No GW for me last night, just some quality time with
Salmon with a Soy Glaze served with Aioli Green Beans. My cooking's slowly getting better.
Night before last I finally played a couple of GvG matches that
Ranger. Well, almost. It was switched to Broadhead Arrow (BHA for short) and Mending Touch instead of Burning Arrow and Pin Down. So, first time in GvG on a Ranger for a long, long time for me. 9 months? Maybe? I hadn't played BHA before either, so it was a "total learning experience". I did warn the team that I'd probably suck but they weren't having it. Anyway, here's an edited version of part of my guild match report.
Highlight: wiping [izzy]'s initial 6-man gank attempt with our 4-man team.
Lowlight: pretty much losing the game for the guild vs. [izzy] by not killing their turtling monk quickly enough at the end.
Anyway, we were running a Eurosplit build. If you don't know what that is, it's a 5/3 split team where the 3-man split consists of a "You're All Alone!" warrior, a Burning Arrow or Broadhead Arrow ranger and a Ritualist/Ele Weapon of Remedy guy with a snare or two.
So, back to BHA. The arc of the BHA is about 45 degrees, which means if they're moving in anything other than an absolutely straight line you will miss. It's basically impossible to land it on a monk without a snare because they are forever fidgeting around and generally don't have lengthy casting times. You can't afford to fire a speculative shot because it's on a 15 second recharge. Other spellcasters like eles are easier pickings and you don't need the ritualist. Mesmers are gripped with continuous paranoia since everyone hates them and will probably notice you are on top of them (unless they're busy casting Diversion, anyway). Eles, apparently not. Anyway, here's your plan if you can't get a snare on your victim:
1) Run up to ele, who is probably casting SF, blinding the warrior for the nth time or something else exciting.
2) Administer kisses to both cheeks, Italian style. If you don't wish to do this step, make sure you're close enough that you
could.
3) Wait for him to start on a spell. Switch to your shortbow and shoot something else random in the meantime. You may wish to whistle, innocently.
4) Shoot him in the face.
5) Keep shooting him. At some point he will work out that the spells, they no work and probably run away. Keep shooting him and look for other interrupt targets.
I'm told that the arc of the BHA is fixed - it doesn't even matter what bow you're using - so cunning plans like Read the Wind or Favourable Winds don't work. Even with a hex snare on a monk you should try to be as close as possible.
