Real "Buff" to bow? Or hidden nerfs?

GGG are removing the reliance on Unique bows and quivers and this a good thing. I don't think over all bows will be buffed in 3.17 but they might be more popular.

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AbilityPoints wrote:

GGG are removing the reliance on Unique bows and quivers and this a good thing. I don't think over all bows will be buffed in 3.17 but they might be more popular.

reliance on unique bows?

that's an issue? almost every single endgame bow build ive seen uses crafted rare bows

I mean,

1) Some bow bases are seeing a 50% more base damage increase.
2) Then they added new tiers of flat elemental damage for bows which will be much better then currently available.
3) Crafting +1 arrow on just rare quivers possible now.
4) Re-designing nearly all quiver bases, so a buff to quiver implicits.
5) Buffing quiver mods such as damage and attack speed
6) Essentially free mark on hit that only costs 2 sockets somewhere on your gear.

Yea I think it's a buff. Even after hydrosphere orbit nuke which was well past when it should have been.

knowing ggg i can only speculate that they`re buffing the nerfs...

My build didn't need the extra 3 sockets, and I kinda bricked the suffixes on the bow, but using added ele damage was never the way to scale phys conversion. Phys as extra, ele pen, flat phys, aura effect, intimidate on hit, and crit + crit multi were always top priority. Not to mention, sleeping on trinity support is braindead stupid. And don't forget double damage.

Nah, looks like a tarp.

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AbilityPoints wrote:

GGG are removing the reliance on Unique bows and quivers and this a good thing. I don't think over all bows will be buffed in 3.17 but they might be more popular.

lol? Rare crafts have been the best for a long time for most bow builds.

Getting the right unique bow is way easier than getting the perfect crafts.

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Bleu42 wrote:

I mean,

1) Some bow bases are seeing a 50% more base damage increase.
2) Then they added new tiers of flat elemental damage for bows which will be much better then currently available.
3) Crafting +1 arrow on just rare quivers possible now.
4) Re-designing nearly all quiver bases, so a buff to quiver implicits.
5) Buffing quiver mods such as damage and attack speed
6) Essentially free mark on hit that only costs 2 sockets somewhere on your gear.

Yea I think it's a buff. Even after hydrosphere orbit nuke which was well past when it should have been.

Regarding #1, they did not give any details yet as to which bases are receiving a buff and by how much. I am excited for this as a lot of skills that use phys bows and/or convert feel very weak atm.

However, bow skills like Ele Hit, Explosive Arrow, TR/CA scale gem lvl and don't care about weap dmg.
Not sure if the buffed flat dmg on bows will make up for the support gem nerfs, but need to wait and see more details.

I do agree with other people that Hydrosphere was making weak bow builds dependent on it for single target dmg.
Voidfletcher is a cool quiver but it carries weak builds as well, so something needed to be done about that.

The nerf to flat ele damage gems affects every weapon type, so the changes to bows unquestionably make them more attractive to use relative other weapons. Is it enough, or meaningful, is another question which will probably be determined when the full notes are released.