So... what about those bow skill changes?

I was just scrolling through the official wiki's upcoming changes page and I went to the near future part to see mesmer skill changes on the way. I may be wrong and this could be mod fodder for all I care, but I seem to remember bow skill changes being right there with mesmer skill changes. I remember when Gaile first spoke of skill changes she mentioned mesmers and ranger bow skills specifically. Did things change? I see everyone constantly reminding the devs about mesmer skill changes, but very little to nothing about these bow skill changes I seem to recall. Are people hoping they forget or something? Did the devs forget? Miscommunication? My memory really bites? What's up with bow skills? Are changes coming?

A user from the official wiki removed that reference on May 21st.

This is what the user wrote to inform others of the reason:

"Editor's summary: /* Near future */ According to Gaile Talk no Ranger bow buffs Nur Kleinigkeiten wurden verändert"

I hope this helps

Gaile said the skill balance, Mesmer updates (which would be little), and the PvE only Sunspear skills would all be in mid-June.

Considering how Hard Mode was barely within ETA (Gaile has said 1 month from 3/20, it came out 4/18), I don't expect it for awhile.

In a summary of a Gaile Chat one of the notible things she said was that the devs had looked at bow skills and felt they did not need to change them until the next balance.

Wow.. that says it all then. I didn't catch that Gaile talk. I'm kind of relieved, no news is good news. Thank you for pointing that out to me.

I do believe the bow needs to be looked at in terms of damage range and +damage in general (there is a reason touchers and thumpers exist you know), but I'm not about to complain about it either. There are some nice "sweet spot" builds you can mete out for yourself, and maybe perhaps a small handful of these needs to be toned down. But a lot more buffs then nerfs need to come for bow rangers in general IMO, or I'm pretty sure rangers will continue to be cornered into builds like thumper or toucher. Though it's a testament to the rangers versatility, because both these niche builds work exceptionally well.

I'd just like to use my primary weapon now and again and be considered a serious threat with it as well. Because right now some pearly clad ninny's showing me up with his fancy throwing stick and I'm not amused. :(

Lethal, ive been a ranger since beta and I can tell you with the utmost confidence that a well versed ranger can take down the Paragon and Derv. I know cuase I have done it numerous times in pvp. Interrupts will seriously hurt a Derv's skill chains and Paragons support chants.

I carry 4 bows around for a variety of situations. Each bow type has its own advantages, disadvantages and range. While my bows are simular i most aspects, their main differences lye in their bow types.

I also use my pet. You would be surprised what a hearty pet with Call of haste on it can do in combat.

Your secondary profession can also lend a huge hand to damage. Slap firey bow string on then use conjure flame then lay down fav winds and you will start doing some awesome damage. Another combo some friends and i found combines the vamp string with conflag to make the damae type fire then conjure flame to increae the damage and fav winds to add a touch more with arrow speed. If this is used with Barrage and Savage or Screaming arrows, it causes nice elemental damage as well as healing from the vamp string. Just be sure to carry a second bow to swtich to when traveling so you dont have the health degen eating you.

If you dont like vamp strings...use my fav build..a modified Barrage/Pet build.
Barrage,Sav Shot, Disruptig Shot, Call of Haste, Comfort Animal, Charm Animal and Rezz. You could drop rezz and bring another pet skill. When used with a Dire or Hearty pet, (mine is a hearty dune lizard) this is a great damage dealing/interrupt hybrid build and works good with all bow types.

Also dont forget you can also use the Poison builds for damage over time . BTW...Posion builds with a vamp bow....mmmmmm nasty

Anyhow, I know you dont wanna hear me preaching more. I just wanted to show you that there are numerous good damage dealing builds out there. Just remember..the ranger is really a damage dealing support class..simular to the paragon but when it comes down to it...the ranger can shut every profession down in this game ...but not every profession can shut a ranger down.

It'll be interesting to see the imba ranger skills they add. You just know they'll be game-breaking, and people will run Ranger Spike again until they nerf them.

That's quite scary, considering the only bow skills worth using at the moment, outside of an extremely rare ranger spike, consist of 4 elites (Crippling Shot, Burning Shot, Poison Arrow and to a lesser extent, Magebane shot if you are godlike at interrupting, but then, savage and distracting are more worthwhile leaving your elite open) and a handful of normal skills (savage shot, distracting shot, screaming shot, dual shot and a couple of others are really the only ones that see use at a decent level). I know they are probably scared of a return of Ranger spike, which would royally suck, but come on, bow skills don't need some attention? Horsehockey.

Rangers have always been powerful and they still are, rangers are great at conditions and interrupts, there is no need to mess up with them.

At least they should fix Keen Arrow.

rangers beeing powerful is news to me, 99% of their skills are single target bow attacks with mediocre damage

Rangers already own quite enough without buffing their damage output. I dont think they were ever intended to be out and out dmg machines. Thats why we have warriors.

And NO! Touchers and Thumpers do nothing to show anything about versatility. The only thing they achieve is to highlight how broken expertise is.

And what's wrong with expertise?

This is just plain stupid, have you ever played a ranger? If u did, then you should know that they can eat half of your health before you even reach to them

First SR was broken (and they fixed it) now expertise is broken..i wish i can flame you till death but i'll just let you rethink of what you posted...

Expertise isn't really broken, more just the best primary attribute in the game. It's nothing new either. Expertise has been known to be exceedingly good for a long time. There's a reason Bunny Thumpers and Touchers run primary Ranger. I wouldn't go so far as to call it broken, but I can see why others say it. It's awesome energy management for pretty much any non spell.

What do you mean there is only 4 good elites what about punishing shot?I know how much you like Cripshot but pin down last longer.I don't mind it either but I really like punishing for for all the interrupt line distracting,savage and punishing.

There is only one thing that can shut down a Ranger a Warrior in their face or a good Domination Mesmer.I sometime use a hammer on my Ranger with no pet.

Punishing is a nice damage skill, but as interrupts go, savage shot does the same job without eating your elite slot. If you absolutely must eat your elite slot with an interrupt, I find Magebane nicer, simply for the instant recharge if you interrupt a spell. Pin down is nice, but CripShot goes through everything except blind - well worth the elite slot, and if you are worried about duration, carry a crippling recurve as well as your other bows.

point blank shot need to change to +40 damage with 5 energy cost.

They need to fix interrupt spamming. It isn't skillfull to spam Savage, Distracting and Punishing over and over and over.

Give us an Expertise-based IAS that can be kept up constantly at 12+ Expertise. Thumper builds don't run that much so it won't be abused.