So lets start with Bows vs Crossbows.
Basically, crossbows cost 3ap to attack with vs 2ap. This difference also applies to Ricochet and Marksmans Fang, thus making the abilities also more costly as a whole. The fact that crossbows don't do enough damage to compensate for the extra ap cost means you'd always go with a bow given the choice, this also is a negative, due to the limited amount of ap you have per turn, and assuming you get 4ap per turn (assuming you don't use Haste or any other buffs ahead of time), you literally only have 1 attack per turn vs 2 with a bow. This means you only have half as many opportunities to crit, thus affecting the damage output even further. It also doesn't help that crossbows don't have any extra range like they did in the first game.
Now to compare Stalves vs Wands. The same issues that were in the first game are still here (lack of damage vs dual wands, only 1 ranged attack per turn, less bonus stats vs dual wands,etc) In particular, it is worth noting that even though there is a damage penalty for dual weilding this is negated fairly easily with a few points in intelligence since attribute bonuses are additive vs multiplicative (+25% vs * 125%, its better for fixing deficits but worse for staking bonuses). More importantly, because the vast majority of mages rely on surfaces, being in melee range will alot of times mean your affected by the same surface you opponent is. It also means your less flexible with you options as you can only have 1 element with stalves and you dont have the option of using a shield.
Basically, I believe crossbows and stalves need a change to make them more viable.
