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Arrows from crossbows should travel further and deal more damage

I feel like crossbows and bows are too similar, yet crossbows are more expensive so they could so with a bit of an upgrade to make a crossbow more worth it, and to differentiate them from regular bows.

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  • 62
    Registered User commented
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    When crossbows were announced, they said that crossbows would deal more damage and shoot further. I didn't think they meant only a quarter heart of damage and 3 extra blocks.

  • 38
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    What powered pick said. Crossbows should absolutely do more damage as well as have a good increase in the range of the arrow. 3 extra blocks just isn't covering it for me.

  • 5
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    Why though? The benefit of the crossbow is being able to whip it out and fire instantly instead of having to draw it back and be slowed down like when using the bow.

    You also get to shoot fireworks, so it's even got aoe.

  • 27
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    The crossbow is suppose to be the better version of the bow (without enchants of course). Having them only go 3 more blocks out and not even a slight damage difference just doesn't sound like it's the better weapon. The bow and crossbow need their differences.

  • 23
    Registered User commented
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    This could be an enchantment. I feel like the problem is just that the enchanted bow does too much more damage and can have infinite projectiles. The crossbow doesn't have enough good enchants or special features to make up for this difference.

  • 9
    Registered User commented
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    Crossbows do need more of a purpose but making them do more damage is not the right approach if this were the case players could have all their slots as loaded crossbows and switch between them instantly killing you

  • 3
    Registered User commented
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    Well, just use fireworks with 7 stars. They are good.

  • 8
    Registered User commented
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    I honestly don't see what people are complaining about. If you were to give me the choice between a non-enchanted bow and a non-enchanted crossbow I would take the crossbow. Why? Because when loaded, the crossbow can be shot instantly and does approximately the same damage. People with bows have to pull it back for a second, and when doing so get slowed down.

    What about the reload time? Well, I can just hide behind a wall to reload my crossbow! Simple, right? Crossbows are just so much better for combo-ing, close ranged combat, defensive play, etc.

    Now... if you were to give me the choice between a power 5 flame bow and a piercing 4 quick charge 3 crossbow... That would be a hard choice... On the one hand, the bow is practically instant death (especially with the current armor piercing mechanics). But on the other hand, the crossbow is just as fast, and ignores shields...

  • 4
    Registered User commented
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    I absolutely agree, with at least some sort of damage enchantment IF not a damage increase. I say 5 hearts default, with an enchantment being able to get it up to 13 hearts or something high like that.

  • 6
    Registered User commented
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    Yes fireworks are good clock, but not everyone wants to be grinding for gunpowder.

  • 4
    Registered User commented
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    Yup, 10 damage for the crossbow with a critical damage of 11 would be fair, and the possibility to enchant it with the Power enchantment.

  • 5
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    I think a barrage enchantment would fix this. I heard alot from someone about It, so I wanna address It here.

    The enchantment allows you to fire multiple bursts of arrows. It goes up to 4 and fires an extra shot with every tier. When you have Barrage 2 or higher with multshot, the arrows/fireworks will spread out more. This enchant does however not go with quick-charge, so be aware of that.

  • 7
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    PureAwsome334  The crossbow is suppose to be a better version of the bow. Yes, it can reload and fire faster but is that really it? By default there should be a bigger difference in both damage and range (especially the range). With power on the bow, okay the bow is considered the more powerful weapon. Of course we have flame too which deals even more damage and still giving the bow a purpose but there's no difference with the crossbow. The only enchantments it has are the ones to speed up its reloading and how it shoots arrows. No damage boost or range boost. I would be satisfied with the crossbow dealing more damage with piercing increasing its damage a little bit (weaker than power). More importantly though, the range is what should really be changed. Again, 3 blocks? How can that not bother someone?

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    This needs to happen. Crow bows can’t even get power on it

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    I like this idea, even if its just making the crossbow projectile faster.

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    I thought that crossbows were supposed to be slower to load, but more powerful? I feel the ability to quickly fire and a much straighter shot could be balanced with a slower reload. That way, you could whip it out and shoot first at a moment's notice, but you'd have to take cover it you wanted to reload again.

  • 5
    Registered User commented
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    Blast Burner, you claim that the crossbow is supposed to be better than the bow.

    Says who??

    Honestly, why do people think that things have to be better than other things? Why does the sword have to be better than the trident, the trident better than the axe, and the axe better than the hoe? Crossbows are balanced compared to bows, yes, so why change it?

  • 3
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    I definitely agree that crossbows should be more distinct! Though instead of increasing damage, I think the knockback on crossbows should be increased. This would help make crossbows more effective at close-ranged combat, as well as make Multishot that much more useful.

  • 5
    Registered User commented
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    I think that a good option would be a new enchantment for the crossbow that allows to ignore some points of armor, the maximum would be 5 points of armor.

  • 1
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    Crossbows is like AWP sniper from CSGO, slow to reload, slow to fire, slow to aim, very high range, yet each one hit shot from a zombie is so worth it. Irl they are strong enough to penetrate human metal armor.

     

    Lonbows are like assault rifles, faster to shoot, lower range, lower damage, but enough to kill mobs and slow them down as you run. Irl a longbowmen squad won over a crossbow squad because the arrows just kept raining plus precision isn't needed for faster unarmored soldiers.

  • 3
    Registered User commented
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    PureAwsome334  Says who? The people in this post. There are many reasons why bows are better than crossbows which gives them a purpose and crossbows are balanced I agree to that, but I'm just saying that there should be a bigger difference between the two. Crossbows barely shoot farther and barely do more damage than a bow but they should because that's being realistic. Crossbows shoot farther and are more powerful than bows in real life so why aren't they in Minecraft?

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    Totally agree, they need to make faster their shot too.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    I agree. More or less. Crossbows should have their own niche compared to bows, but currently, all the situations where you can choose between a bow or an equally expensive crossbow (material and enchantment costs), I'd take the bow every time. I have my own suggestion on this topic which I'll quickly plug here: https://feedback.minecraft.net/hc/en-us/community/posts/360043237151-Rebalancing-Bows-and-Crossbows-

    Essentially, I suggest bows become the default ranged weapon in the early game, and get a niche as a mid-range weapon in the mid to late game, while crossbows become the dedicated sniping tools - they take a long time to load, so can't be used while being attacked beyond the one shot, but one shot is usually all you need.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    Kohlson Tueller That is unnecessary. We already have firework arrows. It'll just make using the crossbow more tedious. It'll just be a retextured harming arrow.

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    If this is the case we should remove bow fatigue

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    We want better crossbows, and if cant be, a LONGBOW!

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    They should add ranged crossbows where you can attach the telescope from 1.17 and make it like a sniper

  • 3
    Registered User commented
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    I don't think that the standard wooden crossbow need a terribly great buff. I think the biggest problem with crossbows in the game now, is that they are grossly inferior to a max-enchanted bow. They do less damage, they can't set enemies on fire, their accuracy is offset by the bow's higher rate of fire. Even at a distance, their range isn't great enough that an enemy using an max enchanted bow can't easily close the range to where their bow is at an advantage. Fireworks do give crossbows a way to hinder target visibility and do comparable damage to high-end bows, but high-damage fireworks have inferior range. Additionally, fireworks are impractical at close-rage as the user is liable to be caught in the explosion of their own firework. The crossbow has no niche as it cannot make use of its range advantage with its most powerful missile, and its inferior dps means it useless inside a bow's effective range.

    Introducing an "Advanced Crossbow" made from higher-level materials (possibly 3 iron and 1 diamond/netherite) that had significantly longer range, perhaps 1.5 or 2 times that of a bow. I like the idea of combining a telescope with a crossbow to make a "sighted crossbow". A sight would be useful to hit distant targets if you had a weapon that could aim in a relatively straight line, and an Advanced Crossbow would be able to do this. Implementing ideas along these lines would give us a crossbow-type weapon that could be useful late game.

  • 4
    Registered User commented
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    Crossbows are more of a sidegrade to bows than anything, they fill a different place in terms of long range that bows dont

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    I agree in real life armor is useless against crossbows so that could be one advantege. Another one could be the crossbows could SHOOT FARTHER. like for example a bow can shoot "5 blocks" well a crossbow could shoot"10 blocks". This has to be DONE.