Immunity to arrows - "transparent" targets? Bug or haccck?

[Hirlok]

I know that I am not exactly the best archer around, I also know that at 130 my bow still shoots as unprecisely and randomly as a 19th century machinegun - but  I usually know when I miss or when I hit, esp. at close range.

Recently I had several incidents that I can not explain - would be interested if other archers experience the same.

Guy stands like 10 meters away, perfectly still (e.g. raising a ladder in siege), I shoot him, see the arrow move straight through his heart or even his head - nothing. Shoot another guy next to him (that even may be moving and harder to hit) - *fump* - Hit. Shoot the first guy again, perfect hit - *sweeeesh* - nothing.

When a target is moving, I can blame it on high ping and server lags, if the animation shows my arrow or melee weapon  going through someone without effect. But those incidents were happening while ping was normal, server not too laggy, and the target was static.

Guys weren't using heavy armor either, most of them even cloth / black robes, so no bouncing.

WTF?

[Elmetiacos]

Serious lag can do this, because the target isn't actually there when the arrow hits. I've had it happen during Strategus sieges, for instance. However, hitboxes sometimes seem to be broken too so that characters aren't actually where they appear. Two hander and polearm fighters notice it most as it causes a phenonmenon people call "phantom block" where a weapon passes straight through a perfectly good block and either hits or passes through the blocker as well.

[Hirlok]

thanks Elmetiacos - yeah, that's what I thought. But in these cases there was no movement at all for several seconds (partly - I shot the same figures for "scientific purposes"  later on while they were moving - no effect as well, but there I can not say with confidence that I really hit them, opposite to the situation where they were standing), lag was not that bad, not many people on server... perfect conditions. Weird.

Most likely as you say - a broken hitbox. Maybe related to a specific "armor", as most of the cases it was that black robe thing. 

[Nemeth]

It's a bug, as far as I know, and it happens to xbows as well. I've experienced both from the perspective of a shooter, when my bolts went right through guys, as well as reciever, when my shield got the usual animation of being hit by projectice, but no sound was played and no arrow/bolt was sticking out of the shield either.

[Spawny]

Happens to throwers too.

It's lag. It's annoying.

[haxKingdom]

No lag doesnt exist.  I average 25-30 ping and the effect happens quite frequently.

[Nemeth]

Yeah, I don't think it's lag either, I have stable ping 30 and it happens from time to time. I'm not talking about server side lag spikes either, which are quite common on EU servers.

[Tai Feng]

No lag doesnt exist.  I average 25-30 ping and the effect happens quite frequently.

It's not ping. It's lag. There's a difference. Open your facebook or go on wireless, or be on shared connection, or have slower computer. Your ping will appear fine when you hit TAB, but you'll notice you block but not really, your bolts go through people (as described here), enemy attacks can appear instantaneous etc.

[Maira]

Well, lag is probably responsible for those "long term" happenings, ping is just a small delay, so, it affects manual blocking because it's a quick action, for instance at my 200 ping, I can block just fine IF I block before the back swing is complete, it's basically impossible to block if the guy is already finishing the swing. Going through the heart and nothing happening is probably lag, which can be both/either server side or not.

[Serruntis]

Guy stands like 10 meters away, perfectly still (e.g. raising a ladder in siege), I shoot him, see the arrow move straight through his heart or even his head - nothing.
Have you tried shooting a guy holding a ladder? Its sort of a bug i think, like 90% of the time you hit nothing. I have tried it before the patch with a friend standing still holding only a ladder.

[Hirlok]

Have you tried shooting a guy holding a ladder? Its sort of a bug i think, like 90% of the time you hit nothing. I have tried it before the patch with a friend standing still holding only a ladder.

nope, that was just an example for someone who really does not move in any way for at least one or two seconds and is usually quite close, so you can see exactly where your arrow goes. I meant the moment when a guy stands still besides one of those fixed ladders and does the "raise ladder" thing. The other ones who carry a custom/spam ladder are a bit difficult to shoot, depending on the angle, because the ladder "absorbs" the arrows, but I hit quite a few of them ;-)

[Maira]

Was the ladder model raising or was it still? If it was moving/raising maybe the hitbox absorbed the damage but not the texture/model of the arrow.

[Hirlok]

Was the ladder model raising or was it still? If it was moving/raising maybe the hitbox absorbed the damage but not the texture/model of the arrow.

unlikely, ladder was still down. and I had several other occasions where it happened and no ladder was involved at all and the guy was just standing there a few meters away from me because he was AFK or unaware of the presence of a malevolent sneaky archer behind him ;-). Sword helps in those occasions - it is just the arrows that fly through them.

Most likely reason is really a bug with the hitboxes, and I guess it is related to the armor class, because the cases I remember were all people wearing some sort of cloth, black robe, etc.
And btw. the arrows vanish - they obviously do not hit the guy, and they do not stick in the ground either, like a missed shot usually would do.

[Franklin]

As an xbowman I have had the ladder effect several times.  Both for some carrying and raising.  It naffs me off because I could not stop them from raising it.  it is almost as though it is like a massive shield.
I have also created an alt polearm and stood on top of a hill facing the castle while arrows passed straight through me. It must of pissed the archer off no end.  On that occassion I only got hit by a second archer firing from further along the wall.

[cmp]

Most likely reason is really a bug with the hitboxes, and I guess it is related to the armor class

Armor has no effect on the hitbox.