Why shouldn't you use xbow on thief for acid bolts anymore? Curious why it isn't good anymore.
Also, is there a way to fix the HORRIBLE new stack numbers they added to the game on inventory list? I cannot see them at all unless I move close to my monitor and it's super obnoxious!
You can increase the UI scaling in windower to help with stuff like that. I increase mine about 30%.
As for THF acid bolts, it comes down to ammo and tp resets. Most THF don't bother to even make a ranged acc set. That said, I think it's a good thing to do and adds a lot of damage you might otherwise not have. Def down is very potent, soloing with trusts I highly recommend gashing bolts for 12.5% def down. If you're partying with BLU, DRG, or RNG though they can all do stronger def downs that do not stack with each other or acid bolts so you only want to use the strongest one, some weaponskills also come with powerful though hard to land def downs like shell buster, WAR and SAM each have one, and garland of bliss from SMN is also 12.5%. Dia I-III and Geo-Frailty however DO stack with anything else. Often, the def down debuff that shows up as a gray/blue debuff icon isn't put on in most fights but it's mostly because people are too lazy or just don't think about it or don't feel it matters enough.
Oldschool THF and RNG players know however that it's one of the most potent options if other people aren't doing defense down. That said though, things like Yetshila +1 are very powerful items to have in your ammo slot as well, it's not much a trade off if you use it at the start of the fight then switch to ammo though. Some people have mule idris geo or always run with idris geo and they can do a huge amount of defense down (41% - 83% depending on ability usages) and then use dia II for 10% more defense down, so that's when it seems less of a big deal to most people. Soloing with Trusts tho, a THF doing gashing bolts and summoning a rdm trust can have a healthy 27.5% def down, and up that to 32.5% if you use a COR trust that will do light shot on the dia which is nothing to sneer at really since the gashing bolt proc almost always lands and it's a good way to pull stuff anyway.
A while back THF was bandwagon'd pretty hard, then nerfed, after changes to main hand of one hand jobs being put to 99% accuracy and weaponskills getting an overall and boost, rudra was super strong, during this time a lot of the old staples were tossed aside just for moar rudra, or maybe that's just my view idk. Also ammo choices have grown more and more powerful over time with some of them rivaling even what you can get in neck/waist slots or just straight out beating them so it hurts more to give that up. You can actually start with xbow equipped then equip an ammo after you pull, without TP loss. As soon as you re-equip the xbow though your tp is reset, so it is possible to use both if you don't mind losing some tp between each pull or something. If you have multiple DD and none can do def down, it's definitely worth using the bolts on thf as it will up everyone in the parties damage, so be that team player imo. One thing people always seem to skip over on THF especially comparing it to other jobs is that it is actually a pretty decent xbow user and while you shouldn't expect THF to be owning stuff with just their xbow (though when there is flying targets or you have to break a shield and it's ranged it's very good to have) it is and has always been an excellent utility add to THF. Just wish they'd give us ilvl bloody bolts and blind bolts already. Evasion tanking is also not done much these days either by the way, though it's not that those buffs or thf's high evasion went away it's again, people just not bothering with it right now except in a few rare cases like Glazemane UNM. To be honest and this is just my opinion so I'm sure others will disagree, but I think highline finesse aspects of THF like this drifted out of mainstream usage mainly because the game is easier for the most part, though don't let that fool you into thinking there still isn't really challenging content.
