I personally absolutely hate the Hagbane Bow in VT2, especially when compared to it in VT1. I still hope everyone plays the weapons they enjoy though. That said, there are some issues I have with the Hagbane that aren’t related to performance.
As per the subject, I noticed when playing with hagbane users that the hagbane’s gas is too dark and thick and too close in appearance to globadier gas when multiple afflicted enemies are standing together. The effect blocks everything behind it from view, making targeting a pain in the ass for anyone and ultimately giving the enemy a free smoke screen. Overall, I find the weapon underperforms and promotes confusion. The only other weapons with similar view-blocking issues are the flame throwers but to a much lesser extent and they happen to be CCing and killing everything in a large area so it isn’t so big of a deal.
I personally enjoy a truly visible indication that i am doing something, makes it feel like it has a impact…but indeed, the cut visibility can be a headache.
However the flamethrowers suffer the same issue so it might be fair enough.
I find the color more of an issue. It’s almost indistinguishable from gas rat poison. Orange would be nice, but really this is a small change and probably requires animators to work on so I wouldn’t bet on it getting altered.
i find enemies affected by the gas to be very distinct: no other effect gives them the smoky green aura. at to your point about it blocking targetting: this is a design choice that’s similar to globadier gas / sienna’s fire / IB flamethrower stuff. it’s realistic in that it’s gas and obscures view. imo not anything game breaking.
as to your question about it underperforming… take a look at the comments in this thread.
the hagbane is a crazy boss wrecker. in fact i would go so far as to say it’s the best boss killing weapon with a str pot and duration trait.