Archery or Crossbow?

[Zjackrum]

I'm reasonably new and just getting into CRPG as ranged class. Given the recent state of archery and the need for headshots, let's make an assumption: I am not good enough for headshots. I will work on this, but assume I will make mostly body shots. With that in mind, I have several questions hopefully someone can answer:

1. Should I be going for archery or crossbows?
Archery is a lot quicker, but crossbows pack more punch per shot, right? Yet crossbows don't need to put points in PD, which frees up points for WM or IF.

2. Longbow or hornbow? / Light crossbow or Arbalest?
A lot of topics are suggesting a quick bow with emphasis on WPF for headshots. Is a longbow/arbalest more fitting for my shotgun tactic?

3. Powerdraw - how much is too much?
On the topic of PD & bows - the wiki says you can use up to 4 + the required amount for the bow. So am I going to want 10 PD for a longbow?

4. How much WPF?
A lot of the builds at level 30 dump every single point into archery/crossbow. At what point is accuracy maxed, and you are simply increasing reload speed?

5. Armor
The consensus seems to be to keep weight below 7. I recall that head is x3 and hands are x2 for determining weight. I suppose most crossbowmen i see on the field are hybrids...? A lot of them are wearing chainmail armor.

Sorry in advance for a ton of questions. I couldn't really find answers to all these questions in one place.

[Christo]

With STF around these days, you can just use the feature to test one of those, while using the other on your main, or an alt.

Go ahead, play a full gen of each, then decide. 

About the other questions:

Well, nowadays a headshotter-build is going to give you the most benefit, but 2slot bows might be just as good, depends on you really.

On the PD question, I'm no archer, but that 10PD will make you very, very inaccurate. That much I know.

Accuracy won't max for you now, but I'd say anything from 140-to 150-60 will do the job, provided you can actually aim.

Yeah, crossbowmen are mostly hybrids, wearing an arbalest makes a 15/24 build doable.

Also, inb4 some experienced ranged dude giving you more accurate details. 

[Penitent]

I suggest archery.  Xbow was too boring for me...most of my time was spent reloading!  Lots of ppl enjoy it though.

As for the specific weapons/stats/builds...you'll have to explore those on your own.  A lot is personal preference.

[Spawny]

I've played 2 gens as an arbalester and I found it loads of fun. Had great times sniping archers and shooting zigzagging twohanders in the face just as they wanted to hit me.

It takes some time to get used to the drop rate, reload speed, delay when firing and stuff. The pros: you can go 15/24 with 8 athletics and a crapload of wpf in xbows. You can even put some wpf in 2h/1h for a sidearm and whoop ass when they get close. Still effective with mail armour, so you can take a hit or 2 before getting killed. Cons: You have to hit what you aim for, as you will not get a second chance. This means you have no way to adjust your shot based on the first miss.

Don't know about archery, as I have never played an archer. The playstyle is entirely different though.

[Maximus101]

They have both been nerfed to nothingness.. But i am trying longbower atm myself and its very fun, but not too epeen rewarding. But 10 PD(lol) not needed. Best builds are probably builds with only 18 str, the rest agility coz you neeed to be quick and accurate to be a good archer. Running away is a part of it ;P and just staying alive and helping the team. With 30 str you will die very quick as you will not be able to work with other archers as they will be faster than you. A vital part of being an archer is teamwork as in its current state it will take roughly 4 shots to kill, but running and gunning is good to use if you can get around 7,8 athletics.

Crossbows atm are pretty useles imo because it will take you around 2-3 shots with no heirlooms and because you can't reload on the run its very hard to get 3 shots in.

So, i would try archery in the current patch if you use a longbow or (preferably) Rus bow, 2 slots of arrows and a 0 slot melee weapon. I use a leather jerkin and mail gauntlets but that's probably too much.

[Malaclypse]

The ranged nerf was basically reversed with the new bone damage thing. Limbs take less damage from all sources, body shots take normal damage from all sources, headshots are still buffed for ranged.

[Silveredge]

I've known a lot of people who try crossbow and cannot stand it.  It's very easy to feel like you aren't impacting the fight at all, if you don't make shots.  If you get rushed this makes it worse.  On the other hand you get to take a lot of shots at people with Archery and you're infinitely more mobile.  A light crossbow would probably be a good happy-medium if you end up going the xbow route.  I would make the decision off of the play style you like.  At the end of the day I can do better as a melee build but crossbows are so much fun to me.

[Zjackrum]

Well right now i'm a first-gen archer. My beef is that I can make body shots with little difficulty, the problem is I can get a dozen hits (on different targets, of course) and I'm lucky to get a single kill. Also I'm not too shabby at hitting horses, but they never seem to die either.

It feels like even with bodkin arrows, there's almost no point in trying to shoot anyone with medium or heavy armor - it's just a waste of ammo.

Also, whats with the longbow hate / Rus bow love? Just based on the weapon raw data, they're pretty similar, save for the speed rating and damage.

[El_Infante]

Well right now i'm a first-gen archer. My beef is that I can make body shots with little difficulty, the problem is I can get a dozen hits (on different targets, of course) and I'm lucky to get a single kill. Also I'm not too shabby at hitting horses, but they never seem to die either.

It feels like even with bodkin arrows, there's almost no point in trying to shoot anyone with medium or heavy armor - it's just a waste of ammo.

Also, whats with the longbow hate / Rus bow love? Just based on the weapon raw data, they're pretty similar, save for the speed rating and damage.

No. Longbow is underpowered until they fix it. +3 damage don't deal with -8 speed. 2slot and expensive; my suggestion, go for a rus bow. Long time ago it was the only bow that did pierce damage. After they made bodkin change damage type, they didn't change anything at all of longbow. So IMHO, it need a tweak.

[Christo]

Just based on the weapon raw data, they're pretty similar, save for the speed rating and damage.

Now that's a nice way to contradict yourself in a sentence. 

[_Tak_]

If i have 150 wps in Crossbow . Will I reload my arbalest faster?

[Dravic]

WPF = shorter reload time for crossbows. Also smaller reticule, but only to a set lvl, never beyond it.

[_Tak_]

WPF = shorter reload time for crossbows. Also smaller reticule, but only to a set lvl, never beyond it.

so what is the set lvl for crossbow in wps Dravic? 

[oprah_winfrey]

WPF = shorter reload time for crossbows. Also smaller reticule, but only to a set lvl, never beyond it.

They changed that a while ago, a crossbow will take the same time to reload if you have 1 of 180 wpf in crossbows.

[Zjackrum]

I guess what I'm trying to ask is which will do more damage - longbow / rusbow or a light crossbow / arbalest? Assume VS same target & over time, not per shot.