I'm very suspicious of these dodgers in skyrim

[Soluncreed]

I just hate it when my arrows fly straight through the enemies. Right through them. And, everyone's now alerted....

 

[NeutralDrow]

OT: Yeah. I've had the same thing happen to me. When I'm doing a MELEE sneak attack. Chargin' up the melee-zor and then... He stepped forward and I miss. Then I use my Slow Time shout and carve him up for his shenanigans.

Irritating that a master assassin can't even get the sneak attack on some random freaking bandit.

I'm pretty sure that's just random chance. Daggers have pathetic range, power attacks root you for about a second, and NPCs do tend to move around and patrol on their own. I just started to not bother with a power sneak attack on someone who's not standing still. At maxed-out Sneak, I can usually get two normal x30 attacks off before anyone notices...assuming I'm not standing too close and they bump into me (that's an auto-detect) after the first shot.

 

[Neverhoodian]

I bought Skyrim for the 360, and I don't recall ever running across this issue. Oh sure there's the occasional missed shot due to the slightly randomized trajectories of the arrows themselves, but the enemies don't phase out of my line of fire. Perhaps it's because I haven't updated my game (I heard too many horror stories about patch 1.2).

 

[NeutralDrow]

You mean perks, right? All the Archery skill actually does on its own is increase your damage. The aiming is entirely in the player's hands.

Yes, talking about perks here. And it's entirely possible the skill itself has some behind-the-scenes effect on accuracy. Aiming is mostly in your hands, but it's not impossible for slight "adjustments" to be made to add some uncertainty. And it's not a bad thing, either.

Doesn't make much sense to do that, though (and it really doesn't fit with the anecdote of npcs moonwalking out of a shot's path).

I think it's far more likely that people are mistaking the inaccuracy of the crosshair for a hidden mechanic. Arrows arc, and at close-to-mid range go higher than you'd think, meaning aiming for a headshot is actually kind of silly to attempt.

...not that I don't occasionally forget I'm not playing a TF2 sniper. >_>

Our ability to keep a mouse pointer on something is in no way analogous to "steady aim" with a bow. A little artificial difficulty is nice (and it's easier to add dice rolls than to make your mouse require 30 lbs of force to "draw" or something...)

The environment does affect your aim (extreme case: trying aiming at a giant that just clubbed the ground), and draw apparently is a factor in archery...in the sense that <url=http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Archery>heavier bows require more time to draw.

 

[VanityGirl]

That's why I don't do stealth. I kick down doors and double fist slap bitches with my magicka.

 

[JET1971]

I think the game is giving you subtle hints that you should be a beserker, rather then wasting time with sneak thieves and pitiful arrows.

Then you get the issue of doing a charging power attack and every single time they sidestep and you end up with your back to them completing the amazingly slow recover animation. Sorry but I get the same problem but with a swoard.

 

[Sewer Rat]

Yeah, I mean I can understand if an NPC sees the arrow hurtling towards him that he would want to get out of the way, but half the time they aren't even facing me. It's like they just decided to do the Time Warp Again right when I decide to take my shot (It's just a jump to the left!)

 

[Furioso]

Huh, never had this happen, I rarely miss, they move around a lot though but isn't that what they are supposed to do on patrols?

 

[UltraXan]

I haven't noticed anything like this (since I use various flavors of magic instead of arrows), but I have noticed that if I cause a mage to stumble when I dual cast something like thunderbolt, I can't do a follow up while they're down because the next bolt seems to go *through* them, and I have to wait until they get back up before I can actually register another hit and they stumble again... tis odd...

 

[JET1971]

I think the game is giving you subtle hints that you should be a beserker, rather then wasting time with sneak thieves and pitiful arrows.

Then you get the issue of doing a charging power attack and every single time they sidestep and you end up with your back to them completing the amazingly slow recover animation. Sorry but I get the same problem but with a swoard.

Oh, I never put points in the charge attack - much easier to wait for them to run at you, stun them with a shield slam (or hilt bash) then power attack half their HP away.
I tend to fight alot of giants, so the charge just means I get hit first... so not a good idea.

Well I havnt hit anything with it ever, they always sidestep. I used it all the time in Oblivion against high level enemies to even it out or as a quick 1 hit kill when they are alone. in Skyrim its miss and wait for the recovery while they start whacking me in the back. Necromancers are the worst because I will be chasing them as they run backwards either shocking me or roasting me and next thing I know I held the mouse button down too long and did the attack.

 

[Weentastic]

The hit boxes in Skyrim definitely get a little screwy at times. I really don't think its the character models so much as the actual world objects. I've shot plenty of arrows into objects when the flight path was clear. Usually it happened around the edges of walls, but chairs and tables got pretty stupid too. Makes sneak attacks frustrating sometimes.