I'm going to preface this by saying that so far Zenimax has done many things right. I commend them for hearing us out and being open to suggestions. The last interview with Nick Konkle on ShoddyCast confirmed this and propelled me to bring up this topic.

This post is a friendly plea to Zenimax to make arrows a tangible, real item that is limited, just as they have been in all the previous Elder Scrolls games. Unlimited ammo was clearly stated on the Ask Us Anything: Combat 2. I am also aware of the pre-existing post regarding this (/topic/1469386-infinite-arrows-crafting-arrows/).

Arrows have been a staple of Elder Scrolls games for generations. So it makes sense to design them in TESO with at least as much depth. First of all, I don't believe arrow types (steel, ebony, daedric, etc) have been officially confirmed. But assuming that arrow types exist which is an absolute must, the next point would be having limited arrows. There are are several reasons to do this:

(1) Strategy. You have to plan HOW you use your arrows effectively. This makes for more interesting combat in both PvE and PvP.
(2) Possibility of enhancing arrows with things like poison or enchanting. This adds a whole new level of depth to ranging.
(3) Potential for arrowmaking/fletching skill. Why wouldn't someone want an expansion in the crafting arena?
(4) Creates a marketplace for selling/buying arrows. I can think of several MMOs where arrow trading has made things more fun.
(5) More realistic. Isn't that what Elder Scrolls is about too?
(6) Follows in the footsteps of former Elder Scrolls games (perhaps most importantly).

The reasons for not doing it are few- mainly so you would not have to worry about your ammo in battle (a convenience). But wouldn't you gladly sacrifice this to make the game a heck of a lot more interesting? Why would you want the game to be less sophisticated just to be able to arch in a carefree manner? I almost feel like I shouldn't have to be convincing ZOS to implement real arrows, it should be obvious.

More people need to be taking about this.
And btw, Nick I'm taking your suggestion when you said there's still time to let you guys know about things.

Thanks alot!

i am pretty sure that there will not be arrows as a "resource"

melee users do not have something that ends, like their melee weapons do not vanish if they fight 10h in PvP (not dying). Same with mages, you can use Destro staff with no magica cost (basic attacks etc) (as far as ive seen it in vids)

Bows, should be in the same way, BUT i do agree that later in the game when we have all the other not released stuff that they have planned for us after launch that we get later a crafting profession that has all the "wooden" items in it, like fletching or something.

also as far as i remember, WoW did remove arrows from their game. so there must of been a good reason for it, like the massive amount of crafting a hunter had to do to just be able to raid and PvE and PvP daily.

one hunter used like 2 000 arrows per day or something , lol.

I hear you. But there are always ways to make arrows more accessible and less costly. For instance, they could have vendors selling them for dirt-cheap, allowing players to easily stock up on them.

I would find it much more "realistic" if armor and weapons deteriorated after being used/getting pounded on and needed to be repaired.

I can deal with the arrows; if the infinite supply is the basic arrow. I noticed in the gameplay video they showed one of the players was using a bow that was on fire, so I'm going to guess that the bows can be enchanted, and that carries over to the arrows fired from it. No need to enchant the arrow when the bow takes care of it.

As for having to stock up on arrows; I think there might be some issues for players. Do I leave loot, or drop arrows taking up space in my inventory? If I drop arrows to carry stuff, are vendors going to have an infinite supply to replace what I have to keep dropping? Last I saw inventory is slot based, so having to haul around ammunition could get annoying.

I am in support of the OP. Even if the bow is enchanted , crafting arrows and using specific arrows should give you a slight advantage, of course the drawback is also the limited supply. I heartily encourage ZOS devs to consider making ammo finite and craftable, and enchantable, and poisonable.

Would be very cool if the templar had a skill called arrow of life that could only be used once a day or something, in which they materialize and arrow of pure healing light and you can shoot it at a dead comrade to bring them back to life. =)

Previous TES games have stacked all the arrows up in 1 slot. TESO should do no different. There could even be a quiver spot where you can equip arrows of the same type. So there is no issue I can see with inventory space.

The point is, in an MMO you cannot just implement this kind of thing just for one kind of weapon, for it creates unbalance.

Either Archers do have a disadvantage with limited ammo, or they are at an Advantage due to Special ammo.... both are not acceptable in an mmo (even more so in cyrodiil).

to balance this out is quite a hassle, the big quastion is not, can you make it work somehow or not, the real question is: is it worth the time and ressource just for one type of weapon??

i say no! With a good system and balance it would be a "nice to have", but reinvent a working combat-system, implement it and most important balance it for cyrodiil at this time is not worth it for a "nice to have" feature!

If they need to alter a few things around to balance it then fine, so be it. But I don't think the fact that this is an MMO should be an excuse, let alone a reason to not do it. This is an Elder Scrolls game we are talking about. And I also can think of a thousand MMOs, DAoC included, where arrows were real and meant something.

It really does not sit well with me that arrows are trivialized like this. Now is the time to speak up to let ZOS know they need to make arrows mean something. If enough of us say something they may just do the work that's required to put in proper arrows and balance the combat accordingly (just like they did the work to put in first person and so on). But if we don't say something, we just lose..

Did you ever play end game raiding in Vanilla WoW?
I remember those days where after good couple of hours getting the 40 man group up and running, ready to start killing stuff, and then suddenly right at the start: "Sorry guys, I forgot to buy arrows. I'm gonna HS and go buy some. Summon me back, plox?"

Yeah... No thanks.

Well you can't help someone forgetting to have arrows- they just kind of need to remember that on their own. But your point of "more convenience" is taken. I addressed that in my original post- wouldn't you sacrifice that to get all the benefits I listed above?

I guess you missed the other 20 discussions on this board about unlimited arrows from the start, it is not that this idea just came up and devs now think "wow, never thought about that!".

Start here.. part 1 of 3 http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1443025-ammunition-or-unlimited-arrows/page-1?hl=+unlimited

The big question remains...is it worth the time and cost 4-6 Month before release?

Gods not another one these.. I still have nightmares of goobface's endless stream of threads about this subject. What it comes down to is some people like to craft arrows and like the realism of going out of arrows. And other people, myself included, don't want to go out of arrows in the middle of a raid, pvp battle, w/e and don't want to carry around 20 stacks of 200 arrows or something. You already have stamina and magicka limiting your moves. Giving Archers also arrows to worry about would make them a little unbalanced compared to other classes who can just be at a fight for unlimited hours.