Why do hunters switch to melee when monster gets close?

[Mordikay]

This thing have been buggin me about hunters. Why does hunters switch to melee when a mob gets close. Just doesn't make sense since you can actually shoot your bow at a mob that stand right in your face.

As a ranger melee dmg is less then your bows dmg, but for some stupid reason it auto switches to melee..why?

[Dale E]

I assume because for some bow shots it takes a while to draw your bow, and can be interupted by the monsters attacks

[Rorax]

Well, does it make sense at all to shoot a bow when someone is swinging a sword at you? I would say that the fact you CAN shoot the bow when in melee combat is whats wrong.

[Mordikay]

Originally Posted by Rorax

Well, does it make sense at all to shoot a bow when someone is swinging a sword at you? I would say that the fact you CAN shoot the bow when in melee combat is whats wrong.

That might be correct. But fact is you can shoot a bow at point blank atm as the game is, but yet it switches to melee weapon...

[DTQ]

One of our special moves is a melee hit followed by a arrow shot isnt it obviously meant for point blank arrow work, but I do use melee specials between timers for bow shots.

[hitchhiker54]

I've played hunter since I first got into beta... Melee option is good (past lvl 20 with dual wield) for the following :

No interrupted hits - certain mobs or multiple attackers leve you standing like a gimp and getting slaughtered while trying to use bow shots.

Low power/conserve power in groups - with 2x11.8 dps weaps on my current toon i can deal more damage on auto attack without needing power. That troll on weathertop springs to mind

Time - we/i close to death, low hp on the mob. a few swipes of my axe and dagger may help more than a few secs wait for special bow attack to fire if my focus is low.

Boredom - sometimes a change is a good thing :P

[elahim]

If theres an orc swinging at you with a huge cleaver, would you rather have a bow to parry with or a sword?

I´d take the sword any day

Besides, you can still use your melee skills/auto attacks in between the bow timers.

[Belechael]

Originally Posted by Dale E

I assume because for some bow shots it takes a while to draw your bow, and can be interupted by the monsters attacks

I agree. This is the most logical answer, even though I prefer to hit them with arrows by point blank myself.

[Mordikay]

Originally Posted by hitchhiker54

I've played hunter since I first got into beta... Melee option is good (past lvl 20 with dual wield) for the following :

No interrupted hits - certain mobs or multiple attackers leve you standing like a gimp and getting slaughtered while trying to use bow shots.

Low power/conserve power in groups - with 2x11.8 dps weaps on my current toon i can deal more damage on auto attack without needing power. That troll on weathertop springs to mind

Time - we/i close to death, low hp on the mob. a few swipes of my axe and dagger may help more than a few secs wait for special bow attack to fire if my focus is low.

Boredom - sometimes a change is a good thing :P

Why not just make the game auto attack on bow at point blank range? Bows clearly have auto attack function and you can clearly shoot bow at point blank. So switching to melee still makes no sense.

[Jared]

Switching to melee from a game perspective makes a LOT of sense. The special 'Barbed Arrow' bow attack will cause the MOB to bleed.

If you then use the correct melee attack (I forget the name) you can do a substantial amount of damage, and kill the creature MUCH quicker.