projectile weapons

Javelins, daggers, shurikens, throwing axes... you get the idea.

Equipped in bow slot, no extra damage from arrow/quiver, no speed penalty from shield. Lower max damage than bows by far, higher rate of speed, higher accuracy (possibly), higher min damage.

Why? Rangers get this awesome min damage bonus that amounts to about six extra damage around level 90 archery. That, and there's no variety to ranged combat. Meleers choose between pierce/slash/blunt (or even whips!), casters get six types of gems, beast masters get a variety of heal/damage pets (though admittedly fire and ice has significantly lowered the variety), archers get...bows...bows...bows... only very rarely does an archer have to pick and choose between different bow sets. A new, higher leveled bow just adds a little damage, maybe a slight increase in speed. Want to shoot fast? Too bad. Want higher defense? Sure, but be ready to shoot even slower.

With ranged weapons, there could be variety. For example, shurikens could be really low damage, really high speed weapons (maybe even based on blue-magic DD gems, with one set damage value), axes could be harder and slower, etc. Maybe even dual wield? Don't ask me how that would work in a balanced manner, but I figured I should throw it out there anyway.

[Morrodin]

There are more then enough weapons in nodiatis, why add more weapon types, Why not just improve the ones that are already there.

[Hunters Bane]

Rangers suck. Higher Min damage < higher max damage.

Axes = slashing btw

*sigh* thank you, hunter, for proving my point. rangers DO suck. they can have double minimum damage and it still won't come close to the rogue's bonus. i could argue all day with you about why rogues are better than warriors, but as far as min vs max is concerned with archer/ranger, it's an easy and obvious choice which is better. as for axes, i said 'throwing axes' ... as in, a type of projectile weaponry. technically, bows are 'piercing' too, right?

and morrodin - i don't deny that there are plenty of weapons. but what about weapon types? we've got pierce, slash, crush, staff, whip, bow. that's six. four if you put whip/staff under their respective damage categories. my point is that meleers, casters, beastmasters have at least some variety, whereas with archers/rangers you just see the same build over and over again.