The Drunken Lizard Pub

I know there is much more to this game than min/maxin but I'd like to point out that Game difficulty starts to become a joke after one gets 25+ Bow Skill when the Bow Skill feat Intense Focus (3x dmg and guarantee hit) refreshes every 10 turns or so. With Power mode on I get 100+ dmg hits which insta-gib just about all opponents so far. Considering I'm using normal arrows and almost no +gear at all (only about 10 hours in and been saving money) I can see 200+ hits and 5ish turn refresh once I get better gear and more skill. Lol, I keep waiting for the "Headshot!" voice over.

In fact the most brutal thing about Intense Focus is not the dmg but the fact that it cannot miss. Dark as night with eye rot disease? no problem, insta gib them from across the screen. Power Mode disadvantage is eliminated

Solution:
Make the dmg 1.5x but keep the guarantee hit. Its balanced vs other weapon style feats since Bow skill is ranged and usually suffers greatly from hit% unlike other skills. If devs feels this too week maybe add a one turn stun.

Thoughts?

A similar skill level in Elemental magic will allow you to do similar damage with a nearly guaranteed hit over the course of 1-2 turns... it does cost MP, but there is no enforced recharge time if you want to snipe 2 or 3 enemies at once.

And if you apply all the buffs liberally, it's easy to get a guaranteed melee hit with massive bonus damage turn after turn after turn.

Not to say your 100+ damage isn't cool -- it's very cool! But this game is made to be manipulated like that, and the fact that there is a way to exploit bows only makes them more in line with the other skills in the game.

I mentioned the fact that I was *always* hitting my mark when using arrows with feature focus, regardless of power mode, darkness, eye rot, etc. Things were hot-and-heavy a few weeks ago with quest bug fixes so it could have been missed, or BW may have decided he was OK with it that way. Be careful that you don't run out of arrows though, especially later in the game. Of course, you can always sleep for 7 days in a row (in your house, it goes quickly) and revisit shops to purchase an abundant supply... FWIW there were some magical arrows that didn't make it into Book II.