Guild Wars 2

I’ve noticed under “Traits”: Marksmanship, Skirmishing and Survival all have bonuses to Condition damage or duration. Since the longbow doesn’t offer any conditions am i loosing out on whats seems like huge damage bonus by not using a weapon with condition abilities?

in short. yes

15char

Skirmishing is precision/critical. No conditions boosts except in some optional major traits, which apply only to specific conditions sources.

You have loads of different sources of conditions; marksmanship also happens to offer bonuses to the longbow that the short bow doesn’t get. The system forces you to make decisions based on your own play style.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the Trait bonuses. They’re nice, but they aren’t the end-all, be-all. As Munrock said, the Traits themselves can offer more payoff.

Working with a LB/GS build for an example, Marksman boosts your power anyway, and you have some condition with Maul and Traps. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but Marksman boosts condition duration, and you do have Vulnerability on 3, and it should extend the duration. It’s a very nice condition to have, in addition to the Cripple on Barrage.

It also depends on what your secondary weapon set is. I like to use Longbow to control fights and then pop 3 for Vulnerability right before I swap to GS for a quick 2-3 combo, and unload with my pet.