Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity Original Sin - Beta this game lacks arrowshafts and branches

Hello,

I just wanted to post somewhere that i have around 30 arrowheads in my inventory (i'm fond of special arrows) but i have found only a few arrowshafts so far and a little branches. I'm level 8 by now. I think an equilibrium must be found between arrowshafts and arrowheads, giving more logs, more branches, more arrowshafts and maybe less arrowheads or at least something to fix them on.

Is the problem the same for other people using regularly these arrows ?

I agree, this is really silly. The arrow vendor I think sells them only the first time, and then after that they are gone for good. Branches are used in at least three crafting recipes, and yet they're really rare. Branches should also give 3 to 5 arrow shafts per branch. The arrowheads should be more of a pain to acquire than the shafts!

That whole arrow system needs a rethink. Even with the lower cost, it's a gold sink no other "class" has to pay to be effective or have fun in combat.

I've seen the vendor sell several times arrowshafts, but it's random, so you may have to "wait" a bit before if comes again.

And this leads to another topic i made : what makes a shopkeeper update his stock ? What triggers it ? Time ? Level up ? Quest update ? Knowing that would allow people to get several tries on shop sales. Anyone have an idea ?

Special arrows seem like quite a common drop. Some archer enemies are coded to always drop special arrows.

If that's not enough, though, one thing that they could do however, is change the Way of the Ranger talent order: Instead of "25% Chance to recover special arrow" as the Rank 5 talent, make it the Rank 1 talent, and change it to be "(10% * Way of the Ranger rank) chance to recover special arrow", giving you a 30% chance with 3 WotR and 50% chance with 5 WotR.

Larian may consider that too powerful, though. Who knows.

Yeah, we've talked about that change to Way of the Ranger before. *If* it actually happens it can soften things for bow users some.

You can find branches on interactable trees outside, or wood by destroying barricades or crates. You can also buy wood from crafting merchant in the guilds quarter.
Or not.
Or just open crates and hope you will randomly find anything interesting for you, which could be a long, hazardous and boring process.

From what I have been able to deduct (and tested several times); change party members when talking to them. They seem to re-initiate stock per party member, but do remember that one being generated. So you have 3 re-roll changes (1 if both of your main characters have lone wolf).

There might also be other ways or reasons, but this one seems the quickest and most 'guaranteed' one.

So, maybe a selfish question (got no ranger) but if rangers may get many special arrows aside their weapon drops and skills, what do mages or warriors have?
I know mages are especially OP so I don't care that much about them (0_o), but I suppose something for melee would be nice too, like Drakensangs whetstones (+1 damage for 10 hits) for example.

Hassat - Warriors get a pretty good bunch of skills, Mages get a LOT of spells. Right now, in terms of skills, I believe Archers only get Barrage, Splitting Arrow, and possibly Ricochet as bow-specific skills, plus the arrows. It's the melee Rogue that gets zilch past the preset.

I'm level 8 now and only on my starter skills. All Warrior skills start from Way of the Warrior 3. I know I could have gotten them using the +skill item exploit, but I try not to as to not upset the balance and give a more proper interpretation of play...

I was thinking of Madora. You are quite correct though that the WotWarrior skills need to be reorganized because having them all start at Rank 3 is an issue, and makes cross-classing difficult.

Ranger gameplay is not a lot of fun, Hassat. My friend plays one when we co-op together, and most rounds usually end up with her saying "I guess I'll just shoot my bow again" (and with 4 AP use, shooting it once is about all she gets to do). This is why her interest is shifting towards the mage, as that class has all manner of options during a fight.

The trick arrowheads make it look like there's a lot of flash for the bow user, but because of the cost you usually end up asking yourself "do I need to throw gold at my opponent to win this fight?", because that's essentially what using one of those arrowheads boils down to. And since the answer is almost always "no", they end up being used very rarely.

It's like having a bunch of toys you really not supposed to play with. Better for the Ranger to just admire his or her coveted arrowhead collection instead.

I'm going to try it. I'm going to break my arrow-hoarding habit and make a no-fear Ranger who uses special arrowheads a lot. He gets them in stores, he crafts them, he uses them. Then I'll see if it's safe to use arrows liberally.

There's so much you can do with them, that I have to break free from the trap of "I must save this for later". I'm going to try.

But... melee gameplay is exactly the same like that? (except you put yourself at risk).

To me, special arrows is like casting spells with no cooldown, but ammo instead. It has a hard-combat-solving potential.

And personally, i'm level 9 now and i can buy around what i want, especially arrows costing only 40-45 gold, just a bit more for the best debuff ones when you craft them. I have more than 10k gold with my lucky finds and regular magic items drops. It's no gold sink to me.

However i agree that buying premade arrows is way too expensive. Some can cost more than a skillbook. It's all about crafting. It's even weird to have such a difference. I mean, it's a two-part item, buying the seperate parts costs 3 to 10 times less than the whole arrow. Not so logical.

And thanks for the crate and tree trick, i didn't know though i tried, i'll try this now on everything woody on the map

Ahem. Did anyone find any wood from crates or any interactable trees or did i get trolled ? I went on all cyseal with no results.

Well, I am sorry I trolled you. Even more my suggestions would be fooling you, I really didn't mean it, it was sarcastic. I so much wish it wasn't.

No problem, i found a lot of loot i missed in the meantime.

I have yet to try and play with special arrows, indeed, even if I have been playing rangers only since the alpha started. I really never needed it.
However it's true that, during the very first alpha stages, I was just a spectator during the fights, since I had nothing to do, was inflicting non-existent damage, and overall it wasn't fun at all.

Then came abilities like Charm, Silence, arrow spray, which gave a little more purpose to rangers. Some balancing came too, and I think during the tale alpha stages, the ranger was in a good place. I even used some special arrows, mostly the explosives one. With the first beta build, though, there is now the infamous Arrow Spray Is Overpowered stuff. On the other hand, I've started using Water arrows a lot to... Extinguish fires. They proved quite useful in the charred area, to weaken and wet those pesky burned skeletons, especially the Twins Joined In Fire.

Also, do not forget the Way of the Ranger rank 5, which gives you a chance to not consume your special arrows stock. Arguably, I'd maybe boost the percentage a bit, or even give a talent that can only be bought at later levels that would give 100% arrow recovery.

Still, the issue right now is that those arrows are not needed. Just try raistlin on your archer, and you will be able to do so much in a single turn that it's almost indecent. Up to the point you can shoot twice per turn with a crossbow even with the +1ap per ranged skill buff active. And crossbows hurt. Really.

I don't find that statement to be even remotely accurate. My Warrior almost has the problem of having too much to do. Buff the team's stats, debuff the foes resistances, crowd control with knockdowns and fears, AOE attacks, use movement abilities for the right positioning to "tank", and now we can interact with elemental surfaces.. every now and then I actually get to squeeze in some normal attacks with my weapon.