Wasn’t sure whether to post this in the Gripes thread or as its own topic, but I figure this might get a bit long so may as well do it as its own thing.
It seems to me that bows have a serious problem in this game. For first, they’re two-handed weapons, with all the downsides thereof (no shields, catalysts, or dual-wielding), yet they do worse damage than almost all other two-handers, save for those which have some other special effect to justify it (eg. swift sword, caranbrot).
On top of which, Warriors—the one class which, if any, should be good with ALL weapon types—who wish to use a bow are locked out of using practically all of their own class’s powers. Literally, there are only two warrior powers in the entire game that work with ranged weapons (“rend” and “get over here”). And, even worse, the dedicated ranged weapon powers are mostly inferior to their closest melee equivalents, with only a couple of them being any good at all (“sure shot”, “triple threat”).
ON TOP OF WHICH, despite there being two bows seemingly designed for magic users, bows are also incompatible with every single weapon/spell power save one (“thunderbrand”). Literally the only way to really “use” a bow as a spellblade type character is to just use it to apply crackle powder to your foes, and then, assuming the storm vulnerability manages to last until your next turn (probability: LOW), deal your actual damage with normal storm spells/charms.
As if all that wasn’t enough, just to rub salt in the wounds, thrown weapons exist, which are compatible with every power in the game including ranged-only ones. Yes, they usually deal less damage (glacial spike and blight tendril excepted), but on the other hand many of them can be dual-wielded to reduce or even eliminate that deficit.
As for how to fix this… well, I really see only two options:
One, probably the simpler choice, is to just remove the melee-only restrictions from the majority of warrior and spellblade-type powers, to give bows the same versatility in builds as other weapons.
The second, trickier—and IMO less satisfying—way, would be to simply buff bows’ damage to the point it would be worth limiting yourself to their highly restrictive move-set. I say trickier (from a balancing standpoint), because honestly in order to be worth it they’d pretty much have to become the most powerful per-hit weapons in the game. Like, I’m talking buffing most bows from the around 40-45 damage where they are now, up to maybe 60-65.
Personally I’d much rather option one, because it’s not so much their damage potential that turns me away from bows, but rather their so-limited and generally bland move-set.
Or maybe it’s just me, IDK. What do y’all think?
It seems to me that bows have a serious problem in this game. For first, they’re two-handed weapons, with all the downsides thereof (no shields, catalysts, or dual-wielding), yet they do worse damage than almost all other two-handers, save for those which have some other special effect to justify it (eg. swift sword, caranbrot).
On top of which, Warriors—the one class which, if any, should be good with ALL weapon types—who wish to use a bow are locked out of using practically all of their own class’s powers. Literally, there are only two warrior powers in the entire game that work with ranged weapons (“rend” and “get over here”). And, even worse, the dedicated ranged weapon powers are mostly inferior to their closest melee equivalents, with only a couple of them being any good at all (“sure shot”, “triple threat”).
ON TOP OF WHICH, despite there being two bows seemingly designed for magic users, bows are also incompatible with every single weapon/spell power save one (“thunderbrand”). Literally the only way to really “use” a bow as a spellblade type character is to just use it to apply crackle powder to your foes, and then, assuming the storm vulnerability manages to last until your next turn (probability: LOW), deal your actual damage with normal storm spells/charms.
As if all that wasn’t enough, just to rub salt in the wounds, thrown weapons exist, which are compatible with every power in the game including ranged-only ones. Yes, they usually deal less damage (glacial spike and blight tendril excepted), but on the other hand many of them can be dual-wielded to reduce or even eliminate that deficit.
As for how to fix this… well, I really see only two options:
One, probably the simpler choice, is to just remove the melee-only restrictions from the majority of warrior and spellblade-type powers, to give bows the same versatility in builds as other weapons.
The second, trickier—and IMO less satisfying—way, would be to simply buff bows’ damage to the point it would be worth limiting yourself to their highly restrictive move-set. I say trickier (from a balancing standpoint), because honestly in order to be worth it they’d pretty much have to become the most powerful per-hit weapons in the game. Like, I’m talking buffing most bows from the around 40-45 damage where they are now, up to maybe 60-65.
Personally I’d much rather option one, because it’s not so much their damage potential that turns me away from bows, but rather their so-limited and generally bland move-set.
Or maybe it’s just me, IDK. What do y’all think?
