Help a newb with his Bow plz

[KipperFl]

<DIV>I'm a recent convert from my Swashy. I still love him but my Ranger... well... I guess y'all know already <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />. Shhhhh.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Anyway, I'm 17 atm and I'm starting to use my bow more and more but I'm having weird stuff happen:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>1. Sometimes I hit my Ranged Auto-Attack button and I pull out my weapons instead of my bow. Is this because I'm too far from the mob?</DIV> <DIV>2. Sometimes it seems I miss. At least I push the Ranged button and the mob comes running at me but I never seem to fire (sometimes I do seem to fire but no damage is shown).</DIV> <DIV>3. I have never (at least not that I've noticed) hit a mob twice before it got to me. Even trying to hit my Open Shot CA after first shot doesn't seem to help me get two shots in. I'm definately max range too. Is this normal?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>TIA for the schooling.</DIV>

[The_Wind]

1:  Using ranged CA's pulls out the bow, using CQC CA's pulls out your weapons.  This might be one of the causes of this, not sure without seein how you play to be honest.2:  Arrows miss, are parried, or dodged.  We don't necessarily like it, its just the way it is. =P3:  Getting shots off is all timing.  Now a days its a bit harder with mobs running in faster than they used to, however some of these guys pull with their backshot snare lines, which gives them a bit of more room to play with.  And don't expect to get a great amount of shots off before it reaches you.  Kiting is a ranger tactic used widely with the bow, but many, like myself, only tend to bow kite when the mob hits too hard when it gets close.  Like those nasty ^^^ mobs.  Otherwise we only shoot when we get the skills up, and then switch to melee.  I'd say you have about 3 seconds from initial aggro before the mob starts beating you.  Maybe that much, not 100% sure on it.  Sharp Shot line of skills is like a 1 sec cast time, so you pull with one, hit that and theres two.  But if you're only 17, you've got alot of discovery to come to grips with, so don't beat yourself up too much.  Theres plenty of time to learn <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

[Tevilspek]

One thing I've noticed lately (with this new Ranger) is that if I'm bordering at max range behind a mobs and it's walking away, I can hit Backshot, it walks out of range so Backshot doesn't fire, but it gets HIT with auto-attack!<BR>I know Backshot hasn't fired because there is no refresh timer and it isn't mentioned in the combat feedback.<BR><BR> <DIV>To the OP, if you look at your bow (longbow) you will see it has a range of 35m.</DIV> <DIV>Then if you look at Backshot or Open Shot, you will see they have a range of 'up to 30m'.<BR></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>And it's been put into the game now that when you use an art, auto-attack automatically gets turned on.<BR></DIV> <DIV>So as mentioned above, if you use an art, the mob walks out of range before it's fired, but less than an extra 5m, it's still in the 35m range.</DIV> <DIV>Therefore your auto attack has turned on, and the mob gets his with a weak arrow, rather than the full force of Backshot etc.</DIV> <DIV>And this, from experience, can be a killer...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I've not seen it, but does anyone know if there's an option to turn off that stops auto-attack from turning on automatically?<BR></DIV> <DIV>Cos as it is, that 5m range discrepancy is pretty much.. stupid.</DIV>

[KipperFl]

<DIV>@ The_Wind: Thanks for the info. Let me respond to all your points:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>1. I understand this. Besides Open Shot which I just got, I've only had Back Shot and not that long. I still pull with bow though because I have an Imbued Bone. I was specifically referring to me pressing my Ranged Auto-Attack button (the one that looks like a target). I will be in what I think is range and push that button and it will stay depressed but I will whip out my CQC weapons. I think this happens when I'm out of range. This also happens in another specific situation when I _know_ I'm in range. Let me describe it in general.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Sometimes when I am killing greens/greys for quest kills, I target, push my Ranged Attack button, the mob keels over dead, a half second later an arrow will come flying out of my bow but I've already targeted the next mob. Sometimes when I hit my Ranged Attack (seemingly before the server has registered fully that the first mob is dead) for the second mob, I whip out my CQC weapons instead. Sometimes I just stand there with my bow out looking stupid even though the mob is about 10m from me. This gets very frustrating and I was just wondering if I am doing something wrong.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>2. Thanks. This helps knowing now but still, this happens even on greens. Seems my skill shooting should be greater than a green mobs dodge/parry. /shrug</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>3. This helps a LOT. Both now knowing that I'm not necessarily just missing something and also knowing that things will change as I learn my Ranger more (read: get more skilled).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thanks for all the good information.</DIV>

[The_Wind]

Ok the first part sounds like you're pulling with bow, but finishing with CQC.  Meaning that the weapons appearing on your person at that time are your dagger/swords.  If the mob isn't in range, and you hit the ranged attack key, it'll appear depressed, but until the bow actually fires, it won't come out and be seen.  Same is for the other situation.  You used the bow to kill the first mob, so bow is what is appearing out, but you hit melee, and the mobs weren't in melee range, so it hasn't switched "skins" yet.  Thats what it honestly sounds like to me.  CQC range is 5m-.  Anything over 5m and its outta CQC range, and within bow range.  So if you're not within 5m of the mob, it won't switch until you actually get within range to hit them.  And trust me, even if the mob is green/gray it still has a random chance of dodging crap.  Try shooting an orange mob and see how frustrated you get to hit it.  Even if you boost your range up 90 points, they'll still parry it like a champ.  I guess its based off the chaos theory that just because you're good, that doesn't mean they won't get lucky. =PI remember rangers on EQ1 who bought their accounts off Ebay try to get out and kite.  It was so funny watching them die because they didn't grasp how.  EQ2 isn't much different in all honesty.  If you're worried about bein able to get more than one bow shot off before the mob gets to you, MOVE while shooting.  Only the CA's require you to be stationary(not all of them mind you).  you can run around all you want and fire off arrows at mobs, THAT is kiting.  <div></div>