The Bow makes the game too easy / cheesy. And also the gameplay is kinda boring. I picked up the Bow the first time and immediately knew that I want to play this game “as intended” and feel the brutal combat and the satisfaction of mastering it. Which the Bow wouldn´t allow me to since you just cite all day and avoid said combat.
Now imagine the bow to be a skillshot:
You stand still while readying the Bow and aim whilst doing so. Short chargeup = lower dmg / long chargeup = full dmg. Still snappy, still looking at the targeted enemy but whit the slight twist to have to aim for a little. In my mind I could imagine this would ad a little more satisfaction to the Bow gameplay since you “earned it”. Right now it almost feels like cheating. And while this might be fun in an endgame optimized build, having this early on should not be like that. There can be some Bows that still allow you to walk as before but maybe have a shorter range and call it swift bow or whatever.
As always thanks for reading and have a good day Cerim
Edit: So damage drop-off is the next direction (QA Stream)
Or adjust the mob logic to prioritize people who carries bow or ranged weapon in the area. Only can be deaggro-ed if the melee players deal enough damage. This will test the team coordination on controlling mob aggro too.
And probably nerf bow damage after a certain distance.
Then at least make one Bow type a skillshot again. Bow really makes me feel like cheating. I use it to cheese an area if I want to skip it fast or whatever and that might be fine, but I want a Bow that feels rewarding to master.
Every time I see a Bow build on YT I laugh bc if you optimize that even further you´re not playing the game anymore and just become a farming machine xD.
Seriously though I think there can be a nice spot for Bow. If you just nerf the dmg it becomes tedious for solo play to the point where you don´t want to use it and it doesn´t address the cheesing part. Also for teamplay this means that you kind of feel useless so that the best thing you provide is not dealing dmg to your allies when you shot them in the back accidently xD.
If you could have a more supportive role with that it would be something different. Like debuffs or CC that you could put on enemies.
The main issue is something no small tweak can fix: you’re playing a fundamentally different game once you’re using ranged weapons because the fight dynamics change so much in most games. If the enemies instantly charged at you so you still have to use dodge and parry timings to the same degree, it would feel more engaging immediately.
But then it’d also feel the same. I think it should, since I consider reacting more fun than just acting, and I consider those mechanics core to the game, and shouldn’t be played without them.
