Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?

[Trael]

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.

[MountedRhader]

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. 

[Fasader]

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.

[Ganon]

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).

[Vexus]

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.

[bruce]

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.

[justme]

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...

[Tai Feng]

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.

[John]

Where oh where have the crossbowmen gone!

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


I got your crossbowmen right 'ere!

[UrLukur]

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)

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.

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.

[Tai Feng]

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.

[bruce]

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.

[UrLukur]

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.

[bruce]

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.

[Ganon]

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 ?