I have made a few Arcane Archers on Badlands over the past 2 years and anyone who has made an archer here will agree with me, THEY’RE FREAKING EXPENSIVE!!! So I had an idea: Can you make a low level mini-boss that drops a low level bow with unlimited ammo? That way someone who wants to make an AA can kill it early and use it until they have made some decent money and can afford to design their own bow with their own better arrows.
It would also be nice to have a high level Boss drop bow as well, for those AA’s that make it to level 40+. Maybe take Leech off the Medusa and put it on her, that would make sense anyway since she uses arrows when fighting…and I cant remember ANYONE using Leech since Sephka, and that’s not much of an endorsement.
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Best thread of the month. I played my archer today and I was once again reminded of the enormous amount of drawbacks it has. The fact that it needs to be elven limits you choice in subraces, and the only subrace that got would allow my monk/wiz/AA some decent xp without the massive bioware suckage cause of classlvl difference would've been dimernesti. Wich I don't like and have cause of not getting any sr.
But what bothers me even more than the horribly expensive arrows(about 80k per stack, and those things run low fast!) was the time it took me to buy a decent amount of stacks to get from NB to Forgotten, or from Dozo to NB. It takes so long, it's almost putting me off ever trying to play it again.
The 'Bow of Unlimited Arrows' uses arrows with one element of 1d6. That's it. It's not upgradeable. It would be a great prize at level five, but it would soon become useless. The bow is upgradeable, the arrows are not.
In the next upgrade, Deimonos has built a new area with a new boss and a new "bow drop". The whole thing is in a new style and should be fun and challenging.
I've started a few Archers. I've never finished them for the same reason I've never finished building a pure Mage. I always get rushed by the monsters and die almost every encounter.
As much as I've tried to sway the players into 'party' mode, it's not a party realm.
Now is when I get cry like a Dano, err, I mean baby.
It's a real pisser to start a new toon, like a mage or archer, a toon that is "support" for the party. The kind that can be real sweet and fun to play, but absolutely unable to travel alone.
So 'the guys' want to start noobs and we all do. We get up to level 9 or 12 in the first evening. Have a lot of fun. There's a strength based melee that absorbs the incoming attacks. A cleric to keep us all alive and buffed. A mage the is nearly useless at low levels and has no choice but to hide and leech. And me, with my Archer. I'm not doing a lot of damage, but I'm hitting every time. I'm not getting hurt and, my Bard song and few spells help the party.
So, we all play until the wee hours and we all fall asleep at the keyboard. The next time I log in (the next day) I can't wait to play with my new fun archer (or worthless mage) to find out two things.
1) The rest of the party has leveled up without me and and I can't travel with them.
2) I can't travel alone because: I can't absorb the blows; I can't run away fast enough; I can't kill fast enough.
Now I'm not exactly 'happy' at this point. After a few days of this, I start a "Battle Cleric" because they are the 'One Man Army' of BadLands.
Maybe I see someone on at my level (13) and hope to party with them. If they even respond to my tells and invites, I get stuck with mickles or nubbie or muis. Somebody who so bad off they need my support. Somebody who runs away from a fight --THE WRONG WAY-- and attracts more monsters they can't even hurt.
Contrary to popular belief, dieing with a moron is not better than dieing alone. And then this #@%%! moron just lays there for hours waiting for a Good Samaritan to come buy and raise them.
The new drop is a longbow called "Gastrophetes" with:
- Attack Bonus +7
- Massive Criticals +2d10
- Mighty +8
- Regeneration +2
- Immunity Knockdown
- Use Limitation Class: Arcane Archer
Like Q said, unlimited ammunition would cripple this bow. The damage would be awful compared to its high stats and prowess..
At least, it provides more damage, good regen and keep you on your feet while you shoot your arrows..
Well, even if the arrows are not upgradable it would still be nice to have for the lowbies that don’t have a lot of cash. And it’s not like you can put a lot more elemental damage than 1d6 on an arrow until you’re above level 9 or so anyway. Also, if you’re making a Arcane Archer, ANY arrow you fire gets an “enhancement bonus” that goes up as you get more AA levels, so the bow still wouldn’t be totally worthless because the damage would go up as your level does. Not much, but some.
Let’s put it this way: I have an AA at level 9, and if I had access to that bow, I would use it. And I’m very excited about a Boss Drop level bow, not to mention a new zone. I cant say I’m happy about some of the changes to the server that have happened over the past year, but the new zones the DMs and builders have been adding have been really nice, and I’m very grateful for them.
And as far as leveling a Mage or Archer, you have to go about it a totally different way. If you try to solo XP like a fighter, you’ll die just as fast as you would if you were playing old school D&D as an archer and charged into a fight by yourself armed with just a bow. It doesn’t work. You cant XP in the same areas at the same levels as if you were a fighter, because you’re not. You have to XP in areas that are a few levels “too low” for your level, and if you’re a mage you have to rest A LOT, because you’ll be blowing your load of spells on just about every other encounter to kill what your fighting. This is why it takes SOOOOO FREAKING LONG to level up a mage or archer. I see this as an almost necessary “Ying” to the “Yang” of the power that a high level Mage (and to a lesser degree, a well build AA) can accumulate.
Eventually Mages get spells that protect them from the brunt of the damage their opponents are trying to do and can actually hurt them for trying, and that’s when things do get a lot easier. For Mages, the truly hard levels are from 9 to somewhere around 15-18. After that you can XP fairly easily and quickly if you’re smart and use your resources (spells, abilities and items) creatively. It’s getting over that “hump” that really takes a while and discourages players from doing it.
But Archers…yeah, there’s really no hump. It’s just an uphill fight all the way. There is no “magical level” that once you attain it it’s all downhill from there. You have to XP in zones that you can handle from 1-60, and usually that means you’re getting really crappy XP/Kill. Not to mention that (in my opinion) in order to make a good AA you’ll be getting some multi-class XP penalties.
So yeah, the AA needs all the help it can get. Toss us a freakin bone, give us a low level bow that we can use for a while and fall back on if times get tough. I know I’d be using it for a while before my Stimulus Check comes in from Obama.
Oh god…I just read what Deimonos said about the Boss Drop bow and I almost made happy in my pants. I cant wait to get that thing. Good thinking making it only an AA bow too or I know a few Dex builds that would be using it :P
But I’m not talking about putting unlimited ammo on the Boss Drop bow, I mean putting unlimited ammo on some little level 6 bow for the broke newbies out there.
Hiya Blade here :)
Hmm, things really aren't as hard as all that are they ?
OK I admit that my AA build was the sink for all the gold that my other toons collected; but then that was my choice to have page fulls of "Best Quality" crafted arrows rather than pages full of Red Beryls lol.
I remember that my "Deadeye Matronblade" Drow Fighter / Bard / AA was one of the first to kill Black Betty. My main "Secret" to success was building a toon with a nice high AB :)
Also, I didn't use a bow all the time on the road to levelling up. Sword and Shield work nicely too, when soloing. Actually, I think i started in earnest using my bow and high quality arrows when i was on the North Face in a Party with a Dev Critter :) Saved on arrows :)
I guess I wanted to "Be the Archer " more whilst in party :)
A nice Boss Drop AA bow will be much appreciated by players i am sure, but I despair of very expensive items being obtained too easily by the "Mage Farmers". This was my reason for thinking that a "Le Whip" that could be obtained from Bebelith very easily and hence farmed in a highly lucrative manner, was maybe unbalancing in some respects. I would love more Boss Drops that mages cant get, but that a powerful Mellee build can. Maybe some sort of Construct Golem monster that was immune to Mages Sound Bursts etc, and had to be killed with an Admantium Weapon and High AB ?
Yeah it would be cool to have chars carry back up weapons in Silver & Admantium for dealing with certain types of enemy etc. At the moment, I think this only works in respect of carrying a back up "Bludgening" Weapon :)
I don't oppose the idea of an unlimited arrow bow being made available for lower levels, if it makes some players happier whilst xping not to use a sword and shield. However, I think it fair to say that they were introduced for Henchmen and "Monsters" so as not to run out of Ammo. Not really designed for the main player char.
Lastly, what about those who want to make a Zen Archer ?
All the Best ......Blade :)
PS just finished the single player Adventure Pack for NWN2 called "Mysteries of Westgate" , and enjoyed the experience :)
Still got a huge mountain to climb on Dalakora PW Action, that will keep me going for years lol. In my second term as "Mayor of Manay" :)
Hopefully I will be able to spare time out to roll up a char for Badlands RPG again, although I would prefer not to have to make a "Mage Farmer " in order to get gold for equipment. If my Mellee Char is big and strong and can carry a lot, he should be able to raise enough gold to get equipped in UD at level 21 IMO :)
Ok...does it sound to anyone else like Blade just finished a writing class in his first year of college or something? Or maybe a English Lit class where they studied Shakespeare.
I'm just wondering why he comes on here as he don't play on badlands anymore.
Looks like he stalking actually
Hiya Blade here.
I made a char last night on Badlands RPG and got up to Level 6, Hipster Blade is the name. Then something awful happened and something nice. The nice thing was getting financial help in gold (ty so much), but as i changed the gold to Beryls I met with a disaster. My Display became "Garbled" and I crashed aswell.
I have been wrestling with my computer ever since, Virus Checking, Updating Video Drivers, Updating lots of other Device Drivers too, and all Microsoft Update Priority and Custom Updates.
I am hoping to get some help from my Big Sister shortly as she is home on a visit, and I am hoping that together we can diagnose what is wrong.
Unlike Q, I didn't actually do anything to induce my crisis, but my "Fixes" are sometimes just the road to a Reinstallation :(
I do want to play my toon on Badlands RPG, but i am just having a spot of trouble here, so i will just have to make do with "Shakespear" or something in the meantime. :)
And yes, I did love my Arcane Archer :)
All the Best ......Blade
I was hoping you could add unlimited ammo and/or +1d6 (elemental damage) unlimited ammo to the ranged weapon crafters. Would make for a nice backup weapon and exping weapon for all ranged users. There is also +1 to +12 or someting unlimited ammo also.
Personally, I think Blade is the only one that sees the topic in a realistic view. And it would do most of you a whole lot of good if you took English Composition in High School. Just using spell check and proof reading what you wrote before hitting the send button would be a BIG start. (so says the person that never got past the ninth grade)
I will say this again, for the umpteenth time. A bow with unlimited ammo, can only have one property on it (on the arrows). That is 1d6 element damage. The bow can be upgraded normally, but, the arrows CAN'T.
I have looked into building a "quiver" and I didn't get very far. I did do something for the next upgrade that does help the "arrow" upgrades, but, I can't recall now what I did.
I am starting to think that a Unlimited Bow would be a nice quest for a low-level Archer. But, keep in mind that it is very limited and once you hit level 21 or so it will be fairly worthless.
Just in case you missed it before, I will say it again. The Unlimited Bow was intended for Henchmen and Monsters who can't go buy more arrows. 1d6 elemental damage in NWN was a lot, but here in BadLands, it's nothing. You could shoot at Black Betty for a week, hitting her every single time and never kill her.
How about you put an apple on all the bosses head and all an archer has to do is hit it to kill them.
As for spelling i don't know if anyone else has the same problem as i do but i am actually a very good speller but i just happen to have a dyslexic keyboard.
q, I get what you're saying and I'd like to suggest a 15 minute fix to the problem. Put bundles of 99 +5 arrows with Divine, Magic, and Sonic into the store in the underdark. Make them usable only by AA's and sell them at a nice discount. It would speed things up nicely.
Garble said...Put bundles of 99 +5 arrows with Divine, Magic, and Sonic into the store in the underdark. Make them usable only by AA's and sell them at a nice discount.
Now that is a good suggestion!
I know that the unlimited ammo will never be useful for killing bosses. The reason I would like to see unlimited ammo available is for exping. There are lots of exping monsters that you can kill from levels 1 and up. Ranged characters usually have to hit something more often than melees to kill them. This makes exping the ranged characters very cumbersome and expensive.
Imagine if you had to replace your melee weapons after every 99 swings, unless you used one with only +1d6 elemental damage. I wouldn't be suprised if most people decided to exp with the wimpy but permanent weapon, and use the big nasty expendable weapons for boss killing.
I've tried exping with the expensive arrows. Bought pages and pages of them when I have the cash.
But I must warn you...
That way lies pain...
From carpal tunnel that is...
Terry said: "Imagine if you had to replace your melee weapons after every 99 swings, unless you used one with only +1d6 elemental damage. I wouldn't be suprised if most people decided to exp with the wimpy but permanent weapon, and use the big nasty expendable weapons for boss killing."
Exactly my point Terry, thank you for stating it so succinctly.
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