How to Fix Dex/Weakspot Archery (Because it sucks so bad)

[Sally]

So you have a CHANCE at weakspot on headshot. Yet headshots are near impossible to land on aware targets outside of close range.

The only time headshots are really consistent are these three scenarios :

-Stationary unaware/distracted target.

-Moving unaware/distracted target.

-The target is within a close enough proximity that the head makes a bigger target, and decreases travel time of the projectile making it unavoidable. However, this comes at the caveat of being within close-mid range, which is extremely dangerous for the archer.

In the three above instances, you can land headshots pretty consistently with skill.

If the opponent is aware and outside of close range? You're not landing a headshots without extreme luck. They can literally move out of the way of the projectile before it hits them, and the target is only a few pixels big.

Fundamentally, the issue with weakspot archery boils down to one big flaw : Headshots are too hard to land most of the time.

Now. Let us compare this to strength archery...

Strength archery trades out mobility and weakspot for :

=More range
=More raw damage
=More defense

You don't need to run if you can wear heavy armor. You don't need to chase if you have more range. You don't need to weakspot if you do more damage.

So, not only does strength outperform dex at archery, it also lets you perform best at melee too....Strength is easily the most broken stat on the game due to simply being too useful and having too much utility for a single stat.

Now, people will argue and say that "speed is king".

Speed is king against melee attackers, why? Because you can outrun them. But you can't outrun a horse, nor can you outrun a close range arrow. Nor can you outrun them once they land a hit, as your movement gets debuffed.

Speed is king of running away, BEFORE the opponent gets to you. Which is good if you're outnumbered or chasing someone down.

What it is not good at is killing people, nor is it good at taking less damage on hit.

How to balance dex weakspot archery?

Weakspot needs to apply anywhere on the body. This is the only real logical way to balance it. However, adjustments can be made after that.

Now, people are going to cry and say this is broken. You're possibly right IF weakspot itself isn't balanced with these changes..

I suggest it can be balanced by altering weakspot chance. This is how dexterity is commonly balanced in other MMOs, and i don't see why it couldn't apply here too. Dex is commonly the chance based stat, and why change a formula that worked for so many other games?

Let weakspot apply anywhere on the body, and reduce the chance of weakspot. Simple.

OR

Alternatively, you could just change the percentage of armor that is ignored.

There are MANY ways to balance dex/weakspot archery without having it locked to headshots.

As it is now, you have strength as the everything stat.. Plated knights being dextrous enough to shoot a bow.. Muscle limits range of movement.... A muscle man is not aiming a bow with great accuracy, nor is he handling something that requires a lot of dexterity with as much finesse.. See video below for example.

 

[Emdash]

dex weakspot is for pve and horse heads.

I said in order to fix archery they need to make it so that your stam doesn't drain so much while running and shooting AND make it so that the difference in damage vs armor between a long bow and a short bow is much less, raise one, lower the other. Allow for a longer, straighter shot with a long bow, but just hitting people with bows, even short bows, should do enough dmg to pressure them. 20-25 vs armor would be fine. People might say that's too much, but think about spells, and think about hitting people who move IN GENERAL. Would like to see hits vs people in mage armor a bit better, too, like 40s. Not too much, but enough to make them move back.

In the same way that MA is wack for PvE, long bow is poorly calibrated for a lot of PvE in that you can just bow things down from afar. Compare that to horse shots or shots on ground targets, it's just dumb esp when you get really high strength. It needs to be balanced out. With a short bow, you gotta deal with arrow drop and such more... but the dmg shouldn't be that different. That's a good start to fixing archery, and I don't think it has anything to do with weak spots.

 

[Jackdstripper]

Nobody likes rng when it comes to pvp. A “Chance to crit” is rng, and thats why SV has made it to only happen on head shots. Its incredibly hard to land a head shot in pvp, and if you miss you do no damage. This makes it incredibly risky to attempt such head shot in pvp.

The problem with arrows is that they do little damage against steel or better armour. The better the armour is the more useless a bow becomes. RNG is not the answer.

Archers need special abilities such as the ability to parry with the bow, or a super quick weapon swap, or power up shots that do extra damage, or even a knockdown shot ability.

 

[Sally]

dex weakspot is for pve and horse heads.

I said in order to fix archery they need to make it so that your stam doesn't drain so much while running and shooting AND make it so that the difference in damage vs armor between a long bow and a short bow is much less, raise one, lower the other. Allow for a longer, straighter shot with a long bow, but just hitting people with bows, even short bows, should do enough dmg to pressure them. 20-25 vs armor would be fine. People might say that's too much, but think about spells, and think about hitting people who move IN GENERAL. Would like to see hits vs people in mage armor a bit better, too, like 40s. Not too much, but enough to make them move back.

In the same way that MA is wack for PvE, long bow is poorly calibrated for a lot of PvE in that you can just bow things down from afar. Compare that to horse shots or shots on ground targets, it's just dumb esp when you get really high strength. It needs to be balanced out. With a short bow, you gotta deal with arrow drop and such more... but the dmg shouldn't be that different. That's a good start to fixing archery, and I don't think it has anything to do with weak spots.

Right, there are many solutions to this issue with archery. As long as strength focused archery doesn't massively outshine dex, i'd be fine with a change like this.

I don't necessarily mind the movement speed of the arrows, nor their distance, however, i also realize changing that could be a minor solution of sorts.. It would certainly reduce headshot difficulty by just increasing the speed of the arrow, or making it arc less. That comes at the cost of it feeling less rewarding when an arrow does land however.

I actually enjoy how difficult it is to actually land an arrow, but it just isn't doing enough for the difficulty it takes to land the shot in the first place.

It is easier to aim as a mage, and yet, they do so much more damage. The difference being their movement is more limited.. But honestly, is it really that different? Nobody who uses a bow moves and shoots a ranged target, it sways far too much. Most mage spells let you keep the spell charged, so you can just stand behind a rock and then step out to fire instantly. Not only that, their utility is superior. Overall, they're not that disadvantaged by the limited movement compared to an archer, yet they can melt someone in armor instantly.

You also make an excellent point about not being able to shoot and run, it is no different from a mage also. If i turn to shoot a chasing opponent, they will catch and kill me. I have to run the moment they enter a somewhat close range, so how is that different from the mage who stands and charges his spell? He too would turn and run in that same position.