Guild Wars 2

Why is it that ranger, who even has one whole trait line called “Markmanship”, sucks so hard at long bow? I mean, as a relative comparison, ranger which is supposed to be master of LB is so sub-par when compared to war’s LB: the damage, the synergy, the functionality, nothing, ranger LB doesn’t have anything significant that makes the class worth being called master of bow.

Why?

#rantover #bye

Warrior longbow is a zone control weapon if you try to play at 2000 range it will fail miserably. Ranger longbow is good when you are far away from your target.

It’s not really fair to compare the two. While they’re the same weapon the two classes use them very differently. Warrior uses it for control and is best used in close range. Fan of Fire, Arcing Arrow, and Pin Down are all less effective at range. Meanwhile, LB on Ranger is for long range sniping. I can’t attest to how good it is post patch, but comparing it to Warrior isn’t the way to do it.

comparing a ranger LB to a warrior LB is like comparing a sniper rifle to a sawn of shotgun… in principle, both are guns, but their effect and effective range is miles away (quite literally)

Because apparently, Rangers have (ultra-useful, super-amazing) pets, which means their weapons can’t do as much straight up damage as other classes. Still, I agree there should be a bit more utility included with Longbow abilities. It needs more usefulness than “sniping”, which it’s not even amazing at.

It would honestly be more fair to compare the Ranger LB to the Warrior Rifle because both are functionally more similar.

And if you want to compare both the Rifle and the Longbow.

The Longbow has a much better auto attack
10-12 Second Stealth Cooldown
Ranged and lower cooldown knockback
AoE cripple

The Rifle

Has better instant burst (Volley and Killshot)

Other than that, cripple? Ranger has an AoE cripple. Knockback? Ranger has a ranged knockback on lower cooldown. Ranger has stealth on their weapon. The vulnerability application is more practical for the Warrior, but both weapons have it.

Overall if you like the utility, better sustained DPS, and AoE the longbow is a better weapon for the ranger.

If you like better burst, go for the rifle.

The ranger longbow is a decent weapon, I think if Rapid Fire could be improved somehow, and the auto-attack animation was better it would allow for smoother and better gameplay and would be a really well balanced weapon.

The ranger longbow is better at damage over time and ranged attacks, while the warrior longbow has more burst and fuctions best in closerange area.

That said, the ranger longbow still has some problems but imo it is unrelated to the warrior longbow, except maybe that the latter feels more rewarding and fun to use. :P

killahmayne.9518:

snip.

Forgot to mention longbow shots by nature arc meaning they travel further than their stated distance. You can nail someone at 1500 range without eagle eye and near on 1800 with it. SO potentially 1.5x the range.

Also the reason it has no burst is according to ANET rangers are a sustained damage class :/ But with certain setups of gear you can hit people for 6k+ with it which isnt bad at all for a 1800 range auto attack.

Why does Mesmer GS underperform so much compared to Warrior GS in PvE?

^
Same problem there, the weapons are incomparable due to being embedded in completely different classes. Compare “Ranger ranged offensive capability” to “Warrior ranged offensive capability”. Ignoring specific weapons and traits and skills, the class, in total. And that is the important comparison.