I think, overall, the musket is too simple - especially when compared to the bow.
The bow behaves… well, like a bow - I have to aim it AND draw the string. There’s also a significant and realistic lag in the flight time of the arrow, adding to the complexity of the bow’s use (and reducing its reliability).
The musket, on the other hand, behaves like a single-shot rifle from the late 19th century (probably something like a Martini-Henry - right down to ammunition. Muskets didn’t fire jacket-cased bullets - they fired balls; they were muzzle-loaded with ram rods, wadding, and black powder (and, honestly, if you want to really get technical about it, the weapons we see in new world are actually almost universally wheellock flint-fired weapons - really early ones, too). What we think of a modern cartridge didn’t exist in this era - if there was a pre-prepared ‘round,’ it was just the wadding, ball and powder stuffed into a neat paper case.
This is what musket reloading looked like. You might notice, in particular, that firing the musket was a very, VERY smoky affair. Smokeless powder is a very modern invention in the development of firearms. Muskets would routinely shroud their operators in a cloud of smoke for a few seconds after discharging their weapon.
Finally, it should be noted that muskets were smooth-bore weapons, and reliably accurate only out to about 100 yards; they were not the perfectly sniper-tuned long-range weapons you see in New World.
The operation of the musket is just brainless - it doesn’t require enough player input for what it actually is. And yes, I get that ‘it’s a video game.’ But the musket’s simplicity simply doesn’t jive with its amazing range and tracking advantages.
Weirdly enough in the alpha the Musket had a basic melee attack. Don’t know why they removed it. Bayonet would be cool, or a stun with hitting someone with the butt of the gun.
