Another thing Magnate and I were discussing on IRC yesterday was the following:
1. Give everyone 2 shots (for some definition of everyone, maybe certain classes, maybe people with dex above a certain amount, maybe everyone). You could imagine a whole parallel shots system (like we have for blows) where certain classes max out at 4 shots, certain classes at 5 and rangers at 6. But for now I'm just talking about 2 shots.
2. Normalize ranged damage so that each shot is 50-60% of current damage
3. Let rangers get +shots at level 20 and 40 (which are now half as effective).
This has the nice effect of making +shots in general less powerful, while making archery a little more interesting (you can take more shots at different targets). It means you'll run out of ammo a bit sooner but taking on hordes of smaller monsters with archery will be easier (especially for classes other than the ranger).
There are a lot of good suggestions for how to fix rangers/archery:
A. change +shots to +might for the ranger
B. use a "speed" formulation for +shots
C. Damage calculation changes
D. Critical hit changes
I am going to make a patch to double the number of shots and halve damage for "normal archery" and see how it plays. If it works the way I expect it might be a nice change that moves rangers closer to warriors. Failing that I still like the +blows to +might to fix rangers and additive multipliers to fix branding.
I have found the brainstorming going on around this issue really useful.
1. Give everyone 2 shots (for some definition of everyone, maybe certain classes, maybe people with dex above a certain amount, maybe everyone). You could imagine a whole parallel shots system (like we have for blows) where certain classes max out at 4 shots, certain classes at 5 and rangers at 6. But for now I'm just talking about 2 shots.
2. Normalize ranged damage so that each shot is 50-60% of current damage
3. Let rangers get +shots at level 20 and 40 (which are now half as effective).
This has the nice effect of making +shots in general less powerful, while making archery a little more interesting (you can take more shots at different targets). It means you'll run out of ammo a bit sooner but taking on hordes of smaller monsters with archery will be easier (especially for classes other than the ranger).
There are a lot of good suggestions for how to fix rangers/archery:
A. change +shots to +might for the ranger
B. use a "speed" formulation for +shots
C. Damage calculation changes
D. Critical hit changes
I am going to make a patch to double the number of shots and halve damage for "normal archery" and see how it plays. If it works the way I expect it might be a nice change that moves rangers closer to warriors. Failing that I still like the +blows to +might to fix rangers and additive multipliers to fix branding.
I have found the brainstorming going on around this issue really useful.
Comment