I play on console and I could never ever play Archery just because of the slow ass sensitivity of the joystick. You could put the sensitivity to max and it still feels slower than "3" on something like Call of Duty. I've seen people play on PC with Archery and they have much better precision. The best part of it however, is the sensitivity. You can turn the camera in a complete 180 in a split second and sprint and then when you get in a safe range, turn 180 and shoot. You can't do this on console and basically have to "backpedal." It's slow sluggish and it feels like I'm playing an MMO keyboard turning and clicking my action bar while backpedaling.

The crossbows are to slow to reload, that's why I don't like them

I too have never used archery in past Elder Scrolls rpgs but with Skyrim I use it on a regular basis. I actually have to consciously stop myself from using the skill too much except for hunting since I like my characters to be a bit like me in real life and am horrible at archery in real life. When I used to shoot an arrow in real life in my younger days it was like someone attached a hundred pound weight at the front of it.

Using archery in Skyrim is a lot of fun and addictive. It made me want to check it out again in Oblivion and I started liking it there as well because of the recoil effect on enemies and on my character when either got hit thus disrupting a possible perfect shot and throwing my aim off not to mention the damage from the enemy blow.

Another skill I never touched in previous Elder Scrolls rpgs is blocking. Now its second nature as I block and bash the living daylights with every possible shield and weapon I get a hold of. Boy those bandits don't know what hit them

Love the archery in Skyrim, despite one archer being stuck with that woeful paralysis perk (and he is going to keep it). Hardly used archery in Oblivion and I was hopeless in Morrowind, and resorted to a sword and shield. But I have yet to play much of Morrowind yet, Skyrim keeps grabbing all my spare time.

Despite my first two characters being able to use all weapons, my archers usually stick with bows for dragons. My third character prefers axes, I got a surprise when he killed his first dragon with an axe, and it was a lot easier to kill the dragon. I had never seen that animation before, despite playing a lot of Skyrim.

Yes my melee warrior characters during the early stages do most of their dragon slaying with a bow which can lead to some pretty dramatic deaths as the dragon comes crashing into the earth like some city falling in a apocalyptic vision as am about to deliver the final fatal arrow unless I switch to an axe which is always awe inspiring and terrifying at the same time.

Its amazing just how much stuff keeps getting discovered for the first time. Makes me glad I have been using mods since the days of Morrowind and now am playing all Elder Scrolls rpgs modless which is a totally different eye opening experience.