When to use Take Aim/Focus Fire?

[Auriak]

I am a level 45 Ranger, but I rarely ever use the Take Aim ability.  Does that make me a bad ranger? I very rarely solo, and when in a group I am constantly chaining my attacks one after the other.  I start with my melee ones then pull out and do my ranged.  At this level I have 8 ranged attacks that I am aware of: Miracle Shot, Trick Arrow, Culling the Herd, Crippling Arrow, Sharp Shot, Triple Fire, Leg Shot, and Hidden Fire.  In a normal group, I can chain maybe 5 of those in a row without pulling aggro, and since my melee autoattack seems to do a lot more damage than my ranged autoattack, I instantly move back in to melee range.  So my problem is that I am never using ranged for a full minute.  If I were to use Take Aim, I would have to Cancel it manually every time or my melee damage would suffer greatly. I guess my question is, in what situations do you fellow rangers use this ability?  Am I doing something wrong? Thanks for any possible guidance you can bestow.

[Exzile]

Honestly i never use that line of spells from the fact i was broken for awhile so as i grew up it never got thrown into my cycleguess u could say hard to teach a ole dog new tricks but any ways its dosent seem to effect my at all still killing fast still high dps and still stealing aggroi find it odd ure meele dmg is higher than ranged-My weapons (both fabled) couldnt compare to that of my bow arts

[Auriak]

It's good to know that I am not alone.  I figure there has to be a good use for it, though. My bow combat arts definitely outdamage my melee ones, I was referring to just standard auto-attack when no arts are being used. I use a pristine imbued cedar long bow, pristine imbued ebon spatha, and Short Sword of the Ykesha.

Message Edited by Auriak on 10-15-2005 08:38 PM

[hieronym]

I used to use it all the time just before the pull but since they changed the timer and effet it hardly gets used in normal play. I do use it however if we come up against an orange mob or maybe a hard named. I use it just before the pull then use up all my ranged CA then when i move in for melee i cancel it

 

I expect i will be using it a lot more when I get stream of arrows

[Dojoc]

Iam useing it against orange or higher colored mobs every time when it's up, in raids before i start to attack with all or a couple of bow ca's und severly times in pvp vs higher player

[Dyr]

Thats the ticket, it really cuts down on misses on higher level con mobs, against orange and yellow gobbies and madmen in PoF I go Offensive Stance, Focus, Stealth, Hidden Fire, Storm, Leg Shot etc till engaged, turn off Focus as it lowers melee abilities then engage .... In a moving Duo quest exp grp yeah I forget it alot, but its part of my routine when I see high con mobs ..... 

[Auriak]

Thank you for the responses, everyone.  I feel a little better now

[Crychtonn]

Using it in combination with Snipe to lower the mobs Defense allows you to hit much higher level mobs then you would normally be able to.  Using both these skills I can hit at a decent rate mobs seven - eight levels higher then I am.  If you don't have adept III of Snipe I'd suggest getting it.

[Raahl]

Yea I use it on mobs that are tough to hit.  Usually orange and above.

[Teksun]

I agree. I rarely use it. Once I miss completely with triple shot (BUMMER) I'll click it on. Otherwise I pretty much forget it is there...

[Saihung23]

Personally, it is one of those buffs I just click when I notice it up...seems to help some...I guess /shrug Saihung