I would like to start off by saying that I've bought and enjoyed most of the elder scrolls games. I have enjoyed every single one and have logged hundreds of hours in each one. However one major oversight that I see in each one is the archery. In Morrowind it was a decent system that allowed you to make long range shots, however was not very accurate at the longer ranges. At the same time the arrows never seemed to come back to the ground. In Oblivion to quote a mod maker "it's like throwing rocks". The range was almost as non-existent as the damage it caused. It was near impossible to do a proper archery play-through as you could not do any decent damage and it could not be fired at any decent range. In Skyrim the range and damage were vastly improved and made so that it was again possible to play an archery in vanilla Skyrim without too many complaints. However in my opinion the range was still lacking and it made it hard to do anything other than a sneaky archery, and even that was a significant challenge if you did not work on your melee skills.

I would like to see a vastly improved archery range in TESO. I would also like to see some variation, in real life there are three classic types of bows. The first is the longbow, when it was widely used in the sword and shield era a longbow could have up to a 300 lb draw weight, and fire a great distance. While being hard to draw, and horrible for close range combat the long range capability and shear power make up for that. This made this bow perfect for long range shots, or for arrow showers on the enemy army.

The second type is the re-curve it is a bow that is more easily drawn, and more portable. While this bow does not boast the power of the longbow it was often far more quite and easier to handle and carry in cramped spaces giving the user more flexibility and creativity on how to use it, this is also considered a great bow for beginners and experts alike.

There is also the short bow, while it has a significantly lower draw weight it is also much smaller and easier to use in combat and at closer ranges. It is harder to draw than the re-curve but is also lighter, easier to carry, and a great silent option for when you get within mid range. A typical bow of this size and class might have up to a 120 lb draw weight. I would really love to see some of these things added into the new game. Whatever you end up choosing to do with the archery system I greatly look forward to purchasing and enjoying the game when it comes out.

My eyes! My eyes!!! A few simple paragraphs go a long way...


Archery is kind of up in the air right now with the whole real time combat thing. It's sure to be there, but nobody really knows how it'll be implemented.

Thanks for the input, I hope that it's easier to read I really want the archery to be improved, the world of TES and archery are two things that I'm very passionate about. The two together working in unison would be amazing, so i'll do whatever I need to in order to have this issue fixed if it can be.

My best archery was in Morrowind. I could snip Fetchs when they were shadowed and the size of your pinky nail.

• Arrow Speed - Worst effect of ranged combat, just isn't on par for effective sniping PVE or PVP
  
• Variety Styles - Need more than material components, Basic Short, Long, Composite are minimum needs.
  
• Actual Quiver - I really would like immersion to "load" a quiver, so you don't have "auto ammo" all the time.
  
• Defense Attack - I like Skyrim being able to "thump" mob to stun them.
  
• Arrow Select - Would be nice to store "alchemed" arrows without forcing "use now" or loss of effect.

But as stated, anything right now is speculation.