Let me start out by saying that I love the idea behind Dark Quiver. A buff skill that increases your bow attacks? Yes please!
However, I absolutely loath it’s current implementation.
The marksman mastery is a stand-and-shoot implementation of ranged classes. There are no moving-attack skills. Yet the Dark Quiver ability places time-dependent objects which need to be collected, in a random pattern, at a random (and large) distance away from us.
If it were an extremely limited area, say 2-4 meters, it would still be bad, but it would be manageable. Barely.
Currently, I can be targeting something at maximum range, have the arrows spawn behind me, meaning I now have to run away, pick up the arrow, return, fire the arrow, run away again…
Or, I can have the arrows spawn directly in front of my target, which I’m trying to stay away from. Even worse, if I’m killing a large group, they can spawn inside the group as I whittle them down.
Additionally, the arrows can spawn in terrain, which means you need to run against an immovable object, hoping your close enough to count as ‘picking up’, or wait until the next arrow spawns.
Suggestions for a Rework:
- Limit the range. Place the arrows in a limited, small area, around the player. I’d suggest always in a 180 degree arc, either in front or behind the player
- Change how the skill works. Instead of visually dropping arrows, make it a toggle-able buff, that increases the cost of all attacks, cancelling if you run out of mana. Even a minor amount, 1-3 mana cost, would make it a decision based usage, instead of fire-and-forget.
- Allow multiple arrows to be ‘stored’, instead of just one. This would limit the penalty of movement, as you could grab several arrows, then fire them all, then repeat. 3-4 arrows max.
Currently, I’m specced into Dark Quiver, using the ‘Until Dawn’ node to randomly spawn them around me every 3-5 seconds. I have Decoy with 0 points on my bar, because for me it’s a better use of a skill slot than Dark Quiver.