Archery and the lack of a Special Attack

Large hit from a heavy xbow maybe, but good luck killing anyone with archery alone. You have to get some lucky big dmg and possibly 6 shots in a row to drop anyone with healing. Missing one arrow restarts the whole fight. Archers don't have 1 handers to fall back on with DP or stamina/armor dmg and pot chugging ability.

The problem is any slight addition can make archery way too powerful, if anything it would require additional skills to boost. Like wrestling, tinkering, fletching to give different bonus. Kind of like lumberjacking enhances axes. Wrestling lets you chug pots without disarm, tinkering gives you true shot dmg that ignores armor or fletching improves accuracy.

Also, no runic bows.

Let me preface this by saying archery does suck as a stand alone skill currently. With that said, I think that small changes can overpower archery VERY easily.

First off, we have to keep in mind, that for any char, adding archery is just using 100 skill points, so it is not terrible as a secondary skill on a melee char, or even PvP tank (drop wrestling to add archery, for example). If we give it a special attack (ie. poison), imagine a "tank" opening with a poisoned bolt from a heavy x-bow, following with a small combo of MB and e-bolt or whatever, and then a conc blow from a hally. Ouch!

Now, how does the archery timer match the melee timer? Is it the same, or are they independent? If they're independent, it might be quite powerful as it is. If not, then disregard.

Finally, I don't think that bows all being 2 handed make a HUGE difference, given that you will be running around anyway trying not to get hit with melee weps. Ammo? Same deal as regs, so not really a con either. I'd tinker the speed and plant-to-shoot, that alone should make it quite a viable skill.

What he said!

Im new here so take what I say with that in mind.
I have used archery more than any other weapon skill in UO. Magery included.
Obviously magery has many other uses but for PvM, bow and arrow has been my #1 choice.
In all other places that I have played, simply choosing the proper bow for your target, makes all the difference in the world.
A fight that could take 5 minutes suddenly takes 20 seconds with the right tool for the job. (IE. Slayers weapons, Damage increasing jewelry etc.) I realize that a lot of things are not available here on UO:R but for making archery more viable, the jewelry seems to help a lot. It can be set to increase melee damage or ranged damage or magical damage. Perhaps make some jewelry help ranged damage only and give it a percentage damage increase. Make it useless when your target is another player maybe... Just so it doesnt ruin the PvP scene here. Or give it a percentage increase in your hit chance. Again, only active when your target is not a fellow human.
So a little jewelry helps but may not be in the spirit of what is being created here in UO:R.
Slayer bows are a huge plus but seem to be hard to find in the right flavor you are seeking. Remember, I am new here and do not have a solid financial base to work from. If you are more established, I am certain it is easier to find what you need.

Making a change at a core level may be a bit extreme when an item or two might make it a much more desirable skill in your template.
I even messed around with a quiver that is worn in your cloak slot. I found that to be luke warm at best. You could carry a buttload of arrows but the down side was that you were carrying around a buttload of arrows... I think it may have also added like a 10% damage bonus or something.

I am not big on the PvP side of things so my opinion is useless in that area. However, the more time I spend here, the more the PvP side keeps calling to me. I may return to the dark side sooner rather than later. I am still resisting... Weakly, as it may be.

Have a most pleasant evening.

As proposed by jack of shadows in a separate post what do you think of a combination stealth shot bonus? archers would get a bonus for a shot fired from stealth.

Pros?
Requires three skills minimum for bonus (IMO this should only work for GM stealth, archery, and hiding)
Only one shot per use of stealth means archers only have chance every 20 seconds (at best) to get shot off

Cons?
Increased impact of stealth archer traps for both blues and pks
If Invis clothing is introduced it would make this deadly

Limits? Should bonus be reduced based on steps taken? I.e. 5 stealth steps taken would reduce damage

Perhaps proximity limitations to other stealth archers? Not sure if that's even possible but it would prevent archer turret traps.....somewhat.

Archery is super-a-ok how it is. It has a nice balance of pro's and con's and I don't think it needs any special buffs or nerfs.

As for blaise' comment, if you nerf damage in a group of people, I would expect spell damage to get the same treatment so people will stop insta-killing with combos + voice-chat.

We are trying to figure out a way to perfect archery and address the discrimination in relation to other weapon skills that get a special attack.

Emancipate Archery!

Balance and perfection. Go toe to toe with any other PvP template on an archer of ANY build and get back to us on how balanced or close to perfect that is.
Archery is a Primary combat skill and as such should be just as viable as any other weapon skill that requires 300 points allocated for proper effectiveness.

I've seen a handful of what I consider to be 'good' and highly capable PvP players here build archer mages and field them. I have yet to see one successful outside of group combat.


Please get Archery out of the shadows and into the front stage with ALL OTHER WEAPON SKILLS.

Stealth bonus seems like it would only serve one purpose - a bunch of people camping somewhere with a shot primed. While hilarious and possibly giving Archery a niche, I think the goal of the thread is to make Archery better for the average user. Stealth bonus does not make archery better for the average user.

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Agreed. I also think the custom to-hit chance for archery on this shard is unfavorable, versus the production implementation, for PvM. I'm just scared of solutions that increase the damage of the already highest-damage weapon.

Just because it has the potential to land the highest damage in a single hit doesn't mean the skill as a whole is close to being over powered. That shot comes from a heavy crossbow which has a slow ass reload time and the high chance of hit comes only if you are close to the target and neither you nor the target are moving. Under normal pvp conditions hit success is much less frequent and you pretty much cant use magery because reequipping the archery weapon resets the timer and it takes forever to shoot the first one.

Much like for PvP, archery is awesome!....... for pvm, as a support char.

When I'm not lazy i take my bard and an archer to farm together. I provoke targets and use the archer to balance the health until they both die.

Lone archers have a very hard time out by themselves.

Archers have been owning in events and even with the advanced mob AI here, I still can do rather well on Blaise, my fencer/archer.

The chance to hit variable hasn't seemingly had any negative impact on the effectiveness of the skill for pvm.

After recently dropping medi on my archer/mage for fencing, I realize the big hit to archery comes from speed, it is just too damn slow. To be of any use you have to have a high amount of dex, but until anything changes my bow is shelved and onto other things...like this damn dex/tamer idea.....

Wasn't every winner of the Halloween event a melee dexer?

Specifically because they found silver weapons suited to their template. Had any archer copped a silver bow and worked the event as well, they likely would have won it. Archers have been very successful in events here for over a year now.

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Yeah, DPS was way better on melee. The only reason archers owned the BIG bosses is because of range = less down time as a ghost. Heck, Bart had the most deaths and the most big mob kills with LJ.

Yeah, +1.

Even in the best possible scenario, against Baram in the throne room with the ledges... if the archers were 6 or more tiles away, they're hitting less often than they would with the classic to-hit archery rules.