There are plenty of interesting arrows around, but rarely in sufficient quantities to be useful, except for the Bone Arrows you sometimes find and the +1 Arrows that drop in stacks of 99. I mean, Bludgeoning arrows only drop as singles.
Having Poison arrows in 20-25, sure, but the +damage arrows really need to drop in stacks of 50-99. I'm not going to bother to load up 10 flame arrows, or 3 Purple Crystal ones.
Maybe even increase the drop rate. A meleer can use his weapon for ever, a shooter needs to have a good supply of ammo.
silver arrows drop in stacks of 30, but i would really like to see more special darts about, i mean there are a lot of arrows, -darts- are the thing that seem impossible to get hold of in decent quantities.
Arrows aren't -that- common. I'd like to see more drops of all types of missiles, please!
I rarely ever see any crossbow bolts dropped at all, even on quests were the enemies are all using crossbows. More cool bolts, please!
I actually think missles are just about right. The only arrows you find in very small quantities, like flame arrows, would be pretty useless in large quantities as well. The arrows and bolts that are useful in large amounts generally come in large amounts. It would be nice if there were a wider variety of spell effects on them, but for someone who isn't on very much I don't have trouble finding what i need.
By the way, four purple crystal arrows can take down at least two major NPCs. Some of those missiles that may seem useless are actually really good for one specific thing.
I'd expect the Purple Crystal ones to do something to undead, but with their rarity and low numbers, you don't get much of a chance to find out the effect.
Flame Arrows, Ice Arrows etc *would* be useful in larger quantities, I can't even seem to get them to stack beyond 10 arrow stacks.
Considering that unless you hoard ammo for the exact time it's going to me most effectiv, you'll burn through it fast, I really think more needs to drop. Meleers can easily replenish healing, but you're highl;y unlikely to recover more ammo than you used.
Considering how much even simple DR hurts ranged attackers, I think more common "special effect" ammo would be no bad thing.
For PCs without the feats / spells to make it work, I can see why you would want big quivers of purple crystal arrows, or for that matter, any other missile with a specific effect. But seriously, regarding flame and ice arrows, does one point of fire or cold damage really make that much difference? If we're going to lobby for better items, I'd rather see more weapons with the mighty property.
Again, I think there just needs to be a wider variety of spell effects on missile weapons. You can get grease and a low DC poison fairly easily, anything outside of that requires a DM to get. I'd like to see more arrows, bolts, and throwing weapons with either decent poison and disease DCs, or a wider variety of spell effects like hold person and stinking cloud.
This thread warms my heart. Yes, please.
Actually, thinking about it, what would make archers more useful in a PVP setting would be a prevalence of arrows with "No Damage, +1d8 Divine Damage or Negative Energy Damage" to be able to beat blurring more.
Now, I've seen some arrows with AoE effects even, but they are a bit redundant compared to say a Shrieking Cord with 10 charges.
I would love to see more arrow / missle drops. I can't even count the number of times I have gone on a mission with 300+ arrows only to leave with less than 50. ( I have gone on a few that I went through 400 and still hadn't gotten to the boss fight yet.)
Those that use sword and shield don't have to worry about this. Once you have a weapon, you have it. Don't see or haven't heard of them breaking, or a fighter getting ready to go to the boss and say, "crap can't use my blade, it lost it's edge....".
Yes, I know they are only 1 GP for 99 of them, but honest the sheer number you can go through is mind numbing at times.
moar arrowz pleasesz