Howdy folks,

Here are my findings with the bow and I was wondering if you could share your experiences.

I find the bow quite lackluster, considering it is the 'iconic' weapon in the game, the mobility penalty when aiming, long draw time and low dmg (even at max draw it doesnt oneshot) mean this weapon forces a player to have an engagement where the opponent has no idea the bow-user is for the bow-user to even stand a chance.

If you miss your opening arrow (by miss i mean you dont get a headshot) you have to spend another 3 seconds drawing the bow, and tracking a target that can easily out dps you before you have got full draw, especially if you are in stealth (negated by the massive smoke-trail the arrow leaves which renders your stealth pointless)

my other major concern are the alternate arrow types, they are essentially pointless.

A minor aoe arrow that oneshots people after a delay long enough for them to beat you to death, I think this arrow should have a grenade-size aoe and not give off a grenade warning - this would mean it actually has some uses at a crashsite - currently its a troll arrow where you tag someone then run off and leave them to die.

The Airburst arrow - After firing about 100 of these I still dont really know what it is meant to do. My guess is that even if you miss - it explodes 'near' the target using its proximity sensor. It appears to explode on impact meaning it cant be used as a make-shift mine. I have yet to one-shot anyone with an airburst arrow, or hit multiple people. Again this arrow seems very pointless.

The recon arrow is actually excellent, fire one into a crashsite and your team should have no problems clearing it out - bravo, this arrow actually offers some utility.

The biggest concern I have regarding the arrows is the manner in which you select them, in my experience so far - if you press your weapon-selection mode button, the game randomly selects ONE alternate type of arrow, before toggling back to default arrows - I have not found any pattern as to how it selects the type of arrow. Alternatively you can use the very-clunky and time consuming menu to select an arrow, leaving you very immobile for the always-up radar to lead someone to your position.

I would LOVE to be able to make a mid-air shot, see my target turn into 3 targets, switch to an AOE arrow mid-air and land a triple kill - that would be fitting of the iconic bow - at the moment it seems I am reduced to trying to pick people off at a distance and hoping I get a headshot, I constantly engage crashsites and get 4/5 hitmarks back to back with the bow.

In my opinion the balance changes should be something along these lines.

1) keep the none one-shot dmg, but remove the draw-time entirely, so you can remain mobile and effectively 'hip shot' people like a railgun - but requires a headshot for one-shot-kill

or

2) add one-shot dmg when in full-draw mode, you are so immobile and have such a long cycle time that constant hitmarkers make the bow very unreliable.

3) allow the user to bind keys to each arrow mode, or make the weapon-select key alternate properly

4) Allow hunters to gain dogtags from headshot kills automatically, with the shotgun/pole/melee fest the game has become it there is a permanent radar up because people are farming tags without trying, but players trying to be 'stylish' and skillful are having to sit on the outskirts with a weapon that has zero CQB capability.

or

5) allow hunter kills with the bow to regen energy so that you can remain stealthed for longer, even with phantom lvl3 (500 stealth kills to unlock - worst thing ever) I find myself out of stealth the vast majority of the time, double with the slow fire rate and massive mobility issues of using a bow you are easy meat for anyone passing by.

I hope I am missing something when it comes to arrow selection, the bow is the 'coolest' feeling weapon, I just wish it stood a chance vs the melee/shotgun perma-radar meta game that is dominating the beta.

I look forward to your opinions.