Question on elemental bow strings

If I were to use a fiery bow string on my bow, would that change it's damage type to fire (meaning that it counts elemental + fire resist armor rather than physical armor)? If so, how does elemental damage compare to physical damage? Is it much higher, much lower (I'm assuming it also depends on classes, like I would hit rangers for low damage)?

Well from what I have seen with my R/E when you add a Fire string it does change the dmg to Fire, atleast I was able to cast Conjure Flame and it added dmg, which that spell will only work if your weapon is a Flame Weapon. As for comparitive dmg that all depends on what you are up against. Standard physical dmg has a more average dmg range throughout the game, but with elemental dmg you have to have a few items to choose from, just like an Elementalist respec'ing for various missions. Through most of what I have played of the PvE so far my groups Fire spec'ed Ele has been a god when it comes to dmg, but the first time we ran into Fire Imps I watched in a Warrior's Glee as he finally needed help since he could do almost no dmg So, what I would recommend is, I know bag space is hard to come by, but, keep a two or three bows on hand at all time, try different ones out at different times and get a feel for what goes where. I think the extra dmg you can do when you find the right bow/creature combo's will be well worth the couple inventory spots. Just my opinion though and my ranger is only lvl 14 so things could be a little different higher up.

Ossain Taishar
Knights of Winter

Thanks for the input. I think it might be a good idea then to keep my zealous short bow as a backup for rangers in pvp (as they have highest elemental armor), and fire resistant mobs in pve.