I don't know what it is like at higher ranks, but are crossbows supposed to be so insanely powerful at low ranks? My storebought light crossbow with storebought bolts 2 shots rats (18/23 + 23/23) with 0 ranks at full aim and each shot moves learning 3.5/34 mindstates.

To compare, the best I get with my jagged scythe from Beyond the Barrier is 10/23 to 13/23 and less than a mindstate of learning per hit at zero ranks. Granted I can get in about 2-3 hits in the same time it takes to load a shot on the crossbow depending on fatigue, but the crossbow is still outperforming a tier 5 weapon by a long shot, nevermind the other storebought weapons I have which aren't even in the same ballpark. STR 10, AGI 14.

I'm going to assume it evens out at higher ranks, since I haven't seen a big discussion about this?

<<Do you have any stats/mastery skills/etc that might supporting the extra oomph you're seeing? Or was this with a straight up new character?

Straight up new character. Circle 1, no abilities known/used. Even melee and missile mastery were at minimum rank, although I didn't check at the time for some reason so I'm unsure if that was 0 or not. I had spent about a day working non-combats before entering combat, so most of those were in the 15 to 25 range, but that shouldn't make a difference.

Anecdote:

I train my high 70s HX on first level brocket deer (using full aim) and it jumps two to three but usually two mind states per shot. But between the 12 second load and the 12 second aim time I feel like slitting my wrist training it.

Use a theren arbalest and it jumps lik 4-7 mind states if in a good learning range for critter

[00:15] Chatter[Uzmam] Damian just wants to beat up dancers, what a bully
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Yeah, hunting at-level with a forester's LX, I can usually pop around 3 mindstates with each hit. Even with that, however, I'm pretty sure it still takes longer to lock up than most of my other weapons.

As far as the damage output is concerned, I seem to find that crossbows hit exceptionally well against critters, but aren't as potent against other characters. In both circumstances this is using the same forester's crossbow with standard crossbow bolts. I suspect this is likely because I normally hunt shieldless 4-legged creatures, and in most PvP fights I've got the additional task of trying to get past my opponent's shield. I suppose I could also try a bigger crossbow and some better ammo.

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Life is short, and so am I.

>Whats the difference with wearing or stowing anyways?

One being what you mentioned earlier, not being able to stow loaded. The second being as box picker/collector my backpack gets full I try to limit what I put in it.

<<Yeah, hunting at-level with a forester's LX, I can usually pop around 3 mindstates with each hit. Even with that, however, I'm pretty sure it still takes longer to lock up than most of my other weapons.

That sounds like it evens out as skill increases then. In rats I'm able to lock it in less than a third of the time and with about 5 times the number of kills. Guess it's just a quirk of the way aim + ammo scales.

My other character 3 months ago did both LT and HT from zero ranks and while I noticed they both killed and locked relatively fast compared to melee weapons it wasn't anything close to what I'm seeing with the crossbow. That said, I was just using THROW not LOB. I haven't really experimented with maneuvers yet except for once just to see how the mechanics behaved. It seems like some of them are worth using? Which others besides LOB are useful?

<<Are you counting load time and aim time in your "kill as fast" measurement or just number of attacks/shots to kill?

Overall time per kill. In the time it takes me to lock crossbow (which only takes me about 12 shots) I usually get 6 kills. This takes about 5 minutes - 10 second load time, 10 second aim, plus a bit of script baggage like lootchecking, etc for about 30seconds per shot. In the time it takes me lock Polearms with the scythe I usually get about the same number of kills but it takes about 10 minutes. Slings takes about 15 minutes to lock with about 4 kills. SB is even worse, usually only resulting in a single kill or two over the course of around 15 minutes to lock. So in terms of kills/minute: Xbow=~1, Polearm=~.5, Slings=~.33, and SB=~.1

Ironically, however, this has actually resulted in Crossbow gaining ranks slower due to the way I train because it's locking much, much faster. I train each weapon to locked and then move to the next in cycle and what is happening is Xbow is getting fewer pulses during the time it takes to lock which has had a noticeable impact over time. About a two rank difference at 20 ranks compared to the slower locking weapons.

<<LOB is definitely the best thrown move, in my opinion (at least on my low guys), because it's fast and it allows you to use forged puncture/slice thrown weapons without the lodge. I haven't been using maneuvers on my low guys.

I will definitely be looking into this, especially for the slower to lock and kill weapons.

I'm only at 160 ranks and I don't even bother locking my Crossbow. It's so slow compared to every other weapon I train both in terms of time spent locking and damage done. The only reason I train it at all is because the riot crossbow from Aftermath fits my character's theme, so I wear it. I load it up with 14 bolts and blow through them when I first start hunting, which usually gets me to 26 or 27/34 and then just lock my other skills and let the Crossbow drain without bothering with it again during that hunting session.