Guild Wars 2

It is broken. It cannot hit moving targets with its auto attack now. A lot of thieves who used short-bow weapon as their main weapon are quite upset. Please fix this.

WvW or pve? I’m running my thief right now and not having an issue.

zenleto.6179:

WvW or pve? I’m running my thief right now and not having an issue.

Trick Shot skill: First arrow is no longer heat-seeking.

I’m going to have look a bit closer.

I just tried it out on groups of ice brood wolves in wayfarer and it was doing what it was supposed to be doing. I’ve got no idea what could be going on.

since im a pve player im not seeing any difference either but i think this “heatseeking” removal from skill1 allows others to dodge the shots by strafing.

The arrow flies in a straight line after you fire it. If your enemies are static, moving straight towards you, or straight away from you, then this is fine. PvE enemies typically do that however PvP players will not (if they have any sense). Even in PvE, if you can see enemies running across your screen you might as well wave goodbye to them since you know your trick shot will miss. I’ve no idea how bad it will be in group content where all the players and all the enemies are moving.

I have no problems with my shortbow on my thief :/

This problem is ubiquitous with a number of the scepter auto-attacks. The guardian’s scepter is probably the worst of them all atm.

Welcome to the club guys!!!!!

For a good demonstration check this out,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSJ0pqRwjuU

Wreknar.5076:

This problem is ubiquitous with a number of the scepter auto-attacks. The guardian’s scepter is probably the worst of them all atm.

Welcome to the club guys!!!!!

For a good demonstration check this out,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSJ0pqRwjuU

This is ridiculous, Sidestepping to avoid the damage completely

They should fix Short-bow and Scepter in that matter.

I agree, it should be fixed fast. On the bug priority list though it isn’t that high considering guardians have had to put up with the crapter since BW2.

Wreknar.5076:

I agree, it should be fixed fast. On the bug priority list though it isn’t that high considering guardians have had to put up with the crapter since BW2.

The problem is that most guild thiefs that are in a WvW guild run SB’s as main weapon for the blaster finisher it provides, and is one of the most effective AoE weapons for the thief class.

While most GUA i have seen run Staff/Greatsword/Hammer for what the provide.

Wreknar.5076:

This problem is ubiquitous with a number of the scepter auto-attacks. The guardian’s scepter is probably the worst of them all atm.

Welcome to the club guys!!!!!

For a good demonstration check this out,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSJ0pqRwjuU

I didn’t realize it was that bad. Holy cow.

The music in that video is hilarious.

Will Anet revert this shortbow nerf? because it is no longer viable using it anymore.

Yeah in tPvP Trick Shot is unusable, if your target is moving the attack doesn’t hit, simple as that. You’re stuck with just clusterbomb

If a fix is going to come it will go like this: Scepter, Longbow, Shortbow… all accross the board not just thiefs. Staff should be at least 50% faster projectile because it is way too slow for pvp and wvw combat situations.

However I think straffing should be allowed against any ranged weapon, it’s more realistic to force you to manually dodge them. It also does force you to be more clever on how you decide to shoot enemies from a distance, besides thiefs have like a gazillion other ways of raining down hell on enemies.

There’s been some really hardcore complaining about this, but honestly, I don’t seen an issue. I mean, you won’t land 100% of your shots anymore, but it’s still so much better than guardian/mesmer wand.

Just increase the projectile speed to match that of the other bows in the game. It should never have been heat seaking to begin with.

If it’s already moving at the same speed as Ranger bows then it’s balanced. I haven’t had time to log in to test out the patch yet.

awge.3852:

If a fix is going to come it will go like this: Scepter, Longbow, Shortbow… all accross the board not just thiefs. Staff should be at least 50% faster projectile because it is way too slow for pvp and wvw combat situations.

However I think straffing should be allowed against any ranged weapon, it’s more realistic to force you to manually dodge them. It also does force you to be more clever on how you decide to shoot enemies from a distance, besides thiefs have like a gazillion other ways of raining down hell on enemies.

Ranger projectile speed was increased about 4 months ago.
Elementalist projectile speed was increased about 2 months ago.
Hopefully it doesn’t take this long to fix Thief projectile speed.

It is amazing, Anet actually made spamming 2 on short bow the only thing to do. when it was already the only good thing about short bow(not counting the atrocious travel time on the attack)…

since only one we could hit are those that were downed…
don’t go down people. the second you go down, there gonna be 50 thieves like wolves saw a chicken…

eithinan.9841:

It is amazing, Anet actually made spamming 2 on short bow the only thing to do. when it was already the only good thing about short bow(not counting the atrocious travel time on the attack)…

Makes me think they want every thief to be a stealth abusing thief.

I honestly don’t think it’s the tracking that’s the problem. All the tracking did was put the thief roughly on even grounds with most of the other ranged classes in the game. The REAL problem, and something most thief players probably haven’t noticed, is that since a couple patches ago (the “Big WvW Patch” I believe) the “obstructed” effect has been popping up a LOT more often for projectile attacks than it should be. Tiny hummock in the ground between you and the target? Obstructed. Allied Player uses bull’s Rush on your target? Obstructed! Target moves 2 steps backwards, but still looks like he’s in the hitbox for your projectile? Obstructed!

Seriously I’m surprised they haven’t dealt with that yet. Other than that I feel like Shortbow Thieves finally get to the feel the pain of a lot of other ranged classes.

“This problem is ubiquitous with a number of the scepter auto-attacks. The guardian’s scepter is probably the worst of them all atm.
Welcome to the club guys!!!!!”

Scepter is not the worst because

a) it does more damage on ST which is what you care about usually
b) it’s 1200 range vs 900 so you can blast NP{Cs on keep walls much better than Thieves

SB 1 is much worse

/guardian and thief Mains.

animalmom.1062:

“This problem is ubiquitous with a number of the scepter auto-attacks. The guardian’s scepter is probably the worst of them all atm.
Welcome to the club guys!!!!!”

Scepter is not the worst because

a) it does more damage on ST which is what you care about usually
b) it’s 1200 range vs 900 so you can blast NP{Cs on keep walls much better than Thieves

SB 1 is much worse

/guardian and thief Mains.

At least Guardian scepter’s 2 other skills have instant travel time.

awge.3852:

However I think straffing should be allowed against any ranged weapon, it’s more realistic to force you to manually dodge them.

I’m not sure what your advocating here, but straffing shouldn’t allow you to miss projectile attacks, just AoE. If players want to avoid getting hit by a projectile, then they should have to dodge.

Ranged damage is lower across the board vs melee, so to further penalize it by having players to just side step seems like a slap in the face. This just isn’t an FPS, so there definitely needs to be a degree of auto-targeting.

SpaceCowboy.1398:

awge.3852:

However I think straffing should be allowed against any ranged weapon, it’s more realistic to force you to manually dodge them.

I’m not sure what your advocating here, but straffing shouldn’t allow you to miss projectile attacks, just AoE. If players want to avoid getting hit by a projectile, then they should have to dodge.

Ranged damage is lower across the board vs melee, so to further penalize it by having players to just side step seems like a slap in the face. This just isn’t an FPS, so there definitely needs to be a degree of auto-targeting.

Simply put, look at longbow straffing if you already haven’t. First you cannot straff any ranged weapon from a close distance, it rarely ever works. But if you are far away enough you can easily straff as long as the projectile is not heart seeking or super fast. This makes for more realistic gameplay, where you can actually try to avoid enemy projectiles from a distance. Now this is very limited and in Gw2 if you try to straff in front of a ranged enemy you will simply eat all those projectiles, which is perfectly fine. Now the thief shortbow not being heartseeking will fall into the -straffing possible- category.

This is why I agree with the current patch to the thief shortbow, I just advocate for more realistic gameplay. If this update does guarantee that shortbow 1 will not be totally nerfed then there is no need to complain, if an enemy is straffing (and by the way you can straff them right back) swap weapons and go backstab their face instead.

I like what awge said if you cant hit them swap weapons lol.

“go backstab their face” -awge.3852

awge.3852:

Simply put, look at longbow straffing if you already haven’t. First you cannot straff any ranged weapon from a close distance, it rarely ever works. But if you are far away enough you can easily straff as long as the projectile is not heart seeking or super fast. This makes for more realistic gameplay, where you can actually try to avoid enemy projectiles from a distance. Now this is very limited and in Gw2 if you try to straff in front of a ranged enemy you will simply eat all those projectiles, which is perfectly fine. Now the thief shortbow not being heartseeking will fall into the -straffing possible- category.

This is why I agree with the current patch to the thief shortbow, I just advocate for more realistic gameplay. If this update does guarantee that shortbow 1 will not be totally nerfed then there is no need to complain, if an enemy is straffing (and by the way you can straff them right back) swap weapons and go backstab their face instead.

I agree with a lot of this, so long as the game is consistent across various classes/weapons in practical senses.

So, now that it’s not heatseeking, it’s more like ranger bows. Except…ranger bows have higher velocity (harder to avoid at a given range) and longer range. Thief Shortbow #1 was actually a copy of Ranger Axe #1…same range, same damage, same target bounce, and same velocity. Except now, Ricochet is still heatseeking.

I won’t advocate that Ricochet have heatseeking removed, because it would result in a sub-par autoattack ability in PvP/WvW settings – same as Thief shortbow for now. The better route would be to stop trying to make them the same or nearly the same, and compensate the loss of heat seeking on Trick Shot by giving it higher velocity and possibly longer range, too.

Another factor in the problem is Thieves have pretty much no choice but to use Shortbow for any sort of balanced / multi-purpose build because it’s literally the only game in town for multi-target damage and large group synergy.

oh joy…… well looks like i wont be coming back to the game after all. One of the few viable weapon sets we get and its crap now

SirWarriant.2319:

oh joy…… well looks like i wont be coming back to the game after all. One of the few viable weapon sets we get and its crap now

Shortbow as a set isn’t completely ruined, but it lost some situations where it’s useful.

Basically, it’s still good for damaging a blob of people that isn’t actively avoiding you. And Cluster Bomb is still the only 1200 range button we have. There’s still the on-demand blast finisher niche to fill. But if you liked to small scale duel with Shortbow…not too good anymore.

So, #2, #4, and #5 are all still excellent. If you are in a situation to need #3, you probably shouldn’t have the Shortbow out in the first place anymore.

I would accept these change if the shooting speed and projectile speed were increased.

Atm we shoot 1 arrow per second and the projectile traveling speed is to slow, with the pre patch system it was acceptable because although the shooting speed is low and the projectile traveling speed slow, but at least it would hit the target unless it was dodge or evaded.

As it is atm it is close to impossible to land a hit in pvp and since all the SB skills have slow traveling speed, the only usefulness it has is “shotgunning” and Infiltrator’s Arrow…

I’m still trying to understand why this change was made… I don’t see any reason for this. If a Dev would kindly explain to us what the reasons we would very much appreciate

This also shows how pistols is not viable at all as a ranged weapon, Shortbow auto attack is now messed? We all go dual melee. They should take this opportunity to look at both of our “ranged” weapons.

Well after playing with it some I can’t understand the complaints.

The speed of the projectile is the same for rangers.
The weapon should never have had heatseaking.
The damage didn’t change.
The bouncing attacks still auto hit.

Shortbow now works exactly like all other bows in the game. Seems reasonable to me.

The only legitimate problem this weapon has now is how the evasive shot sometimes misfires (which is the same problem as Rangers) and perhaps the projectile speed of explosive shot and poison shot. Explosives is clearly done so you can’t init dump 20k on their head. Poison should be quicker though.

The real problem is not this change but the fact that, like most ranged autoattacks, it has too long of an aftercast for the amount of damage it does. Considering also that Thieves are especially reliant on their autoattacks to deal a solid base DPS supplemented by Initiative-hungry skills, it’s a nerf with very serious repercussions.

This is a ubiquitous problem, but what I’d like to know is why Rifle, Mesmer Greatsword, and Ranger Shortbow are the only ones excluded.

Azure Prower.8701:

animalmom.1062:

“This problem is ubiquitous with a number of the scepter auto-attacks. The guardian’s scepter is probably the worst of them all atm.
Welcome to the club guys!!!!!”

Scepter is not the worst because

a) it does more damage on ST which is what you care about usually
b) it’s 1200 range vs 900 so you can blast NP{Cs on keep walls much better than Thieves

SB 1 is much worse

/guardian and thief Mains.

At least Guardian scepter’s 2 other skills have instant travel time.

Are you two really trying to argue which class’s broken longest range weapon sucks the worst? Not really a productive avenue of discussion here. Just agree that they’re both broken to the point that both auto-attacks are unusable. The video demonstration and comparison were meant for levity and a clear example of why very slow projectile speeds in this game do not work point period end of discussion.

Daeqar.8965:

Atherakhia.4086:

Well after playing with it some I can’t understand the complaints.

The speed of the projectile is the same for rangers.
The weapon should never have had heatseaking.
The damage didn’t change.
The bouncing attacks still auto hit.

Shortbow now works exactly like all other bows in the game. Seems reasonable to me.

The Ranger analog of Thief Shortbow is AXE, not bows. And Ranger bows do not have the same projectile velocity as Thief Shortbow, as you say. Ranger Axe is still heatseeking.

I lined up next to a ranger and fired at the same time. They move at the same speed.
I will test your axe theory when I’m home from work.

i would like 50% bow nerf please and return the heat seeking so i can actually hit moving targets !
thanks

I totally support this. Complete nerf, activation time is still no where near close to what it says and now it almost never hits.

since they closed all other thread about sb nerf and left only this one…

We are now forced to be in melee range to hit with our longest range weapon., not cool man…

yeah, and our other ranged option p/ is still subpar.

it really does seem they are forcing thieves to some few pre-set builds.

The options I see is: Revert it back to the way it was or
-Increase the range to 1200 on Trickshot
-Increase It’s activation time (Or better yet; fix the bug since it’s not 0.25)
-Increase the Damage.

“This is why I agree with the current patch to the thief shortbow, I just advocate for more realistic gameplay. "

Yes realistic gameplay is important in a fantasy MMO. When the wee asurafires the lighting bolts at my head and I’m dodging the huge charr monster who is swinging a 200 pound flaming sword at me whilst dodging the tree elf guy who is turning into mist, realism is at the forefront of what concerns me.

Not a fan of this change either. In WvW with substantial skill lag it has become very tricky to land a Trick Shot (harhar). Even firing into a blob of players, only very few arrows actually hit.

This also leads to silly situations where you specifically have to pick on immobile targets (like downed players) to actually do some damage. Since the bounce is still heat seeking, that seems the best way to go for now in a zerg.

Anyway, ANet should revert the change and lower damage or the number of bounces if it was such a big issue. However, I can’t remember seeing huge whine threads about short bow damage… Seems to me there are more pressing matters to attend to rather than nerfing the short bow.

Well they’ve effectively made shortbow 1 completely useless at range in pvp but I never sat there spamming 1 anyways. SB has always been a melee weapon because our attacks take an hour to reach the target. This doesn’t affect me at all, although it’s still incredibly stupid.

They are changing/nerfing the way our basic attacks work for who knows what reason, to see how kitten off the players can get? Sb 1 was never a problem so idk what this is for.

There are a lot of issues with this one. To keep it short any player who knows about the nerf can zig-zag and you will miss most of the shots. Kind of like scepter with guardian a slow projectile is slow.

The more I keep using SB, the more depressed I get. What was once my favorite weapon in the game is now a shadow of its former self.

It was a solid weapon without any ridiculously overpowered/underpowered skills. Trick Shot is almost completely useless in a combat situation now, other than for tagging downed/immobilized/crippled targets.

I have always had SB on swap. I may finally have to admit defeat and use D/P with S/D.

Xirin.8593:

The more I keep using SB, the more depressed I get. What was once my favorite weapon in the game is now a shadow of its former self.

I have always had SB on swap. I may finally have to admit defeat and use D/P with S/D.

I share your sentiment.

OIIIIIO.7825:

Xirin.8593:

The more I keep using SB, the more depressed I get. What was once my favorite weapon in the game is now a shadow of its former self.

I have always had SB on swap. I may finally have to admit defeat and use D/P with S/D.

I share your sentiment.

yeah i use d/p as backup now… :/ sad but sb no longer works…i used it soooooo much ….even went as far as makuign a dreamer……now i wish i could sell/trade it.