Q:
Shortbow in pve
It honestly is not. LB is far better and melee is better again. Keep SB for PvP and WvW.
It works a lot better in fights where survival matters more than stack-and-burn dps checks. If you’re doing dungeons, don’t bother. Fights are about 8 seconds long and you dying have time to really do what the shortbow is designed for anyhow. If you’re doing actual endgame content (fractals), however, go ahead and bring it. You’ve got to be moving and dodging all day past about scale 10 and the SB is great for that once you get some practice with it
I have to disagree with you on that VR, I have used SB in fractals quite a bit testing it out and imo, LB is still far better. Especially with the 1500 range and Hunter’s Shot for dropping agro. Although, melee is still top dog, LB does help burn some of the bosses down at certain spots where range is an advantage, something SB cannot do.