Arcane Archer, the Disaster of DDO

[ferrite]

This is a lengthy semi-rant. Fair warning.
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I feel Arcane Archer as it is implemented, is simply a disaster. Almost all the cool skills that make an Arcane Archer good were left out of the translation to DDO:


"Imbue Arrow (Sp)
At 2nd level, an arcane archer gains the ability to place an area spell upon an arrow. When the arrow is fired, the spell’s area is centered on where the arrow lands, even if the spell could normally be centered only on the caster. This ability allows the archer to use the bow’s range rather than the spell’s range. It takes a standard action to cast the spell and fire the arrow. The arrow must be fired in the round the spell is cast, or the spell is wasted. "

ANALYSIS: So an area spell OF THE ARCHER'S CHOOSING. Eligible spells might include ice storm, shout, and even more powerful spells like sunburst and meteor swarm (granted you'd need to be able to cast these through some other means, but still, the choice is yours if you can manage such a feat) Basically, anything that has 'area' listed in its spell description would qualify. Instead we get the choice made for us in the form of extremely weak stuff like force arrow and acid arrow. Pfft. Next up..


"Seeker Arrow (Sp)
At 4th level, an arcane archer can launch an arrow once per day at a target known to her within range, and the arrow travels to the target, even around corners. Only an unavoidable obstacle or the limit of the arrow’s range prevents the arrow’s flight. This ability negates cover and concealment modifiers, but otherwise the attack is rolled normally. Using this ability is a standard action (and shooting the arrow is part of the action). "

ANALYSIS: Ok so an arrow that shoots around a corner and through others. Translated to DDO you'd obviously need a cooldown here to keep in line with the intent of the skill, so would be an active skill. Not implemented yet (or ever).


"Phase Arrow (Sp)
At 6th level, an arcane archer can launch an arrow once per day at a target known to her within range, and the arrow travels to the target in a straight path, passing through any nonmagical barrier or wall in its way. (Any magical barrier stops the arrow.) This ability negates cover, concealment, and even armor modifiers, but otherwise the attack is rolled normally. Using this ability is a standard action (and shooting the arrow is part of the action)."

ANALYSIS: An arrow that can pass through walls and doors as needed (non-magical). Active skill, cooldown. I can just hear the screams and howls from melee's 'hey no fair why can't my axe do that too?!'. But hey it IS in the rules for an AA after all..


"Hail of Arrows (Sp)
In lieu of her regular attacks, once per day an arcane archer of 8th level or higher can fire an arrow at each and every target within range, to a maximum of one target for every arcane archer level she has earned. Each attack uses the archer’s primary attack bonus, and each enemy may only be targeted by a single arrow. "

ANALYSIS: Wow.. Basically the ranged weapon equivalent of Whirlwind Attack. Truly awesome, making an AA worthwhile. WHERE is this skill and why don't we have it?!


C'mon Turbine, throw us AA's a bone here and give us at least ONE of these awesome abilities that we should already have by now..

Where's the love?

[dkyle]

Imbue Arrow (Sp)

DDO's version is vastly superior. If DDO's Imbue worked like PnP, there would be almost no Arcane Archers. Merely casting spells through a bow is just silly in DDO.

"Seeker Arrow (Sp)

Pointless is DDO, with any significant cooldown. What the heck is one arrow going to get you? Are you having trouble hitting?

Phase Arrow (Sp)

Also pointless, except possibly to enable exploits. Also an interface nightmare. How do you set your target if you can't see it?

Hail of Arrows (Sp)

Not useless inherently, but if it's at a cooldown simulating a "day", it would be useless. Even with only a 12 second cooldown, it wouldn't be that useful. Hardly making an AA "worthwhile".

But hey it IS in the rules for an AA after all..

The "rules" for an AA in DDO are what the Devs implement. Appealing to what the rules for the PrC in 3.5 were is not even a remotely compelling argument, as far as I'm concerned. DDO is not 3.5 PnP.

Where's the love?

Some "love" may be warranted. But looking at the AA rules in 3.5 is not where they're going to find it.

[Antheal]

Didn't you know? Apparently DDO is the only MMORPG where ranged combat is so OP to be gamebreaking, and thus has to be nerfed to non-viability.

I mean, it's not like Turbine have an entire Class dedicated to ranged combat in their other game or anything...

[Delt]

All those skills are pretty terrible unless they are greatly altered for DDO. I don't really see anything worthwhile.

[voodoogroves]

Arcane Archers in PNP are horrid. It's a 2 level dip and that's it.

DDOs version is at least usable ...