I really like the system of crossbows right now, but I feel that there are some horrible issues with ammo recovery. The maximum possible recovery rate for a crossbowsman is 15% at the 4th level of the skill line. 15% would probably be okay, except I've noticed that it doesn't work on enemies who Block or Dodge the shots. For sake of gameplay and realism, could the ammo recovery rate be bumped up to 25% at lvl4 on normal attacks, but double to 50% for blocks and 100% for dodges? If the bolt is dodged by the monster, why should that consume the bolt? It didn't even hit them! Also, as the rarity (star rating) of a bolt increases, the chance of recovery should go down ( .25 - ( .25 * ( rarity / max rarity ) ) ) where the bolt of mass destruction is completely unrecoverable but plastic bolts would be recovered 25% of the time. Some things to consider for the sake of all crossbowsman players out there!
I am aware that it will go up, but I feel that a better system is in order (especially pertaining to dodges/blocks)
Agree with you there. I really like rogue characters and avoiding melee, but my arrows, traps and thrown items run out really fast. It's hard to play as a pure rogue for this reason.
Btw, you only have a chance to recover one bolt, and only on the kill, if you killed the mob with a bolt. In case you were unaware how it works. It doesn't have a chance to recover per shot, it's per kill, making it a giant waste of time to even level up.
Also to add to what Patch said, The recovery rate doesn't even work correctly. The bonus from skills doesn't work. And to top off the craziness.. You can't recover any bolts with special effects on them.
Ammo recovery has been increased and it should work on every shot, not just killing shots, in the next patch. (If this isn't marked as an issue in our bugtracker, I'll make sure it is. Pretty sure it is; killing-shot only is NOT intended behaviour for the skill.) Bolts with special area-effects are not intended to be recoverable - if you fire a bolt of acid and it spills the acid everywhere, well, it's used up right? Likewise exploding bolts, or magically-charged bolts of certain types. (Also it's a balance issue; I don't want Bolts of Mass Destruction to be reusable.)
It's a very... very depressing attack style to play as it is now. I love it (as a style, not necessarily for its usefulness), but not enough to play with the massive disadvantages it currently has. EDIT: And then David jumps in and ninja posts! That's very good to hear ! Next patch sounds like it's going to be awesome.
Well, if you could also implement the "if an enemy dodges a normal bolt (not magical) then it appears behind them"? That would be absolutely amazing Also on a completely different note, if you attack a monster with a wall or something in the way, the bolt gets consumed. You should make the bolt recoverable if it's not a special bolt, since it didn't actually hit an enemy.
Pardon the derail but the arrow of Mass Destruction strikes me as underpowered. Sure it has a huge radius and destroys walls (not really a good thing), but damage wise is very lackluster. You are better off using exploding acid/poison arrows/flasks.
@Terrorball2000 Well, if it did as much damage as a Squid Bolt, then it would be highly overpowered. If you want raw damage, go squid, if you want mass destruction... well... .
Destroying walls is a good thing to me. Also, "And to top off the craziness.. You can't recover any bolts with special effects on them. " Yes you can. Happened to me and my friend both. Without being archers. He got two poisoned bolts back, and I got an acid bolt back, not the bottle, but the other one. So, yeah, you can get special bolts back. Probably not a good thing.
