Something that irked me in Oblivion (and Daggerfall, and morrowind to some extent.. really every game) is that all the bows are either made of metal or volcanic glass (glass, ebony) it doesn't really make any sense, and I think a variety of wooden/bone bows would be cooler.

For instance, your basic "beginner bow" could be made of yew, elk bone with tendon string, whereas the higher echelons could be engraved Mammoth Ivory bows or Argonian Black-Wood bows and stuff of that sort. Daedric bows could just be made of Harrada or some sort of deformed tree that grows on the surface of Oblivion, either that or just a really high quality bow with a daedra bound to it.

It just didn't make any sense that bows were made of metal and glass just so they could match the other weapons, IMO wooden bows would be a lot better and more creative.

Agreed, however I dont want to see my Glass or other bows dissapear. I wouldnt be surprised if there were wood based bows this time around.

I think this is already done, to my eyes in the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEVfhdFEVJY when the character is drawing a bow and tracking the wolf.
The bow looks to me as if made of wood, though how many are, or if any are made from metal or mineral components I have no clue.

...glass bows aren't the only bows in Oblivion or Morrowind. That's just..one type among many.

But those were the ones that made the least sense since glass doesn't really bend that well...

There were several bows in Morrowind and Oblivion made of wood.

But your point is taken. Glass bows just don't make a lot of sense, though imagine trying to sell glass armor to someone... :lmao:

I think it's just important to keep in mind that this is a fantasy game, and it doesn't all make sense, or even need to. Remember the Glass Mines in Morrowind? Ummm...absolutely no sense, anyone? I just pity the children who grew up thinking that glass is a mineral mined out of mountains somewhere...

I agree with the idea that all bows should be wooden/non-metal materials. If what they say about bows being revamped and stronger is true, than there should be no reason for ebony or glass or silver bows anyway. There can still be different qualities, and the arrows themselves will still add slight modifiers in damage and effects.

I don't think you understand what entails the prefix "iron" "steel" "chitin" etc bow. It's not a slab of iron that you are using as a bow. It's still wood based, the caps on the end/reinforcement is what is Iron.

iron and steel bows seemed to have wood limbs and ebony is a dark wood obsidian is volcanic glass

EDIT: the bow in the trailer looked all wood to me

Just so we all know... The Glass in TES is NOT the same as actual glass.

^ this. I wish people would stop equating things in a video game to things in real life. It could be a special, flexible glass *which exist in real life*, it could be elemental glass *this is a video game* etc.

Exactly. Fantasy is just that. How do all their books get printed? Who knows! Does it really matter?

I two believed it just to be the trim but better wood classes should exist but you'd ashume
that when you get up to glass ect they all use better quality wood.

Its true Glass in TES isn't actual glass. But I totally agree that this time around bows should be made out of different types of wood, it just makes sense. If you think about do you hard it would be to pull a string on a steel bow? The draw lbs could up to 300lbs. And whats even weirder is how can tiny Bosmers pull bow strings with that much draw lbs? :confused:

I really like this idea, the glass bow thing always kind of weird to me.

I mean i guess it is a fantasy game, but the world would be more believable. Maybe like a glass encrusted yew bow.

This doesnt bother me in a fantasy game.

Agreed.

I don't want the game to be too realistic.

What if when your really high in Marksman you get a perk for fast draw. :hubbahubba:

Yeah, bows should only be wooden. The way things are going, they'll be made out of swamp gas soon and half the fans will be saying, "Don't take away my swamp gas bows!"

This is the world of The Elder Scrolls, it's a fantasy world. Yes, realistic items make the game better depending on the item that is implemented. But always keep in mind that it's a fantasy game and it's not supposed to be completely realistic if at all.
By the way, "cooler" is just an opinion. I honestly think that glass, ebony, daedric bows look "cooler".

Did anyone read this?

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:OB-items-Bows.jpg

If you look closely, it seems like at least most of the bows do in fact have wooden parts attached to 'metal' reinforcements. Plus, from a design standpoint this allows for a lot more unique looks and styles.

Not to mention, it goes along with the other items in the game, which makes sense. You could easily make all the bows, oak, pine, elm, etc, but it makes more sense to name them their metal counterparts. For example.

Oak Bow = Oak swords, armor, etc.
Steel Bow = Steel swords, armor, etc.

It made more sense to name them after metal, because then they fit in with the rest of the weapons classes in a way that made sense.

@itsgrady agreed

Ebony is based on http://geology.com/rocks/pictures/obsidian.jpg. Glass, is just some form of volcanic glass, I guess from an "game science" standpoint they are basically ultra-hard volcanic glass, a bit like diamonds. Diamonds are very brittle but are one of the hardest substances on earth, I suppose ebony and glass would be the same way except less brittle. Metal bows are basically just as impossible, nobody would really bother making them.

Materials other than metal would be awesome to see for bows.



Good point, but not everything needs to have a tier, would be nice just to have "weapons" on a broad spectrum. When you find a bow, you can take a look at it and see how good/valuable it is.

FYI you can't use pine for bows, it's too soft and brittle. Elm is a hardwood, but It's a soft hardwood doubt it'd be very useful for a bow. Oak is a suitable "bow wood" but yeah, there's a big "wood is wood" mentality, I think it'd be nice to see some unique bows that are made out of something other than just the normal materials. Morrowind had bonemold weapons and generic longbows and such which was nice.

Yes, even though it's fantasy I would like the glass materials limited to sharp bladed weapons (like Morrowind) instead of featuring glass warhammers and such (like Oblivion).

But wooden bows would be great, maybe with metal livery for enchantment potential.

There's no reason to make them all wooden. There are plenty of non-wooden bows out there. Think of the glass bows as some kind of magical fiberglass if it helps you sleep at night.