Archer Skills

What does this mean exactly?

• Archery: Archers can now experiment with the Free Attack Mode and the requirement for Special Arrows has been removed from Ranged Skills.

I see there are still different arrow types and skills that require them.... Sorry if I don't understand this one .... I have my dope hat on today.....

 

I haven't tried them yet but maybe the descriptions are just wrong.

[edit] Or, maybe it will use those arrow types if you have them, normal arrows otherwise.

 

Descriptions are wrong. I tried it and it works with regular arrows despite the skill saying it doesnt have the right reagents.

 

i would think that much like magic, if you had the specialty arrows, you'd be more effective with those particular skills, but it isn't manditory to use those arrows for the skills....?

 

Thank you all .....

 

was my thoughts as well or hope rather

 

Okay I checked again. It seems that having the right arrow lowers the focus cost of the skill by 50% (both in description and actual used amount).

Contrary to some speculations "Ammo Scavenger" skill DOES work. It's no longer affecting amount of arrows you get when you loot but instead has a chance of not-consuming an arrow upon skill use (I used 5 disabling shots before it ate my single bola arrow I bought to test the focus usage).

Devs...Please remove the need of special arrows completely or add the crafting recipes to make them :/ they're much too expensive

 

one step further:

Devs,
please remove the need for regular arrows/ammo entirely. - that was a great thing many years ago with older games. not anymore, it is only a money sink and annoyance now, reducing the 'fun factor'.
please add recipes to make special arrows
please also keep the +50% focus cost if they (special arrows) are not used for the skills.

 

Well, I think it's matter of taste. It's supposed to be old school with reagents for magic etc so I have nothing against having arrows in your backpack. Just let us craft every one of them or stick to one type for every skill with no penalties.

 

Not an archer yet, but IMO "infinite ammo = bad game design".

MdG

 

I agree they cost way too much .... I wanted to try out the archer but can't afford the arrows let alone the skills .....

 

I like the or stick to one type for every skill with no penalties. part.

 

One of the suggestions I had made (although it looks like it was in Dev+ at the time) was that regular arrows be removed, and instead you carry a "quiver of arrows" item in your offhand while using a bow. This would effectively give you unlimited arrows, but would take damage like other equipment while it is used, so eventually it will need to be replaced. This would fix the need to carry 1000x arrows every time you go out hunting, but still not be totally unbelieveable like unlimited ammo would be. Special arrows would still be used to reduce focus costs on special skills, and ammo scavenger could be modified to reduce damage to quivers and preserve the special arrows. Plus, regular arrows would need to be used in the creation of quivers, so no need to remove anything from the game.

 

Good to know about the arrow types. Haven't tried it yet.

I prefer no arrow requirement when playing an archer. For me, the fun of the game is not in finding and carrying arrows, nor in paying attention to my inventory of them, but in simply using the bow. However, this game's design seems intended to create a real 'penalty' for using advanced range skills as a balance vs. melee. Even medium skill range spells require reagents. In that regard, I'm ok with regular arrows. But a different arrow type for every different skill type did seem a bit much to ponder.

 

agreed, it is a matter of taste. however, there is logic behind it as well, for the fun factor. having to lug around arrows just to shoot a bow is what bothers me. - it makes SENSE for the specialty skills later on once you've made some gold to be able to purchase or craft them. but not right off the bat when you first create your character.

this time around, i chose to use zero weapons instead of bows. - with the way it is now, you can not mass purchase or mass produce any arrows early on in the game. you have to either purchase the ammo, in VERY small amounts (because it is all you can afford) that dry up too quickly, OR purchase your skills. you can not do both, and that is where the fun factor dissappears. - if you take away the cost of generic archery ammo for the regular (non specialty) skills, then you can start to actually afford your skills, and start varying your playstyle. that maintains the very important thing called 'fun factor'

in attempting to get to radio city for the firelotus party, or to my player owned town, i had to go through at least one gate. the first gate i travelled through, i died seventeen times before i was even able to sneak passed the mobs. playing as an archer, you don't use other weapons, and at the early levels it is IMPOSSIBLE to survive that way. - as it currently stands, after a full day of dyin-and-tryin, i've killed 7-10 mobs and am at level 11. i've used over 90 arrows and have 3 gold to my name. i've obtained ONE skill in archery, and have 59 skill points i can still spend - IF i had money. which i don't, because it all went to the arrows i had to purchase to use the bow in the first place. i obtained two bows - one for being a founder, and the other from the elven stretch goal in the addon store.. couldn't even FIND a bow in game naturally until I killed by luck alone, an archer in one of the gates..

there is a HUGE bottleneck there, and there is NO fun factor at this point, the start of the game, for archers. there is also zero reason to force someone who wants to be an archer, to not use archery from the very beginning.

as a compromise, i'm, as an archer, willing to not require any ammo for the baseline autoattack, and the first tier skills (just like magic users) - but if you HAVE the generic arrows, the skills/autoattack does more damage for you. the fact that it REQUIRES ammo to even use is what is killing the fun factor at low levels in the game.

 

Yeah, hm, kind of... it's not a bad idea. A bit like ammo in FPS, but with carry capacity impacts. Didn't UO have something convenient for reagents as well further down the road in its evolution? Googling didn't get me very far, but I thought I remembered something.

MdG

 

hm.. having a quiver instead of the actual arrows in your offhand would work fairly well. plus you could walk around with a quiver at your waist. that would be very useful in RP too.

so having that quiver on you, would give you an unlimited amount of regular ammo, while you have to still carry the specialty ammo.. hm, make the quiver a container too, so you can place the specialty ammo in there. if it isn't in there, you can't use it.

i think that would be a great idea. keeps the need for 'ammo' but doesn't require you to spend a bazillion gold for arrows.. - maybe higher level quivers could also incorporate bolo arrows into the 'unlimited' - but still weigh more than regular qauivers, as an example.. that is a good idea BCJ, and i think a pretty decent compromise.

 

Well arrows as ammo was in the old UO. But times have changed and would agree that baseline arrows should be honestly free. While the special skill arrows if are available should lower cost/ increases damage of those special shots.

If those are not possible at least give the players a way to smelt down crappy enemy drops into ammo. Nothing breaks immersion when the strong warrior has to be an ammo distributor for the archers (they are heavy).

Edit: the quiver idea from the above poster sounds good. And give it a percentage so that it has to be repaired.

 

Honestly there should be one arrow type. I'm fine with a requirement to use them, but going out hunting shouldn't require you bring 1000 arrows to be able to do anything effective without repeatedly going back.

Even with the 30% chance to not use arrows, once you get the skill, wasn't enough to offset the ridiculous amount of arrows used.

There should be a chance with each arrow used that it doesn't break and is in the loot of the target. Recovering arrows after a battle makes sense. For every single one to break, does not.

I didn't even bother trying the other skills because I couldn't afford to go buy a bunch of the other arrows.