Originally Posted by
Capita
I love how people have no idea what an Archer exactly is.
It's a ranged physical DPS. It fills a niche in MMO's as a class that can do physical damage from range, as opposed to magic damage (for those pesky AOE bosses who have high resistances and low defenses *cough*mage bosses*cough*).
Forcing Archers to melee is about as stupid as forcing a melee class to throw rocks at a fleeing enemy. You say Archers shouldn't be able to shoot while someone's in their face because it adds realism. Ok, cool. Do you think someone could consistently hit another person with a 20 lb broadsword while sprinting? If that's the case, melee damage should be halved while moving... you know, for realism.
Fact of the matter is that it's a fantasy game. Hell, I wouldn't even mind if Archers were forced to melee IF THEIR TARGET GETS IN MELEE RANGE. But forcing Archers to melee even if their target is being kept within shooting range by a tank? No, it doesn't make sense to me. Actually, it ruins the niche that the Archer fills.
Why not just be like every other good MMO out there and allow Archers to use their bow for AA while at range, and automatically switch to punching or whatever if their target gets into melee range? It makes perfect sense, instead of forcing one or the other.
As far as melee animation goes, I've always wanted to see my Archer use the bow as a melee weapon and using it to bash skulls in.