So, how many of these 1 wpf exploiters can we say are even honestly on our radar when it's raining? Oh yeah, none. Because rain effects crossbows to a point where if you're even heavily invested in xbows they will totally suck compared to when the skies are clear. It also rains a very good amount of the time. Bows and throwing aren't effected even half as badly as crossbows, which is fine with me, as they take more of an investment than xbows. You get a simpler to use weapon in crossbows, that's for sure; but they are VERY situational, especially if you're going to be some side arm using douche bag.
Tydeus, I like you alot, but I was in that game. Even by hybrid user standards, you were sub-par at best. You had one impressive mid range shot on a character who was standing still to type out in the open and around a 5-3 KD ratio for the majority of the time you were using said xbow(assuming all of those kills/the majority were xbow kills), which is very possible at yours and my character levels. I've done a similar thing with 2handed swords of Karma's 30+ xbower builds. Now if you were regularly doubling deaths with kills with o wpf, then ok, you'd have a point. But it's just not possible these days, especially with the horrid weather.
Stationary targets take player skill out of the accuracy equation in which case it becomes almost entirely about the crossbow. I won't argue the K:D bit as I'm not a crossbowman. I'm satisfied with "sub-par" the first time I pick-up a crossbow in two months and only have 1 wpf. I've never thought crossbow damage was the issue, which would probably be the largest contributing factor to K:D. I honestly had at the very least, a 40% accuracy rating with the crossbow but that can't be seen without an assist counter. I was hitting people but not dealing deadly amounts of damage per shot, not like I was using a Heavy or an Arbalest either though.
I find it hard to take the "situational" argument seriously, especially when we're talking about not even having to put wpf into a crossbow to begin with. If you're only talking about rain or maybe extremely heavy fog, I can only imagine that fucks over dedicated crossbowmen far more than one that hasn't put anything into it to begin with, since they can just fall back to their melee spec.
The issue for me has never been damage per shot, it's been the ease at which one can be useful or even good with a crossbow at 1 wpf (I can only assume, had I put my miaodao down and gotten a heavy or arbalest, I'd have been a much better crossbowman). What's to stop a team of 30 people in a battle server from all having ranged, consisting of Archers, throwers and all of the melee using crossbows with 1 wpf? Strategically speaking, it's a solid strategy, especially for a pub. When you can just run from melee indefinitely and wait for a teammate or two to pick the chasing infantry off, the only thing that can stop archers/crossbowers in this situation, is cavalry. The problem with cavalry being a viable counter to this strategy is that you'll never have enough people on your team as cavalry(most people don't have 3+ riding) and if you run with fewer than that, your horses are going to be sitting ducks due to the number of ranged they have to go up against. But even then, that example assumes the best case scenario for cavalry, flat ground with little to not trees or buildings(There are very few of these types of maps in actual play, if any). Worse still, is that for the crossbowmen, they're actually dedicated melee, not crossbowmen at all. Even if you do manage to get the upper hand against "crossbowmen", you didn't against the other weapon they're carrying and also much more proficient with.
I can already hear the screams of how far fetched this is and that it's just theoretical and will never happen. The problem is that I've already seen the NA 80 man become damn close to this, several times. You can attest to this Karma, you were there with Marcus yesterday for the map where it was just about at its worst yet.
On a side note, I did notice that when there were very few people on, my accuracy was perfect. If I missed a shot, it was because I misjudged something. But as the population on the server rose however, my bolts were veering off into random directions quite often. I can only assume this is due to the same issue that fucks my feints, blocks and animations up, under the same playercount, packet loss. This paired with rain could really fuck over crossbows but I don't think this should be used to balance a class.
