I've been playing Oblivion for a while now and I'm a typical heavy armor swordsman. I usually carry around a claymore and I don't use bows or daggers or any of that stuff, the only other thing I do combat-wise is shoot fireballs but that's it. When I start playing Morrowind I don't want to be the same guy again, a guy who wears heavy armor that carries around a big sword, this time I want to wear light armor and be a marksman. I know that the Morrowind melee combat is not as good as Oblivion which is why I don't want to be a swordsman, but is the ranged combat in Morrowind as good as Oblivion? Also, do crossbows and throwing knives fit in the same skill with bows? Or will I have to get good at crossbows and throwing knives separately? Thanks.

It's kind of hard to say which is better actually. Both games have pros/cons.

Oblivion: Better animation and arrow recovery. Greater accuracy at distances. Less variety.

Morrowind: Animations are not so great (more so with crossbows). Decreased accuracy at great distances. Far more variety. There are several mods that address some of these issues such as http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=mods.detail&id=1067. I remember my favorite combo being a Bonemold Bow (highest enchant value and good amount of damage) with Daedric Arrows.

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Fixed link.

The bow shooting is much much better in Oblivion IMO. The only thing Morrowind has over Oblivion when it comes to Marksman is the weapon variety. Bows, crossbows, Throwing stars, darts, knifes, it's all part of the Marksman skill.

The marksman shooting in Morrowind works basically the same as the melee system in Morrowind, so there's a chance to miss (even if you shoot the arrow straight at the enemy) based on your skill, fatigue, etc. which can be annoying if you have a limited supply of ammo. And if you really miss by shooting your arrow next to your enemy you can't retrieve it.

I really like marksman in morrowind. It is just like everything else though, lots of misses at first. But that just makes it more rewarding when you get a little 'hit' spree : P

So do you guys think it would be worth it to be a melee fighter in the game again? Or is the marksman better in Morrowind versus Oblivion than the melee is in Morrowind than Oblivion?

I like being able to "dip" your arrows in poison in Oblivion. There may be a Morrowind mod that allows that but I'm not aware of it.
I always create a custom class in both games and will not neglect to have Marksman as a major skill, regardless of any other melee skill I might include.
The Marksman Mod is always a must for me in Morrowind, and I'm 90% happy with Oblivion's vanilla Marksman mechanics. I only wish they had crossbows.
Which is better? Six of one, half dozen of the other, I suppose.

If I preferred anything Oblivion has over Morrowind, it would be the archery. The physics engine and poison effects are huge pros, and the slightly easier-to-use alchemy is always nice. Morrowind does have throwing knives. And crossbows.

Why has no one mentioned the damage difference ?

In Morrowind you can kill enemies with a bow in two to three shots while in Oblivion you may need tens of arrows to take down a basic enemy. So in my opinion Marksman is worth a lot more in Morrowind than in Oblivion.

^ is due to enemies leveling up with the char my oblivion character used to be pure marksman but then it was costing too many arrows and i turned into a tank ...

Marksman is a lot harder to start out with in MW than in OB (you tend to miss a lot), but it keeps getting better as your skill increases. In MW at higher levels, I was able to take down many medium level opponents with just one, or sometimes two arrows, and even high level Daedra generally fell in 2-4 arrow hits. In OB, it's a lot better at the beginning, but it eventually becomes almost pointless as the opponents become all but immune to the tiny pin-pricks that your bow does. I have to admit, though, that poisons in OB were a really nice feature. Combined wtih Sneak bonuses, sniping with a bow in MW eventually becomes so lethal that I had one character retire his bow and switch to ranged spells because taking things down with it had gotten far too easy.

The bow itself has the greatest effect on the amount of damage, followed by your character's Strength bonus. The arrows make only a small contribution to damage (except for a couple of specific "lethal" ones in the Bloodmoon expansion), but I don't find it worth the cost and hassle to stock exotic arrows when inexpensive and easily obtainable iron or chitin ones will do just about as well. Delivering 67 damage, instead of 61, hardly seems worth the trouble of tracking down rarer and more expensive ammo all the time. Don't bother placing an "On Strike" enchantment on your bow, because you never strike the target with the bow itself, although ANY enchantment on the bow will allow the it to deliver damage to "immune" creatures like some undead and Daedra, regardless of the type of arrow used.

Unless you have a PC and use the Morrowind Code Patch (very highly recommended), there may be aim issues with "tall" races: Imperials, Nords, Orcs, and Altmer. If you aim at a target at higher elevation, the arrow's path will bend downward in mid-flight, so you have to aim higher to compensate for the drop. Oddly, if the target is lower than you, it will bend UPWARD! Oooops. Other races shouldn't see any problem, and can just aim directly at the target. It's not a game-breaker, however, and my one pre-patch Imperial was able to snipe targets out to just about the limits of sight, with a little bit of practice on my part at judging elevation.

Word of advice for a starting MW Archer: DON'T rush out and get the best bow possible. The simple and nearly harmless chitin shortbow that you can buy at Arille's at the start of the game is ideal for practicing. You can put two or three hits on a weak and slow critter, such as a Mudcrab, instead of just one, before it rolls over and stops training you. Of course, if your character values his or her life, getting a second, and better, bow to use when it actually matters soon becomes an essential. Also, bows require a LOT of maintainance to keep in peak shape, so some Armorer skill (and a healthy supply of cheap and light Repair Prongs) is a good thing to consider.

You can kill powerful enemies in Oblivion with one, two or three shots as well. Even without poisons.

You only need 10 arrows or so if your marksmanship and/or agility is not high.

Particularly with stealth modifier.

Never played a marksman character in Morrowind, so can't comment on which is better. Just that in Oblivion bows and arrows do more base damage than any other weapon in that game, even without enchantments or poisons.

way better in ob, you can't enchant bows for damage in mw, below 60 marksman and you'll lose tons of arrows. I'd recommend playing with shortblades as well, raises speed so you can outrun bad stuff. Also raise your agility up quickly it greatly helps with accuracy. Unless your a bosmer, id actually pay for training, at least til you get marksman to level 40

I never have played a stealth character in Oblivion. But in Morrowind they have crossbows which are awesome.

When I started with a bow in Morrowind I found that aiming for the upper-right corner of your target was the best way to get a hit. With crossbow's I aim to the left.

Also, in OB the bow's do become useless after a couple level's.

What game are you talking about here? I play both games at default difficulty and it differs a lot. Lothran (in Oblivion) is Master at both and without spells or poisons it can eat up his whole supply of arrows before even a bandit is down. In Morrowind, like someone said, it′s enough with a few. And I don′t think Karl is even Master marksman.

I think though this in no small part is due to the scaling in Oblivion which Morrowind doesn′t have. Both my characters are around lvl 50 so I guess that explains it

No.

Mw:

So many bows and arrow/bolt/dart types to chose from.

With the right build and gear, summoned bow is my favourite, marksman is deadly.

From memory, different types of arrow have different flight paths, you need to know your arrows to be lethal at range. While this is not very RPG it is highly satisfying

Clifracers !!!! lol. No kidding, these beasts are a marksman's dream and dropping them at distance with one shot never grows old

Thanks to non-scaling

Indeed, this is why I can't stand to play a vanilla OB archer, yet can happily play a MW archer.

I've always felt clumsy using longbows in MW and prefer the Crossbow. OB Marksman seems easier to use and more accurate.