MP Ranged Classes - My Thoughts So Far

[Juve]

Hello!

I have been playing Skirkmish mode with mostly ranged classes so far, and I have a few thoughts. I have seen some of them already brought up in past posts, but here we go:

1. Head shots are shockingly ineffective: Even with the arbalest, I don't think I have gotten a 1-shot kill with a head shot on anyone with any armour. The most frustrating scenario I've been in was needing 4 head shots in a row on a heavy cav to get the kill. Granted, I was using the Battanian short bow which I'm assuming is the weakest, and the third and fourth shots were from a decent distance, but that still seems ridiculous to me. Maybe it's just me...
2. Camera angle when backed against walls in 3rd person: I know many high level ranged players switch between 1st person and 3rd person when they shoot and fight melee, respectively, but I have always used 3rd person 90% of the time. I don't think I have seen anyone else mention this yet, but the camera angle moves down when you're backing against a wall while using a ranged weapon, which causes your own fat head to completely block your view. I'm not sure how easy of a fix it would be to make your head go invisible, but I think it's necessary, especially when any half-brained heavy cav doofus can waltz around and 1-hit you at any time. Keeping close to cover is essential for ranged players.
3. Arrows feel weird and floaty when shot: This hasn't been a huge problem, but it's strange the way arrows seem to take too long to start falling, especially with smaller bows. I feel I've somewhat adjusted to it at this point, but I'd suggest changing it so that arrows fall a bit faster.
4. I like the way crossbows are reloaded now, a good change from WB in my opinion =)
5. Battanian Fiann: I'd love if the Fiann had an option for a shorter bow. I wouldn't even mind if it's the same short bow the Ranger uses. Most maps in Skirmish are very closed, which almost always makes using longbows cumbersome and inefficient.

Cheers!

 

[flavberg]

I agree with your point on headshots, I've made a thread on it during the beta, but not much came of it. I believe headshots should be one-shot on lower classes (peasants, recruits) since their head armor is pretty much non-existent, however, I think we need a proper arrow drop in third person first.

 

[Tovgiv]

+ Archers are truly the most forgotten part of the beta.

 

[eyrawn]

With a strong arrow, I think a headshot should grant you one shot kill. The fact that it is not currently is absolutely ridiculous considering how hard it is already.

 

[Percival!!]

Agree on crossbow reloading, Vlandian sharpshooter is so fun.

Disagree on headshots, because the neck pretty much acts as a headshot which gives a much larger space to hit. Not only that but cheap units are pretty much 1 hit kills, and heavy cav/other heavy units are at most 3 for headshots with even the weakest bow, which I think is fairly reasonable given their role.

 

[Diavolo]

I agree on the head shots. Now it seems like they are +50% damage, which means not a kill /unconscious, which makes no sense. On unarmored enemies, headshot should be kill. 2x damage is the way to go. Then nerf bow accuracy or increase arrow drop speed to make hits harder to balance it out.

 

[Caps]

I agree on the head shots. Now it seems like they are +50% damage, which means not a kill /unconscious, which makes no sense. On unarmored enemies, headshot should be kill. 2x damage is the way to go. Then nerf bow accuracy or increase arrow drop speed to make hits harder to balance it out.

it is a kill on the trash units, just buffing them more will make 99% of the units unplayable

 

[z00t]

I think the main problem they are encountering is the damage vs the variety of objects seems to be fixed rather than variable (or not varying enough).

I feel like the crossbow reload time is in a good place, but lacks the burst damage associated with that downtime. I also feel regular bows TTK (Time-To-Kill) is not out of place, but formulated incorrectly. Regular bows should be a little slower, but like their X-bow counterparts, require a buff in damage to reflect the slow/er speed.

 

[Juve]

Disagree on headshots, because the neck pretty much acts as a headshot which gives a much larger space to hit. Not only that but cheap units are pretty much 1 hit kills, and heavy cav/other heavy units are at most 3 for headshots with even the weakest bow, which I think is fairly reasonable given their role.

Fair point Percvialちゃん, but I have also had to shoot cheap units more than once in the face with a variety of bows and factions. I don't think it should be a huge buff, I think it should be as balanced as possible --> I don't think head shots should ever do as low as 20-35 damage, unless from a very great distance or shot from the weakest bow against the strongest helmet. My issue is with head shots that feel like they should 100% be a kill and are not. Just often feels a tad too nerfed for my liking.

 

[Lord Earl]

Armour and damage are in a funny place right now, in general. You can hit someone in the bare neck with a good swing from a 1-handed sword, and they are just fine. That is why everyone wants to use two handed weapons, just as in Warband, which swing at amazing speeds despite their size. Shields get made overly durable so as to balance out this weakness, so that they feel weird as well. So, when you mess up one detail, it has a huge ripple effect on everything else.


The fact armor applies to all bodyparts regardless of what you're wearing in multiplayer is also stupid and weird.