Your Opinion on Arbalests

[Warborn304]

I think they seem OP compared to the amount you armor you have to wear to compensate for the dmg,  compared to most other (xbow) weapons.

They do have that fear factor though, which, no matter what class you are, you don't want to be hit by them.

What are your opinions on Arbalests, and xbow in general?

[Strudog]

For the reload speed they are fine

[Torben]

For the reload speed they are fine

[Templar_Steevee]

Str req should be increased for using them. For ex Arbalests 18 STR instead of 15

[Lt_Anders]

Hi, I have copyrighted that OP already. Please Cease and Desist from using all said material from LT_ANDERS or legal action will be taken.

[Teeth]

I deeply and genuinely hate them. It is one of those fairly uncounterable sources of tremendous damage. You can't systematically avoid them because of their high range and one bolt always takes over half my hp with any build or gear, which really shits on your round. This has nothing to do with my opinion on their balance, it's just purely the concept of medieval snipers that is no fun for me as a melee player. I hate them more than archers. Getting shot by an arbalest from a 100 meters distance, losing most your HP, it just feels more shitty than almost anything. Just bad luck, or worse, people having figured out you are a priority target.

Balance wise, the amount of melee efficiency they have to sacrifice for their ranged efficiency is really low. Their range efficiency is clearly very high, and because they always hang back and retreat they often fight in 1 vs 1 or 1 vs 2 situations where the 8 athlethics with a blunt/pierce weapon are godlike builds. I got a bunch of clanmates who are top notch melee players who played crossbow a lot for a while, and the package of easy ranged and easy melee kills made them go 20-2 continously.

[Grumbs]

I think xbows are implemented very poorly. Low player skill requirement, low character skill requirement (well don't need to invest anything really). Low risk, high reward.

[San]

I pick them off the ground sometimes, and with 1wpf, they seem to have pinpoint accuracy and stay straight in the air longer than the other xbows. Overall, I hate xbows the most, and get hit by them much more often than arrows. My hatred isn't really isolated to just the arbalest. I wouldn't say they're that OP in comparison to other strong builds, just the nature of the class is annoying since they're hard to dodge (get bored and end up moving predictably after a while) and deal a lot of damage. I think they're easier to approach than archers if you catch them reloading or oblivious.

I've made it a strategy near the end of rounds to try to find xbows off the ground (preferably arbalests) because the reload speed becomes a nonfactor and helps fend off end-round cav and kiters. As a melee player, you might be more useful just fighting up close in the beginning of the round, but near the end they are almost invaluable if you can find one.

[BlueKnight]

(click to show/hide)

I deeply and genuinely hate them. It is one of those fairly uncounterable sources of tremendous damage. You can't systematically avoid them because of their high range and one bolt always takes over half my hp with any build or gear, which really shits on your round. This has nothing to do with my opinion on their balance, it's just purely the concept of medieval snipers that is no fun for me as a melee player. I hate them more than archers. Getting shot by an arbalest from a 100 meters distance, losing most your HP, it just feels more shitty than almost anything. Just bad luck, or worse, people having figured out you are a priority target.

Balance wise, the amount of melee efficiency they have to sacrifice for their ranged efficiency is really low. Their range efficiency is clearly very high, and because they always hang back and retreat they often fight in 1 vs 1 or 1 vs 2 situations where the 8 athlethics with a blunt/pierce weapon are godlike builds. I got a bunch of clanmates who are top notch melee players who played crossbow a lot for a while, and the package of easy ranged and easy melee kills made them go 20-2 continously.

Post of the month

[Phantasmal]

As an arbalest user for roughly 16 gens, I would not mind seeing some sort of damage reduction to them (as long as they internally balanced the crossbows along with it). Their only drawback as of now is the extremely long reload speed (which can be mitigated efficiently with enough wpf). The arb becomes god-like on city maps when you can avoid any form of cavalry by standing on a building. But I will say this, it is extremely easy to shutdown any crossbow user unlike other ranged.

Rain: I don't mind the damage reduction, my biggest complaint is the significant effect on missile speed which completely throws off anyone's aim. I usually take a pure melee loadout whenever it rains on the server.

Dedicated harassment: Any kind of cavalry unit, especially ranged cavalry, can easily shutdown a crossbow. Nothing is more frustrating in this game then trying to fight a HA or HX with a 70 length short sword on an open plains map. Non-ranged cav can just keep you occupied until infantry arrives. Melee can harass you if they get close too and prevent a reload while archers can just run away, turn, shoot, rinse and repeat.

Edit: In terms of an average raw DPS, a dedicated archer would probably be more efficient as well.

[En_Dotter]

A real arbalest should be able to kill anything. Be happy u survive sometimes. If it was up to me i would make them more realistic.

[BlueKnight]

A real arbalest should be able to kill anything. Be happy u survive sometimes. If it was up to me i would make them more realistic.

Real arbalest would take way more to reload and you wouldn't be able to carry it loaded on your back

[Palurgee]

As I see it, the cRPG version of a "crossbowman" is hardly a crossbowman at all. Almost always they are a melee hybrid. And for good reason! Unlike archers and throwers, they don't have to worry about PD and PT, allowing them to put more points into PS and IF. I know this thread is about the arbalest but I'd like to broaden the discussion to the whole crossbow class.
I think that players who want to be melee/xbow hybrids should feel more limited to the lighter crossbows (hunting, light, regular). As the power of the crossbow goes up, certain features and stats should make it less appealing to hybrids. An obvious solution is making the arbalest three slots, but I think that's a bit far fetched. Why not make it unable to be sheathed? Increase it's weight dramatically? Reduce movement speed to a bare minimum while aiming it? Be knocked down if struck while reloading it? Increase the strength requirement to use it? These are just some ideas. I'm not bothered by arbalests as much as I am other features, but I do think the crossbow/melee hybrid needs to be changed -- not necessarily nerfed, just changed.

[Johammeth]

So much hate for AreTheBests.

[Tibe]

(click to show/hide)

I deeply and genuinely hate them. It is one of those fairly uncounterable sources of tremendous damage. You can't systematically avoid them because of their high range and one bolt always takes over half my hp with any build or gear, which really shits on your round. This has nothing to do with my opinion on their balance, it's just purely the concept of medieval snipers that is no fun for me as a melee player. I hate them more than archers. Getting shot by an arbalest from a 100 meters distance, losing most your HP, it just feels more shitty than almost anything. Just bad luck, or worse, people having figured out you are a priority target.

Balance wise, the amount of melee efficiency they have to sacrifice for their ranged efficiency is really low. Their range efficiency is clearly very high, and because they always hang back and retreat they often fight in 1 vs 1 or 1 vs 2 situations where the 8 athlethics with a blunt/pierce weapon are godlike builds. I got a bunch of clanmates who are top notch melee players who played crossbow a lot for a while, and the package of easy ranged and easy melee kills made them go 20-2 continously.

Nothing personal, but after years of seeing you kick insane ammount of arse, its quite logical that any team that opposes you, should throw everything they haz at you first thing, before they start aiming for other people. You....and also Royanss. God damn that player.....