It takes anet several years to create an expansion so starting the conversation right now can't hurt. I'm curious as to what other Elementalists would like to see in in a longbow specialization, no wrong answers.
My main inspiration for longbow ele is the character Archer from the anime Fate Stay Night, with a few changes. From here on out I'll refer to longbow ele as Catacylsm
1. Cataclysm is the opposite of longbow ranger/soulbeast, in that its main source of damage is conditions as opposed to strikes. The range of Catacylsmic longbows is 1500 to make up for their inability to swap to a defensive weapon.
2. Cataclysm's use mantras to quickly apply to debuffs to an area.
Fire
1. Pierces, if it hits more than one target, all are burned.
2. Projectile that starts off big and shrinks with distance, burning nearby foes as it travels.
3 Target area pulses burn.
4. Target area briefly pulses blinds.
5. Fire an arrow that absorbs all burning on nearby targets to deal strike damage proportional to the burning absorbed.
Water
1. Pierces, if it hits more than one target, all are chilled.
2. Projectile that stuns with the duration increased based off distance traveled.
3. Create an icy path in a straight line.
4. Crippling shot that dazes chilled targets.
5. Fire an arrow that absorbs all chill in an area to stun based off the amount of chill absorbed.
Air
1. Pierces, if it hits more than one target gain fury based on the number of targets hit.
2. Projectile that launches a close target, knocks down far targets.
3. Short range shot gun, similar to the underwater spear ability.
4. Gain vigor, fury and fire a shot that grants the same to an area.
5. Push forth a wind wall that reflects projectiles. Absorbs the swiftness of nearby enemies to grow in size.
Earth
1. Machine gun shrapnel. Think of the Earth Scepter 1 ability, just a lot faster and with a 1500 range.
2. Projectile that starts off small and grows with distance. Inflicts bleeding, inflicts more bleeding the larger the projectile is.
3. Weaken and cripple an area.
4. Cripple area, root + bleed 2 seconds later.
5. Create a long line that quickly strikes and bleeds foes that touch it.
Elites: Each element has its own elite with their own individual CDs. Using an elite for one element triggers a 10 second CD for the others.
Fire: Summon a giant meteor that impacts the ground after 10 secs, striking and burning in a large area.
Water: Pulse chill and regen in a large area
Air: Summon a storm that strikes random areas with lightning. Enemies inside the storm lose fury and cannot gain fury while inside it.
Earth: Summon a large stalagmite to apply a large stack of bleeding and deal a moderate amount of strike damage to a single foe.
Heal
Chant a mantra that heals you for 30% of the damage you deal in target area.
I mainly sPvP so I'm sure some of these abilities step on the toes of PvE aspects of the game. This is all just a brainstorm, nothing concrete, so constructive feedback and other ideas are welcome.
I have no reason to target an ally. It's frustrating when I'm in the middle of a team fight and someone on my team wants to spam the target market on an ally, preventing me from properly being able to focus my kill target. Keep the target marker function for enemies but replace the ability to put it on your allies with being able to put different raid markers on team members. It would help pug coordination immensely and, in my opinion, match quality overall.
