Crossbow Critical Bugs and Gameplay Issues

With the upcoming new League I decided to test some classes I never fully explored, specifically the Mercenary and the Crossbow.
In Path of Exile 2, my experience with the crossbow is among the worst I’ve encountered with any weapon system.

During leveling, the issues are not very noticeable while using basic bolts.
However, problems become apparent as soon as explosive projectiles come into play.

I initially assumed that enabling "always attack without moving" for ammo skills would mitigate the issue, since it seemed character movement was interrupting the reload process but this assumption proved incorrect.

It’s unclear whether the problem is related to character turning, movement input or specific skill interactions.
Currently, with Explosive Shot, I’m running "Martial Tempo" and "Ammo Conservation."
Despite this when ammo depletes, whether manually reloaded or automatically and even though the reload confirmation sound plays (a distinct mechanical click), the character frequently fails to fire.
In approximately 50–70% of cases, the character remains idle, not attacking, effectively ignoring incoming damage.

This behavior is highly frustrating, inconsistent with expected mechanics and unacceptable for smooth gameplay.
It significantly increases player risk and leads to deaths directly attributable to this malfunction.
Reports of these issues date back to early access and continue to persist.
I hope the upcoming league addresses these critical bugs.

Good luck to those who choose to experiment with this weapon system.

+1 without need to read it!

+1

+1

+1

+1

+1 but who from Devs cares .. .

+1

+1

I reported this last year.

Do you know that if you put multi shot, you and just tap your mouse button, you can run and shoot, and keep running while reloading?

I mean it is pretty big clear speed improvement, since you never stop at one spot.

Still playn' crossbows, lol.