I Have A Rough Idea On How To Make Bows Viable.

[Eyeless]

Oh man, as soon as you mentioned JLU I was expecting Green Arrow's trick arrows. As a fan of that and the current Arrow series, I love the idea overall and the hotkeying to switch arrows is nice and simple way of going about it. I'd probably get at least Cernos in a heartbeat if this ever got put in just to zipline all over maps.

 

Having automatic crossbows (see Terraria's Repeaters) sounds a fun idea, too.

 

As for your questions:

I think you answered yourself with the quiver idea, if I understand this correctly. I have a question, though : why would certain bows be limited to certain arrows, realistically? Gameplaywise it'd definitely give each bow a different purpose, but in practice it seems kind of odd that a bow can't just shoot any arrow it wants.

 

I'd say they'd be simple Gear blueprints you can buy from the shop that allow you to craft each bow's respective trick arrows. (Reusable, and maybe there could also be a 10x version). Going into mission, you'd equip arrows by putting them in your Gear slots, and you could either switch arrows by selecting them in Gear, or hitting the aforementioned 'switch arrow' hotkey, with the current arrow equipped being displayed under the bow name. If you want more arrows, you'd have to craft them, IMHO, since they're essentially extra ammo for a bow that get innate special effects.

Well, the reason I was thinking of the three bows having a unique set of trick arrows each was to give players a reason to use all three of them and find a preference beyond 'This is more effective at X faction over X faction' which I was also hoping to do away with entirely thanks to the new functionality the bows would take on with my idea.

 

I still say forget the whole sticking enemys to walls thing and make arrows infinite punch through and remove more of the arc. Real bows dont even drop that much let alone orokin/tenno built super weapons. Also think most of the suggest mod ideas are silly but if it where implemented it should be based on how long you charge it so its actually useable... How many free hot keys do you people think i have lol?

Also more multishot mods plz for more mini ogris fun!

Edit: want to make a sorta alternate suggestion. Always thought it was kinda silly having arrows that proc each element especially since the proc chance and the rate of fire for bows doesn't make these great at element stuff anyway. I wod really like it if the arrow types changed based on element so radiation would get its own unique arrow skin of a atomic rod and have the punch through that i mentioned while other elements have their own unique properties as well..... What i mean to say is that elements would affect the mechanics of arrows rather than add something onto them like damage or knockdown. Figuring out ways to make these unique would be hard but a few I like our ....

magnetism sticking people to walls .

radiation having infinite punch through

ice freezing whatever part of the body was hit and causing that part to not be useful

fire causing a slow spreading AoE

explosion .... well that doesn't really require changing at all

anyway the disorder just bad suggestion so I'll leave it up to somebody who knows what they're doing :)

I really like that idea, elements having more than just a proc effect when it comes to Arrows. However, the one issue I have with it isn't with the idea, but the limits that come with it. Namely we can only have a pretty limited elemental combo on our gear. 

 

The way the three factions react to our current possible elements and then the combo elements is needlessly complex right now, more or less because DE decided to throw another stick in the mud and add sub-resistances to the three factions as well.

 

The problem here, is the way our elements are set up, the game wouldn't do your idea justice because most players would skip over several arrow types in favor of the one that's most generally effective against most of the one faction. 

 

Bows are already specialized and limited by this game and it's mechanics enough as it is, not only by slots but by how far they get outpaced by other weapons that require less than half the effort to use. 

 

My main goal here is to get an idea off the ground that leaves Bows as something infinitely as viable, if not more so, in many situations so they don't fall behind, and people are more inclined to use them. 

Edited January 1, 2014 by Hastur609

[Zlatko_Medvedec]

This is a really great idea! Plus it would make bows a more unique type of weapon and not just a wannabe sniper rifle :P
I really hope DE gets wind of this and actualy considers it!
Best of luck!

[ServareVitas]

I think it's a little over complicated making all these changes just for bows, it certainly wouldn't be on a list of priorities. I like the idea personally but it's a hell of a lot of work. Much like long swords, bows will probably always be novelty items with no redeeming features sufficient enough to warrant their use over fully modded accurate rifles. 

[Eyeless]

I think it's a little over complicated making all these changes just for bows, it certainly wouldn't be on a list of priorities. I like the idea personally but it's a hell of a lot of work. Much like long swords, bows will probably always be novelty items with no redeeming features sufficient enough to warrant their use over fully modded accurate rifles. 

I don't see how this is anymore complicated than implementing our Antitoxins, or Vault Keys. Those are more complex to implement than the player base gives DE credit for. 

 

I understand innovation and dramatic ideas alot of people on the forum come up with are just that. Things that change up the game in a big way that would also force DE to put alot of work into. 

 

Yet isn't that what improving a game is all about? The more stuff that gets added in the more complicated a game will become, and improving it in any way shape or form is going to require not just some, but a lot of serious effort. We can't keep excusing the things wrong with this game just because 'Oh, it'd take a lot of effort for them to fix or improve this. I guess it's okay after all.' 

[ZephyrPhantom]

Bumping this topic. I feel this idea is worth a look.

[Eyeless]

Bumping this topic. I feel this idea is worth a look.

Woo! Thanks! No one else was posting so I figured it was time to let it sink. Glad to know others are still interested!

[Tulzscha]

Moved to the proper section.

[Leuca]

At a base level they need better uncharged damage with an even better charged multiplier. They need better crit rate/crit damage multiplier. You can talk about adding cool functionality/mods after that, because without said changes they will continue to scale terribly into late game.

[Thaumatos]

I have a simple solution to making bows able to be used 'end game'.

 

Multi-Arrow - Adds a number of arrows fired in a short spread from the target reticule.  Only available on charge attacks; Bow is turned sideways.

Rank 0: 1 arrow on either side of center; Cost 8

Rank 1: 2 arrows on either side of center: Cost 9

Rank 2: 3 arrows on either side of center: Cost 10

Rank 3: 4 arrows on either side of center: Cost 11

 

Each one counts as a normal arrow for the purposes of all other mods.

 

Expensive, as it should be.

[Eyeless]

Glad to see this getting more attention. Keep it coming guys!

[ZephyrPhantom]

I have a simple solution to making bows able to be used 'end game'.

 

Multi-Arrow - Adds a number of arrows fired in a short spread from the target reticule.  Only available on charge attacks; Bow is turned sideways.

Rank 0: 1 arrow on either side of center; Cost 8

Rank 1: 2 arrows on either side of center: Cost 9

Rank 2: 3 arrows on either side of center: Cost 10

Rank 3: 4 arrows on either side of center: Cost 11

 

Each one counts as a normal arrow for the purposes of all other mods.

 

Expensive, as it should be.

So basicallly, an additional multishot for bows that gives them a shotgun-like spread?

 

I like the sound of it - it helps bows further with crowds (imagine this + thunderbolt - you get 4 arrows all with a change to explode) and at close range could possibly made them much more viable for killing heavies and bosses. Combine this with the already listed quiver idea and I can see some fun shenanigans being done in both solo and co-op play.

Edited January 7, 2014 by ZephyrPhantom

[Eyeless]

I have a simple solution to making bows able to be used 'end game'.

 

Multi-Arrow - Adds a number of arrows fired in a short spread from the target reticule.  Only available on charge attacks; Bow is turned sideways.

Rank 0: 1 arrow on either side of center; Cost 8

Rank 1: 2 arrows on either side of center: Cost 9

Rank 2: 3 arrows on either side of center: Cost 10

Rank 3: 4 arrows on either side of center: Cost 11

 

Each one counts as a normal arrow for the purposes of all other mods.

 

Expensive, as it should be.

Spread out arrows is all well in good, but this doesn't fix how far off the damage of even a well modded arrow at later levels.

 

All the damage a Bow can do is heavily dependent on hitting weak spots and headshots at the levels I'd like to take a bow to, yet not only will most other weapons out-pace them in damage, but also the speed in which they could achieve such damage. 

 

The two main Sniper Rifles have faster projectiles with no drop, more damage per shot (which gets better when the Lanka and Vectis get modded properly) and the Lanka takes dramatically less time to charge. The Vectis is hit-scan. 

 

One has innate puncture, which is quite handy for crowds, and the Vectis benefits a great deal from adding Fast Hands and Shred, more so than a Bow if you're consistently accurate. It's like playing Bejeweled but with meat bags!

 

TL;DR Adding additional spread with multishot on a bow is a nice thought, but spreading those arrows out won't make it any more ideal for high level crowds. It might actually hurt that potential, especially since so much of your damage is reliant on headshots by that stage in the game. There'd be no way to toggle this either, it would make bows entirely too specialized. (Perhaps more so than they already are) 

[Nijuroku]

Endgame weapons or not, I still don't see the need to buff or nerf bows. I see them more as aesthetic weapons. Sure enough we might look like Rambo with the Cernos(or maybe not) but It's just for fun. It's for the experience and challenge brought by bows. Sure, I tri-forma'd my Dread but so what? I still can't take it up too far in high level def missions but I have other weapons to turn to. So what I'm trying to say is, it's a matter of opinion whether or not to keep bows. If you love them, potato and penta-forma them. If you think that they suck sugarcane, then just rank them up for mastery.

 

P.S. I potatoed all of the craftable bows in the market. 

Edited January 7, 2014 by Nijuroku

[NuLycan]

I seriously think this is an excellent idea. It gives the bows more utility and possibly more unpredictability

 

And since this is a game, I think additions like this are perfect. It makes using bows more fun!

[Eyeless]

Endgame weapons or not, I still don't see the need to buff or nerf bows. I see them more as aesthetic weapons. Sure enough we might look like Rambo with the Cernos(or maybe not) but It's just for fun. It's for the experience and challenge brought by bows. Sure, I tri-forma'd my Dread but so what? I still can't take it up too far in high level def missions but I have other weapons to turn to. So what I'm trying to say is, it's a matter of opinion whether or not to keep bows. If you love them, potato and penta-forma them. If you think that they suck sugarcane, then just rank them up for mastery.

 

P.S. I potatoed all of the craftable bows in the market. 

By that logic anything lackluster is just fine being where it is, if you don't like it's lacklusterness, use something else. If you do, stay within those limits and try to make them a little better with a Catalyst and Forma.

 

Ugh. 

 

Not to mention nerfing bows was never a point made in this thread, because they need anything but. I can understand you're trying to make a generalist post, but the point you're making is entirely unconstructive, as this thread is about improving the bows. Not keeping them the same.

Edited January 8, 2014 by Hastur609