i mean lately on one of my other chars i have been using light crossbow with horse with _0 ha_ & _0 wpf_ and i seem to get quite decently small crosshair. Also seems that my crossbow char (some mid level or so) with 124 or so wpf gets smaller crosshair with lighter crossbow, even when stats show sniper having more accuracy... do i just feel like this or...
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Tai Feng on February 09, 2011, 03:08:43 am
I feel that crossbowmen are properly balanced and should not be buffed.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: WaltF4 on February 09, 2011, 04:16:05 am
btw... do i just feel like it or is accuracy somewhat reversed on crossbows?
i mean lately on one of my other chars i have been using light crossbow with horse with _0 ha_ & _0 wpf_ and i seem to get quite decently small crosshair. Also seems that my crossbow char (some mid level or so) with 124 or so wpf gets smaller crosshair with lighter crossbow, even when stats show sniper having more accuracy... do i just feel like this or...

I actually tested and can confirm your suspicion.

(click to show/hide)

Using the program ImageJ (free and awesome,) I measured the distance between the centers on the 3 interior circles in each reticule image. From these measurements I determined the “width” of the each reticule using the average distance between the interior circles. I used an average value here because, even at 1920x1080 resolution, the distance values had digitization and, more significantly, the distance between the bottom two circles is different that the distance from the upper circle to either lower circle.  I also determined the “area” of each reticule since projectile grouping are areal, not linear. This reticule area was defined as the area of a circumscribed circle for an equilateral triangle with edge length equal to the given reticule width. Below are plots of the reticule width and reticule area in pixels and pixels^2, respectively, as a function of crossbow proficiency.

(click to show/hide)

I'm not sure what the accuracy values on the website are suppose to be, but it does not appear to be accuracy in the traditional sense.

I also measured the time taken to expend 21 bolts (the one that comes loaded and a 20 bolt quiver) allowing for a minimized reticule each shot. I can also report that the agility of a character does not directly increase crossbow rate of fire.

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Heroin on February 09, 2011, 05:02:33 am
I actually tested and can confirm your suspicion.

(click to show/hide)

Using the program ImageJ (free and awesome,) I measured the distance between the centers on the 3 interior circles in each reticule image. From these measurements I determined the “width” of the each reticule using the average distance between the interior circles. I used an average value here because, even at 1920x1080 resolution, the distance values had digitization and, more significantly, the distance between the bottom two circles is different that the distance from the upper circle to either lower circle.  I also determined the “area” of each reticule since projectile grouping are areal, not linear. This reticule area was defined as the area of a circumscribed circle for an equilateral triangle with edge length equal to the given reticule width. Below are plots of the reticule width and reticule area in pixels and pixels^2, respectively, as a function of crossbow proficiency.

(click to show/hide)

I'm not sure what the accuracy values on the website are suppose to be, but it does not appear to be accuracy in the traditional sense.

I also measured the time taken to expend 21 bolts (the one that comes loaded and a 20 bolt quiver) allowing for a minimized reticule each shot. I can also report that the agility of a character does not directly increase crossbow rate of fire.

(click to show/hide)

Ah, I was wondering what you were doing firing your crossbow into the wall for so long. Excellent work Walt. I appreciate the effort, and the shared info, as I'm sure others do.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Gorath on February 09, 2011, 06:04:53 am
I actually tested and can confirm your suspicion.

(click to show/hide)

Using the program ImageJ (free and awesome,) I measured the distance between the centers on the 3 interior circles in each reticule image. From these measurements I determined the “width” of the each reticule using the average distance between the interior circles. I used an average value here because, even at 1920x1080 resolution, the distance values had digitization and, more significantly, the distance between the bottom two circles is different that the distance from the upper circle to either lower circle.  I also determined the “area” of each reticule since projectile grouping are areal, not linear. This reticule area was defined as the area of a circumscribed circle for an equilateral triangle with edge length equal to the given reticule width. Below are plots of the reticule width and reticule area in pixels and pixels^2, respectively, as a function of crossbow proficiency.

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I'm not sure what the accuracy values on the website are suppose to be, but it does not appear to be accuracy in the traditional sense.

I also measured the time taken to expend 21 bolts (the one that comes loaded and a 20 bolt quiver) allowing for a minimized reticule each shot. I can also report that the agility of a character does not directly increase crossbow rate of fire.

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So your testing pretty much re-enforces my opinion that the best overall x-bows to use in all situations are the "normal" crossbow and the "heavy" crossbow.  Sniper x-bow is a waste of gold in that the damage increase from heavy/normal isn't enough to 1-shot anyone to compensate for the lower accuracy and extremely piss poor reload speed.  I've been using the "normal" x-bow now pretty religiously and other than uber armored people *cough*Goretooth's black armor*cough* I can 2-3 shot anyone with it, and 1 shot to the head seems to do the job.  I'll sell my sniper x-bow now and pick up the heavy and see how it performs in relation to the regular one.

Overall, x-bow damages seem rather "meh" considering they're sniper weapons.  1-shot well aimed, and then a massive reload time.  Rather than increasing the reload speed or damage I think I would rather see the actual projectile speed increased so it gets to the target a bit quicker.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Heroin on February 09, 2011, 06:12:20 am
Rather than increasing the reload speed or damage I think I would rather see the actual projectile speed increased so it gets to the target a bit quicker.

I suspect that if they did this, the damage issues would fix themselves. I think that they lowered the projectile speed so much that the bolt begins to lose damage immediately upon being fired. This is just a suspicion, and is not confirmed. Although, if I shoot someone at point blank, it seems to do far more than if I shoot them just across the length of two horses.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: bruce on February 09, 2011, 09:09:02 am
Actually, the accuracy stat is on the other hand counterbalanced with weapon damage. The more damaging a ranged weapon is, the less accurate. These are native, hardcoded mechanics. Hunting with its 40 or whatever damage with 94 acc would be probably closed reticule.

That said, 145 wpf doesn't do the sniper crossbow justice. You need more wpf by design to achieve the same sort of accuracy lower end crossbows have with less wpf.

The sniper is basically for pure crossbowmen. And it has it's upsides. Try shooting at further ranges with a regular, it's quite futile. Even heavy struggles at proper ranged shooting. The damage increase over heavy and especially regular is significant.

A few general observations:
- all ranged weapons start losing damage after they're fired
- the slower the projectile speed of a ranged weapon, the more speed bonus you get from the target's speed
- the slower the projectile speed of a ranged weapon, the more damage they will lose over the same distance

Myself, I use a (once heirloomed) heavy crossbow because I've got a hybrid char, and it's still got the range of a ranged weapon and solid damage. I can sometimes oneshot lancers and especially HAs if they are moving towards me, etc, due to speed bonus. If I went for a pure crossbow, then (heirloomed) sniper would be my choice probably.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Dravic on February 09, 2011, 03:14:13 pm
Rather than increasing the reload speed or damage I think I would rather see the actual projectile speed increased so it gets to the target a bit quicker.

This!
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Tai Feng on February 09, 2011, 03:25:57 pm
Seriously, xbows are fine. If other weapons are too strong then they need to be nerfed, not the other way around.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: bruce on February 09, 2011, 04:17:57 pm
Bolt speed is fine. It is tricky to aim for moving targets at distance, it'd be OP if it wasn't.

Want better bolt speed? One good reason to get a sniper.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Endorphine on February 09, 2011, 05:18:02 pm
Well, don't you know that ranged combat is "a my old friendgy and cowardly style of fighting" and has no place in Mount & Crybabbies?

+1

Throwing spam is quite alright though since it's just takes one slot and is available to 2h agi/str builds which is the least "my old friendgy and cowardly style of fighting".

Most noble art of playing is dual spammage of jarids and long maul!
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: bruce on February 09, 2011, 05:30:48 pm
Crossbowmen (and archers too, really), are ranged troops which can do support, play tactically, score kills at distance, etc, and when melee closes in you're only somewhat less powerful then a normal infantryman.

What downsides you have - some less wpf (which isn't really a deciding factor in fights),  some less skillpoints (none in case of crossbowman), and some less armour which is generally as protective as papermache in melee anyway, unless you wear plate in which case it's not too hard to outmaneuver you. I liked playing with both a hybrid archer and a hybrid crossbowman much better then with a melee with shield. You can't shoot someone on a roof with a shield, and they damn well can hit you in the flanks.

And using a crossbow promotes "safer" play - hang in the back rows and shoot a bit, try to down horses, friendly archers and other important targets, then when melee closes in, hopefully the 5+ monkeys spamming twoshot/oneshot throwing crap will be dead by then or at least out of ammo.

Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: WaltF4 on February 09, 2011, 06:36:30 pm
Actually, the accuracy stat is on the other hand counterbalanced with weapon damage. The more damaging a ranged weapon is, the less accurate. These are native, hardcoded mechanics. Hunting with its 40 or whatever damage with 94 acc would be probably closed reticule.

Perhaps the accuracy statistic determines the minimum reticule size achievable. I seem to have reached a minimum reticule size for hunting crossbows a bit before 125 proficiency and for light crossbows with about 125 proficiency based on the change in slope for the reticule width versus crossbow proficiency data. Fasader has already stated that 138 proficiency was require for the maximum accuracy for the "simple" crossbow. I assume he was referring the "normal" crossbow, and there is indeed a change in slope for the reticule width versus crossbow proficiency for the normal crossbow between 125 and 145 proficiency.

That said, 145 wpf doesn't do the sniper crossbow justice. You need more wpf by design to achieve the same sort of accuracy lower end crossbows have with less wpf.

The sniper crossbow slightly surpasses the hunting and light crossbows in accuracy with 145 proficiency. The accuracy of the sniper crossbow would also surpass the normal crossbow if the slope of the reticule width versus crossbow proficiency for the sniper crossbows remains constant until around 175 proficiency, near the maximum feasible proficiency with with a 15 strength build at level 30, and the normal crossbow reticule width was indeed at a minimum with the aforementioned 138 proficiency. Given that the slopes of the reticule width versus crossbow proficiency is approximately equal for all crossbows, the minimum reticule width of the heavy crossbow would have to be reached with about 15 less proficiency than the minimum reticule width of the sniper crossbow for the sniper crossbow to ever be the most accurate crossbow.

Interestingly, this line of reasoning also implies that heirloom crossbows might require more crossbow proficiency to reach their maximum potential accuracy, which may be better, and their initial accuracy may be worse due to their increased damage.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: bruce on February 09, 2011, 08:01:08 pm
Interestingly, this line of reasoning also implies that heirloom crossbows might require more crossbow proficiency to reach their maximum potential accuracy, which may be better, and their initial accuracy may be worse due to their increased damage.

First heirloom increases damage by 5% but does not increase the accuracy stat. From what I gather, this makes them less accurate at any wpf level less then the maximum wpf for a +1 heavy crossbow, which should be higher then a normal one, and both should be equally accurate at their wpf limits.

Second and third heirloom both increase the accuracy stat by one, what effect this has on the wpf required for maximum accuracy I really don't know. I think they are in the end more accurate at the same wpf then a normal heavy crossbow (and more accurate at their respective "max" wpf levels), but I can't be sure until I get to retire again and get my heavy crossbow to exceptional.

(practically, all heirloomed crossbows are more accurate for ranged shooting due to increased bolt speed over vanilla versions - it's not much, but every bit helps)

Perhaps the accuracy statistic determines the minimum reticule size achievable.

The haxors have put in limits after which your wpf does nothing anymore to prevent fully closed reticule crossbows, I think.
Title: Re: Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?
Post by: Trael on February 16, 2011, 04:30:43 am
I actually tested and can confirm your suspicion.

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Thank you, thats awesome.
+ awesome points to you (since you seemed to have them on positive side, and they are named that way these days...)