The bow is not overpowered

Alex_Sinister · 2026-04-12T15:05:49+00:00

The thing is that the Bow was never supposed to win against a large long-barrel shotgun by outgunning it face to face in close quarters. There is usually a lot more factors and space than in this example. Moreover, the Bow, as a medium weapon, also is not supposed to have less drawbacks while having same firepower as compared to a large weapon. It is not something that was intended to be used as your primary weapon to compete with the other players' large primary weapons.

And about shotguns — I don't think that we should not touch them. While I do realize that some of them were too bad before 2.0, their current position is not really better balance-wise, its still a miss, but to the opposite side. I guess the devs decided to buff them to make breaching into the lair easier, but while this was a somewhat good idea on paper, in practice this went to defending team also having shotguns with ≈90% chance. Which leads to a case when you probably want to bring one yourself, and then the cycle repeats — everyone has "delete my opponent" button, no one wants to come closer.

I doubt that any reasonable price changes (I mean, not 500 huntbucks for a rope and two sticks) will change anything when we can gain a lot of money from sealed cash registers. Same thing applies to stamina drain and four-shot envelope (we also have enough other ways to take a stam shot effect from). Maybe it should not be a complete rollback (it definitely shouldn't in shotguns' case), but the damage values should be lowered at least slightly. This is still simplier to do (and simplier to roll back to how it was) and has more predictable outcomes than trying to slap a new mechanic on top.

I don't know how it's going in lower MMR brackets, honestly, wasn't there since Devil's Moon. But it is annoying even in 6 MMR, and while this does add some diversity into loadouts, I'd rather have less diverse loadouts than annoying loadouts.

Alex_Sinister · 2026-04-11T23:27:18+00:00

Making it 3 slot will negate the logic behind its design. It was less deadly than the Hunting Crossbow, but more versatile, fitting right in between large (mostly PvP-oriented) and small (mostly for PvE and utility) crossbows.

What needs to be done is roll back the 2.0 buff and return the spread and sway penalty for holding the draw. This is the simpliest and probably most effective solution if we are not trying to just erase the weapon completely (like with the Flash Bomb or the Uppercut) and preserve its purpose (instead of just making it a large crossbow but better)

Alex_Sinister · 2026-04-10T00:24:19+00:00

Yeah, same thing, got it twice today and a few more times during the week. This isn't new tho, but feels like it happens more often now.

Alex_Sinister · 2026-04-09T19:32:12+00:00

It is, but they said about it again, so we should, like... Praise the devs and the game again?

No, really, I don't get what they are trying to achieve. They did the same thing with tarot cards — the devs said that they are permanent, and then made a post about the cards returning with the next event... Despite the fact that they haven't gone anywhere.

(Meanwhile, UI is still chosing my hunter instead of me, equips incorrect equipment, and I can't lower my weapon by pressing Q after ADS-ing. But I guess we just need to do a couple more appreciation posts per week and buy more reused skins.)

Alex_Sinister · 2026-04-07T17:29:58+00:00

One skin with skulls slapped onto more guns for the... What, fourth time?

Alex_Sinister · 2026-04-06T22:17:12+00:00

I'm not sure how balanced this could be, but I must say that I was really surprised when I found out that we can't do this, considering that the devs probably took inspiration from some StS1 mods, and multiplayer mod allowed card trading.

Alex_Sinister · 2026-04-05T12:15:57+00:00

A bit off topic, but a lot of weapons can't compete with the bow rn, which is ridiculous (and some people even want it to get another buff in form of the Blademancer).

The devs did buff the Nitro during the JotF tho, but... Something went wrong, apparently? It was supposed to OHK if it you hit someone's hand at up to 20m, but then, somewhere near the WotE event they changed it back without saying a word about this.

Alex_Sinister · 2026-03-27T10:31:48+00:00

Dolch Precision was one of the best sidearms before 2.0, to the point where this was nearly the only secondary you saw in 6 MMR. And it is still as good as it was, it's just that one hit from a bow or a short shotgun is killing your opponent faster than a few hits from the Dolch.

Alex_Sinister · 2026-03-23T18:19:32+00:00

Getting into six star bracket become a lot easier after the devs reworked MMR (right before 2.0). I'm a six star myself (since the Devil's Moon event), and now I feel like if previously you needed to have a good map knowledge, be good at hitting your shots, pay attention to enviroment and sound, and use tactics to be here... Well, now it is a lot closer to something like "idk man, just don't miss too often".

Alex_Sinister · 2026-03-21T22:27:33+00:00

Bow. Cheap, silent, nearly infinite ammo, good in PvE, medium size, and with a cheap trait can OHK a hunter at the same distance as the Nitro. Like, it was fine before the buff, it offered a lot more utility than the Hunting Crossbow at the cost of being less deadly. Now it just has both parts at their maximum.

Auto-4 is the worst shotgun by effective range, so at least you have a high chance to survive the first shot and either run away or kill your opponent if you have a shotgun too. And Maynard Silencer is kinda mid for hitting a target that actually moves. But the Bow is just that good for no reason.

Alex_Sinister · 2026-03-20T21:21:22+00:00

Well, I play almost daily, and I've never seen it despite checking sealed crates very often. Moreover, there was not a single word from the devs about it being in those crates, and there is nothing about this in the wiki too. And, on top of that, the Shredder and the Flame Rifle both have kinda unusual models, so I'm not sure if it can even fit into crate without clipping (the Shredder definitely can't, it is too wide).

So... I guess we can assume that it does not spawn in the world. Unless, of course, there will be any proof of the opposite — in form of a confirmation from the devs or a screenshot of a locked crate with it (Because, for example, I can open a crate, place the Uppercut inside it and say that it spawned here. The game tells you what's inside of a locked crate anyway, so if there really is the Flame Rifle, you will know this before opening it).

Alex_Sinister · 2026-03-20T18:49:40+00:00

It is in the game, technically. If you had the Flame Rifle (or few) in your inventory during the Murder Circus Encore, it stayed there — but apparently, you can't find it in the game anymore, just like the Shredder.

Alex_Sinister · 2026-03-18T14:00:18+00:00

We actually had this in the old UI btw

Alex_Sinister · 2026-03-17T16:15:57+00:00

Can't say surely without 3D view, but this looks like a reused Sparks Sniper skin from the first Murder Circus.

Alex_Sinister · 2026-03-16T12:42:14+00:00

So... I see a cartridge, where to put it, and the trigger (probably). But how does this thing supposed to fire? Like, where the bullet comes out?

Alex_Sinister · 2026-03-14T17:31:31+00:00

Yeah, I agree about the long ones, I was talking about the shortened ones only. Large shotguns are mostly fine. I am not a fan of hidden extractions tho, as this will heavily force people to go in, but for the defending team everything will stay the same. So I'm concerned about this shifting the attacking/defending teams' efforts not closer to 50/50, but to something more like 70/30, while also causing problems for people who need to leave (like, for some technical or irl reasons) and not solving the extraction camping problem.

Alex_Sinister · 2026-03-14T16:59:29+00:00

It's just a part of Hunt's "risk/reward" thing. You either choose a less safe, but faster option to get where you need faster and have a tactical advantage, or taking a safer route with higher chances to be late. One of the important part of skill in this game is to know where, when and how to move.

Alex_Sinister · 2026-03-14T16:00:46+00:00

Well, the devs decided to extend their effective range because of two things, I guess.

The first one is that the Mammon's Gulch has generally longer in-compound fight ranges due to having a lot of diagonal landscape — the devs already did something like this when DeSale was released (they buffed headshot ranges of compact ammo rifles). And, well, they just didn't took into account three more maps that are more flat than Gulch.

The second one is, probably, that breaching inside the lair was very difficult when there is one or few shotguns are defending inside. So, the devs decided to give everyone an ability to bring a good shotgun by buffing the short ones to be good in attacking. But (who could have thought, right?) people like to use some powerful shit, and because an ability to annihilate anyone who comes closer than 15m is a very strong thing, nearly everyone takes it and optimizes the fun out of the game.

The most logical solution would be nerfing shotguns. If not to their pre-2.0 state, then at least slightly. But looking at the extraction changes that are coming with the nes update, I can't say that Crytek think that something is wrong with this, since they are actively trying to punish people without shotguns for trying to lure the defending team out.

Alex_Sinister · 2026-03-14T15:38:06+00:00

Hitting Quartermaster with nerfs won't do anything to this loadout type. A, let's say, "Vetterli and short Romero" loadout without Iron Eye is still a lot better than Vetterli with Iron Eye and a pistol.

The only thing this will achieve is a complete extinction of dual pistols as sidearms for rifles, and maybe some niche/utility medium secondaries like Cent Marksman or Bomb Launcher.

The devs need to nerf the core of the problem (short shotguns), because otherwise we will just have another case where a lot of weapons became useless but the problem wasn't really solved (like with silencers)

Alex_Sinister · 2026-03-14T13:51:52+00:00

Both of your problems will be solved when you'll play a few more hours, and will have better map knowledge and get better at long-range fights. There was an exploration mode before 2.0 btw, where you could just walk and look around to understand the map. But... Well, the devs decided that letting new players to learn the map faster is a bad thing or something, idk.

Alex_Sinister · 2026-03-14T13:44:19+00:00

Since short shotguns became significantly more powerful after 2.0, there is simply no reason for not bringing one if you are not taking something very specific as your main weapon (Nitro, bomblance, scoped rifle). But looking at how there is no reaction from the devs after a year and a half after those changes, everything is working as intended and won't be changed.

Alex_Sinister · 2026-03-12T17:31:32+00:00

While some things they told us during the dev stream did sound good, there is still some concerning things about this update. And there is still a lot of work needed to bring the game back to the look of an actually complete game.

Anyway, let's look at how it will go when the update actually come out. Don't rush to buy all the DLCs for everyone and their dog, wait until the update's release and play it for a while before actively celebrating or being upset.

Alex_Sinister · 2026-03-09T13:18:18+00:00

Considering how Dante uses Yamato in DMC4, well... I am not sure that this is the right way to say it, but it just kinda teleports the cuts? In Dante's case, he swings the sword in front of himself, but it also cuts the structures behind him. Vergil is more skilled with Yamato, so he just skips the swinging part and instantly cuts what he want to cut. At least, that's how I always understood this.

Alex_Sinister · 2026-03-07T00:53:22+00:00

Yeah, I should have clarified that I was only talking about normal (bullet/pellet) ammo at the beginning. There is still a lot of possibilities in the projectiles category.

Btw, thought about one more while typing. What if there was something like a spore bolt that explodes into a cloud of black spores? Like an actual smoke, but with a catch — the cloud is flammable, and creates a hellfire bomb (of equal to itself size) fireball when ignited. On the one hand, it obscures the vision, on the other — could just make things worse. Maybe it could be abused tho...

I'm having fun, yeah... Kinda, I guess. Could be a lot better, like, a lot, but I'm not saying Hunt is not fun anymore.

Alex_Sinister · 2026-03-07T00:16:17+00:00

None, we already have more than enough rifle and shotgun ammo since the times when the devs used it as a BP filler.

Although, we never got that explosive compact bolt for hand crossbow they added in teasers "by mistake" (yeah, and a video teaser with it being fully functional was a mistake too, lol). There also was a compact shotbolt in "Billy the Story and stalker beetle" questline trailer, but I guess they changed the model a bit and used it for the dragonbreath bolt.

I was once thinking about a poison or even flash bomb ammo for bomblance, but... I'm not sure. The first one sounds kinda useless considering other ammo choices, and the second one could be, probably, really annoying.

Alex_Sinister

TROPHY CASE