Guild Wars 2

I know Anet isn’t one for spoilers, but I’d love to know if there’s going to be any work done to our Longbow.

Personally, I’d love to see Long Range Shot’s cast time reduced to a 1/2 second cast time as opposed to a 3/4 second. (If you don’t know how fast 1/2 a second is, it would be same cast time as our “Point Blank Shot” which currently has a 1/2 second cast time.)

Nurse.1085:

I know Anet isn’t one for spoilers, but I’d love to know if there’s going to be any work done to our Longbow.

Personally, I’d love to see Long Range Shot’s cast time reduced to a 1/2 second cast time as opposed to a 3/4 second. (If you don’t know how fast 1/2 a second is, it would be same cast time as our “Point Blank Shot” which currently has a 1/2 second cast time.)

Well seeing as John said they are happy with longbow damage so I doubt the damage will be changed but who knows.

I’ll say this any changes to bows will affect everyone else, Im gonna go out on a limb here…….

Ranger should be Masters of the bow AND should not have the same activation times and Arrow speed times as everyone else.

That much should be understood, however thats not how Anet see’s it. Seeing how A warrior with a GS will out-damage any ranger with a GS its not really fair no?

thrice.9184:

That much should be understood, however thats not how Anet see’s it. Seeing how A warrior with a GS will out-damage any ranger with a GS its not really fair no?

Well yea, but I’d like to see a Warrior block/daze fools with his GS.

After playing the Wintersday pvp event as the Scout, I get this longing feeling that this was how the Ranger should have been from the start…

So if there was an option for Longbow changes, I would not mind if they replace Hunter’s Shot with Camouflage (Invisibility+Swiftness, like Snowblind).

At present time we have absolutely no abilities to disengage from a fight or use any real opener to engage in a fight (unlike the other ‘scout’ classes: Thief and Mesmer). Camouflage would provide both as a means to escape or as an opener to start one.

I’d also love to see Point Blank Shot changed/upgraded to Sniper Shot by adding a ‘hold down for more damage’ secondary effect. So simply tapping it would result in the ability we have now, but holding it would function like the ‘Sniper Shot’ as we saw in the Wintersday pvp

So for me I’d love to see something like this in the patch notes:

• We did not feel that Hunter’s Shot was doing the Ranger justice. As such we removed it and gave a general boost to all Longbow abilities to compensate for the lack of vulnerability stacks. Next to that, you will now have a new ability: ‘Camouflage’
• Camouflage: You and your pet become invisible (3s) and gain swiftness (10s).
• Point Blank Shot: Now has a secondary effect. If you choose to press and hold to channel the ability, it will deal one shot with massive damage.

Or if Jon doesn’t like to fiddle with 2 weapon abilities, we can always drop the ‘Camouflage’ and relocate it to a signet; like this:

• Signet of the Hunt
  Active – Your pet becomes invisible (3s) and gain swiftness (10s).
  (which would also apply to you if you have Signet of the Beastmaster)

At least that would make Signet of the Hunt more useful because at present time the active ability is pretty worthless in my humble opinion.

But as this topic was regarding the Longbow, I’ll just say that I’d love to see the ‘Sniper Shot’ as a secondary effect to the current ‘Point Blank Shot’ mechanic.

Nurse.1085:

I know Anet isn’t one for spoilers, but I’d love to know if there’s going to be any work done to our Longbow.

Personally, I’d love to see Long Range Shot’s cast time reduced to a 1/2 second cast time as opposed to a 3/4 second. (If you don’t know how fast 1/2 a second is, it would be same cast time as our “Point Blank Shot” which currently has a 1/2 second cast time.)

Agree 100%

I am beyond frustrated that a short bow user can do the same damage with auto attack from 0-1200m with a much faster attack speed but my longbow becomes much weaker when moving closer all the while firing very slow. Thats also why it seems speeding up the arrow velocity helped the sb more than the longbow. This is one of those things that sounds great on paper but performs poorly in game because the longbow auto attacks are still simply much too slow. This is one of the main reasons most rangers do not use the longbow.

Speeding the auto attacks up will do the trick. Plan B could be removing the range requirements for the damage spread on auto attack. Another possibility is moving the extended range trait and adding it to the piercing arrows trait making it easier to have extended range. Other than that I like the rest of the longbow skills and how they handle. ANet did some great work there and I know they will address this issue.

During the convention touring days, Rangers used to have Camouflage as a utility skill. For some reason it did get left on the cutting room floor, so there might actually be a pretty good reason Rangers can’t Invisible at non-forage will.

I can totally rationalize that.

….annnddd, yet, the thought of Hunter’s Shot becoming Camouflage and Rapid Fire becoming Sniper’s Shot is so instantly delightful I can’t keep myself from turning it over in my head with a slowly spreading grin.

Aveneo.2068:

After playing the Wintersday pvp event as the Scout, I get this longing feeling that this was how the Ranger should have been from the start…

So if there was an option for Longbow changes, I would not mind if they replace Hunter’s Shot with Camouflage (Invisibility+Swiftness, like Snowblind).

At present time we have absolutely no abilities to disengage from a fight or use any real opener to engage in a fight (unlike the other ‘scout’ classes: Thief and Mesmer). Camouflage would provide both as a means to escape or as an opener to start one.

I’d also love to see Point Blank Shot changed/upgraded to Sniper Shot by adding a ‘hold down for more damage’ secondary effect. So simply tapping it would result in the ability we have now, but holding it would function like the ‘Sniper Shot’ as we saw in the Wintersday pvp

So for me I’d love to see something like this in the patch notes:

• We did not feel that Hunter’s Shot was doing the Ranger justice. As such we removed it and gave a general boost to all Longbow abilities to compensate for the lack of vulnerability stacks. Next to that, you will now have a new ability: ‘Camouflage’
• Camouflage: You and your pet become invisible (3s) and gain swiftness (10s).
• Point Blank Shot: Now has a secondary effect. If you choose to press and hold to channel the ability, it will deal one shot with massive damage.

Or if Jon doesn’t like to fiddle with 2 weapon abilities, we can always drop the ‘Camouflage’ and relocate it to a signet; like this:

• Signet of the Hunt
  Active – Your pet becomes invisible (3s) and gain swiftness (10s).
  (which would also apply to you if you have Signet of the Beastmaster)

At least that would make Signet of the Hunt more useful because at present time the active ability is pretty worthless in my humble opinion.

But as this topic was regarding the Longbow, I’ll just say that I’d love to see the ‘Sniper Shot’ as a secondary effect to the current ‘Point Blank Shot’ mechanic.

No dude, I completely agree 100% with you on everything except the hunters shot. I think hunters shot should be the charge up since it only makes sense that a hunters shot would be a pin point precision shot that hits vitals and is similar to kill shot, they can keep the vuln stacks on for all I care but that is almost a need, it should also have a long cast time like 1.5 secs similar to kill shot, 3 secs is too long for competetive pvp, fun with the stealth scout tho :P Also Signet of the hunt should stealth in addition to the 50% increase, imagine the synergy with that, 3 sec sstealth 10 sec swiftness 50% damage on next attack, BAM hunters shot(killshot for rangers) to the mouth for 12k, YAY WE ARE ON PAR WITH EVERYONE ELSE.

Also make all signets affect us without needing to be traited… As for rapid fire, Id love to see its cast time reduced and the amount of arrows compressed to be similar to volley. 5 shots in 2.5 secs or be like 100b and 10 shots in 2.5 secs, idc. Barrage could be reduced on its cd, and have its damage buffed by about 15-20% since it kinda sucks damage wise and most people simply run out. Point blank is fine the way it is honestly, no matter how much Id like it to leap us back and evade while knocking them back, yea I know, op, but still, a man can dream. Once they do that, move some traits around and make some synergy, and possibly make it so pets are utility and not another weapon then we can become a real class. Atm we rely on pets way to much and they suck unless we trait for it, Id like them to have their damage toned down, survivability buffed, and our damage to be increased to make up for their loss. Problem solved, ranger becomes a class on par with everyone else.

Vox Hollow.2736:

During the convention touring days, Rangers used to have Camouflage as a utility skill. For some reason it did get left on the cutting room floor, so there might actually be a pretty good reason Rangers can’t Invisible at non-forage will.

I can totally rationalize that.

….annnddd, yet, the thought of Hunter’s Shot becoming Camouflage and Rapid Fire becoming Sniper’s Shot is so instantly delightful I can’t keep myself from turning it over in my head with a slowly spreading grin.

You are not alone, I cant touch ranger atm because it makes me sick to play it, its boring, weak, ( unless you are traps ) and just overall pigeon holed into 1-2 builds, but playing the wintersday scout was so much fun I couldnt stop to lvl rifle warrior. I loved coming across other scouts having a epic duel only to win because I stealthed and got my charge off before them. WTB a scout class, or ranger longbow rework to be similar.

lol. each to their own i guess but ranger is anything but weak. i find ranger bunker the funnest bunker in the game. bleed stacking tanky builds are way superior to traps and you bring a ton of utility for your team. that being said, i dont touch LB.

My only complaint for the longbow is the same as when I play hammer warrior/guardian. The attack speed is just too slow. It’s almost painful to watch as I’m twisting and contorting my body wishing I could just fire a little faster. Absolutely the #1 turn off for the longbow is the absurdly terrible cast time.

nerva.7940:

lol. each to their own i guess but ranger is anything but weak. i find ranger bunker the funnest bunker in the game. bleed stacking tanky builds are way superior to traps and you bring a ton of utility for your team. that being said, i dont touch LB.

Anet made it so rangers can bunker quite well now, but that and condi are about it. Idc about those builds, rangers ranged combat is weak as kitten, and thats where it gets me. Even if they buffed ranger damage idk if Ill go back, they would probably have to rework the longbow or shortbow to be worth using. Otherwise Ill get my sniper kicks from rifle warrior who can do it without needing to be reliant on a kitten kitten pet.

I use my Longbow as a support weapon with my Sword or GS. Hunter’s Shot throws vulnerability on (and an extra 5 stack if you have Opening Strike) and gives swiftness to your pet so you and your pet can charge in and start whacking away with your sword.

If I need space, I’ll pop PB Shot. Also in a support capacity I can drop Hunter’s Shot for Vuln, then Rapid Fire as someone else engages. Then I go back in with melee. Barrage has it’s uses.

Outside of that, though, I don’t use it as a primary weapon unless I’m doing PvE and want to play around. I’m not entirely sure it’s meant to be a primary damaging weapon as much as it is a support tool.

As a Thief at launch, I heard similar complaints and comparisons about our shortbow, but it’s clear the shortbow is meant as a support weapon: blast finisher, mobility, the poison cloud. I would argue that the shortbow supports better than a longbow in a group environment, and that may be where one could say the longbow isn’t meant to fulfill the same sort of support.

But see the longbow shouldnt be the support or secondary weapon, it should be able to be used as a primary weapon. Sadly it cant, atleast not in spvp.

Sadly the longbow should be useable as a primary and not a secondary, and as a burst weapon. It just cant atm.

I do not disagree with you and would like to see it addressed.

Longbow isn’t terrible in wvw, but the cast times and rooting on barrage (and cast time on rapid fire)…actually nvm, longbow for the ranger (ONLY- don’t make warrior LB even more OP compared to ranger than it is now thanks) currently sucks.

In wvw, where I like to be ranged, I’ll generally open with barrage against the front of the zerg (faster move speeds make this an exercise in playing chicken), then move to the sides and fire off lb3 then rapid fire then it’s on to SB while skills on LB cooldown then switch back when rapid fire has recharged. Picking your targets is important, as is your choice of pets, which can be useful in smaller battles but will die in the time it takes u to fire off either rapid fire or barrage against a zerg.

LB also useful in picking at the squishies if you have the range extension on.

Dante Dragonhand.2538:

But see the longbow shouldnt be the support or secondary weapon, it should be able to be used as a primary weapon. Sadly it cant, atleast not in spvp.

I agree with this. I’m sad to hear people see Longbow most viable as a Support weapon. It’s suppose to be our means for direct DPS.

Nurse.1085:

Dante Dragonhand.2538:

But see the longbow shouldnt be the support or secondary weapon, it should be able to be used as a primary weapon. Sadly it cant, atleast not in spvp.

I agree with this. I’m sad to hear people see Longbow most viable as a Support weapon. It’s suppose to be our means for direct DPS.

I’d love to have ANet explain where each weapon sits with each class, just like they explained profession philosophy.

Nurse.1085:

I know Anet isn’t one for spoilers, but I’d love to know if there’s going to be any work done to our Longbow.

Personally, I’d love to see Long Range Shot’s cast time reduced to a 1/2 second cast time as opposed to a 3/4 second. (If you don’t know how fast 1/2 a second is, it would be same cast time as our “Point Blank Shot” which currently has a 1/2 second cast time.)

well the 3/4 attack speed would be fine if it indeed was this fast. however it isn’t. the longbow speed is really 1.25 sec cast time.

a simple test is to just find a mob that is obstructed. i did it from a tower wall in EB.
start auto fire with long bow then use healing spring as a timer(30 sec cd). just count the number of shots you get off in that 30 sec. if it was .75 like stated on tool tip you should get 40 shots off. i did it a few times and every time i got 24 shots off and was just starting the 25th when timer on healing spring was up.

Yea I know, longbow dps is low, and its not just long ranged shot. I actually find that using QZ + Long ranged shot at max range is better than using rapid fire, mostly because it does more damage, I did a test with a friend and with perfect conditions such as flanking, and him being a glass cannon warrior, my rapid fire did 13k damage too him, and my long ranged shot did 17.5k in 6 hits…..thats 4 less hits than rapid fire and it hit harder. I really hate the range req on LRS also, they need to remove that and give us max damage all the time, and make it so 1k+ range is an additional like 30% more damage, that way we dont suffer so drastically when melee close in.

Either way, as much as Id love to see them rework longbow and ditch the pets, I dont see it happening, so Ill just shelf ranger for now, lvl rifle warrior, and wait for ranger buffs which seem to come slowly. Once that happens Ill probably go back. I can even deal with the pet if they do something to make longbow fun and viable, ranger is the only real archer class and its lacking.

Dante Dragonhand.2538:

nerva.7940:

lol. each to their own i guess but ranger is anything but weak. i find ranger bunker the funnest bunker in the game. bleed stacking tanky builds are way superior to traps and you bring a ton of utility for your team. that being said, i dont touch LB.

Anet made it so rangers can bunker quite well now, but that and condi are about it. Idc about those builds, rangers ranged combat is weak as kitten, and thats where it gets me. Even if they buffed ranger damage idk if Ill go back, they would probably have to rework the longbow or shortbow to be worth using. Otherwise Ill get my sniper kicks from rifle warrior who can do it without needing to be reliant on a kitten kitten pet.

power burst signet builds are quite strong as well i believe. havent tested yet because theyre sort of gimmicky, and CD-dependent. but SB is a very strong weapon, for both condi, survivability and power builds. marks/BM regen pet build is something i wanted to play with.

nerva.7940:

Dante Dragonhand.2538:

nerva.7940:

lol. each to their own i guess but ranger is anything but weak. i find ranger bunker the funnest bunker in the game. bleed stacking tanky builds are way superior to traps and you bring a ton of utility for your team. that being said, i dont touch LB.

Anet made it so rangers can bunker quite well now, but that and condi are about it. Idc about those builds, rangers ranged combat is weak as kitten, and thats where it gets me. Even if they buffed ranger damage idk if Ill go back, they would probably have to rework the longbow or shortbow to be worth using. Otherwise Ill get my sniper kicks from rifle warrior who can do it without needing to be reliant on a kitten kitten pet.

power burst signet builds are quite strong as well i believe. havent tested yet because theyre sort of gimmicky, and CD-dependent. but SB is a very strong weapon, for both condi, survivability and power builds. marks/BM regen pet build is something i wanted to play with.

I ran signets for awhile but got sick of relying on 2 minute cds, they are just too gimicky. Even that being said, my problem is more with the style, the ranger doesnt feel like a pro archer, it feels like a newbie just learning the bow. Warrior with a rifle feels more like how an archer should be, but alas, I digress. I Just want to play a sniper, prefereably a bow sniper, since I cant get that in this game, the next best thing is a rifle warrior.

It is indeed rather peculiar that we have utility signets on elite cooldowns. Something’s not right there.

Really hope Jon reads this thread and realizes that Longbow isn’t in a good place, as he may have thought. :[

Nurse.1085:

Really hope Jon reads this thread and realizes that Longbow isn’t in a good place, as he may have thought. :[

Long bow is really good in clocktower kylo. But that’s about it