I always sneak no matter what weapon I use. Catching them off guard with a sword sneak is extra points & accomplishments.
Once I snuck up behind an enemy with my sword & as soon as I reach him he turned toward me. I stood & swung my sword and got an incredable cut-scene like I never imagined.

My Dovahkiin grabbed him, spun him backwards & with an arm around his neck, bent him over backwards & with sword held high, plugged it straight down into his chest, through his stomach &; out his bottom. (Not front to back but top to bottom). I've never seen a cut scenc like that before. It was really some thing to see.
That scene wouldn't have been possible if I hadn't been sneaking because he was caught completely off guard.

I would expect nothing less from someone whose nick is Bosmer

My main character hasn't put a single point into One-Handed. The only combat skill I have put points in with her is Archery.The bow she uses does almost 300 damage per shot from Smithing and Enchanting. Also the the perk that slows time down makes shooting at close ranges easier. She is basically a long-range glass cannon though. I put far more points into stamina than I do health.

I got to level 15 with an archer (little to no sneak) did not care for it ...

I like the blade finishers much better.

I don't care for kiting.

I have found destruction to be a better long range option until an enemy closes in as it has a wider 'spread'

I would like archer better if you could fire 2-3 arrows at once for several points of stamina or grab an arrow and stab someone, there just isn't much variety compared to dagger, swords, blades and power moves

Bows are fantastic for any one who knows WHEN & HOW to use them. Any shots that do zero damage simply missed the target. It's impossible for a bow to do zero damage if the target was hit at all.

With the bow you must put the target reticule (crosshairs) ON the enemy before you shoot because that's exactly where the arrow will hit, right where the crosshairs are. If the crosshairs are just 1/4 inch off target the arrow will miss completely, just like a gun.

Leveling up in Archery & adding perks to it will automatically improve your aim & timing & your shots will also cause greater damage to the enemy. Just like it does with a sword. You don't just get better on your own with any weapon. All weapons improve with level ups & perks.

Now this has not been my experience. The arrow will hit below or above the reticle depending upon range.

Edited for grammar.

I wouldn't be too high and might if you're using the crosshairs lol

Thanks but I don't need lol because I know what I'm doing. My level is over 35 and I haven't missed a crosshair shot since I was level 3 and 75% to 80% of all of my kills have been with the bow.

I think you missed my point, perhaps you didn't have crosshairs set on it

Actually it's you that's missing the point. With over 700 kills and about 80% of them (that's about 550 to 575 kills) made with the bow and not 1 miss over the past 32 level ups, I think that proves where my crosshairs where. Add to that the fact that in real life I'm a veteran (former U.S. Army Ranger (a commando incase you don't know what that is) of the Veitnam Era and trained by them to be a sniper. I assure you, I know all about crosschairs and EXACTLY how to use them and I handle bows the same way I handle(d) a sniper rifle.

The same way? Are you sure? I can shoot the $*** out of a scoped rifle, but can't shoot a bow to save my life.

This is kind of an apples and oranges issue, you can't compare two items that have polar opposite utilities.

I have no idea how to use a sniper rifle, so I won't comment on that one, but here's something that I find a little confusing:
It's easy to use a sword in Skyrim. You press a button, your character takes a swing and hacks their enemy in half. You're attacking someone who's standing two feet away, it's unlikely that you'll miss (it happens, but only when enemies sidestep, not because you did something wrong).
Now with a bow it looks completely different. You have to actually aim to hit anything; if you don't and just shoot blindly, you're going to fail miserably. And leveling up or putting more perks into archery doesn't help you with aiming - the crosshair stays where it was, and you still need to pay attention to its location. Of course, Eagle Eye and Steady Hand help with sniping, but it's only a situational aid. I've never seen any perks that "automatically improve your aim&timing". Even with maxed out archery, if the crosshair is off the target, you're screwed. It doesn't happen with a sword because the target is usually standing right in front of you.

What I'm trying to say is: in a game without auto-targetting, using a ranged weapon requires more skill than fighting with melee weapons, perks or no perks.

And I wouldn't be myself if I didn't mention it - crosshairs are lame There's nothing like turning them off and relying only on your eyes - and learning to never miss. So very, very satisfying!

that's the only way to do it really. In skyrim as long as you're not 100 yards away you can pretty much set the crosshairs on them and not miss ... in oblivion you had to aim above them and account for trajectory. I always turn the ch off

You still need to account for distance and trajectory in Skyrim, I find the arrows go a little to the right and a little bit high of the cross-hairs but you can adjust your aiming for this. I play a lot of FPS and do a lot of hunting, some times with an actual hunting bow, and I really enjoy archery which might be why I find archery in the game to be very OP, because I'm a pretty good shot to begin with. It takes some practice to get comfortable with leading your target and judging you trajectory but it can be done, I even impress myself sometimes with just how good I am with a bow in game and just how effective of a weapon it is this time round compared to Oblivion.
But what really draws me to archery is the long distance shots, nothing more satisfying then landing a head shot from 500-600ft out( in game )

You can " prey and spray " in Skyrim but it's far less effective then taking your time and judging your shots.

The person this post was answering was asking about windage and trajectory and that WILL be compensated with level ups. It did it for me through 2 games. He already knows he has to aim at his target.

there is still some of it in skyrim, I agree ... but it is much more simplified this time around

Again, as I've said in many other posts, leveling and adding archery perks will help compnsate for that. Until then just adjust your aim a little WITH the reticule. If the first shot is a little high, lower your aim just a little and vise versa until up level up and perk up enough.

Many here will tell you it won't but I know it does because the Official Game Guide I have says it will AND it HAS done it for me through 2 games and it did the same for a friend of mine, too.
Try it and see.

In another post yesterday I mentioned over 700 kills but that was people only. But I added up all kills & they all total 2100 and 75 to 80% were made with a bow. That's 1,575 to 1,680 bow kills for every thing.

Check your own score by totaling up ALL kills in you optioms menu. You'll be surprised by how many you have.

I agree with you but I hated archery in Oblivion, it feels more fluid and natural in Skyrim in comparison to Oblivion. I really think it felt right in Oblivion, not saying it's just like RL in Skyrim but it does feel better this time( to me ).

I know damn well you point the reticule at the freaking target and keep it there to make it hit. It's blatantly obvious.

Oh yeah I leveled it up alright. Had loads of perks in archery.

Did'nt stop the arrows repeadly landing at my feet even in scoped mode.
Or bending back at me when I aimed them at enemies.
Shoot, flying arrow, comes within half a foot of target, suddenly bends, points at the floor, points back at me, then drops.
There was also the ones that bounced off faces and enemies.
Or the ones that stick in enemies but do no damage. In their heads and unarmoured parts.
Or the times you shoot dragons and the arrow changes direction mid flight.
Oooh look a dragon. I will shoot it. Points arrow at hovering dragon.
Fires, arrow flys off to the left for no reason. Like fly, fly, fly, turn left midair!
Fire again. fly, fly, fly, turns right midair.

After a point and many bouncing, bending, direction changing arrows, I thought, are these cured splicers? Have they escaped from Bioshock and have the Telekenis plasmid? Have they got a vial of Telekenisis somehow?

Having never seen a NPC use the Telekenisis spell, ever.

It can only be, really bad game mechanics and many, many bugs.

In theory, archery could be good.

But the ammount of times it works is so tiny you may as well not bother.

Name dropper!

Bows are fun and so are blades. I just care if it fits the character.

Wow I haven't had a single one of those problems in the 3 to 4 hundred + hours of playing archer characters.

You sir have really bad luck.

All the people saying they can take down more then 5 enmies in close quarters with a bow (without doing the smithing, alchemy cheat where your bow will do stupid dumb high damage) need to turn the difficulty up because even ,maxed out with perks and sick skills you arent taking down 2 or three draugr deathlords and a few more draugr wights with a bow before they kill you. Archery is great. I always have it leveled and its always worth a few perks with almost every class of character that being said on master you cant even sneak attack one shot the most basic enemies without having archery extremely over leveled for your level or maxed.

I prefer archery and magic on higher difficulties because it makes the game more fun. You have to plan more.