cRPG

cRPG => Suggestions Corner => Game Balance Discussion => Topic started by: Ronin on January 17, 2014, 08:43:52 pm

Title: Internal bow balance
Post by: Ronin on January 17, 2014, 08:43:52 pm
My proposal for bows is the following:

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I tried to carefully plan it out. You will disagree with some of them (such as horn bow having the best missile speed), but I tried to keep every factor in mind. I didn't want to nerf archery in general. Low tier bows are just a bit worse than high tiers in missile speed now, which makes them good support weapons for their cost since they still keep their attack speed and damage. It is now also easier to dodge arrows. Plus these changes also doesn't make long bow easier to use, as tydeus wanted; and which I also agree with.

Last suggestion is to make +3 bows a bit better compared to +0 versions. At the moment, there is almost no point in looming them. Old difference was too huge, but there has to be at least some difference to make +3 bows worthwhile. Plus, archery has became the best class for the first gen because of this fact. Everyone want less archers right? This change will not render them useless, but will not encourage them to start as an archer character either.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Leshma on January 17, 2014, 09:02:47 pm
You have my support, if that means anything to you. Much better than current situation, that's for sure.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: 722_ on January 17, 2014, 09:12:39 pm
I think everyone would just use long bow, Rus and horn bow, loosing that much accuracy and missile speed from lower tier bows would make them pretty poor option. plus an upkeep drop from long bow and rus would make them more appealing and you would probably end up with more complaints when everyone is getting hit by longbows. I think maybe keep the upkeep the same for higher tier bows and keep your price changes to the cheaper bows,so they cost more. then drop the speed rating of the lower tier bows by two or three points.

it may even be a good idea to revert the loom patch to be honest, i didnt really want to but there where less archers around when doing well required loomed equipment. having MW bows do the damage that bows do now, and regular do 3 less damage
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Ronin on January 17, 2014, 09:33:51 pm
By the way, fixed the typo:
from
Quote
First : -1 damage from all non loomed bows
to
Quote
First : -2 damage from all non loomed bows
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Ronin on January 17, 2014, 09:50:40 pm
Double post, but it was needed :)

You have my support, if that means anything to you. Much better than current situation, that's for sure.
Of course it means something. Why did you say so?

I think everyone would just use long bow, Rus and horn bow, loosing that much accuracy and missile speed from lower tier bows would make them pretty poor option. plus an upkeep drop from long bow and rus would make them more appealing and you would probably end up with more complaints when everyone is getting hit by longbows. I think maybe keep the upkeep the same for higher tier bows and keep your price changes to the cheaper bows,so they cost more. then drop the speed rating of the lower tier bows by two or three points.
I must say I didn't really thought of that, but imo it is not so nice for long and rus bow users to lose plenty of gold. They always seemed to cost too much for me (I used long bow for one gen).

Hmm there is also the fact that slow bows like longbow, I think, are much harder to use in battle compared to fast bows. Less attack speed means it is harder to time the attacks out, not really fitting the low tier bow users. If they want to change their bows it will most likely be: from nomad bow [1,356 gold] to longbow [9,100 gold], still a huge difference. Plus they will be attacking with a bow with less missile speed. I think this will encourage some archers to use long bows (typical trend behaviour), and will make half of those archers to choose another class after some time. What you explained might be a short term problem. But that's just a theory.

it may even be a good idea to revert the loom patch to be honest, i didnt really want to but there where less archers around when doing well required loomed equipment. having MW bows do the damage that bows do now, and regular do 3 less damage
I must say, non-loomed archery was really under powered and overall extremely annoying for the user. Maybe it was there for the greater good (less archers) but it also made some new people to lose interest to the mod (my cousin gave up playing because of that). It was a big difference in damage percentage. I think nerfing a little bit like this, might make people to change their class to something else. Similar to the trend behaviour I explained above. Again, that's my theory.

Overall a very nice feedback from you. I still consider your ideas :wink: It's also very good that a long bow user is not lobbying for his class/item.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Rumblood on January 18, 2014, 01:19:38 am
This isn't internal balance, it is a flat out nerf to every 1 slot bow.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Leshma on January 18, 2014, 01:58:05 am
See no problem there, it's one of the ways to reduce number of projectiles in the air. Still, there are wonderful 0 slot weapons, if that's the problem.

What needs nerfs are those tiny gimmick bows and class which use them, horse archers.

Edit: Don't tell me you're horse archer now, Gran_Pappy? Because I'll be hella disappointed.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Ronin on January 18, 2014, 10:40:25 am
This isn't internal balance, it is a flat out nerf to every 1 slot bow.
It is impossible not to touch the other balance parts, when working on such a thing like this. Still, it is sad to see that you see this suggestion from a nerf-buff perspective (I know you use a nomad bow on horse). I tried to make every bow to have a reason to use, unlike before.

You may think your favored bow sucks now. I don't think you need to start lobbying as I think it will still be a good bow for a Horse Archer (everyone should stop lobbying anyway). It will effect ground archers that rely on that bow mostly. Either that, or nomad bow had to cost like 8k as it was practically a top tier bow before. I suggested it to be a fast, cheap and supporting bow (better attack speed means better chances of stunning opponents repeatedly). Excels at the task of a Horse Archer imo, supporting your teammates. Not that it does less damage now, it is only the projectile and accuracy that is effected (accuracy, being the same as the current rus bow. Not really a nerf.). A Horse archer can get up close, so missile speed doesn't matter all that much for certain playstyles. If that doesn't suit your playstyle, you are free to use a tatar or a horn bow. Or simply, use a +3 bow to have better missile speed (if you don't already).

I lowered the missile speed of all bows in general, so it will be easier to dodge for the classes that has to rely on it. About accuracy, now every bow has the same accuracy. I think it makes it a fair game for every bow user. I love it you see this as a nerf, while it actually does not necessarily aims to do that. It proves my point about many people rage-respeccing to change to another class. Lower missile speed --> better dodging. It unovaidably nerfs the class a bit, but can you say it is better for your arrows to be impossible to dodge from a whole game balance perspective?
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Kafein on January 18, 2014, 10:56:14 am
This isn't internal balance, it is a flat out nerf to every 1 slot bow.

Buffing 2 slot bows is not internal balance but a flat out buff to all 2 slot bows, too.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Rumblood on January 18, 2014, 09:36:00 pm
It is a very bad idea and one not thought through.

Lower missile speed will result in a shorter range. Shorter range means you don't need as much WM to be accurate. Strength builds with high PD will begin popping up like mushrooms. Damage done will increase. It also makes xbow's the only distance ranged with their speeding bullet bolts.

Then there is the speed bonus. Cavalry charging an infantry hill are going to start losing their horse in 1 shot. HA and HX will begin to kill lightly armored in one shot and do significant damage to plate. It will also break shields faster.

Hey, maybe you are on to something after all! I will lose some range but become a 1 shot demon instead. I reckon I'll take that. So go on ahead.

(everyone should stop lobbying anyway).

Everyone but you? Then delete this thread if you want lobbying to stop. Hypocrite  :rolleyes:
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Kafein on January 18, 2014, 10:22:11 pm
It is a very bad idea and one not thought through.

Lower missile speed will result in a shorter range. Shorter range means you don't need as much WM to be accurate. Strength builds with high PD will begin popping up like mushrooms. Damage done will increase. It also makes xbow's the only distance ranged with their speeding bullet bolts.

Then there is the speed bonus. Cavalry charging an infantry hill are going to start losing their horse in 1 shot. HA and HX will begin to kill lightly armored in one shot and do significant damage to plate. It will also break shields faster.

Hey, maybe you are on to something after all! I will lose some range but become a 1 shot demon instead. I reckon I'll take that. So go on ahead.

Everyone but you? Then delete this thread if you want lobbying to stop. Hypocrite  :rolleyes:

IMO missiles are way too fast. What you describe may happen or not following a missile speed nerf, but in any case it can easily be rebalanced around lower missile speeds.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Tydeus on January 18, 2014, 10:35:28 pm
The lower the weapon's base projectile speed, the greater the increase to your own damage from an oncoming charge. So he's right about that. Of course, I don't think lower missile speed will affect the range players choose to shoot from, at least not significantly.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: En_Dotter on January 19, 2014, 07:18:47 pm
Of course, I don't think lower missile speed will affect the range players choose to shoot from, at least not significantly.
What are u talking about???
The change of missile speed made Nomad bow the ultimate strategus siege weapon. The defender archers couldnt reach me properly with their long/rus bows, while i was hsing them from rly far. I would just pull the arrows from the ground in front of me afterwards and continue. Missile speed change really dictated the "power" of the bows during strat sieges. Too bad some factions didnt realize that on time.
Also this suggestion sucks balls in general. Short bow should never be that expensive... ITS A FUCKING PEASANT BOW. Big - from me. Next patch "Practice dagger 3442 gold"...
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Angellore on January 20, 2014, 11:55:42 am
Of course, I don't think lower missile speed will affect the range players choose to shoot from, at least not significantly.
What are u talking about???
The change of missile speed made Nomad bow the ultimate strategus siege weapon. The defender archers couldnt reach me properly with their long/rus bows, while i was hsing them from rly far. I would just pull the arrows from the ground in front of me afterwards and continue. Missile speed change really dictated the "power" of the bows during strat sieges. Too bad some factions didnt realize that on time.
The biggest problem is, devs knows nothing about archery itself. The proof of my thoughts, was the patch which increased missile speed by +6 to +10 in some bows, which is just way too huge difference. As archer, I feel the difference between every single missile speed - buffing bows by 6 or 10 missile speed at one time was just crazy.
I suspect devs also don't know higher missile speed means higher damage. Between Horn Bow +3 and Rus Bow +3 there is just slight difference in damage after patch (in theory 4 damage difference between those bows, after missile speed patch it feels more like ~1.5 damage difference), but between Rus Bow and Long Bow the damage difference is clearly noticable (in theory 3 damage difference between those bows).
It was fine before, but then they made this missile speed "patch", which broken everything. Like eg. Horn Bow had too few advantages before (1 slot, much higher shooting speed than 2 slot bows, better accuracy), they had to give it +6 mssile speed, so now it's also amazing bow to shoot on range. The difference of 6 missile speed is so huge, I can now aim properly from more than half a map with this bow, especially Horn Bow always had better accuracy than Rus Bow or Long Bow.
Compare of Long Bow vs Horn Bow accuracy - the difference is clearly noticable:
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

So now Horn Bow has better accuracy, much better range and easier aiming, much higher shooting speed, and it's still quite cheap 1 slot bow. The only downside of using Horn Bow now is lower damage than Long Bow. But it's not that bad, after +6 missile speed buff, it has about damage of Rus Bow (which makes Rus Bow silly to use bow).
You also play as Horse Archer with lower tier bows, so missile speed patch buffed HA significantly, making it much easier to play class than before.
That's how people who knows nothing about archery "balance" bows.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: owens on January 20, 2014, 12:44:16 pm
worst idea ever

My idea
Set a hefty turn rate limit on archers with bow drawn. This will significantly reduce their ability to shoot you in close quarters. the real problem with archery.

Simple approach
(click to show/hide)
tldr; warband archery is broken
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Tydeus on January 20, 2014, 07:38:24 pm
The biggest problem is, devs knows nothing about archery itself. The proof of my thoughts, was the patch which increased missile speed by +6 to +10 in some bows, which is just way too huge difference. As archer, I feel the difference between every single missile speed - buffing bows by 6 or 10 missile speed at one time was just crazy.
I suspect devs also don't know higher missile speed means higher damage.
We explained the decision to make the 1 slot bows have higher missile speed several times in the past. I wanted to make the lower tier bows actually see usage, rather than only ever seeing three bows on the servers. And to do that, we created buffs that simulated real world arrow weight differences. Unfortunately, dictating which bows can use what arrows, isn't an option, so this is what you got. I think it works quite nicely, and as urist and shik have both previously stated, is a better representation of how the actual bows would act in the real world. Also, weapon missile speed != the speed the missile moves, it is only a partial influencer.

Your last statement, in the case of throwing or any mounted ranged, isn't even true. In these cases, slower base speed allows for great speed bonuses(percentile damage increases). If we took a weapon in game right now, then buffed the projectile speed on it by 1000 times, it would still have the same damage. Sure, at a distance it would be higher, but it takes an extremely long distance to make an impact on your damage. How do I know this? Well, I've tested it multiple times in varying ways within the last two months using the in game damage reporter that urist scripted(not to mention the fact that I already had knowledge of the mechanics causing this prior to my testing).

For my recent throwing test, I used point blank range and would-never-seriously-throw-from-this-distance-in-a-battle-server range. The difference was 5 points of raw damage and 1 point of final damage 75 raw to 70 raw. This was also with MW HTA (15 missile speed) and a mere 5 PT.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Leshma on January 21, 2014, 01:28:56 pm
Whole that Blizzard type of balancing is nothing but annoying. Yo players, this month we buff this because everyone use that. Buff/nerf cycles aren't balancing, it's creating an illusion of balancing and you know that very well, because you used to upvote my posts where I meantioned that, before you became a balancer.

Also those bows are meant to be peasant bows, for low level characters. Balancers failed somewhere else, because very few players are leveling their chars these days and therefore peasant gear is underused. You should work on that, instead of making peasant bows better than high tier bows.

There are many ways to force players to retire once again, instead of sitting on their level 35 characters. Offering better heirloom bonuses, faster leveling, maybe even unlocking gen bonus for veterans. Also you can implement maluses for those who don't retire etc. That combined with higher STR requirements for high tier items is enough to make low tier items popular. Not buffing them to the level of high tier, that way losing gradation between low and high tier...
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Grumbs on January 21, 2014, 01:35:22 pm
I think you've failed to address the issue if you simply make some bows easier to use. That to me is backwards balancing when it comes to ranged. Make longbow/rus bow harder to use rather than making horn bow easier by directly simplifying the shooting the mechanics. You also buff shit like HA like that and you increased their ammo so more spamming
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Tydeus on January 21, 2014, 02:25:08 pm
"... those [items] are meant to be peasant [items]" That's the status quo that I was trying to change. I did this with low tier/underused melee weapons as well. It was a shift in the balance objective that initially came from chadz saying "I think we could buff the lower tier items". Sure, it's fine to have some things specifically for the very new, very low level character, but why should so many of them have almost zero effectiveness? Why not have them fulfill multiple roles? What do you add to the game by having weapons that are complete shit in all respects, why even have more than one of these? It's wasted potential.


I honestly think that the Long Bows and Rus Bows are harder to use but have a greater maximum potential than any of the other bows. This means that the easy to use bows are great for learning on, great for new players, but if you're a very skilled archer, you're much better off using a rus/long bow. This is perfect balance imo. It's exactly the type of thing you'd want to see in game balance. It adheres to the "Easy to use, hard to master" theme. It might be harder to fight an archer when you're using one of these higher tier bows, but these bows aren't really for shooting archers, they're for cav and infantry. Why should an archer be able to pick up a bow that allows them to excel in all areas? No other class has something like this, there are always trade-offs, there has to be trade-offs.

Some bows might be too effective at the moment(particularly against armor) but that's separate from the inner-class item balance argument.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Grumbs on January 21, 2014, 02:44:40 pm
I think putting good easy to use ranged weapons in the hands of poor players is the wrong way to do "easy to learn hard to master" in cRPG. Killing a melee player with ranged damage is 10x easier than killing a ranged as a melee. You have to get in range, then you have manual block which can make fights last forever or allow them to get towards team mates, 1 handers (0 slot even) were buffed too much etc. Damage from range is such a good ability that it should be something you have to work hard at to use.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Tydeus on January 21, 2014, 02:52:24 pm
I think putting good easy to use ranged weapons in the hands of poor players is the wrong way to do "easy to learn hard to master" in cRPG. Killing a melee player with ranged damage is 10x easier than killing a ranged as a melee. You have to get in range, then you have manual block which can make fights last forever or allow them to get towards team mates, 1 handers (0 slot even) were buffed too much etc. Damage from range is such a good ability that it should be something you have to work hard at to use.
I don't agree with the first part, but I can certainly see that it's possible they were "buffed too much". I don't believe I ever said anything contrary to this.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Leshma on January 21, 2014, 06:20:09 pm
Yes, there were buffed too much. While they deal less damage than the big bows, it's incredibly easy to score a headshot with those bows (if a player is pure archer and has more than 170 wpf in archery). Also because of higher missile speed than bigger bows, they are actually better at long range shooting. Accuracy and long range combined, is what makes them OP. Low damage on paper, becomes negligible in practice.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Tydeus on January 21, 2014, 06:49:00 pm
Yes, there were buffed too much. While they deal less damage than the big bows, it's incredibly easy to score a headshot with those bows (if a player is pure archer and has more than 170 wpf in archery). Also because of higher missile speed than bigger bows, they are actually better at long range shooting. Accuracy and long range combined, is what makes them OP. Low damage on paper, becomes negligible in practice.
What's wrong with a player actually getting rewarded for hitting a small hitbox though? I mean, isn't that what player skill should be? If we're not rewarding players for hitting a head hitbox, then what are we rewarding them for? At this point, all I see is QQ. I mean, we're not playing counter-strike here, projectiles aren't instant, regardless of how fast you think the arrows are. Heads provide more damage sure, but limbs give huge damage penalties. You say it's easy, but I'm pretty damn sure less than 10% of people's shots result in a headshot. I don't think there's a single player in this community who can consistently land headshots 30/40 % of the time.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Grumbs on January 21, 2014, 07:01:54 pm
In practice most headshots are utterly random. Its different to aiming a swing at a head, there is a lot of randomness involved which increases the frustration involved. Not only can you be in a situation were you have no course of action to take but you also get punished for no apparent reason. I can't imagine random headshots are fun for anyone

Making headshots 1 shot kills like they are now would only really work if the body shots didn't also kill in such few hits, since people would genuinely aim for the head. Or if you didn't stagger with every hit regardless of damage
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Tydeus on January 21, 2014, 07:04:05 pm
In practice most headshots are utterly random. Its different to aiming a swing at a head, there is a lot of randomness involved which increases the frustration involved. Not only can you be in a situation were you have no course of action to take but you also get punished for no apparent reason. I can't imagine random headshots are fun for anyone

Making headshots 1 shot kills like they are now would only really work if the body shots didn't also kill in such few hits.
Personally, I feel like the only headshots that are random, are ones from throwers(because throwing is never very accurate) and very long distance shots.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Leshma on January 21, 2014, 07:31:21 pm
At this point, all I see is QQ.

So you wanna go that path, Paul knows everything, rest are scum path? Well in that case, good luck in your future endeavors, Tydeus. Won't be bothering you anymore. You might want to check my thread tho, there is fairly high level of votes in here (345 players voted). 26.4 percent blame balancers (you and Paul) for bad state of the mod. That is 91 players, more than usually play on NA1, NA2 and NA7 combined, on prime time.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Tydeus on January 21, 2014, 08:43:32 pm
So you wanna go that path, Paul knows everything, rest are scum path? Well in that case, good luck in your future endeavors, Tydeus. Won't be bothering you anymore. You might want to check my thread tho, there is fairly high level of votes in here (345 players voted). 26.4 percent blame balancers (you and Paul) for bad state of the mod. That is 91 players, more than usually play on NA1, NA2 and NA7 combined, on prime time.
Actually, Urist and I can't really seem to come to an agreement on whether or not horse ranged is problematic and needs addressing. Regardless, we both know there has been a lot of QQ for ages about it, so we know you have to take things with a grain of salt. If your argument doesn't make sense or your complaint has to do with player skill being rewarded(getting rewarded for hitting a player in the head) then you've kinda just complained about the absolute last thing that we'd ever want to nerf and therefore can't really be taken seriously in a debate(not worth the time to debate with, we can't just debate with everybody who has complaints, there has to be some sort of filter. Figure out how to add 24 more hours in a day, without lessening lifespan in years, then I'm sure things will change).
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Grumbs on January 21, 2014, 09:30:03 pm
If you genuinely wanted to improve the reward for player skill you can do such things as:

Reduce ammo (less spamming until something hits or you get a lucky headshot)
Reduce missile speed (harder to judge where to shoot to be accurate, encouraged to get closer to the fight to hit)
Reduce stun/damage unless you aim and hit the head (smaller target to hit, more pressure when you miss the head)
Make position more important, so if you get into melee range you're pretty much dead

For HA:

Need to get closer to the fight so you're put under more pressure. If you need to get closer you need to think about how to use the horse while not hurting your team and you run the risk of getting hit by melee
Have to slow down to take a shot or reload with xbow (similar negative elements)

I don't think its about all this though, its about appeasing players that want to have their cake and eat it, and balancing within Urist's narrow vision for the game
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Dezilagel on January 21, 2014, 09:56:23 pm
Wait what?

Balancing based on realism?

Horrible, horrible if that continues.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Rumblood on January 22, 2014, 01:08:54 am
Personally, I feel like the only headshots that are random, are ones from very long distance shots.

I don't agree and is the main reason I get irritated over the missile speed reductions. For long range, your missile will be coming in at an arc from above. It actually gives you a better chance at getting a head shot. Plus, I love to pick out a xbow or archer who is standing on a hill on the other side of the map blithely spamming arrows into the melee scrum, when suddenly they find themselves a target and can't figure out from where. Archers who can take out the enemy cavalry from long range and the enemy ranged from long range end up with more consistent multipliers than those who don't. In fact, I would love to see the % of rounds played with a multiplier (and which multiplier) than any K/D ratio on the webpage. That might actually get some people to use real team tactics.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Kafein on January 24, 2014, 10:38:27 pm
I don't agree and is the main reason I get irritated over the missile speed reductions. For long range, your missile will be coming in at an arc from above. It actually gives you a better chance at getting a head shot. Plus, I love to pick out a xbow or archer who is standing on a hill on the other side of the map blithely spamming arrows into the melee scrum, when suddenly they find themselves a target and can't figure out from where. Archers who can take out the enemy cavalry from long range and the enemy ranged from long range end up with more consistent multipliers than those who don't. In fact, I would love to see the % of rounds played with a multiplier (and which multiplier) than any K/D ratio on the webpage. That might actually get some people to use real team tactics.

Well, skill has to exist somewhere. The cone of fire mechanic cannot be compensated with skill, while low missile speeds can. To me that's all there is to it. Of course, if the devs manage to modifiy the way the COF evolves in a way that makes timing shots more important, why not do that instead. But I don't see that happening in the near future.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Rumblood on January 25, 2014, 05:17:20 pm
Well, skill has to exist somewhere. The cone of fire mechanic cannot be compensated with skill, while low missile speeds can. To me that's all there is to it. Of course, if the devs manage to modifiy the way the COF evolves in a way that makes timing shots more important, why not do that instead. But I don't see that happening in the near future.

You really don't play an archer do you?

Long range shots can only be done through skill. Even with the current arrow speed, you still have to aim about an inch or so above your target, without being able to see where your shots are landing (unless you are a goddamned pink arrow plus the size of throwing lance cheater), and if you are off by 1/32 of an inch (2.5 cm and if off by an 0.08 of a cm) you will miss, and that is for a stationary target. If your target is moving, you then have to also calculate their speed, adjust to the left or right by up to an inch or more, more especially if your target is a horse, as well as aim an inch or so above the target depending upon the actual distance, and then hope they don't change direction. And if your CoF isn't close to pinpoint by having 190 wpf or more, luck is also in play. That means a dedicated archer is better than one that isn't because it is about skill in making the shots. Even with medium shots you still have to adjust for the drop of the arrow, and with shorter range you still have to adjust for speed of the target, especially when aiming for the much smaller head target. If someone is standing still? Sure, not as hard, but they deserve what they get for standing in one spot and making themselves an easy target.

As for low missile speed being required for skill? Actually low missile speed adds an additional layer of luck because then it is elementary for any melee or even a horse (by rearing or just turning) to avoid a missile. It is far too easy.
Look, I hate to break out the "you just suck at it" card on you, but as much as you complain about the current missile speed making it impossible to dodge a missile, that is the only conclusion that I can make. Even using the nomad with the highest current missile speed, there are many players who can both dodge the arrow and still advance towards an archer at short range. Why? They don't wait to see the missile before they are reacting to the archers aim.
Now I will concede that the ones who can do it consistently generally have a good athletic and thus a balanced or agility build. But if strength builds can't do it, then so what????. I am damned tired of strength builds who want to have the highest amount of armor, swing as fast as an agility build that has more wpf, run down anyone with more athletics then they have, and dodge arrows like a D&D monk. Lowering missile speed will just be more pandering to these tincan wanttohaveitalls, and that is just plain bullshit.  :!:
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Templar_Steevee on January 26, 2014, 11:47:33 am
About missile speed on those small pew-pew bows it's too high IMO. Max arrow speed should be one we have on rus bow atm.
Missile speed on x-bows should be nerfed also, but i were not playing x-bow for a long time and can be wrong about them.

Why i think that? Because it's big compound bow with great power, and thing that paul said that smaller bows were using lighter arrows is not fitting to world we have in c-rpg.
Lighter arrows would just bounce off from mail with padded cloth under it. 
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Kafein on January 26, 2014, 01:29:48 pm
You really don't play an archer do you?

Long range shots can only be done through skill. Even with the current arrow speed, you still have to aim about an inch or so above your target, without being able to see where your shots are landing (unless you are a goddamned pink arrow plus the size of throwing lance cheater), and if you are off by 1/32 of an inch (2.5 cm and if off by an 0.08 of a cm) you will miss, and that is for a stationary target. If your target is moving, you then have to also calculate their speed, adjust to the left or right by up to an inch or more, more especially if your target is a horse, as well as aim an inch or so above the target depending upon the actual distance, and then hope they don't change direction. And if your CoF isn't close to pinpoint by having 190 wpf or more, luck is also in play. That means a dedicated archer is better than one that isn't because it is about skill in making the shots. Even with medium shots you still have to adjust for the drop of the arrow, and with shorter range you still have to adjust for speed of the target, especially when aiming for the much smaller head target. If someone is standing still? Sure, not as hard, but they deserve what they get for standing in one spot and making themselves an easy target.

As for low missile speed being required for skill? Actually low missile speed adds an additional layer of luck because then it is elementary for any melee or even a horse (by rearing or just turning) to avoid a missile. It is far too easy.
Look, I hate to break out the "you just suck at it" card on you, but as much as you complain about the current missile speed making it impossible to dodge a missile, that is the only conclusion that I can make. Even using the nomad with the highest current missile speed, there are many players who can both dodge the arrow and still advance towards an archer at short range. Why? They don't wait to see the missile before they are reacting to the archers aim.
Now I will concede that the ones who can do it consistently generally have a good athletic and thus a balanced or agility build. But if strength builds can't do it, then so what????. I am damned tired of strength builds who want to have the highest amount of armor, swing as fast as an agility build that has more wpf, run down anyone with more athletics then they have, and dodge arrows like a D&D monk. Lowering missile speed will just be more pandering to these tincan wanttohaveitalls, and that is just plain bullshit.  :!:

And right now is it far too easy to evade a correctly aimed missile from the moment it is shot? I beg to differ. At which distance does that even become possible? My argument is that CoF mechanics are random while projectile speed isn't. You say it's "random" because it depends on the actions of the guy you are shooting at, but that's exactly the point. A game where if you shoot correctly there is no way to evade your shot, is simply not skill based. Or rather, not fun for those that hit a wall in their skill progression because no amount of skill allows them to do that. Just as in melee combat, when you attack your opponent doesn't randomly block, that's his input, and that's what makes melee combat so dynamic.

I don't wish to directly nerf archery here, as I believe those slower missiles should be traded for something else, like a tighter CoF.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Ronin on January 26, 2014, 05:40:12 pm
After making some more tests with high PD builds, I agree that I "overdid" the power of reducing low tier bows a bit. High PD gives good accuracy + better missile speed, and they are more useful with high requirement bows (8 pd with 3 req bow, will not gain the damage bonus of 8 pd).

Maybe somewhere in between will do better?
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Rumblood on January 26, 2014, 07:00:08 pm
And right now is it far too easy to evade a correctly aimed missile from the moment it is shot? I beg to differ. At which distance does that even become possible? My argument is that CoF mechanics are random while projectile speed isn't. You say it's "random" because it depends on the actions of the guy you are shooting at, but that's exactly the point. A game where if you shoot correctly there is no way to evade your shot, is simply not skill based. Or rather, not fun for those that hit a wall in their skill progression because no amount of skill allows them to do that. Just as in melee combat, when you attack your opponent doesn't randomly block, that's his input, and that's what makes melee combat so dynamic.

I don't wish to directly nerf archery here, as I believe those slower missiles should be traded for something else, like a tighter CoF.

You need to look at yourself, not the missile speed, because many players are doing what you claim is impossible. To boot, I can already do a 1 one thousand, 2 one thousand, 3 before a missile hits at long range. You really think it should take longer?? You should be able to anticipate where a player will be in 4 seconds? 5 seconds? 6? To get a tighter CoF is elementary, invest the WPF for it.
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Templar_Steevee on January 26, 2014, 11:14:17 pm
A longest aimed shots i made in this game arrow were flying little bit longer than 3 sec. dmg on such huge distance (While using long bow) is almost not worth to do it, it's better to shoot something closer :)

Kafein got some point in nerfing missile speed, but under one condition: do not touch missile speed for 5 and 6 pd bows.
Smaller bows are good enought because of their accuracy (on nomad and tatar i have pinpoint one), there's no need for them to have such huge missile speed
Title: Re: Internal bow balance
Post by: Kafein on January 27, 2014, 01:22:52 pm
You need to look at yourself, not the missile speed, because many players are doing what you claim is impossible. To boot, I can already do a 1 one thousand, 2 one thousand, 3 before a missile hits at long range. You really think it should take longer?? You should be able to anticipate where a player will be in 4 seconds? 5 seconds? 6? To get a tighter CoF is elementary, invest the WPF for it.

I don't think we want to balance this for the same distances. If you shoot someone and hit two seconds later that's already very far away and on some maps further than the distance at which people you shoot at will spot you if you don't expose yourself too much (dark backgrounds etc.). If you shoot me from those distances I bet I can easily dodge as well. What I'm talking about is the distances at which dodging correctly aimed bodyshots from the instant of release is currently impossible which I'd say is roughly below 30 meters depending on the bow. In siege mode, that's basically all the arrows being shot. In those situations you can't counter skill with skill. If the archer is bad and you dodge, he will miss, sometimes, depending on rng. If the archer is good he will not miss, dodging or not. Your own dodging will only matter to the bad archers that can't point & click, not to the skilled ones. And I say point an click because at that kind of range there is only minimal leading. If it wasn't point & click then it would be possible (not necessarily something that everybody would do) to outplay a skilled archer.


Anyway the latest patch has changes in the damage department against armor, let's see how it play out.