Suggest increasing crafted arrows to stacks of 99

[Pen N Popper]

As a first time arrow crafter, making them borders on silly.  At the level you could afford to buy any you'll likely go through them faster than it's worth.

Now taking into account the new higher loot drops of bows that generate their own stacks of arrows, it seems a bit further unbalanced.  Why would the simple use of a bow yield 99 arrows, while a hard working crafter make just 20?  Some parity is in order, I say.

Let's see some archer love with a (simple?) recipe change.

[osxmallard]

I have an archer and it is super painful to make arrows.  It is just hard because it involves so many different crafts... to make 20 arrows.  You need clay for tinkering the molds, wood for making the shafts, ore to make the arrowheads, and feathers for the fletching.  Simply put, I would not be opposed to stacks of 99... but I think this was brought up a LONG time ago by Jacchri and possibly Enzo...  I'll have to look for the thread.

[lonnarin]

Seconded.  Arrowcrafting seems way too difficult for the archers who'd want to take it... so many heavy heavy CNR items for such a tiny little amount of arrows.  Archers tend not to be strength based mind you, and to lug a 10.5lb nuggets with a 5.5lb branch and 5.5lb lump of clay (21.5lbs) for 20 arrows that take 4 rounds of rapid shot to deplete is a bit extreme.  That's a net benefit of 24 seconds of combat.  I gave up frustrated in the craft with Bjorn, my consumate strength build.

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

Two things. One, it's not that the bows generate arrows - rather, in the game world, one simply draws back the string and (in the case of Ilsare's Fiery Eye) a projectile of pure flame springs to life.

Two, with that said, I agree wholeheartedly. While special arrows do provide a significant benefit in combat (particularly when you're flinging a bamzillion of 'em in a single flurry), the current ratio of materials to finished product is skewed.

I propose to double the required materials, and raise the finished product to a stack of 99.

[Dorganath]

For some clarity...

Mechanics:
The bows that produce arrows can only be used once per RL hour, and the arrows produced are non-transferable. The limitations in place were a necessary compromise due to Bioware linking a bow imparting additional damage with the fact that said bow will produce unlimited ammo.

RP:
It's more or less as Stephen said, in that the bows do not "produce" a quiver of arrows but rather are able to create a fixed number of "special" arrows per time period, and otherwise requires normal arrows.

---

On the crafting balance....

99 arrows for the current resource need is a bit too much of an adjustment, and to make things make sense, something else would have to be done with the shafts, which by label are made in bundles of 20.  It's been a while since I checked, but I think arrowheads have the same issue.

So while yes, I could just tweak one number and return more arrows from the recipe, there are other things involved which should be adjusted or tweaked as well in some way. Increasing the number of shafts and arrow heads produced, for example, might well serve a similar, and perhaps better purpose.  It seems minor, but it's the details like this that make keeping these things balanced so fun!

[twidget658]

If you look at the overall damage, I have used a lot of different bows as well, the amount of damage is really not worth making special arrows. For one, if you aren't very talented as an archer, you will miss a lot. Secondly, if you are a good archer, you will spend three times as much time making arrows as you do using them. Rodlin doesn't make arrows anymore because he burns through them so quickly and the pay off is not that great. Now, it is easier to put Weapon Enhancements on an entire bundle. It can be expensive unless you can make your own enhancements, but the payoff is almost the same.

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

Ah; I've not seen one of the bows in-game myself (due to fairly frustrating net issues). I was unaware that it was a Unique Item Property rather than Unlimited Ammo.

*Tips his hat.* The rest stands, though perhaps the proposition should be changed to "make the stack 50, and swap the items of 20s for items of 50s."

[Pen N Popper]

I'm open for any adjustment, especially one that can be done through a recipe change.  If that means an earlier craft step yields a greater number of items, that's fine too.  (eg.  mold + ingot = 3 x 20 arrowheads)

It's not going to ruin my immersion if an item labeled as "20" returns 99 arrows.  My vote is for any change that can be realistically accomplished by the multitasking dev team.

[Lalaith Va'lash]

I like this idea, or some idea. Better would be having a chance of retrieval of some good arrows from the corpse of your foe!  But.... thats a different topic entirely. :p
 
An ingot yielding 5 sets of 20 arrow heads would be the same as increasing the end craft to 99 (roughly).  

Same with the arrow shafts, and one would still need to gather as many feathers as before.  

It doesn't seem like a bad compromise.  It still requires a lot of crafts, and they are an expendable resource.

[iceyfire]

*bump* We all feel the pain of this, sure its easy to get the lower end resources, but comparably, getting anything cobalt and above is a painful experience, so the return particulary on the higher end arrows is very harsh...

Thats just my two cents on the matter, im only starting out as a fletcher, and ive spent hours making barely two 2 stacks worth of arrows, for a + 1 damage.
Sorry to be resurecting a somewhat dead topic, but any change would be appreciated.
Just any help with the whole having to lug so many ingots around for such a minimal return seems to be the worst part of it.

[Dorganath]

We're looking at our options here for the next update.  It's been a matter of discussion between orth and I because of other changes that are coming.

We think you'll be pleased.

[iceyfire]

We are usually  pleased with all the hard work you guys put in so, kudos for the update cant wait .

[Kenderfriend]

Just wanted to butt in to say thanks for this suggestion guys, and for the team for considering it


I for one know how hard it is to lug all the ingredients around to make the arrows, being a shorty it makes it even harder but she'll continue trying to make those arrows... this is sort of what ive been thinking for awhile as well however, 20 arrows last about 5mins in a battle and I make about 20 arrows a month as I dont have a huge amount of time free to craft
Even upping it to 50s as Stephen mentioned, would help a LOT.