The thing is, Bioware cannot seem to get archery right somehow in Dragon Age.
In Dragon Age Origins, archery was bugged and you needed to use mods to fix it. The attributes never meshed correctly and the crossbow was a mess.
In Dragon Age Awakening, archery was overpowered. You could kill and take down bosses with just auto-attacks if you toggle a few abilities.
In Dragon Age 2, archery was neither here nor there. I mean Varric's and Sebastian's archery trees were far superior to that of Hawke's.
So have there been any news or updates on archery for DA:I ? I seriously hope they balanced it out this time. Additionally, crossbows ! Rogues should be able to use them.
Here are some suggestions from me to improve archery:-
1) Have each bow type perform a niche function. Shortbows should have high rate of fire, near to medium range effectiveness, low damage, not dissimilar to a submachine gun. Longbows should have low rate of fire, medium to long range effectiveness, high damage when used in correct range, something like a sniper rifle. Crossbows should have armor penetration to aid archers in taking down enemies with high armor rating / heavy armor. That way, all types of bows have their usefulness and none get neglected.
2) Have separate skill lines for different types of bows as well. It allows for greater flexibility. Shortbow abilities can be ones that are focused on giving archer good close quarters combat abilities and the ability to deal with mobs. Longbow abilities can be ones that are focused on giving archers a one shot, one kill damage that is useful for long range sniping or striking out of stealth. Crossbow abilities can be ones that are focused on armor penetration such as maybe penetrating the shields of Venatori gladiators at reduced damage.
3) Melee archery. We had this skill in Dragon Age Origins but it was just a passive. In Dragon Age two it was just gone.
In the E3 demo, Leliana is seen using the bows as a melee weapon to bash enemies in a cutscene. Melee archery should be brought back but it should have some actual function like being able to bash enemies or strike them with the bow itself if they get too close to the archer.
4) Have different types of arrows for different purposes. Fire arrow to burn armor. Ice arrow to slow down or freeze target or drain stamina. Shock arrow to drain mana or stun target. Nature arrow to poison target. Andraste's arrows to silence spellcasters. Give us a passive skill line to allow us to forge these arrows as archers instead of making them just part of the loot or items to be bought. Or at least give us passives where we can recover arrows shot more efficiently.
5) Give archers more utility. Dragon Age 2 did well with the smoke arrows and stuff but more could be done here. Green Arrow and Hawkeye can serve as inspirations. Arrows that turn into nets for makeshift traps, Arrows that release gases or hallucinogens. This could be a part of the Artificier Specialization where it is all about traps. Additionally, since we can traverse more places now, perhaps we can have skills such as rope arrows where we can fire them to create makeshift climbing ropes to grant more mobility. I mean mages can recreate bridges and stuff so archers should have something up their sleeves too.
I like to roleplay myself as a rogue archer so naturally, archery is something that matters a great deal to me. ![]()
Thoughts / comments ?





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