Arbalest

[Algarn]

Hmm, mixed feelings cause that would finally be the end of me and my arbalest "big bertha"  (can´t handle 0 slot 1h)

Actually, 0  slot weapons like a +3 broad short sword or a +3 italian fachion are much more deadlier than they seem to be. They are deadly with maxed out PS, and if my suggesion is "accepted", i can just say it'd be as OP as normal weapons, even more OP than your current +3 iberian mace with 7 PS.

[Ikarus]

Actually, 0  slot weapons like a +3 broad short sword or a +3 italian fachion are much more deadlier than they seem to be. They are deadly with maxed out PS, and if my suggesion is "accepted", i can just say it'd be as OP as normal weapons, even more OP than your current +3 iberian mace with 7 PS.

5 ps

hmm, well I´d try for sure, but you know that at least half of my kills are melee kills with my xbow

[Nightingale]

I would simply love to see a PD skill for crossbows (Power pull), which would affect a lot reload speed of the weapon. Give in exchange low reload speed for crossbows, which would be corrected with high PP skill. Then, STR crossbow builds would be effective, and people having low PP skill be penalized a bit on reload, since they got 180 wpf in crossbow (max accuracy).

(click to show/hide)

I love the idea of some type of skill sink for xbows to help balance, but if you aren't careful you will further skew internal balance of the class as a whole.

A skill like PD would be an awesome idea, however it should have positive and negative effects so that increasing the skill won't simply buff your class but also negate the buff in certain situations. This would increase variation in builds amongst the crossbow playstyles.

Every Crossbow should be effected by a skill like PD but not require it to use. This would allow use without any investment but pure builds would be vastly more effective in its use. Of course you would need to nerf Crossbow stats across the board by 20% or so to negate the damage increase of PD effects and add greater deviation between pure/hybrid/no investment.

PD it self should do two things to Crossbows - as PD skill increases damage increases, and reload time increases as well. Think about it; The more punch it packs the longer it should take to ready up. By doing this you effectively have two choices as for min-maxing would only grant you so many benefits- as there would be a happy medium.

If PD increased damage by 14% per level it should increase reload time by 14% per level. Lets not over do it... cap PD effects on xbows at 6; so (6*14)(-.20)= 64% damage increase at 6 PD investment but also a 64% increase in reload speed so it would take longer to reload. I also believe that the first 120 WPF invested in the crossbow skill should do less than the last 30-40 invested to further the gaps in the issues of zero investment. With this system you would need 3 PD at the very least to negate the -20% damage debuff along with these changes.

The exact percents I gave as an example probably wouldn't work but its just a rough idea.

Reload speed should be a direct reflection of a more powerful crossbow; the more kick it gives the more time it should take to be ready to fire again.

as for the original suggestion in this thread of making arbalest 3 slots; I believe this would destroy whats left of an already dying breed.

TL:DR version ; Purple.

[Grumpy_Nic]

Bit too much of a change imo Nightingale but maybe just a part of your ideas might work out well. I would definitely play arbalester but my xbower has only 15 str and I need 18...  which makes it unreachable unless I retire or a respec is given when something is changed. But I wont retire at lvl33 gen1.

Atm I use heavy xbow or xbow (depending on what reload speed I want, xbow for close quarters and heavy for open maps) a hunting xbow for backup/doublegunning/quickreload, steel bolts and a 0 slot 1h. This could actually be a totally deadly equip (all +3) but I'm not a good player so I perform ok with it. If I could swap one of my 2 slot xbows with an arbalest... Yes! Right away.

[Nightingale]

Atm I use heavy xbow or xbow (depending on what reload speed I want, xbow for close quarters and heavy for open maps) a hunting xbow for backup/doublegunning/quickreload, steel bolts and a 0 slot 1h. This could actually be a totally deadly equip (all +3) but I'm not a good player so I perform ok with it. If I could swap one of my 2 slot xbows with an arbalest... Yes! Right away.

To be honest the Heavy Crossbow is more effective than an Arbalest on a relative scale; You will have to shoot everything the same amount of times to get a kill while reloading 2-3 seconds faster, and you don't even have to worry about Delay in the release of the bolt, soft cap for +3 Arbalest is 185 where that is impossible to reach at level 30 with any type of hybridization; but with heavy the soft cap is around 160- and its only requirement is 15 strength making it overall a better choice when it comes to survivability and build effectiveness

 Hunting Crossbow does to much damage now and reloads to fast- its a great side arm for low investment hybrids. I didn't understand the change to hunting all that much it is able to reload faster than most archers, while doing similar damage. its only real downside is effective range where a short bow has less arch than the hunting.

For any range class you really need a full set of +3 equipment or you are not going to do well. I've been playing with my build for about 2 and a half to 3 years and At this moment in time for the first time in a year and a half its practically unplayable really in NA 1; unless the sun, the moon and the earth all aline perfectly and witchcraft curses the server.

The only reason its even semi effective in strat is because of how long the battles last- it allows a player like me to sit back and take long range shots at enemies hoping to hit something over the course of an hour, generally adding up to around 20 or so kills and low death counts but to balance a class based on what a select few individuals can do with a particular weapon in a strat or battle is completely game breaking when most rounds on battle last 2-3 minutes.

I'm just trying to give alternatives to making it 3 slots as that would absolutely kill off the class. 

[San]

For reference, I think these are close to max accuracy wpf requirements

Left side for +0, right side for +3, +1 and +2 are somewhere inbetween.

Hunting Crossbow: 126-131
Light Crossbow: 134-139
Crossbow: 147-152
Heavy Crossbow: 166-171
Arbalest: 180-186

[spiritus]

Bring it back to 15 str and find some other nerf such as this or bolts 2 slots some other ideaaa. Having to use a char with 18 str seems to be a little much this means any agi build under 32 which is usally 15 24 can catch these poor guys on my main even tho lvl 34 i find it way to easy to catch and kill arb players.

[Mr_Oujamaflip]

My issue with bringing it down to 15 Strength is it bypasses the nerf for 3 slots which is reducing the melee capabilities cos then theres more WPF to throw into a melee stat.

I think you guys are overcomplicating things.

[Switchtense]

I think you guys are overcomplicating things.

no u