U49 Preview 1: Bow Combat Style Revamp
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/522923-U49-Preview-1-Bow-Combat-Style-...

    Longbows and Shortbows now use new, faster animations.
    All Longbows and Shortbows now innately get your Dexterity modifier applied to Damage.
    Point Blank Shot now also adds "While wielding Longbows and Shortbows, you gain +1 Critical Multiplier on rolls of 19-20." in addition to its other effects.
    Blinding Speed now grants 15% Ranged Attack Speed, matching Haste.
    Reconstruct now grants 15% Ranged Attack Speed, matching Haste.
    Shot on the Run no longer gives 10% attack speed with Longbows and Shortbows.
    Shot on the Run's Ranged Power grant has been improved from +3 to +6.
    Improved Archer's Focus (in T5 Deepwood Stalker) no longer gives 10% attack speed with Longbows and Shortbows while Archer's Focus is active.
    Improved Archer's Focus now also grants +10 Ranged Power.
    Primal Hymn (in Fatesinger) no longer gives 10% Attack Speed with Longbows and Shortbows. (It still gives it for Thrown Weapons.)
    All instances of 25% Ranged Alacrity on items have been reduced to 20%.
    The Manyshot feat is now: Manyshot: Bow Attack: Fire three arrows in quick succession. +1 Critical Threat Range and Multiplier on each of these shots. (Note: This attack only rolls for Doubleshot once.) 12 second cooldown. Passive: You gain Doubleshot equl to your BAB with longbows and shortbows.
    The Rapid Shot feat now adds " You gain Ranged Power equal to your BAB with longbows and shortbows" in addition to its other effects.
    Combat Archery now also grants +1 Critical Threat Range with Longbows and Shortbows.
    Combat Archery's DEX requirement is now 17 (was 21).
    Knight of the Chalice's T4 Knight's Training now also grants the Shot on the Run feat.
    Active Ranged attacks that have bonuses to Critical Threat Range no longer get double that range on those attacks.
    The following Longbows and Shortbows have had their Critical Threat Ranges reduced from 18-20 to 19-20:
        Pinion, Cloud-Piercer
        Sapphire Sting
        Epic Sapphire Sting
        Bow of the Elements (Air)
        Silver Longbow
        Epic Thornlord
        Unwavering Ardency
        Bow of Sinew
        Collapsible Shortbow

Feels like an overall buff to me but I've not dabbled on Lam yet. I suspect it's a bit less interesting without the burst, but stronger.

Waaaaaa at them catching crit range outliers early.

kum-gulp wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2021 at 4:20pm:

Seems more like it depends on the animation changes they made, but seems like a slight nerf:

The new animations change fire rate at level 1 to be a base 0.03 seconds faster. They claim if you have any alacrity that it'll feel "better".
Gain dex to damage on bows (pretty much unnecessary because you're likely going to be running 10k stars which is wis-based so just go falconry for wis to-hit/damage)
Lose 7% from Blinding Speed
Gain 1 crit mult on 19-20 likely within point blank shot range.
Lose 10% from shot on the run
Gain 3 RP from shot on the run
Lose 10% from improved archer's focus
Gain 10 RP from improved archer's focus
Lose 10% from Primal Hymn
Lose 5% from ranged alacrity (which is hilarious because they just released the raid bow with 25% ranged alacrity)
Gain RP = BaB so ~18 RP if you want to run 10k stars
Gain 1 crit threat range

So:
dex to damage gain
42% ranged alacrity loss
31 RP gain
1 crit threat range gain
1 crit mult likely within PBS gain

KlownKar wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2021 at 5:59pm:


The part that really urks me is they told us for YEARS they couldn't "retroactively change" items and that was why so much outdated loot had to sit around being fuckin useless. Now apparently they've changed their mind, but only if its a nerf.

And they nerf the shit out of everything. If they come after my ESOS I will stage a 1-man riot.

Some* fuckhead

Damn my not learning to proof read before I post.

noamineo wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2021 at 7:01pm:


Yeah I know I can,  but I'm also lazy when it comes to posting here,  so read my typos and like it bitch.

The crazy part about the eSoS and the discord conversation,  is that I can not understand what goes into someone's head for a player to ask to nerf an ancient hard to get (RNG) game item.

Yet more nerfs for crossbow builds. Good times.

Nuic wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2021 at 5:47pm:

That's interesting, cheers!

I transferred my main and TRed it into a 20 Rgr with obvious enhancements and WIS-based w/ Falconry for fun. It was good fun, powerful. Bit disappointed my main already has their Rgr lives as I'd definitely play a few lives of this.

The anim felt good to me. Quick enough, not as prone to misfires*. Though the new Manyshot definitely didn't go off all the time, more like 40% nothingshots.

* I've been enjoying ranged, particularly getting the best out of IPS, without tab targeting lately, manual aim. Seems to also reduce missed shots due to target:shot sync confusion.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what ends up on Live.

The Manyshot nerf sucks. “Hey, you’ll do slightly better against trash, so it works out the same even though you have way less power when you really need it!”

Yeah, don’t piss on me snd tell me it’s raining, Turbine.

I was hoping that there would be a ranged improvement to give me a playable ranged character that I can enjoy with bows. Disappointed that it’s going to end up being a mild nerf instead of a buff.

There is some good emotion building in the mobo thread, a few more posts and it could be time for some accounts to have a little vacay!

Hard to believe the plan had been to make underpowered archery better (while using the now to-be-nerfed raid bows) .
Only SSG manages to make a nerf out of that and still be arrogant enough to sell that as a positive change.
You're definitely not allowed to play the game like you like.


from the mobo thread:

a) Please make IPS viable on taller races. Right now it only works well on the small races.

b) You seem to be avoid the many comments on "burst is fun" to the idea of reducing burst damage to up sustained damage. Kindly reply to this as it is at the very core of being a bow user.

c) Unwavering Ardency and Pinion are raid bows. I did understand why you had to nerf Ratcatcher and Nightforged Spike but note that you did not nerf the Sword of Shadows. Similarly, please dont nerf the raid bows.


and as was to be expected the answer from steelstar

a) We don't have plans to adjust IPS at this time, sorry. We do know that launch angle is different on different races, we do not plan to change that as part of this pass.

b) Burst can indeed be fun! And we definitely get that some players enjoy the particular kind of burst that current-Manyshot gives. That said, we outlined in the original posts why we're looking to rebalance away from that style for Bows.

c) Sorry, we're still planning this change for those Bows.

There are 2 things that are constant, and never change, and you can see them in every update.

1. SSG doesn't give a flying fuck about the players enjoyment of the game.

2. SSG devs have no fucking idea how to play their own game.

If you can get your brain twisted enough to see through that prism, every decision they make makes perfect sense and is the right thing to do.

Artorias wrote on Mar 24^th, 2021 at 10:27am:


Feels like they have a perfect(but misguided) definition. Also they cant say "fuck you" directly to the players, so thats kind of a good happy medium.