Guild Wars 2

Heya, all.

I’ve been a long time Ranger player but have recently switched to Dragonhunter because I find myself feeling more useful and less selfish while still being able to use a weapon I enjoy using: the Longbow. I love Ranged combat but also agree with the fact that melee weapons should deal more damage, overall, compared to ranged weapons because of the inherent risk involved in being face-to-face with an opponent.

The Longbow’s auto-attack is one of the largest complaints that I have heard, and myself had, regarding the weapon. The fact that it feels like we do “normal” damage at max range and “reduced” damage at close range makes me feel like I’m under-performing when trying to use Longbow/Staff as a Druid or just use Longbow in dungeons and/or fractals. Comparing that to the Dragonhunter’s longbow skills, they do “normal” damage at all ranges BUT they have a trait (Pure of Sight) that gives them extra damage when they are further from their target. This trait also applies to all of their longbow skills. Due to this fact, the Dragonhunter’s longbow feels like it has more potential while not at range but still incentivizes trying to keep distance between them and their target.

My question/suggestion is this: Where the Ranger’s longbow auto-attack is concerned, would it not feel better if the attack did “normal” damage at melee to just-outside melee range and offered increased damage as the distance from the target increases instead of “normal” damage at max range and “reduced” damage as the distance decreases?

This would incentivize use of the weapon at closer ranges than max but still not make it feel like we are, overall, under-performing when at longer ranges. This would also reflect the “risk vs. reward” idea of ranged vs. melee damage by rewarding the increased risk of using the longbow at close range.

Thoughts?

tl;dr – Would the longbow auto-attack feel better/more natural and less punishing if the weapon did more damage as we get closer to the target?

I totally agree with you and your suggestion
Not only would it make ranger gameplay more fun and viable but also it simply makes more sense.
If i shoot an arrow at something from close range the impact wouldn’t be less powerful than from a greater distance.
But whatever, I’m tired of being punished for playing LB in dungeons where i just can’t stand further away.
/up for better LB

/agree

You do realize that at a minimum it will be another 3 yrars before they would even consider changing anything regarding these abilities. Took 3 years just to make pets viable in highend group content, itll be anothet 3 before they start looking at augmenting our other underperforming abilities. Namely sword 1, longbow 1, shortbow 1… They arn’t gonna fix them.

No.

If you are in close range with your target, rapid fire and/or barrage.
If you are in melee range with your target, weapon swap.
Improving the auto attack in short range is not going to improve the longbow.
Improving the auto attack in short range is not going to improve the player.

Justine.6351:

No.

If you are in close range with your target, rapid fire and/or barrage.
If you are in melee range with your target, weapon swap.
Improving the auto attack in short range is not going to improve the longbow.
Improving the auto attack in short range is not going to improve the player.

I disagree.

Removing the damage reduction at close range increases the Longbow’s situational viability in that it is not absolutely essential to weapon swap the second something moves within a distance of 500. It would also increase the Ranger’s options at close range when using a Longbow as one of their weapon choices instead of Rapid Fire/Hunter’s Shot/Rapid Fire before weapon swapping out. That right there is the very definition of “improving the Longbow”, I believe.

As it is right now, the Longbow is barely a viable option for most situations outside of what I mentioned above and Barrage in PvE. While potentially useful for zoning in sPvP the Longbow is not often used in that game mode due to it’s nature as a max-range weapon. I don’t consider Barrage a very sound option in WvW because of the pain that is known as “Retaliation”.

The only other ranged weapon that I’m aware of that suffers from this “deals significantly reduced damage at close range” design philosophy is the Mesmer’s Greatsword auto-attack which makes even less sense, in my opinion, than the Longbow’s auto-attack since it has a 1500 range and the arrows at least pierce when traited.

That said, I’m not necessarily pushing for this as a change I absolutely want to see. I’m just curious to hear opinions on the matters since I have heard many complaints regarding the Longbow specifically centered around it’s auto-attack and the fact that, in order for the weapon to deal “normal” damage, it is required for the Ranger to stand outside of boon range thus leading to less damage and a lack of viability that most other ranged weapons don’t suffer from while, also, offering less team utility, to the tune of “none”, as most of the other ranged weapons.

I always feel bad in those situations where I have to move out of melee range because I was unable to avoid damage and need to wait for my heal to come off cooldown due to the fact that, from that point until such time as I’m able to move back into melee, I either have to move out of melee range and lose out on boons thus leading to underperformance or remain closer to the target and underperform by default.

Why does the AA need to be improved in melee range? Is the lb going to become a new melee weapon? The “skill” reward for playing longbow is maintaining your distance, not face tanking melee opponents.

You claim the lb lacks viability beyond a few circumstances yet suggest stronger melee dmg on its AA as a fix. Or ya know, you could run a melee weapon on swap and actually swap to it instead of trying to camp lb. Players who don’t weapon swap create their own problems.