Patch 1.5 appears to have changed the way that archery damage is calculated, such that bonuses from skill, perks, enchantments, and potions are applied to arrow damage as well as bow damage. (Before, only bows benefited from modifiers and a fixed arrow damage was added after the fact.) Among other things, this change (assuming it actually has been changed and isn't just a display bug; I'll get to that in a moment) has drastically improved the late-game scaling of the bound/mystic bow.

I'm keenly interested in whether or not this is indeed the case, or if this change is just a bug in how damage is displayed in your inventory screen. I've found some threads discussing a potential change in archery damage calculation in 1.5, but the discussions were all either inconclusive (with some people arguing that it was just a display bug and others seeming to report that archery damage was changed) or were discussing the beta version of the patch. See, e.g., https://unofficialskyrimpatch.16bugs.com/projects/7078/bugs/223056; http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2609157; http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1361775-archery-damage-tests/

I cannot test anything rigorously as I play on a console, so I don't know definitively one way or another if this damage is actually being applied to enemies or if it's just a bug with the displayed damage. (Certainly, it seems like my bows are now doing much more damage than before.) Anyone out there do any definitive testing on the final version of the patch?

I think the latest patch fixed any bugs that were created in the original patch.. my bows seem to be doing normal damage now.

I'll retest tonight (the third of OP's links is my original testing.) I'll be running the same set of tests as before:
-Forced 2k health Draugr Wight with unconscious;
-Forced 100 skill and 5/5 Overdraw;
-Orc bow @ AN arrows, normal hit;
-Bound bow with Mystic Binding, normal hit;
-MBB + 3 x 40% enchants;
-3 x 40% enchants and 40% potion;
-x3 sneak attack with and without enchants.

If a fix-patch to 1.5 changed bow damage again, I'd like to know.

Awesome! Thanks!

I've noticed the increased damage too. Is there any way to tell whether it's a bug or a feature/rebalance?

As soon as I downloaded the patch, I found a bow with 37 damage. My eyes popped out and fell on the floor. So I decided to ditch my glass bow that only did 22 damage to see that it now does 39!!!

If I'd had eyes in they would have popped out again.

I compared my bound bow(with mystic binding) to a regular old Daedric bow.(unsmithed)
With my perks(overdrawx5) the damage of a daedric bow with daedric arrows is 153(97 with steel arrows) and 57 with no arrows equipped. So clearly arrows now recieve perk augmentation once equiped with a bow. My mystic bound bow is 168 with bound or daedric arrows, 112 with steel arrows and 72 is listed with no arrows equipped.
So basically the mystic bound bow is now equal to a [flawless] daedric bow.

If this is indeed a rebalance, then that's kind of awesome; gives a reason to use better arrows late in the game and also makes bound bow much better for late game use. Now if only they'd also "rebalanced" destruction magic....

And in case anyone is curious with maxed out archery, five ranks in overdraw and four items of fortify archery 40% a mystic bound bow will deal nearly 400dmg.

Woops delete me.

Ok, just ran my tests, and they simply confirm what I saw before. A simple summary with the orc bow is enough:

1. With just the orc bow (base dam = 10) and AN arrows (base dam = 10):
The bow displays 60 damage on its own; while the "total" damage shows 70, the actual damage being dealt is 60.
2. Throwing in 3 pieces of 40% gear, the bow displays, and the draugr takes, 132.
3. With the gear on, a x3 sneak attack dealt 396 damage.

If you want to know how this stacks up with a bound bow, the orc bow and Ancient Nord arrows start at 20 damage; the Mystic Bound Bow starts at 48. An unimproved Daedric bow with Daedric arrows is 43; improved, as high as 82.

The rebalance was a simple one: instead of arrows being added to the modified bow damage as they were before:
(Bow base + smithing) * skill * overdraw = A;
(A * sneak) + (A * fort marks * potion) + crit + weapon chant + poison + arrow

The damage is now
((Bow base + smithing + arrow) * skill * overdraw * fort marks * potion) = A;
(A * sneak) + crit + weapon chant + poison.
The damage shown on your stat bar is A + arrow base damage; the addition is an error.

It's funny that. My Elven bow smithed is doing over 450 damage, and bound bow only does 298 with mystic binding. mystic binding perk only added 50+ to the damage, so I went back to a previous save and stuck with my smithed bow.

Well there isn't a cap on smithing. One can smith a bow to deal 1,000dmg if they exploited the system enough.

I'm just pointing out mages who don't use conjuration and or alchemy/enchanting buff are quite useless at master diffculty.

298 damage is enough for an archer to get by on master difficulty.

It's funny that. My Elven bow smithed is doing over 450 damage, and bound bow only does 298 with mystic binding. mystic binding perk only added 50+ to the damage, so I went back to a previous save and stuck with my smithed bow.

Which illustrates the known effects of crafting on "class" balance: because crafting can affect magnitudes on physical (and to a limited extent bound) weapons, but not (directly) on magic, physical will yield higher damage.

I wouldn't so quickly dismiss the bound bow, however; until (and unless?) you do the crafting loops, it's one of the best weapons in the game - and even if you do loop, the bound bow can do banish + soul-trap with two more perks and free up your "real" bow for other enchants.

Everyone has their own preferences for how they like to play the game. Personally, I find that around 250-275 damage is roughly my sweet spot for bows on master difficulty. When I go much below that it gets annoying, and too much above that makes everything feel boringly easy. This change allows me to reach that damage with a mystic bow using only two fortify enchants, whereas before the bow could barely hit 200 damage with all four possible slots filled with fortify enchantments. Now if only the other bound weapons could be made remotely viable on master..... but whatever, I shall take what I can get.

Thanks for the good info!

Now one can be an excellent archer for around 3 perks, since with this huge damage boost 5armsman is overkill on sneaks.

This is a very interesting answer. It rings true to me. If I may ask, what is your sweet spot for armor rating? and magic resistance?

I like both to be capped, even though survival gets far easier way before the cap (around 60% on MR and around 350-400 armor rating). I hate dying instantly from some random deathlord arrow or incinerate spam.

Is that why after the patch my bow is doing like 450 damage when prior I swear it was only like 250? .___.

Is that why after the patch my bow is doing like 450 damage when prior I swear it was only like 250? .___.

Yes. Before 1.5, arrows were adding to the damage in the end step (where crit, poison, etc apply.) Now they apply in the same step as smithing improvements; in effect, the arrows take all the multipliers, resulting in much better damage.

I'm not sure if I like that, my character could pretty much one hit nearly anything while sneaking before. o.o

Absolute bull [censored], dual cast perked incinerate does 220 damage, fired much faster than a bow can be. Destruction outclasses bows in a non-sneak situation every time unless you smith a bow to do 1000 damage.

Then again I could hit for 1000 damage using poisons and potions with destruction, but why would I want to.

I'm just pointing out mages who don't use conjuration and or alchemy/enchanting buff are quite useless at master diffculty.

dual cast perked incinerate does 220 damage, fired much faster than a bow can be. Destruction outclasses bows in a non-sneak situation every time unless you smith a bow to do 1000 damage.

Then again I could hit for 1000 damage using poisons and potions with destruction, but why would I want to.

We know you can dominate the game with the crafting loop and slaves on demand. We know you can dominate the game with Destruction Stun-Lock. Neither of these is the question here --- the question is, was archery buffed in 1.5; the answer is, yes.