At the current time there is a clear difference between Horse Archer and a Horse CrossBowmen and that difference is that HX is 10x better than HA and is slightly overpowered.
The Pros and Cons between HA and HX:
HX:
- At the moment HX currently does obscene damage, it will tend 1-3 shot any person on the battlefield.
- Its is 10 x more Accurate currently because crossbows do not require and PD and thus allows for a lot more agility, they also are capable of getting more HA.
- HX is also able to invest more riding making the horse faster and more agile.
- Able to invest into more PS and wpf meaning they are able to defend themselves while dismounted.
- Able to invest into ATH and still keep its accuracy.
- With the New 0 Slot weapons Xbows are able to take 2 stacks of Bolts, meaning 26 Bolts for an entire round (MW Steel Bolts)
HA:
- More Ammo
- Faster reloading
As you can a clear Difference, This is not a demand or anything like that put a point of view and i would like to see what other peoples opinions are.
It's difficult to say whether or not a class is overpowered, but it is relatively easy to say if it is more powerful than another class.
While both classes receive a lot of ire from most players (myself included), HA has my respect at many times. It's painfully obvious that HX has a large advantage over HA. No idea how to fix it.
I would prefer for crossbows to not be reloadable on horseback, but that's a really selfish desire.
Its pretty simple really.
HAX Build (7/30)
Can either use Hunting Xbow or Light Xbow
Hunting Xbow = 37 pierce
Light Xbow = 46 pierce
HA Build (15/24)
Can use Short Bow, Bow, Nomad Bow, Tatar Bow or Horn Bow
Short Bow = 37 Cut
Bow = 41 Cut
Nomad Bow = 42 Cut
Tatar Bow = 44 Cut
Horn Bow = 48 Cut
So the Light Xbow does more damage than the horn bow yet costs 2k less and has 8 less difficulty
Whilst the Hunting Xbow does comparable damage to the Tatar Bow (possibly even the Horn Bow once you consider ammo and looms) and costs 2k less with 6 less difficulty.
So either increase xbow difficulties or reduce their damage to be the equivalent of the comparable bows based on difficulty.
Seems like a nice analysis, but cut damage is kinda irrelevant for HA. Let me give it a try:
Now take this into consideration:
HA
15/24
Hp: 49
Riding: 8
Horse Archery: 4
Power Draw: 5
Weapon Master: 6
WPF: 154
Effective wpf (without any armor penalty): 154-64,5-40=49,5 (HA reduces 10 wpf per skill roughly)
+3 Hornbow and +3 Bodkin Arrows = 29p
Damage on foot (with all stats calculated)= raw_damage = (29p) * (49,5 * 0.01 * 0.15 + 0.85) * ((5) * 0.14 + 1) + 15 / 5.0 = 48,5p
Damage from horseback= 48,5p * (4*0.019 +0.8) = 42,5p
HX
7/30
Hp: 46
Riding: 10
Horse Archery: 5
Weapon Master: 10
Ironflesh: 2
WPF: 189
Effective wpf: 189-50=139 (but I'm not sure if Horse Archery skill affects your xbow proficiency)
+3 Light Xbow and +3 Steel Bolts= 65p
Damage on foot = 65p
Damage on horseback = 65p
Accuracy: Don't know much about this, but every 4 damage of xbow decreases it's accuracy by 1 point. Do the math. There is also wpf though.
My small comparision of classes (check the calculations first before reading this):
-It is obvious which one is stronger damage-wise.
-Also don't forget 2 difference in riding means much much much better skirmishing capabilities and can mean much much much more speed bonus if you know how to use it. It is obvious which class is also better at skirmishing and dealing with other cavalry.
-Not really sure which one is more accurate, but I'm 99% sure horsexbow is more accurate. Xbowman even has 1 more point in HorseArchery to be more accurate while being on the move as well.
-Weapon breaking chance is determined by effective wpf if I'm not mistaken. You've already saw the difference.
-HorseArcher begins losing accuracy after holding the bow ready to shoot someone, but horsexbowman has no such a problem. This can be an important thing to consider, as being a close quarter skirmisher you have to land your shots whenever you see the opportunity. I'd say this is not the hugest advantage of a horsexbow, but it's nothing to underestimate either. I remember many times I had to redraw my bow because of holding it too much, and while I am redrawing my bow I've lost the opportunity.
-Horse archer can be said to have a better fire ratio, but it's wpf is not so high for him to have a good fire ratio at all. I mean it is comparatively better, but it is not that much significant and not really that high against anything in comparision. In a duel, it hardly matters as horsexbowman has better riding speed, better damage AND better accuracy. Chances for horse archer to land all of his shots to not let horse xbowman to reload is very low.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WE HAVE A WINNER!
My HX KDR is Kills/Deaths: 639/300, 2.1:1, so just slightly better (HX is reskilled, also level 30, so situation is equal for both).
HA accuracy is good enough to play well, even with this STF, level 30 char. My build is 18/21, 163 WPF in Archery, Yumi +3, Bodkins +3.
I'm using 3 packs of arrows, so I have 51 bodkins (pierce damage) in total. That's 2 times more ammo than HX has.
The damage of HA is really weak. I need to hit low armored enemy (like archers) 3 times to kill them. Killing harder targets is huge challenge, I need about 8 accurate arrows to kill heavily armored targets (I will try to do more damage tests today evening).
From my observations, it's much harder to go for enemy ranged as HA (comparing to HX), so I try to stay away from enemy ranged. I would need a bit more accuracy to go for enemy archers (18/24 build could be much better for that). Same time, going for enemy horsemans is fine, also disturbing enemy infantry is much easier because HA don't need to reload.
I'm still not used to Yumi arrow speed, which is really slow comparing to anything else (arrows drops very fast, I can't get used to that). I'm sure I will get better with some more experience.
Anyway, the class seems to be fine. It has less damage than HX, but 2 times more arrows (and i'm counting Bodkins here! It can be even more with different arrow types!). I can also shoot 3 times faster than HX do. I would love to see a bit more damage from HA, especially against low armored targets, but that would make HA far superior to HX due to more ammo and much faster shooting speed. But the class itself isn't that bad, especially I don't have any experience in HA yet, it should be better when I start playing it regularly.
I can't agree that HA is much worse than HX. It's definatelly harder class to play than HX, but it has it's advantages over it.
HA: Much faster shooting speed, much more ammo.
HX: Higher damage, a bit better accuracy (and ability to hold crossbow in ready to fire position).
If someone is interested, those are my builds (both useless in melee, both builded to be good in shooting):
Level: 30
Health Points: 53
Weapon Proficiency Points: 5
Strength: 18
Agility: 21
Archery: 163
Riding: 7
Horse Archery: 3
Power Draw: 6
Weapon Master: 7
Level: 30
Health Points: 44
Weapon Proficiency Points: 1
Strength: 9
Agility: 30
One Handed: 85 (as I found out it's useless with 0 PS)
Crossbow: 170
Riding: 9
Horse Archery: 5
Weapon Master: 9
(I think I would prefer 12/27 HX build now, but I don't want to reskill and lose experience again)