Improved Ranger

116 votes

It would be nice if the Ranger, Archer or how you want to call it gets improvements to make it a better choice next to the mage and fighter. In general the bows do not deal that much damage that it could compete with the swords or wands, even if you are full level in the ranged weapon attack.

There are a few different arrows but they're just slightly different in their damage stats and the exploding arrows are really expensive to make.
The Mage has infinite spells and can deal different types of damage, like fire, ice, poison so they can get past the enemy resistance, while the Ranger has a finite number or arrows and they are not that different from one another.

Improvement - Ideas:
Arrows which deal different types of damage
Cheaper Arrows
More special arrows
More damage output in general, whether with better bows or arrows which deal more damage

Open suggestion Feature improvement Feature or content Suggested by: Morpheus (28 Jan) • Upvoted: 14 May • Comments: 20

Comments: 20

28 Jan
Orionox
I think the archer an should get a damage boost and then have a ton of the class features focus on movement options.
4
28 Jan
Tyler
The time/materials needed to craft arrows is egregious. I have to farm an entire forest of shrubs to get twigs, which takes ALOT of time and space; only to blow through the arrows quickly. The plant fiber to twig ratio is 2/4 fiber to 1 twig, so I see some opportunity there.

In addition, when specc'd into the multishot skill, the additional arrows from the skill use up the arrows in your inventory, so it makes it more difficult to manage your quantity. By shooting a button, you could lose multiple arrows unnecessarily. The width of multishot also is annoying when sniping from afar, where your main shot can hit the target but more arrows spread to the ground around the target. I feel that multishot should be in the same trajectory as the initial intended arrow being shot.
7
28 Jan
Pinkiesbrain
Ye I do not even think an archer is even playable at the moment. (But tbh I did not "really" try)
From what I experienced:

Dmg is too low OR more movement/crowd control skills are needed.
As it is now you shoot, run away from pretty quick enemies and then die.
Arrows seem a bit too hard to get - also they take inventory space which is not the end of the world but I usually go without any range weapons to have extra space. My wand deals with the "utility situations"
3
29 Jan
Dak
Like how the wands have an additional projectile when you spec in that which tracks with the original to inflict more damage, I just submitted feedback on the arrow situation, and I couldn't agree more. It would be nice to be able to make twigs out of wood. I mean I can make a toilet out of wood why not arrows.
3
29 Jan
DragonsDusk
I also feel the bows are very under powered and if pull a full mob, I have to result to sword and shield anyway as I can't kill them fast enough before they get close.

I also agree the needed mats are too high/arrow.
4
30 Jan
Owen
I played archer all game and even with back hit headshot crits, it’s taking me 2-3 arrows to kill 1 basic mob while my friend running mage healer aoe instas a boss and 10 mobs with 1 spell. By the time you can afford to craft bomb arrows you’ve finished all the content in the game and they do less than iron poison arrows to single targets despite being incredibly expensive. There are very few meaningful skills to pick up as an archer. The tree is overloaded with stamina nodes when your gear and food buffs give you so much regen already that the max stamina is useless. More dexterity nodes or more diverse bow playstyles would be fantastic to see. The bow also glitches if you are using it while having a build hammer or mining tool selected and fails to fire arrows. Finally I don’t know if it was just poor luck but I didn’t find any rings that were very suited to a deck build other than stamina regen all game while wizards get fire damage rings and melees get life leach and such.
5
31 Jan
Seraphim Merged
You can make poison arrows out of some of the arrows, but not all. Please add the poison-tipped upgrade to all type of arrows.

Glaringly missing are: Scrap, Fossilized Bone and Bronze arrows.
31 Jan
Seal Merged
The Ranger class is super fun to play, however the crafting for arrows is a bit much. No other class in the game has to re-craft their primary "weapon/ammo". My suggestion with the class would be cost on all the resources to craft arrows or the abiltiy to pick up arrows which has been suggested as well. The resources to make the arrows are used in a lot of different areas, making the class unplayable.
4
31 Jan
Dylan Hoke Merged
The poison arrows damage is unacceptable when im hitting for 700 800 a shot and my poisons tick for 8...also the fact that the poison arrows dont work on scavengers is hard to grasp the poison guys with the cleavers and the matrons sure but they should work on everything else.
01 Feb
Cthulewd Merged
I like the idea of the archer, but it's really just a worse version of wizard which has unlimited ammo spells that do more damage, has a wider array of effects, and has the only source of utility with heal spells, slows and easy stuns. In general I think archer, 1h, and 2h builds need improvements to match wizards versitility while also tuning down wizard because acid bite just turns all the content into a complete joke.

Anyways, archer specifically needs an unlimited source of damage. I don't think unlimited arrows are the route, but I think it needs a boomerang weapon, like what those elite ghost enemies throw out. It would benefit from the ranged damage boosts from talents and equipment while also keeping with the class identity as being a ranged-focused class design. Give it a perk that "steals" a piece of loot that would drop from the enemy it hits on crits and some bonus flight speeds and it'll be able to keep up with other classes without needing to stop and farm for arrows.
1
05 Feb
Jezay
Considering the time an effort you need to go through to craft arrows and put out such little DPS, it's not enjoyable for the class. Then you've got to actually aim to land your shots for the best DPS outcome. Higher skill cap, less reward.

You've got a wand that has infinite ammo, deals mass amounts of DPS, cost less skill points to max it's potential with such a low skill cap.

Suggestion / compromise: All bows can shoot basic arrows (establish a basic arrow) so this puts it into the same category as the wand. Now your bow has infinite ammo like the wand and relies on durability that then goes down the same as the wand.

Leave the arrow crafting the way it is, adjust DPS output the arrows you craft do. This way for the archer to do better DPS, specific arrows needed to be crafted to be more affective against said enemies. This is very similar to how New World made it for bow users.
1
07 Feb
Oliver
@OP and Owen, there is a ring of the ancients that gives +1 to all 6 stats, this ring is useful for all class builds, I am not sure how much extra the 2 more points of Dex would do, but it all adds up. Also, there is a bow that gives an additional 60% backstab when fully upgraded. I have played with a build, but not with the highest tier items I have found, archery and sniping may be totally situational. I do agree though, that in the current state, archery as a whole is underpowered.
1
08 Feb
Alex
I believe more skills in the skill tree, specific to bow playstyles, look at horizon forbidden west for inspiration, there's a lot of variety in bow combat in there.

When shooting a bow, the aiming and charging of the bow needs to "feel" more satisfying, visually the game feel of bow combat is lack luster at the moment, again, look at horizon for inspiration there.
But I think a great addition to inventory management of the bow is having a slot on your character to hold a quiver, and this quiver is an item that can have different tiers as you progress through the game, so the first being that it can only hold one ammo stack/type at a time, late game might go up to 5, but a quiver is the ammo ready for use, anything in your backpack isn't usable ammo until it's equipped to the quiver.
Potentially also having an enchantment slot to the quiver item, to allow for passive buffs over all ammo in the quiver, like burning damage, or increased velocity of arrows overall etc.
2
18 Feb
Toctoctoc
Mage is way too powerful, so the bow is useless
1
19 Feb
LifeisReal Admin
"Ranger Class rework" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-01-31), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
19 Feb
LifeisReal Admin
"Archer combat needs some overhaul" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-02-01), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
15 Apr
Toast Admin
"Poison Arrows damage" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-01-31), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
15 Apr
Toast Admin
"Poison arrows -- Add missing poison-tipped arrows." (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-01-31), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
17 Apr
Brandon
I love the combat mechanics of archery in the game but you are relatively useless in combat compared to a mage. I primarily play with a friend who runs as a mage and it takes me 3 shots to kill basics enemy 6+ for stronger ones and my friend drops one fireball and kills 10 of them instantly. The balance is really ridiculous and takes away all of the fun of archery. Then add in the fact that arrows are so time consuming to make, there is no point in running as an archer. This is the biggest disappointment to me in the game so far because I usually play as a ranger build in most games.
09 May
superpebble
distraction arrows - agro enemies towards the area of impact from a wider radius with a strange yet pleasant cloud of mist that attracts most animals.

upgraded distraction arrows - a clay ceramic arrow that makes the sound of a broken pot or flower pot. will bring enemies to its area of impact to distract all creatures. will cause small creatures to be alerted and flee.

hot shot - will light enemies on fire and deal damage over time 10% of your initial damage to target. deals x2 to shrouded enemies. hollowed are immune.

Impact shot - will knock down small and medium targets and stun large ones for 2 seconds.

grapple shot - shoot at light and medium enemies and tug them towards you.

Smoke arrow - releases a plume of smoke that obscures the vision of all creatures reducing vision to 5 feet.

crackle shot - scares small and medium predators for 20 seconds.