Question about DPS and speed

[Erurainon]

I know this is not normally the type of post found on these forums, but this is the only WoW-related site I belong to, so...

I have a hunter in the high 30s who has been using a store-bought, green shortbow with 25-47 dmg, 18.9 dps and a 1.90 speed. He just found a green longbow with 37-70 dmg, 19.1 dps and 2.8 speed. My question is how can a weapon which has such a higher dmg average have such a comparable dps to one with a much lower dmg average? I know that a lower dmg weapon will have a higher dps, but come on! 25-47 vs 37-70??

Also, I have decided to stick with the shortbow mainly due to the speed being twice as fast and my hunter's dps is just .1 less than with the longbow. Is this a good decision or does the longbow have a benefit by having a higher average damage rate?

[Kaomie]

Originally Posted by Erurainon I know this is not normally the type of post found on these forums, but this is the only WoW-related site I belong to, so... I have a hunter in the high 30s who has been using a store-bought, green shortbow with 25-47 dmg, 18.9 dps and a 1.90 speed. He just found a green longbow with 37-70 dmg, 19.1 dps and 2.8 speed. My question is how can a weapon which has such a higher dmg average have such a comparable dps to one with a much lower dmg average? I know that a lower dmg weapon will have a higher dps, but come on! 25-47 vs 37-70?? Also, I have decided to stick with the shortbow mainly due to the speed being twice as fast and my hunter's dps is just .1 less than with the longbow. Is this a good decision or does the longbow have a benefit by having a higher average damage rate?

The math are correct:

• (25+47)/2/1.90=18.947..
• (37+70)/2/2.8=19.107..

The speed is actually how long it takes (in seconds) to shoot once. So the higher this number the lower the DPS for the amount of damage per shot.
I agree it should be called "delay", not "speed"

As far as what is best between quick smaller shots or slow bigger shots it really depends on what you do (PvE, PvP, instances, ...) and what your talents build is. Having tried about everything with my hunter in the end the only two aspects I really care about are:

• I cannot use guns, they are just too noisy for me, plus I am a NE anyway Guns are usually slower with huge shots
• I prefer slower shortbows with bigger shots because it tends to use less arrows, which means less pit stops and also cost less (which is something when you use some nice arrows from faction or PvP).

Other than that it is just a matter of how good it looks when you draw it and take aim

[Erurainon]

Thanks for the reply. I'm a PVE character on an RP realm. I've been soloing as a hunter and I've not yet met too many people in-game, so I'm not in a guild nor do instances or raids (although I would really like to). I decided on the shortbow for the faster speed because the dps is so close to the harder hitting weapon I figured I'd kill things quicker with it. Although you have a point with ammo depletion.. I use a 14-slot quiver which I got off the AH which increases my speed by 12%. Oh yeah, and my talents build is BM - eventually BM/MM; but for now all of my points are in BM.