PC arrows should be visible in flight

Raestloz

New member
I like archery, and I have extreme difficulty learning the arrow trajectory. All this time all I got is I let loose, the missile disappears into the void, a second or two later if I'm really lucky there's an indicator that the arrow hits something. It could be zombie's head, it could be the wall 3 feet above the head, it could be the floor 3 feet in front of the head, who knows. Most of the time there's no feedback at all. It missed, but I can't know by how much to compensate. Was I aiming too far to the right? Was I aiming too far to the left? Where's the trajectory peak?

In Skyrim, the arrow is visible throughout the flight. I could learn when the arrow is supposed to start falling, how far it can go, things like that. Skyrim is the only game where I can actually learn the arrow trajectory and apply that knowledge to score consistent hits in the future. I've tried archery in The Forest too, and the lack of trajectory makes it hard to gauge the strength of the bow and the maximum distance it can handle, just like this one

 
I agree with this, We should see that, and archery is all about watching the flight after loosing an arrow, can't hit a target if you can't see the arc

 
In real life, I personally have a really hard time seeing my arrows mid-flight (mind you, I use a compound bow now, long bows shoot them much slower and can see them better), but why should we see them in games? I mean, yes, it would definitely be nice to see them in this game, especially since (last I checked) the sights are still a bit screwed up, and it's not like the devs are aiming for realism in any sense of the word, but at this point, I'm fine with arrows being invisible or visible mid-flight. But I'd rather they fix the sights on the bows.

Also, I imagine projectile traces would consume more PC resources... which this game already struggles with. So, I don't know if it's worth it.

 
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I do not care as much about real life arrows. You should be allowed to improve yourself, and the lack of visibility actively hinders it. Bows are bad enough that they're practically useless day 5, they need to buff it and a visible arrow is a huge step that does not involve tweaking numbers

As far as resources go, if an arrow is a problem, they should remove the grenade projectile

 
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I think the problem has two key areas:
- Render range of arrow entities is longer when you are zoomed in
- You cannot stay zoomed in after shooting with a bow

Sometimes, if it's a long range shot, I'm able to zoom in again after reloading to see the "breaking arrow effect" on the ground or on a zombie.

I find it hard to believe that a simple projectile trace would consume much resources at all. TBH it doesn't even need a trace, just adjust the render range or fix the forced auto-reload.

 
I do not care as much about real life arrows. You should be allowed to improve yourself, and the lack of visibility actively hinders it. Bows are bad enough that they're practically useless day 5, they need to buff it and a visible arrow is a huge step that does not involve tweaking numbers

As far as resources go, if an arrow is a problem, they should remove the grenade projectile
 Day 18. Still rocking the bow as my main weapon. It´s far from useless even later in game.

Also i don´t get how a visible arrow would make the bow a better weapon? Am i missing something here?

 
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That´s just experience. I got pretty god with the bow even on distances. See it as a challenge. I wouldn´t mind it. If it doesn´t need hardware power that is.

 
I refuse to see it as a challenge, simply because it isn't. "Challenge" is a very broad excuse more often than not used to justify lack of quality of life, and has nothing to do with an accomplishment.

For example, it would also be a "challenge" if the game has no indicator or preview of where the block would be placed and its alignment. It'd be unplayable yes, but also challenging

 
It´s just that the arrow not beeing visible is not making the game unplayable. Just a bit harder. Really only a bit.  The bow is far from beeing useless, a good modded compound bow does more damage than a SMG5, i think mine is somewhere at 63 right now. Ofc the fire rate can´t be compared. Stealth and bow rock until very late game. Also when not sneaking i only use firearms in close quarters and more than 2 zombies (and bloodmoon obviously). Otherwise it´s bow+knife/machete

 
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A couple things, as said above by many so far, it wouldn't help much and I disagree, as someone who's done archery competitions during renaissance fairs, and owns a couple bows ( Longbow, Chinese Horsebow and an 80lb compound) I usually can see my arrow for most of it's flight path* (with the compound being an exception, but its so powerful, it's trajectory is almost flat for most target shooting)

*The purpose of an entity arrow in a game would be that, I can adjust my aim easier, since I could follow the path the arrow took

EX.  ___----ZH---____=-----> in this example the zombies head intercepts the path, scoring a hit

EX2 ___---'''ZH''''---___=----> this example shows the arrow missing by a hairs breadth as the path is right over the z (although hard to do with text symbols only)

in game as it stands, unless I score a hit, or I happen to notice where the little "puff" of arrow impact, I can't make a semi-accurate guess as to where my next arrow should end up (I use the bow pretty extensively, and while I've gotten good at estimation, a flight path would have helped tremendously as time went on)

 
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Go to creative and practice some with flaming arrows, or exploding so you can see where they hit.  I got lucky, and got a 'feel' for it, and now usually only miss on shots on moving targets from the side or because the arrows just deviate sometimes.

 
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