*Implement volleys: Just as with the shieldwall, archers should benefit from standing in formation and using their class in unity. how about this?
1.While standing in firing line your reticule only expands as most to 50% of what it was when its the most accurate.
2. If there were to be ranks, so that for example any archer with rank 5 or above can plant a banner which creates the area where the volley features will be used in. To join in, there could be a similar thing as with the battalion system, and once picked, just get to the area and you are in.
3. The one who planted the banner also has a firing command, with an animation and voice screaming "fire". Every arrow released within 2 seconds of his command will give you 1 score point.
How to make Archery easy to learn - hard to master
If you have just recently started playing as an archer, standing in line with other archers and accomplishing a common goal seem to be something realisticly obtainable. That way, there is always a place for you to be effective for your team, you do not have to be an hardcore/top noch archer that jumps out of the way of cav while headshotting them to be effective for your team.
The one thing I can think of on how to make it more easy to learn - hard to master is to improve the hitboxes. A plate wearer should have very good protection from arrows that is not specifically designed to bring him down. It should take skilled or lucky shooting to hit the weaknesses of his armor and take him down.
Easy to learn: Being an average archer with average shooting skills, being able to kill enemies wearing low or medium armor, and staying back in the archer ranks firing volleys.
Hard to master: Having the ability to shoot and wound/kill any enemy and also being effective on your own outside the Volley zone.
Also, if there were a certain stationary zone for the archers to get the benefits, I doubt that the melee fighters that wish to engage in melee with the enemies melee units will have the same interference of ranged into their duels/fights since there wont be as many stray arrows flying from every directions.
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Those^are some suggestions on how to make archery more tolerable on the servers that were proposed a while ago.
If it was implemented I think that this could occur;
1. There is an general location for the majority of the ranged in an team, which means that infantry wont have to worry nearly as much of getting shot in the back, or unexpectedly from the sides when fighting.
2. It adds teamplay for ranged, and it will most likely put the ranged on a greater distance from where the infantry will clash, since I imagine the volley-zone would prefferably be put up as fast as possible in a round, and therefore not to far away from your spawn.
3. It will reduce the amount of situations where an archer turns up a few metres/feet away from you, and you feel like it's pointless to try since he brought a gun to the fight, and you didn't.
4. Haboe realized that this could mean that pikers might stay back in the archery line to ward off cav, which also is a nice addition in teamplay.
5. Shielders wont be shot from every direction and can maintain their block much easier, + just imagine when your shieldwall advances and pushes through to the archer lines.
I get that things like improving the hitboxes is probably very very hard to code, but this; best way of balancing archery to make it easy to learn - hard to master is to improve the hitboxes. A plate wearer should have very good protection from arrows that is not specifically designed to bring him down. It should take skilled or lucky shooting to hit the weaknesses of his armor and take him down.
Easy to learn: Being an average archer with average shooting skills, being able to kill enemies wearing low or medium armor, and staying back in the archer ranks firing volleys.
Hard to master: Having the ability to shoot and wound/kill any enemy and also being effective on your own outside the Volley zone. would probably balance out alot, and imo it would be so freaking glorious xd