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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Bow Types
Auali
Member
Hail Fellow Creationists;
I'm loving what I am loving what is coming out of the studio for AOC. I was just hoping that at least coming from a life long Ranger that we would see either as an actual weapon or a Bow Skin of a simple Longbow .. just a "Robin Hood" English Longbow, nothing extravagant but simple and plain.
A skin is more likely the out come but it would be nice to "upgrade" a simple longbow that one could keep right up into the higher end content or even endgame . Something would need to be taken to a craftsman to "improve range/dmg", then to a mage or enchanter to increase/add accuracy ... depends on how that woudl fit into the crafting system.
Just my thoughts
I'm loving what I am loving what is coming out of the studio for AOC. I was just hoping that at least coming from a life long Ranger that we would see either as an actual weapon or a Bow Skin of a simple Longbow .. just a "Robin Hood" English Longbow, nothing extravagant but simple and plain.
A skin is more likely the out come but it would be nice to "upgrade" a simple longbow that one could keep right up into the higher end content or even endgame . Something would need to be taken to a craftsman to "improve range/dmg", then to a mage or enchanter to increase/add accuracy ... depends on how that woudl fit into the crafting system.
Just my thoughts
10
Comments
You mean you don't want one with green-enflamed tiger fangs or one encased with blue ice strung using a mammoth's tusk? No, j/k - yours truly is also hoping for some simpler/more-realistic designs, too.
It *is* high-fantasy, though! I'm sure there will be enough bows with CPU-grinding overly-rich particles coming off of them, for the folks looking for something fancier.
However, there is a transmog system that allows you to take the skin from the base bow and apply it to the high end bows
Most skins we have seen so far are from APOC and those are supposed to be heirlooms from ancient times, where magic was normal.
The designs are less inspired compared to swords and staffs. A lot games don't even give them enchant effects. Sometimes they don't even show the strings.
I don't want like the WOW style large thicc boi bows I see, but I don't want super plain bows end game.
I would like some ornate bows that keep realism in mind.
It is hard to find good examples of historical bows that are ornate. You can find plenty of fancy guns and crossbows. I would imagine that there is just not much that can be done to a bow without impeding its function. Still I am able to give up a little disbelief to a fantasy setting to allow for some nice looking bows.
That is a little thicc, but I could see it actually working.
I don't think us bow guys are in bad hands.
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.
I love Longbows:
I love Horn Bows:
Medieval archers had a right arm like Pop-eye and a compressed left arm with skeletal distortion. The Longbows recovered from the Mary Rose had draw strengths between 100-185 lbs. The stances of medieval archers are always depicted as leaning forward to compensate for the recoil. It is easy to see where that skeletal distortion comes from if you are using a Longbow from the age of 14 and required by law to train for two hours every Sunday, as was the case in Medieval England. Oh, and *FUN FACT* apparently it still is law, just not enforced. I guess they never got round to taking that one off the statutes book.
All the above has as much relevance to this game as Steven wants it to have. I dislike seeing bows covered in all manner of fantasy spikey stuff for the sake of it, because I can't see a reason for it. If the fantasy spikey bits were associated with magical enhancements then the justification would be there and it would be "believable" for me. I'm happy for AoC to be high fantasy; I will look for the mundane items/skins for mundane equipment. I just hope that I won't see a load of people walking round with cartoon Butterfly wings like in ROBLOX or WoW. From what I've seen of the cosmetics so far I (we?) should be spared that trauma.
Would love to see something like the face of a dear sideways carved into the bow with the anthlers at the end holding the string.
We are already getting some ranged weapon options, i would like just a close range less dmg faster and long range more dmg slower so it can open up more builds.
Here is a video showing exactly this for those interested:
Awesome video, cheers for the show.
If crafting would allow different carvings into bows at higher [crafting] levels, that would be awesome. It would be rad to have that sort of personal touch on the end product, even if it was a lower level item, rather than just making something plain. I know that selling lower level items can be profitable, and making high quality versions would add purpose to the crafters in late game.
Maybe different carvings/glyphs could give some sort of bonus (draw strength, draw speed, “reload” speed, etc).
The one thing about inculding different bow variations would be perhaps that other weapons will be expected to get the same treatment, there are many different dagger types in the world just like bows and most other weapons that have been around for a long time.
Thicc bow ugly af, those other examples are much cooler
That said, I think that as long as "epic/legendary" bows don't all fit into this "chonky boi" category - but instead we have SOME bows which are on the bigger side because there will be people that like it, but also the more traditional ornate options - then that should be a people pleaser.
Done. Don't say I never gave you anything.
What do you think of MHW style designs relative to nows btw? Any you liked in particular?
oh... you do care ! thank you cuz..
I personal like bow designs in Goblin Slayer, Dragon's Crown, Monster Hunter, Dragon's Dogma.
There are more cool bow in other games well known, like GW2 and ESO.
Never played Dark Soul series, but I think their weapon design is very good, maybe bows from their game also look good.
Goblin Slayer
Dragon's Crown
Monster Hunter
Dragon's Dogma
I'd hope we'd see some variety with the wood, carvings, bowstring, oils for maintenance/resistances, types of bows (compound vs. recurve), and general styles of types out there today. Now add some fantasy in there and you could see quite a level of detail.
Having to farm wood to make arrows + bows and those trees being placed in areas of low to high level would make going back to earlier areas worthwhile. There should definitely be a fletcher artisan profession out there to make bows, bowstrings, arrows, bolts, etc.
Just be cautious with your expectations. In the past, Jeffrey and Steven have said that you can "sometimes" take the appearance from an item and apply it to a cosmetic slot. So, if there is a particular bow you like, you might be able to use it as a transmog. But given the way that Intrepid has been careful to qualify their statement about it, I think there may be cases where some gear isn't eligible.
But yeah, in all likelihood you should be able to find a basic-looking bow and turn your high-level fancy bow (with wings and flashing lights and fire bleeding out a demon's eyes) into a regular bow without neon lights or smoking skulls.
You wouldn't be able to lift it, and you wouldn't be able to see your target to actually aim at it. You'd do better with a pea-shooter.
I can't remember off the top of my head with MHW. It seems like a lifetime ago that I played it right now. I just remember a lot of things being too big for my taste.
I do want to say this:
This thread is over a year old. At the time of my original responses, I was under the impression that Intrepid wanted some sort of "Realism" or at least verisimilitude in Ashes based on the interviews I had seen with Steven up to that point. I really wanted to support that because outside of Mortal Online you don't see that much "down to earth" fantasy in MMORPGs with realism in mind. You can get over the top fantasy anywhere these days.
That said, Intrepid has only shown that they care about the rule of cool. Which is fine. That art direction is not a dealbreaker for me. I would just prefer to see a fantasy bow that looks believable and ornate.
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.