Guild Wars 2

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/84434-my-ranger-leveling-experience/

Read the bottom part as I found it interesting, I really enjoy the feel of the shortbow much more then longbow and wondering how people feel about it, I know its cond but I do not get why its bad for pve.

Not sure which bottom part you are referring to, but if it’s the one quoted below, then it answers your question – even for something written in 2013.

Again, in AoE situations it’s crap; at level 80 content where you see many veterans and have larger groups, the condition damage sucks and sustained dps suffers more; same goes for dungeons.
But for leveling it’s not as awful as it is later on, that’s merely the point I’m making.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Not sure which bottom part you are referring to, but if it’s the one quoted below, then it answers your question – even for something written in 2013.

Again, in AoE situations it’s crap; at level 80 content where you see many veterans and have larger groups, the condition damage sucks and sustained dps suffers more; same goes for dungeons.
But for leveling it’s not as awful as it is later on, that’s merely the point I’m making.

I mostly meant this and the aoe is not a big deal since you can switch to a more of an aoe weapon.
The shortbow shots with 0.5 second interval (give or take) applying a 3 second bleed, which means you can sustain about 6 stacks with it.
Crippling Shot (which is generally your opener) gives your pet bleed on his first 3 attacks; 9 stacks is more than enough to kill any non-veteran+ mob while leveling, especially with a more condition oriented build.

Ah. Not sure on that since I cannot recall when the Shortbow Crossfire animation was changed in relation to when that was posted.

I really like the feel of shortbow and greatsword but as I said people think condition builds are not good in pve, which I still think is very odd, I know many say go sword/axe or sword/dagger but I like the aoe and mobility it gives me.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Ah. Not sure on that since I cannot recall when the Shortbow Crossfire animation was changed in relation to when that was posted.

Either way that guide is horribly dated since the leveling system has been changed twice since then, and it’s full of terrible information like saying the Juvenille Arctodus should be the go to pet for rangers. Suggesting bears is bad enough but why the hell would they recommend the arctodus specifically?

Anyway, to answer the ops question, play whatever you want while your leveling. Better yet play with everything. The open world PvE is stupid easy and your weapon choice really doesn’t matter.

Just be ready to adjust your play style to the different content you will face later on. If you are going to try to run group content running inferior weapon choices you need to advertise it as something like a “fun run”. If you try jumping into a party advertising as “experienced”, “fast”, “zerk” or anything else like that running a sub par build you can’t blame them for kicking you.

You’ll learn on your own what works in PvP/WvW. I’ve made shortbow work even with power builds but the situations where it works are very limited.