Guild Wars 2

Crossfire: Change to inflict 2 stacks of bleeding when attacking from behind.
Reason: Let’s face it. When fighting with an enemy, (s)he is going to have the front side towards you, which means that your kiting will result on hitting the target slightly from the side and inflict 1 stack. Having 2 stacks of bleeding applied when attacking from behind means that the ranger can actually utilise skirmishing tactics in order to be more effective. For clarification, the skill would only apply 1 stack from the sides. (Example: Muddy terrain to immob. and then kite around to the enemy’s back)

Poison Volley: The firing cone is narrowed to have the width of 3 projectiles and the 2 extra are placed between those three. These arrows pierce up to 3 times.
Reason: Poison Valley is only worth using if you get really close, either for preventing a full heal or for stacking bleed stacks with a bleeding build. By making it narrows and letting them pierce, it works more like a poison bomb without being an exploding projectile. Also, the problem with preventing full healing with this skill is that any reasonable person would first place her/himself into safety before using a healing skill, which means that posion valley have to be used at range which in it’s turn means that the ranger has to time the skill into a 2 second window which isn’t very effective since most healing skills have less tthan 2 seconds casting time. Other healing skills that are over 2 seconds have bonuses to compensate.

Quick Shot: Increase the range slightly (by ca 100). Increase swiftness to 5 seconds. Always gain swiftness.
Reason: As it is now, it’s only useful for evading a specific attack or random evade when retreating. Increasing it’s jump range would help the shortbow user to skirmish more.

Crippling Shot: Increase cripple to 5 seconds.
Reason: The tooltip is misleading, because it only applies Cripple. The pet applies 1 stack of bleeding with each attack for a maximum of 3 stacks. The current 3 seconds of cripple is too short against anyone (and that is many) who has a gap closer. The duration of 3 seconds is simply put not enough to have any noticable effect. 5 seconds, as said before, helps with skirmishing. (Changed from 6 seconds to 5)

Concussion Shot: Fire a powerful arrow that knocks out your foe. Daze 1 second if hit from front. Knockdown 2 seconds if hit from side or behind.
Reason: Think about it, what can you do with the shortbow in that 1 second of daze? The skill itself has an aftercast which means that you’ll only start firing after that daze expires. On the other hand, this skill is often used to interrupt very telegraphed attacks or to interrupt healing. Healing is usually done at half hp which means that the ranger is most likely playing with the secondary weapon set. After playing around with SB, I also realise that 2 seconds would be too powerful, so it’s changed to 1 second for the front. Since the “hit from side” angle is very big, 3 seconds would often be applied, so that is changed to 2 seconds for the sides. 3 seconds for behind deserves to be 3 seconds because shortbow needs to have a personality.

Your mission is to find how this would make the shortbow overpowered or out of balance

removed history… no point in ahving that…

I agree with crossfire. Now that Mesmers can stack torment to 8 on auto spam there’s little reason the Ranger should suffer a penalty for not flanking. If it turns out the stacking is to high then drop the bleed duration further. But I doubt this is needed.

With poison volley, how do you want it to work? Do you want it to work like the Thief’s skill where the projectil moves slowly? Or will it fire very quickly and explode on target? If it’s the latter, that’s fine and it would be nice if it did a reasonable amount of damage as well so it could be used as a semi-burst skill. If it’s the former, I don’t like it that much because it would be much more difficult to land unless you’re very close at which point the current poison volley is better imo. Especially if it’s not going to leave a field.

Crippling shot should get torment on top of cripple imo. Not bleed.

The only issue with concussive shot like you want is Moment of Clarity. A 6 second daze is wildly overpowered.

On top of your suggestions, I’d also like to suggest Eagle Eye and Read the Wind interact with the Shortbow.

I’d also like to see Shortbow remain a viable hybrid weapon which means it needs some kind of burst in it. On the poison shot like I mentioned above would be suitable. Perhaps making Concussive Shot deal additional damage if the target is bleeding or has torment.

I think I prefer the current crossfire because it requires positioning, and combat with positioning/flanking is just more interesting. They should change other class’s condition-applying ranged AA to only apply when flanking instead.

Poison Volley and Crippling Shot could use a buff.

Quick Shot needs to be fixed coz that backward jump is buggy. Otherwise it’d be fine.

Concussion shot is fine, any increase in daze duration would be OP with MoC.

I’d love it if EE and RTW affected SB as well.

Atherakhia.4086:

saving space

The new poison valley would shoot the same kind of arrow as it does now, with the same speed as all other arrows. The damage would be the same as a regular shot (besides poison) and aftercast zero.

Concussion shot can be changed to a knockdown instead, with the description “A well placed shot which knocks the opponent to the ground”

I don’t know how keen anet is about giving rangers torment

Edit: The shortbow has always been a sustained weapon and I don’t want to change that. Mainly because making sb into a burst weapon would require re-making all of it’s skill slots.

///Poison Valley///: Fire a posionous arrow that explodes on target and poison it for 8 seconds and adjacent enemies for 4 seconds. Blast finisher.
Reason: Poison Valley is only worth using if you get really close, either for preventing a full heal or for stacking bleed stacks with a bleeding build. By making it into a finisher, the SB will have a special thing for itself, while not being OP together with the other changes.

You played dark souls 2 for to long look you talking about poison valleys

I think concussion shot should be a daze and an immob.

solrik.6028:

Atherakhia.4086:

saving space

The new poison valley would shoot the same kind of arrow as it does now, with the same speed as all other arrows. The damage would be the same as a regular shot (besides poison) and aftercast zero.

Concussion shot can be changed to a knockdown instead, with the description “A well placed shot which knocks the opponent to the ground”

I don’t know how keen anet is about giving rangers torment

Edit: The shortbow has always been a sustained weapon and I don’t want to change that. Mainly because making sb into a burst weapon would require re-making all of it’s skill slots.

Longbow was always a sustain weapon too. The same argument applies though… a power weapon without the ability to burst isn’t a viable weapon.

It obviously shouldn’t get RF levels of damage and I’m not advocating for that. But making poison’s shot do the same damage as shadow strike and/or concusive to do that damage with +5% for each condition on the target isn’t too high imo.

As to torment, I think it’s very suitable for the Ranger to have it. Especially if it’s quite limited (only the sbow is capable of doing it and only on one attack). It being attached to crippling also makes sense.

Just overall the whole weapon needs to be shifted in some fashion as it’s quite redundant now. Honestly, I’d almost say scrap every skill on the thing and make Sbow our utility weapon and each shot does some secondary ‘druidic’ type attack to give utility. But my brother would not approve.

shortbow is fine tho ….

and the auto atk bleed, it only is bad in pve, in pvp, when the target even slightly, just slightly doesnt look at u ,(like 10 °) it bleeds..

shortbow is probably my fav condi weap, doesnt rly require a buff / rework / nerf

I agree either everything except Crossfire.

The problem I have is this… Compared to other bleed inflicting AAs our SB has by far the highest potential thanks to it’s speed and range… if they made it work from any angle it would go from having the highest potential to flat out being the best at all times. Anet would follow this by nerfing it somehow, and since the bleed duration is already extremely short the thing they would likely target is attack speed.

I don’t want them nerfing my SB somehow just to make it bleed from anywhere… the angle you need is already extremely generous and it’s not hard to stack plenty of bleeds in a fight.

The other attacks though, I agree. Especially on Poison Voley because really, it’s pretty poor. I also wouldnt mind seeing an arrow speed increase on Concussion Shot, just because I feel it’s a little slow to reliably interupt at range.

I want the poison volley to be fired the same way, but change the cone, and make it sort of a “weaving cone,” keeping with the “serpent” animal theme of our poison (or at least one of our poison) skills. Let me try to illustrate it:
I
III
IIIII
III
I 600 range
III
IIIII
III
I 900 range

Still piercing and applying poison to all targets hit of course. And combined with the suggested crossfire change.

I mean, obviously I could come up with a more effective function for poison volley, but so could ANet (by that I’m implying that it was designed to be difficult to use for a reason, so my suggestion keeps the difficulty but extends the range capacity to be effective).

Place a hard hitting skill on hit (10-15sec?) and LOWER the #5 CD to like 5-7 sec with a daze of 1/4 sec. Bring the ranger from GW1!

This would lead to an actually usefull Moment of clarity use and makes a not so dumb to play weapon.

Klonko.8341:

Place a hard hitting skill on hit (10-15sec?) and LOWER the #5 CD to like 5-7 sec with a daze of 1/4 sec. Bring the ranger from GW1!

This would lead to an actually usefull Moment of clarity use and makes a not so dumb to play weapon.

If they attached Eagle Eye and RtW I’d be quite content with this.

kyubi.3620:

///Poison Valley///: Fire a posionous arrow that explodes on target and poison it for 8 seconds and adjacent enemies for 4 seconds. Blast finisher.
Reason: Poison Valley is only worth using if you get really close, either for preventing a full heal or for stacking bleed stacks with a bleeding build. By making it into a finisher, the SB will have a special thing for itself, while not being OP together with the other changes.

You played dark souls 2 for to long look you talking about poison valleys

I actually don’t play that game xD Thanks!

Cufufalating.8479:

I agree either everything except Crossfire.

The problem I have is this… Compared to other bleed inflicting AAs our SB has by far the highest potential thanks to it’s speed and range… if they made it work from any angle it would go from having the highest potential to flat out being the best at all times. Anet would follow this by nerfing it somehow, and since the bleed duration is already extremely short the thing they would likely target is attack speed.

I don’t want them nerfing my SB somehow just to make it bleed from anywhere… the angle you need is already extremely generous and it’s not hard to stack plenty of bleeds in a fight.

The other attacks though, I agree. Especially on Poison Voley because really, it’s pretty poor. I also wouldnt mind seeing an arrow speed increase on Concussion Shot, just because I feel it’s a little slow to reliably interupt at range.

That’s a good point and I will change crossfire, but not to what it is now.

I feel these changes would make an SB ranger something to fear. People would think “Oh kitten don’t go behind me”.

I am unsure if 2 stacks from behind is too powerful, but if we think about it; the ranger is the winner either way if the enemy is running away (which means the ranger is shooting the target in the back).

Weapons like axe and dagger are good without traiting them but with SB I feel that I am forced to complement it with other utilities/traits to make it effective. I can play all cond, bunker, posion power etc builds so it’s not a l2p issue

CROSSFIRE CHANGED

Bump

Updated all skills to better fit the role of the shortbow
Changed Poison Valley, Quick Shot range, Crippling Shot duration, , Concussion Shot duration

Also a “Movement Speed increased by X% while wielding a shortbow” trait would fit nicely. It can be added to “Strider’s Defense”

Strider’s Defense: <current description> + “Move 25% faster while wielding a bow” or “Move 25% faster while wielding a shortbow or an axe in main hand” if the former proves to be overpowered with 1500 range longbows. That would require full investment in MM ans Skirmishing, though.

how about crossfire applies torment instead

#plzanet

shadowpass.4236:

how about crossfire applies torment instead

#plzanet

Not sure if serious or just a failed attempt to be funny.

You are asking for a very dangerous buff, my friend. But i like it.

Sincerely,
Spirit Ranger.

I did not read this entire post, so if others made these seggestions sorry for the repeat.

The one thing I would change is either make SB hit from front with a bleed and side or behind hitting 10% harder without bleed. I also wouldn’t mind seeing Quick Shot when used with Rune of the Trapper allowing the Ranger to port between traps as long as they are unsprung. If this option was offered Quick Shot would need a 1-6 second timer when used in this manner 9 when used as is. This option also affords the ranger an alt to enhance this classes viability in WvW or PvP by giving rangers an escape ability that could only be used with a shortbow. GD rune of the trapper gives me hope that the ranger class can excell in PvP or WvW.

Valentin.2073:

You are asking for a very dangerous buff, my friend. But i like it.

Sincerely,
Spirit Ranger.

Yeah? Okay, care to tell us why it’s a very dangerous buff? Your post is useless if you don’t.

solrik.6028:

Valentin.2073:

You are asking for a very dangerous buff, my friend. But i like it.

Sincerely,
Spirit Ranger.

Yeah? Okay, care to tell us why it’s a very dangerous buff? Your post is useless if you don’t.

What’s with the attitude? Torment is obviously a stronger condi than bleeds. The target is usually in motion so the torment would almost always be doing more damage. If the target doesn’t move, then it’s easier to hit him/her. That is why its more dangerous.

And fyi, I was joking.

shadowpass.4236:

solrik.6028:

Valentin.2073:

You are asking for a very dangerous buff, my friend. But i like it.

Sincerely,
Spirit Ranger.

Yeah? Okay, care to tell us why it’s a very dangerous buff? Your post is useless if you don’t.

What’s with the attitude? Torment is obviously a stronger condi than bleeds. The target is usually in motion so the torment would almost always be doing more damage. If the target doesn’t move, then it’s easier to hit him/her. That is why its more dangerous.

And fyi, I was joking.

No attitude, just the truth. When someone replies without quotes, I automatically assume it’s a reply to the original post.

Torment would indeed be too powerful and there is no realistic reason why torment would be better than bleeding.

I like your changes but I think poison volley should be a poison bomb arrow exploding in a 360 radius around your target, concussion shot is good as is if it had a shorter cd I think a shorter cd is better than increased duration from various angles without being too good.

edit: Eagle eye and read the wind should both affect the shortbow aswell.

Here’s a rework on mine.

ShortBow

Crossfire – Fires an arrow. Applies bleed every 3rd attack. (enemy gets a Crossfire indicator counter on screen hope that make sense)

Poison Volley – Fires a spread of poison arrows. Pets next attack does 50% more damage to poison foe.

Quick Shot – Applies Swiftness regardless. Pet gains swiftness.

Crippling Shot – Same.

Concussion Shot – Same.

AEFA.9035:

Here’s a rework on mine.

ShortBow

Crossfire – Fires an arrow. Applies bleed every 3rd attack. (enemy gets a Crossfire indicator counter on screen hope that make sense)

Poison Volley – Fires a spread of poison arrows. Pets next attack does 50% more damage to poison foe.

Quick Shot – Applies Swiftness regardless. Pet gains swiftness.

Crippling Shot – Same.

Concussion Shot – Same.

omg, sorry, that won’t work at all. crossfire needs the damage from bleeds. this would make the weapon very, very bad in my eyes

Updated concussion shot to not be overpowered with moment of clarity

Concussion shot wouldn’t be able to work exactly how you posted because the metrics of the game don’t treat the sides any differently than directly behind (not saying I don’t like the idea).

The parameters are determined by the character models themselves and not the actual skills, which means the game would have to be recoded to differentiate between the sides and directly behind.

Not that it wouldn’t happen, but that would be a VERY big change and a lot of other factors would have to rebalanced alongside it.

jcbroe.4329:

…

Ha, so backstab is even easier to land than I thought…
Gonna change concussion shot…

Concussion shot changed

solrik.6028:

jcbroe.4329:

…

Ha, so backstab is even easier to land than I thought…
Gonna change concussion shot…

Concussion shot changed

Yeah, attack a golem in PvP from the front and then slowly start to circle around it, and the moment when bleeds start to stack is the moment that you are now within “backstab bonus” range, or in our case, for flanking effects on Crossfire and Concussion shot and etc range lol.

jcbroe.4329:

solrik.6028:

jcbroe.4329:

…

Ha, so backstab is even easier to land than I thought…
Gonna change concussion shot…

Concussion shot changed

Yeah, attack a golem in PvP from the front and then slowly start to circle around it, and the moment when bleeds start to stack is the moment that you are now within “backstab bonus” range, or in our case, for flanking effects on Crossfire and Concussion shot and etc range lol.

What do you think about the other changes?

solrik.6028:

jcbroe.4329:

solrik.6028:

jcbroe.4329:

…

Ha, so backstab is even easier to land than I thought…
Gonna change concussion shot…

Concussion shot changed

Yeah, attack a golem in PvP from the front and then slowly start to circle around it, and the moment when bleeds start to stack is the moment that you are now within “backstab bonus” range, or in our case, for flanking effects on Crossfire and Concussion shot and etc range lol.

What do you think about the other changes?

I like all of them!

The only one I’m not too fond of is Poison Volley, and I mean, I don’t even like my own suggestion better lol. Not that I don’t think it’s strong currently because it is, but currently it doesn’t mesh well with the rest of the weaponset. It’s a strong skill, but only at point blank on an otherwise ranged weapon. It pieces, but is the only multi target hitting skill by default.

I’d prefer the idea of the skill to be scrapped entirely and just be made into a mirror of Engineers pistol 2 (minus the drunken not on target firing). So yeah, basically a poisoning rapid fire. My own issue with that is that it removes some of the games skill diversity for the sake of functionality, which means it is an unlikely change and would make the game one step closer to by the same professions copy pasted over and over.

SO, tightening the spread will have to do hahaha