I was always wondering why there was so much whine about archery and so few about crossbows. The answer probalby is that we prohibited archers from entering melee while crossbower mostly retained this ability. So what's left to archers is turn and run or roofhugging. There are probably a lot more "fuck melee" archer builds because of that than crossbow builds without melee ability.
The day you implemented slots, was the day my hybrid wept, but even after that I still play Hybrid and I get pissed of by running bundle of stickss who even laugh at everyone else by ignoring the usage of 0 slot weapons. And those are the cancer killing the mod.
But then again,
FACTS:> Crossbowers 1 shot people (average), can use decent armor, can use decent weapons, and have 6+ EXTRA skill points to waste either in PS, ATH, IF, and by level 12 they can 1 shoot people since the arbalest requirement is only 15 str, there is NO crossbow skill dependency.
> Archers 4 shoot people (average), have to use the shitiest armor to avoid absurd wpf reduction, can't use decent weapons (shitty 0 slot weapons that standing against a wall won't hit the wall, so awesome the length is) or in order to use, they have 1 quiver, and have to waste at least 6 (!!) skill points in the PD archer damage skill to actually hurt anything (with loomed gear, cause unloomed 6 is just masochism).
Glorious Conclusion:Of course fucking archers are gonna hide and run like bundle of stickss with all these odds compared, the hell man, this is a simple 1+1 math problem, any handicapped person can realize why. The removal of the retarded jump shoot without any sort of "give and take" action only led to more roof-camping, and high athletic pricks running every-time and shooting you down like dogs to the point of making you alt+f4 and forum rage-post.
Also there is the fact that players tend to rush into archers, but when they see a crossbower, they run the opposite direction, let me remind you the existence of a little thing called SPEED BONUS, which is present in the Basics of the Basics about this game.
Then the more elitist and gifted of an higher IQ value come all poker-faced and stuff sayin' "But archers have high rate of fire, q__Q_Q_Q_q-_QQ_Q (ad infinitum)".
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Guess what, get a fucking shield, it's not hard to waste 1 or 2 points in shield skill, arrows don't penetrate shields, bolts do.
Or simply adjust your play style.
There were no fucking Boromirs in medieval battles, no one is dumb enough to go rushing into heavy projectile fire, and believe me, the projectile presence was extremely heavy.
Ever wondered why chase, cooties etc did well on battle servers under these conditions? Cause they know were to be, when to be, and to use a friggin' shield when necessary.
Seriously guys, deal with it, or this ain't your game, get some Jedi Academy or KOTOR wtv and play impossible sword fights.