Finding a niche for longbow

[[ptx]]

The following is the probably highly biased opinion of a guy with a gen6 pure longbowman alt (had it since before the patch that implemented weight wpf penalty).

(click to show/hide)

The longbow was never the most popular bow before those changes even, except for some lvl40+ archers, but then they could machinegun with any bow.
Yet, ever since the changes to archery that came together with the upkeep patch, longbow has been gradually getting downsized, in comparison to the other bows.
It used to have superior missile speed and damage by a somewhat noticeable amount, whilst having good maximum accuracy, at the trade off of a slight release delay, slower speed and higher price.
First it lost its' advantage in damage with bow-arrow damage rebalance.
Then with new animations and the lower WPFs, its speed and delay became a lot worse, whilst losing any semblance of accuracy.
From what i can tell from the upcoming changes, it will now lose its' already small advantage in damage, since, because of its accuracy, it'll probably be highly unlikely to hit heads with it, at least a lot more unlikely than with the smaller (spam)bows.

So where does this leave longbows? An item of (masochistic) fashion? No thanks

So, what could be the use of longbows?

(click to show/hide)

In OldcRPG, i believe i had found a very nice niche for my non-grinded longbowman, back when everyone was using either warbows or khergit bows. It was to hunt other ranged players, despite the popular opinion that faster bows were better for this. Three things enabled this - the faster missile speed, the ability to hold my arrow for something close to a second (which may or may not have been ridiculous) and good footwork and timing on my part.

Currently, at a 18/24 pure archer build, i can hold an arrow for less than a split second, barely long enough to release it without the reticule starting to grow, due to the delay.
What if, with a longbow (a WSE thing?), it would be possible to hold the arrow for a slightly longer time? Would this not enable it to once again be a niche anti-ranged bow? 

Melee needn't worry, such a change should only reduce the amount of arrows in the air, both because longbows wouldn't have to spam their arrows and because they *possibly* might be killing enemy archers.

Opinions welcome, flame/troll is not

[BlameMeForTheNoise]

I can see your arguments behind this. And even if I haven't played an archer for a year, i think you are pretty convincing.

[Stabby_Dave]

   0000059   3   Warband - multiplayer - [ingame]   minor   new   2012-01-11   Longbow delay

From the changelog. Maybe theyre removing or shortening the delay. Good news since I just created a longbow alt myself!

[BlindGuy]

I had a +3 longbow long before it got the P dmg vs all other bows on C. Even back then it was a fashion statement tbh, the accuracy being made useless by the delay. Be smart, sell the longbow if you want playing satisfaction. Or keep it in the hope it will be made 1 slot. It should be, since if you go DTV mode you will see the Searaiders sometimes carry Longbow, arrows, shield, sword. THATS a gear setup!

[[ptx]]

Playing satisfaction for me as an archer is playing with a longbow. I just hate the other bows.

[Zerran]

It would be really nice to see different bows be specifically tailored to certain jobs.

[Zekerage]

I feel the longbow started its way downhill as soon as Arrows decided the damage type. Prior to, I'd run with a +3 Long bow with +3 Bodkins, 21/18. I was a terror on the field, and I feel that what gave me the edge was that it was the Only Pierce bow. It was extremely effective against armored targets (no more than 3 shots maximum, and that was only on Goretooth with his entire Black armor loomed set), and anything less than that took no more than two.

The slowness of the draw speed was balanced by the damage it could dish out. As it stands, All bows can now do pierce, all of the other bows can do respectable damage at a higher rate, all bows do less damage than they used to,  due to armor soak value changes (I think.. I'm a little fuzzy on this area), and with this new change to less damage to body shots, the Longbow is definitely going to be nothing more than a Novelty bow again.

At this point, I honestly don't know what could be done to make the Longbow viable again. I feel as though anything it can do, other bows can definitely do better. The suggestion to make you have more time to line up before shooting is moot, I feel, just because most archers are already comfortable "Snap" shotting. It'd be nice, but unless there's more than that, Other bows just do it better.

[Konrax]

Longbow should have a much higher projectile speed than the other bows imho.

It would make it worth the slower draw time since it would be easier to hit the target your aiming for once you release the arrow.

And it could actually hit targets further away. (Kinda like how they were IRL)

[Gurnisson]

I find longbow a very good bow myself. I have an archer alt and I switch between horn bow and longbow all the time. The damage on the long bow is sweet.

[Mr_Oujamaflip]

Longbow should have a much higher projectile speed than the other bows imho.

It would make it worth the slower draw time since it would be easier to hit the target your aiming for once you release the arrow.

And it could actually hit targets further away. (Kinda like how they were IRL)

I like this idea, it's a LONG bow.

Also, I think the long bow, being heavily used vs cavalry should be maybe more effective vs horses in some way rather than people. Random idea.

[Stabby_Dave]

I like the idea of it being a horse killer, I almost exclusively use my longbow alt as a cav hunter.

The other thing you could do, if it were possible, is to allow the longbow to use an exclusive ammo type maybe (2 pierce) but be a bit slower to really make it stand out as a cannon.

[Zekerage]

So.. Just kinda reverting it to what it Was prior to Arrow deciding damage type? Slow Tank Puncher? Except now it would do the same thing.. But even slower.. As for cav hunting, that's what All bowmen should be doing! Ughhhh, archers!

[Teeth]

I always support a non linear progression of weapons. The old more cost/more/damage/less speed formula is getting old. More roles on the battlefield and more unique weapons, yay!

[B3RS3RK]

Im thinking a lot more missile speed would do the longbow good.

[Rumblood]

If you adjust the missile speed on the long bow, it will naturally increase the accuracy over a long distance which is exactly the effect we want. The target would have less time to react after the shot. This wouldn't create an imbalance up close due to already long draw time.

In short, increase missile speed and longbow is back to its niche.