Can we please get some boon stripping and port abilities and unique team viability and for god’s sake make longbow LESS one-dimensional and simplistic and make it more skill-based? Ranger has such simplistic weapons that are so one-dimensional and just don’t provide any wow factor to them at all that it makes me cringe. These are the reasons this class has next to no skill ceiling at all. GS is probably the best weapon we have in terms of this but the dmg coefficients are so low that running a zerker amulet on ranger is equal to any other class running soldier’s amulet.
Longbow is quite skill based. Many people miss knockbacks or stuff like hunter’s shot (f.e. targeting illusions or pets is a good tactic most wont utilize).
I find it much more interactive than shortbow. That one is too simplistic imo. GS damage is decent if you utilize opening strikes and moment of clarity correctly. Also remorseless made a valkyrie build possible but I am still not 100% satisfied with it. Propably the GS fury trait should have ICD of 5 instead of 10.
Longbow is not skill based at all in team fights in pvp , the entire weapon set works off of 2 skills. 2 and 4 and then it’s auto attacking while they’re on cooldown. You get no benefit of going stealth in a team fight other than to stay alive for a few more seconds because thief will train you and you’ll just get focused coming out of it which leaves the auto attack and barrage. Barrage is an alright skill in that it provides a relatively long soft cc but the damage is utterly dissapointing and provides next to no cleave value compared to other classes and let’s be honest – any skill that requires you to stand in place for a >2 second channel makes you a sitting duck for focus especially with ranger – reason why it works for warrior is because the cleave dmg is insane from gs #2. Therefore, you’re reduced really down to 2 skills, Rapid fire and a knockback. Very simplistic weapon-set due to this. You spend your entire time in that weapon-set pressing 2 buttons and then getting focused afterwards against good teams considering one map only truly favors power longbow ranger (Legacy). How is that considered skill-based?
Also, valkyrie for ranger is crap, the amount of dmg now from this patch makes running any form of toughness/vit next to useless because the sacrifice of dmg is too great with no precision and I understand the build concept you’re referring to and honestly generating fury to get one crit from a maul with a low dmg coefficient is so situational it’s beyond pointless as most of your dmg in power ranger comes from auto attacks in longbow anyway as rapid fire has much lower damage and then you’ll spend your entire time auto attacking for 900 dmg with valkyrie as 24%-30% crit chance is very low for the build idea andddd if you’re running greatsword in a team fight against good players, you’ll just get focused and melted anyway as once signet of stone is popped and finished, it’s really just over for you.
Would be pretty cool if Longbow #2 actually hit everything in it’s path but instead of being targeted you would need to aim it like that warrior greatsword whirling move – basically making a very long-range but rather short-width zone of death for a few seconds. Would add some skilled play to LB IMHO and give it a bit more potential in teamfights.
Not sure if LB already pierces though after the recent patch
Shortbow needs a rework. It has one of the worst weapon designs in game.
How about making Shortbow way more about quick interrupting with couple goodies for Pet friend? With Condition application being on couple active abilities or rewarding good interruptions? Maybe, as OP mentioned, removing Boons?
We could bring one of the strongest aspects of Rangers from the first game with Interruptions, give this weapon more actual reason to exist.
