Make Bolts 0 Slot and Perhaps Buff

[Jarold]

I would suggest making the Bolts ( NOT STEEL BOLTS ) 0 slot and maybe buffing their damage by 2 pierce.

Lets face it, only uber peasants use these puppies and right when they can afford steel bolts, they get em! So why not make them more appealing.

The damage buff may not be necessary but it could help balance the two bolts.

Please discuss!

[Little Lord Lollipop]

The slot change would cause every 2h hero to carry an arbalest sidearm...no thanks.  Right now I think they are fine as is. They provide dirt cheap xbow ammunition for new players and money challenged players alike.

[Jarold]

I just realized that problem hmmmmm, it has its flaws. 

[Phantasmal]

It would be interesting...

I would advocate against a damage buff though as this would revive the class of 2H/xbow hybrid.

If this were to be implemented I would increase the upkeep to avoid having 2hers with the combination of SoW/Heavy xbow/bolts on the battlefield. It would instantly be an overpowered build.

I would not mind seeing an incentive to use regular bolts though (besides the slightly lower upkeep and the more ammunition).

It would be nice if the type of ammunition had some bonuses and negatives associated with them. Like steel bolts having a larger drop compared to regular bolts (since they weigh slightly more? maybe bolts have a higher missile speed?).

[WITCHCRAFT]

Regular bolts are used often in strategus as dirt-cheap xbow ammunition. Balances made to them would have to take strategus into account.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone using them in battle or siege. 0 slots would probably be a bit of an over-buff, but they should definitely do something to change the item if NO ONE ever uses it.

[Angellore]

Half a year ago I made topic about this issue:
http://forum.meleegaming.com/suggestions-corner/regular-bolts-change-to-give-crossbowman-proper-choice/msg652783/#msg652783
Of course devs won't do anything about that, but at least I marked the problem with no bolts choice for crossbowman.

Note: Steel Bolts weight was increased to 6 kg in one of recent patches. Also Heavy Crossbow stats were changed some time ago. But regular Bolts stayed as they were.

[Torben]

make steelbolts non usable on horseback and BAM! you got yourself a niche

[Angellore]

make steelbolts non usable on horseback and BAM! you got yourself a niche

As always someone is trying to force nerf to opposite class. Can't you understand it's not HX nerf discussion topic?

The thing is, Bolts are so much weaker than Steel Bolts, they aren't used at all in cRPG (only in Strategus, because they are cheap).
When you only can, you just go Steel Bolts, because they are far superior to Bolts. One far superior item in it's class is really bad way to go.

We have now just regular Bolts +0 damage and Steel Bolts +6 damage -3 ammo.
I would love to see specific tasks bolts, like:
- anti-horse bolts (+30% dmg to horses, +0 additional dmg),
- shield-penetration bolts (60% chance of penetrating shield, +1 additional damage),
- object-damage orientated bolts (300% damage to objects like catapults, siege shields, doors etc, +2 additional damage).
- poisoned bolts (effective against heavily armored targets, slowly decreasing target hp by 1% per second, up to 40%, -75% base damage).
Those are just examples which I figured out in few minutes time. Same could be done with arrows.
The problem is, you would have to firstly get new model of those bolts/arrows. But the bigger problem is, devs would have to implement this in game, and i'm pretty sure that's not going to happen.

So the only real option I see is to buff regular Bolts a bit and try to match them with Steel Bolts. That would require almost no effort from devs, so there is a LITTLE chance devs will do something about that. And then crossbowman class would have a choice to go regular Bolts or Steel Bolts. This kind of option is always better than no option at all.

[Torben]

As always someone is trying to force nerf to opposite class. Can't you understand it's not HX nerf discussion topic?

every thread is a HX nerf thread 

[Algarn]

As always someone is trying to force nerf to opposite class. Can't you understand it's not HX nerf discussion topic?

The thing is, Bolts are so much weaker than Steel Bolts, they aren't used at all in cRPG (only in Strategus, because they are cheap).
When you only can, you just go Steel Bolts, because they are far superior to Bolts. One far superior item in it's class is really bad way to go.

We have now just regular Bolts +0 damage and Steel Bolts +6 damage -3 ammo.
I would love to see specific tasks bolts, like:
- anti-horse bolts (+30% dmg to horses, +0 additional dmg),
- shield-penetration bolts (60% chance of penetrating shield, +1 additional damage),
- object-damage orientated bolts (300% damage to objects like catapults, siege shields, doors etc, +2 additional damage).
- poisoned bolts (effective against heavily armored targets, slowly decreasing target hp by 1% per second, up to 40%, -75% base damage).
Those are just examples which I figured out in few minutes time. Same could be done with arrows.
The problem is, you would have to firstly get new model of those bolts/arrows. But the bigger problem is, devs would have to implement this in game, and i'm pretty sure that's not going to happen.

So the only real option I see is to buff regular Bolts a bit and try to match them with Steel Bolts. That would require almost no effort from devs, so there is a LITTLE chance devs will do something about that. And then crossbowman class would have a choice to go regular Bolts or Steel Bolts. This kind of option is always better than no option at all.

Make it for arrows too  And for anti-object missiles , make burning arrows and bolts

For the penetration of shields , that's too high , 40 % would be fine.
All are good , but please , not poisoned arrows , that would be a real pain 

[Phew]

Bolts should at least weigh less than Steel Bolts; they are both an outrageous 6 kg. Bolts should be like 3 kg.

[LordRichrich]

maybe just make bolts have a lot more ammo? might make it more tactical choosing more damage per shot or doing more damage to more ppl?

[Phantasmal]

It would be useful for siege but most crossbowmen do not go through a whole stack of steel bolts in battle unless using the regular crossbow. Also, if you want more bolts just bring a 0 slot sword and carry 2 stacks of steel bolts. It would be very hard to go through 24-26 bolts in one life. The only way to make bolts worthwhile would be lowering the ammo of steel bolts (which I am against).

[CrazyCracka420]

Even on my 2h/xbow alt with almost 130 crossbow WPF, I don't go through my 12 steel bolts in a round (using a mw crossbow)

I don't think you can lower them to 0 slots, because I would then use my xbow/bolts and a 2h (2 slot) sword.  If I had more xbow proficiency, I would use a heavy xbow, bolts and 2h sword.  That would be OP and is the main reason (that I can see) that they made light and regular xbows 2 slots. 

[Rumblood]

Give them the throwing axe treatment. Increase steel bolts damage by 1 and decrease the ammo by 25%.