I’ve been playing ranger for a while and the one ability that I expected to be very useful in combat was the spread arrow.
Unfortunately, it seems to be quite underwhelming so here’s my feedback:
The Problems:
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The sound of the ability feels really weak, probably in part due to the visuals that accompany it. ( it looks like you’re shooting a wet noodle )
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The angles of the multiple arrows are relatively useless at the (intended?) regular combat range.
I don’t want my spread to cover a 100m range from left to right if I fire it from 30m. -
The ranger is, except for fire rain arrow, a single-target class, but at least the fire rain serves the purpose it was created for, even when fired from a distance ( AoE radius and damage don’t change based on distance from target)
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The angles aren’t clearly defined before firing which causes a ranger to essentially blind-fire them.
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the angles do not change depending on if the bow is held horizontally or vertically.
The Solutions:
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Give the multi-arrows more speed so their trajectory doesn’t look like it’s a wet noodle, and accompany this with a bit more of a stacked woosh wind effect.
Alternatively, stagger the arrow releases so the multiple arrow sounds play in succession giving a more satisfying experience. -
Since most mobs aren’t very spread out and the ranger’s preffered range is not “right up in an enemy’s face”, tightening the angles of the multi arrows allow them to be used more effectively in combat.
This can be done in multiple ways:
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Remove the angles altogether and make it a series of straight arrows we can fire in quick succession by tapping the trigger button, or holding down for X amount of time to fire all at once.
This would also make it a significantly more useful ability at longer ranges without impacting close range players. -
Tightening the angles significantly to allow the ranger to get a proper angle on multiple mobs behind eachother, yet horizontally relatively close together.
This would allow long range players to still hit multiple people without impacting close range single-target DPS.
- Solution to problem 2 already somewhat addresses it but to add to that:
Due to the current implementation, the only way you can really benefit from the ability is to be really close to the enemy actively discouraging specific playstyles.
The ability is geared towards ‘attacking multiple targets’ but in its current iteration, it fails at successfully doing so.
4.Giving players more control over where the multiple arrows land will help them use this ability in any scenario.
This means either giving the ranger a ‘pre-fire-line’ for the multiple arrows, sort of like a laser-sight, so we know how to aim to get the most out of the ability or letting us adjust the angles in some way to adapt to variable enemy positioning.
- Regardless of how I hold my bow, the multi-arrows will magically appear and shoot in a horizontal line.
I think having the line of arrows adjust to the angle of my bow to be a great addition to the game.
If I hold the bow like a regular archer, I’d expect the arrows to appear in a vertical line, instead of horizontally.
If I hold my bow horizontally, I’d expect them to appear horizontally.
This would already give me more control over how the multi-arrows perform as I can already anticipate their behavior.
It would also let me choose between ‘multiple arrows on a single target, using vertical arrow direction’ or ‘multiple arrows for multiple targets’ using horizontal arrow direction.
Conclusion:
After all proposed solutions, I think allround, the best solution is to change the ability in a similar way to Overwatch’s character Hanzo, which has an ability called ‘Storm Arrow’.
The ability will give him a set of arrows to fire in rapid succession ( could be changed to all fire them at once) but they all move in a straight line like a regular arrow.
They’d just give us a slightly wider/ taller range to hit instead of the awkward angles of the current extra arrows.
Added image to my ideal solution:
