That self interrupting longbow

[Oogabooga.3812]

Anybody having issues with the longbow not firing skills, yet going on either the 3 second or full cooldown? I manage to put some distance between me and foes (600-1200 range), fully turn around, push buttons, and nothing happens but a self-interrupting cooldown or even worse, the full cooldown.. Really annoying and often deadly when they are charging you and you're trying to survive using hunter's shot or point blank shot.

It's even more annoying if your target hugs your butt. Nothing comes out at all; shouldn't at least some sort of firing arrow happen even if it misses?

A couple of separate solutions:

1. Have skills 2-4 auto-face your target.
2. Have no cooldown if the server says I wasn't facing my target, but rather a dialogue that appears saying,"target not available."
3. Have just autoattack auto-face the target.

Whatever the solution, it's just not right that when you activate a skill, nothing happens except a cooldown.

[voltaicbore.8012]

Not really having this issue, but mostly because I only fire off LB abilities when I know I'm facing the target (pvp habit). I'll test later today and see if I get full cooldowns on abilities that are fired in the wrong direction.

I think the more fundamental issue for you is not knowing how to manage melee targets as a ranger. Greatsword is a great defensive/utility weapon that specifically excels at handling targets that close the gap after you open from range, and even has a nice little burst combo to go along with its defensiveness. Ranger is an incredibly versatile class, by which I mean if you can't outright kill a target, you tend to have more than enough tools to escape it. If single enemies are killing you just by chasing, to me that signifies issues that run far deeper than LB being weird.

[ReaverKane.7598]

I've played A LOT of Ranger Longbow, and i don't know what you're talking about, really...Well Hunter's Shot (Skill 3) might not proc the stealth sometimes, if you're facing the wrong way and/or the arrow misses, but otherwise, i have no issue with ranger skills...Rapid Fire isn't cancelled by movement, so unless you're spamming skills like crazy and cancelling that with other skills... IDK what you're doing wrong...Are you using Action Cam?

[Oogabooga.3812]

My guildies think the server doesn't register the client side that I've completely faced my target. I know how to switch to melee weapons, but that isn't the issue here. My issue is skills that when activated, activate nothing and then give you a cooldown as if something happened. This used to be an issue with Mesmer sword 3, if you were out of range of a target - no clone would appear, but the skill would go on full cooldown anyway. Anet reworked that skill so that it wouldn't activate/trigger cd unless you were in range.

But even if I face the wrong way, shouldn't at least an arrow fire in the wrong direction anyways instead of doing nothing but starting interrupt/full cooldown? If it registers that I was facing the wrong way, why should there be a cooldown, since nothing happened?Not using action cam, by the way.

[ChartFish.1308]

Lb 3 is the worst offender IMO. All others fail to activate if youre not facing your target properly (like when running away) but that one will go on full cooldown if you press it while your target is behind you. Doesnt even fire anything, just instant CD

[Ramoth.5162]

I have had this happen, usually at Tequatl. I am faced at my target, press a button, and get no action just global cool down. I chalk it up to some weird lag.

[EnderzShadow.2506]

sounds exactly like lag or packet loss.

[Ralkuth.1456]

Try letting go of your movement keys completely. That way targetted skills automatically track. It is fairly helpful also to auto-track your Mauls on a target weaving in and out of your character.

@voltaicbore.8012 said:Not really having this issue, but mostly because I only fire off LB abilities when I know I'm facing the target (pvp habit). I'll test later today and see if I get full cooldowns on abilities that are fired in the wrong direction.

I think the more fundamental issue for you is not knowing how to manage melee targets as a ranger. Greatsword is a great defensive/utility weapon that specifically excels at handling targets that close the gap after you open from range, and even has a nice little burst combo to go along with its defensiveness. Ranger is an incredibly versatile class, by which I mean if you can't outright kill a target, you tend to have more than enough tools to escape it. If single enemies are killing you just by chasing, to me that signifies issues that run far deeper than LB being weird.

That's all about the LB/GS Core Ranger, really. GS is such a deceptive weapon.