I'm curious what people think about the Steady Hand perk in the Archery tree. It slows down the time by 25/50% while zoomed in. On one side, it seems useful when mobs charge or strafe (mages!), on the other side, it seems to break the flow of the game a little for me. It's also two perks that could possibly be spent elsewhere.

What are your thoughts?

It's nice in a way, but if your use to playing shooters it isn't necessary as you probably already know how to aim quickly enough, and the way AI is, it is really difficult to hit any mob in the game save for maybe dragons.

I'm pretty bad with aiming on the XBOX so I like to use it. If I was on a PC the points would be better spent elsewhere.

It's one of the best perks for the bow. I disagree with Drogon. I am excellent at FPS games and skill has nothing to do with it sometimes. The AI is strange and they anticipate attacks at times and bob and weave not to mention you have "bullet drop" and you aren't using an automatic weapon. Also, this gives you the time necessary to avoid being hit by melee weapons. I have a vid if you want to check it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=j5eokE0B8D0

Note: This bow is a bit weak and takes a while to take guys down. I was playing on expert at level 81 with a weaker bow. When I made my daedric bow later I was owning guys much easier. Make sure you invest points in Stamina as this ability uses stamina!

I find it very useful, as KillerGymSox says enemies have a tendency to sidestep arrows in real time

I've taken the first one for 25% but I'm afraid to take the second one to push it up to 50%. I don't want it to slow down too much.

watch my video I provided and you can see how slow it goes. It is useful trust me. It allows you to place your shots well

As an archer it can sometimes become a little... Overwhelming, when fast or multiple enemies face off against you.
Steady Hand is a truly awesome perk for this, cause it allows you to slow down a little, digest what just happened and think of whether you should run, fight or use the environment to for your strategies.

So it's a nice chill mode for when panic happens.

What armor are you wearing in that video?

I like it also just because I might want to take an extra second and not just put shots down range at center mass but actually shoot them in the face, mouth, eye, whatever as they're charging at me and talkin shmack

Depends on your build. If archery is your only/main method of handling melee, I'd say it's worth it as the more shots you can put in them before they reach you is important.

Personally, I use stealth and also have a dremora lord and illusion, so I can distract and/or control enemies well enough that it's not necessary, bit of a perk waste for me I think. I am usually shooting things that aren't aware of or not focused on my character, or dragons which are easy to hit.

Time slows down for the player as well, so the amount of arrows you can fire off is the same.

Nightingale Armor. Quest related to

I didn't take those 2 perks. I hate that I had to spend the zoom in perk too, I have never used it but needed to grab it to get perks above it


Just quickly aim and shoot

I love that perk. Makes me feel so good when I see a rabbit running across a road, I pull out a bow and zoom in with slow motion. I shoot the arrow, and it hits the running rabbit... all in slow motion.

But, of course, I don't use it all the time. Only when it feels just right (when a bandit is just about to hit me with a sword, finishing off a helpless town villager, shooting an elk running away from me, etc.).

Then you are sorely missing out. There's nothing fun about point and click. This adds strategy to it. Gives you time for strategy. It's brilliant

I can understand why some people may like it, personally I find it just wasted perks, sure can be handy and cool but breaks immersion a little for me. Might be alot handier on Xbox.

Dunno about breaking immersion, I've found alot of times in life doing something I'm good at or at crucial points, time almost seems to slow down and things can come more into focus

The only advantage I can see to having the perk is to give people who don't have a good aim more time to try and get the aim right. If I can aim properly without the perk then its pointless.
From an RP point too, in a real battle you don't have the option of slowing down time by 50% to try and think of a strategy, you have to think on your feet to aviod being killed..

Honestly they are just pointless perks and imo are only really useful to those who can't quickly aim at something.

It is not exaclty point and click, I do have to aim at my target or the arrow will miss, I just won't need 3 perks to do it.

not sure how it should break immersion.. I mean, a skilled marksman in a fantasy setting should be that hardcoe elite to see things like in slow motion, not that it really does slow down time but it allows the player to see like the professional marksman. If that was the argument then what about magicka?

Haven't taken that perk yet, but probably will.
On my 360's controller it's got a funny null zone that constantly makes me go past where I want it to line up. It's very frustrating trying to be precise.
It's been the same for every game that requires some precision fire.
Anyone with a 360 know if this is just the way it is, or is it my particular controller?

If archery is a big part of your build, I'd recommend taking these perks. You can get by without them if archery is just a side-skill for you but if you specialize in archery, get em. The one thing that can be extremely difficult in this game is hitting a moving target. With these perks, it becomes far more possible. I have no problem aiming and shooting in the game but I can definitely appreciate the advantages of these abilities.

As for the "breaking immersion," I completely disagree.

I have it at 50 with the speed perk and almost unstoppable. Not that anyone can tell when im around anyway.

sneak + Archery = game over bad guys

I think its actually real helpful for damage output. It slows down time for you too, so you don't technically have a higher rate of fire, but in reality, you end up getting more arrows out. Many times you can aim an arrow correctly before it gets pulled back and is ready to be fired, but sometimes you can't and you have a delay in firing as you line up your shot. With the slow time perk, you are MUCH less likely to have that delay because you have a lot more time to set up your shot. This is, of course, more useful the less good you are at aiming, but I think it's useful no matter what, as no one can have their shots lined up perfectly immediately every time, and if they can't, then the slow time perk will inevitably help them.