it's giving the two "weakest" crossbows an ability they already posses on Horse back. It doesn't make sense to me why characters are able to ride horses, and in turn, it allows them to summon the strength to pull the loading mechanism back, but on foot, they're weak little peasants.
In
I predict swarms of 7str/39agi runners and big nerf to xbows in the end.
I did a build very similar to that when I had a MW light Xbow, and while it was a freaking BLAST, I was able to run away from conflicts fast enough, and reload quickly enough that reloading on the run wouldn't have made a difference IN THOSE SITUATIONS. The fact of the matter is that the Only person I've really seen Light Xbow kiting effectively done on Foot is by whoever the hell Chinaserf...2?.. is. But he was sporting MW bolts as well as a MW Light Xbow. Besides, how is it different from rolling a 9-27 or 9-30 Nomad (or lower) Bowman? These days, as long as your sporting Bodkins, you'll do SOMETHING to enemies, and your rate of fire is GREATLY improved over the light/hunting crossbow. Also, what I was getting at is that while reloading on the move on foot, your movement speed is reduced to something akin to 2 Athletics wearing all black armor, carrying a couple ladders in your hands. Not quite gamechangingly quick, but still, you're NOT STANDING STILL.
while we're at it, add a 5% chance to drop your bolt or go off halfcocked and shoot yourself!
While that may very well be sarcasm, I'd totally go for this if people had a chance to drop their melee weapons after Blocking a heavier weapon, or after being the victim of a Reposte, as well as Crossbows locking up sometimes (akin to attempting to fire, and getting bumped, and having the crossbow completely worthless for the rest of the round), as well as a chance for archers to misfire/drop arrows. I'm all for giving people more reasons to whine