I can't understand all this hype around spears and crossbows. Oblivion was great without them and I sure didn't miss those kind of weapons. We'll just have to wait and see and stop making demands, the Todd doesn't approve.

I think we can put spears in teh game.

Use the staves animation, make a spear. Then we got spears in the game.

I don't care that much about spears, but crossbows would have been fun

Thats my next project.

May be a cool DLC feature to come out? Like it was stated before the modding community will sure help us out :celebration:

I never used a spear. No one I ever heard of did. Now, everyone says they did because they don't have them. If there's one thing I've noticed in my time here, people will fight tooth and nail for anything that gets removed, whether they really ever used it or not.

The only thing about spears I miss is the Spear of Bitter Mercy.

I'm not sure I completely understood this sentence... I don't hate Todd. But if you start axing aspects of the game (that do have a large group that liked the aspect and wants it back, no matter how many people may try to deny that those people don't exist because their opinion is apparently invalid), then I would expect that, upon seeing a very short trailer of the game, I would not pick up on the details of the game that are lacking (and thus, not enough. Hence the word superfluous doesn't describe spears - because the other weapons animations are still lacking)

the loading animations for a CROSSbow would be in front of you (more effort to animate) and reloading takes about 8ish seconds if your good at it. and you have to put it on the ground to do so. you become a sitting duck. and bows have more power. so no.

I can't stop laughing!!!!!!!!!!!!

It did not work so well in OB modding because there is a mass-shortage on animaters. Them and voice actors.

As for including them, why is anyone aginst including them? Many civilizations used them as a primary weapon, how could you leave them out? Crossbows were not very developed in any of the previous Elder Scrolls games as (in morrowind at least) they used the same skill as bows which didn't make any sense. Just because you are trained with a bow does not mean you know how to use a crossbow. And unfortunitally, there are too few crossbows to have a whole skill just for them.

But the question stands "How could you take a weapon that apeared in every game before Oblivion and then just leave them out in Oblivion, no questions asked? Usually bethesda comes up with a 'clever' lore joke about them, but it seems as though Bethesda is just ignoring them: pretending they never existed.

So while Skyrim will do fine/amazing without spears and crossbows the "why not?" question stands. They are already taking out too many skills in my opinion, they need to add some back to offer more customization and specialization. If there are only a few skills it would be easy to make a character who 'specializes' in everything.

If I need something to complain about it'll be those carrots thank you but the reason that spears and crossbows aren't in is because spears were unbalanced in morrowind and todd just generally seems not to like them. And crossbows aren't in because according to the general consensus I believe that it's a matter of time for development as of now. But I could be wrong. would they be nice to have? yeah. will it kill me not to have them? not in the least.

Hmm? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there were spears or crossbows in either Arena or Daggerfall. I haven't played them, but I can't find anything on UESP or otherwise.

So wasn't Morrowind the first and last game to have spears and crossbows? Wouldn't it actually be more "traditional" or lore accurate not to have them?

Even though this topic has been discussed to death, and then beaten with a stick despite that, the desire to have spears is legitimate. It's just a very nice weapon, it's simple yet has a very powerful, authoritative background to it inherited by it's mythological background. In the game we have Hircine, the Daedric Prince of the hunt, and then there's the Spear of the Snow Prince. With such a rich background, you just feel powerful holding one. I do understand though that Bethesda is probably comfortable with what weapons they have right now, and adding more just won't add very much to the overall game play, and not be worth the time to implement. They would have to do concepts for it, model it, add variations to it, script it, animate it, animate the finishing moves, create it's own perk tree, place them into the world, add them to dungeons, and even to quests. That's a good amount of work.

How are you not expecting this? It's been known for months.

Now, that you know, don't buy the game, since spears are so important.

Because spears do not make good gameplay.

I can understand why they cut the crossbow -- it's rather redundant and its niche is already filled. As for spears they probably couldn't balance it or get enough perks for it or something.

Actually statistically Crossbows are more powerful, accurate, and have a longer range than traditional bows. There's a reason the pope banned them from medieval warfare. The pros were that it had all of the advantages above plus it took next to no training to learn how to use it effectively as compared to the longbow that took years to master. But real life aside, the animation would be more effort to make a well as the issue of reloading time/style. Smaller crossbows can be cocked without placing an end on the ground however they loose alot of power being so small and large crossbows make you a sitting duck as you said as you crank the bowstring back. so generally they would take a bit of effort to master and use effectively if they functioned like real life crossbows. However this discussion is pretty much pointless since it's been confirmed that neither are going to be in the game. So who knows maybe the people that love spears and crossbows will get them in TES VI.

I think a sling might be interesting.Making traps would also be fun.Maybe traps will be part of the hunting system if we are otherwise unable to use them on humanoids?

LOL awesome

I never had any interest in spears, but crossbows were my favourite weapon in Morrowind. I preferred to fire and reload than to pull back and fire. It felt like a far better weapon than the bow. Animating it would take next to zero effort, considering all the work they spent on finishing moves.

OMG I KNOW RIGHT?! Skyrim totally needs spears and Xbows! Also, let's complain about guns, airplanes and aliens, and maybe they will add those too!

But seriously though, why the hell are spears and crossbows so damn necessary? I've never found either one appealing at all.

I would love Todd Howard forever if there was even ONE spear in Skyrim. They're my favorite weapon ever, and they make sense to have in a game world like Skyrim. Plus, they're in lore. For those that don't believe me, check what Hircine carries in every single Elder Scrolls game. What is it? Oh, right: a SPEAR!

Spears aren't that big of a loss for me, but it would be funny if there is one spear in the game but it's in a display case that can only be reached by levitation ...a double dig

Dragons, mammoths AND a setting based on the vikings.........

Given those, I never expected for a moment that they would NOT have spears.