I gotta admit, I really don't like crossbows that function merely like reskinned semi-automatic pistols...

A good off-hand pistol with a devastating poison or explosive bolt? All for it. So long as I actually have to reload it later.

To be clear, repeater crossbows are fine, too, so long as they actually show the mechanisms for the reload instead of just autonomously resetting their draw and teleporting arrows into their flight groove without the slightest excuse of arcane workings.

Heck, give me the teleport-o-crossbow-machine-gun thing, but only if there's enough arcane magic involved elsewhere that the gunner isn't delving into an entire field of magic -- at some rank-80 level of mastery -- just to provide a one-off gimmick to excuse their weapon. Give me a proper Devicer, with the crossbow being just a part of that, maybe paired alongside rune-casting, self-charged aetherochemical vials for explosives, setting or adjusting ley lines, and whatever else would make efficient use of that core training.