Crossbows - Any reason to use over bows?

[Fenrisulven6]

Ranged combat is still broken when considered outside that context. I already provided an example, which hasn't been replied to. Here it is again:

Suppose we have a normal party of 4 characters: Cleric, Wizard, Paladin, and Rogue. Then you join as a Ranger, with equal training and gear to fight with ranged or melee weapons. Your party is doing a level-appropriate quest like Shan-To-Kor, Tangleroot, Tear of Dhakan, or Cabal for One, and you come around a corner to see five enemy hobgoblins. Your party launches into a courageous attack.

What weapon style should your Ranger use to join in the combat?

The answer is that you should use melee, unless the 120 second Manyshot cooldown was finished. If you pull rapiers and run into battle you will greatly contribute to the team, but if you draw a bow and start shooting you won't. That is the truth, and that is why ranged combat in DDO can be labelled "broken".

For the last few months, I've been fighting against your model above. With zero success.

My 8th has a rr holy burst pg longbow [so its normally 10th lvl item?] and as much as I want it to work better than melee, I still find that dropping the bow and jumping into melee with 8th lvl weaps is more effective.

The only more effective use I've found for bow attacks is to deliver cursespew/destruction/para before the critter gets into melee range.

So yes, ranged is broken.