This information is no longer useful as with the launch of new frontiers Volley was rendered far less useful.


The Misconceptions:here are misconceptions about Volley. Volley is a powerful tool if use properly.

-Mass Killer: People who get volley they tend to think they will decimate many enemies with it. They tend think they should be able to rack up amazing amount of kills due to using this. Unfortunately, unless the person was near dead to begin with or stood there motionless for a few minutes, you will not kill them.

-long range AE attack: A traditional AE attack comprises of an ability or spell with effects that are experienced by everything within its radius component. Volley does not affect everything. Calling it a Long Range AE is a misnomer. Volley is a form of indirect fire, striking points within its radial components instead of splashing every point with damage.

-All shots fired at once: When volley is engaged the volleyer may fire a single shot in a one second interval. You may pause and wait between presses. You may pivot and reposition the center of the radial component between shot in the same volley, allowing the next shot to fall within the new area. You may not move and break the attack.

-Damage not all that great: Each successful hit from a volley yields the same damage threshold given by a standard non-critical shot. Use the slowest bow you can get you hands on to maximize damage. The delay only affects the initial setup, not the successive shots. It may take 5.5 seconds for volley to be ready after you press the volley button but you are still firing at 1 second intervals after that. 5 shots at that damage in that amount of time can be devastating and annoying as hell for rival healers.

-Not worth the 14 points: This view point is subjective. Even though you are not generating kill spam from using this attack you are helping your side tremendously. The payoffs come in the form of forcing your enemy to readjust their tactics, delay their attack or even to disengage a standoff and fall back to range far beyond threatening to your forces. Another major payoff is denial of a relatively close rear area for them to rest. Striking wary combatants well in the back of enemy’s line of defense has an unnerving and demoralizing effect. This psychological warfare may cause the people who needed a respite to break away from their lines and fall back out of mutual cover range, allowing your realm’s assassins to prey on them.

The Benefits: There are benefits to volley not fully appreciated or understood by those who do not have full knowledge of it.

-Bubble Popper: It’s no secret that volley can negate blade-turn. This is actually beneficial to the defensive tank community as it renders an anti-archer power, useless. People who enjoyed the protection afforded by blade-turn are forced to utilize their realms defensive classes in a way their were originally intended, as bodyguards. Cloth Casters and Pulsing blade turn users will understandably hate volley for this feature.

-Blind Firing: The third worst counter to an archer is near sight. Shield specialization is the number one followed by the introduction of blade-turn. The shield will never be outdone, blade-turn and near sight can be circumvented. Volley as stated before negates blade-turn, it is also not affected by near sight. While near-sighted, your standard shots may be done at extreme short ranges, your volley shots will always sail just as far. There is something to be said about the joy one gets from killing a caster who just near sighted you from well behind the enemy’ line, {Near sight has longest cast range in the game}. I believe this feature will never die since you are actually firing at location not a person. You do not have to see a static location but you have to be able to see a mobile person.

-No Pets: Pets rank as near third worst counter to an archer. For a stealth capable class, the greatest defense comes from moving in the shadows. Pets that are set upon visible stealthers chase their prey in the light or in the dark recess of the shadow world. Tireless is their quest to engage and destroy what their merciless master select. The bane of stealth community is negated itself by the sheer range of volley. At Beyond Visual Range Engagements, ie 3K+ranges, pets no longer factor in since out of sight mean un-target able. Striking a pet master or the pet itself does not sick the pet on you, nor will they come after you after you have hit them and they move into draw range.

Standoff Fighting: A Stand off fights occurs where terrain, obstruction or circumstance forces 2 or more forces to maintain ample distance from each other. In this situation those points spent into volley become well worth it. There are 3 ways to Volley in this situation. One relies on setting a ground target manually. Two relies on a macro to place the ground target at a given distance directly ahead of you. Finally the third way is to grab the coordinates from a fellow realm mate using ground assist. The later is very beneficial for keep reductions.

-Manual Targeting: This is done by holding F5 or whatever key ground target is set to. Place the target marker in the middle of a mass of person to get maximum damage output. If placed under a single person you may not even hit that person in 5 shots. Though you may never hit the same person twice, you will receive a few RP’s when that person brought down. The counter to this is mobility. If the enemy is always on the move then the chances of hitting them drops without some practice in estimation. When a volley is made ready, you may reposition the target marker and fire on a new area, so long as you do not move from you location. You may pivot but you may not make a step or you volley will be canceled and you must wait until you may fire again. You may fire 1 shot reposition fire a second and so on until all 5 arrows have been expended. With ample practice a moving group may be engaged consistently. The downside to using manual targeting is the limited range you may place the marker at. For targets beyond this range you must use /groundset

-Ground Set: This is done by typing /groundset Or by creating a series of macros so you can instantly place a ground target at a given distance from you current location in the direction your character is facing. Not the one your camera is facing. /groundset {distance}. The benefit is the ability to rapidly place a target zone and begin firing. The downside is unless you are psychic, this will not work very well. You can use this from behind total cover firing blind, such as in a Frontier Keep siege, or beyond clipping range attacks. Holding the macro button yields the same effect of a rapidly positional target marker but without the ability to modify distance to target range. In many respects, the best form of attack is the ground assists option

-Ground Assist: This is a highly effective method to engage enemies from a safe location. To do this, make a macro if you have a dedicated spotter or rapidly type the command along with the person’s name. /groundassist {name}. Using people capable of scaling walls allows the volleyer to create utter havoc with fort defenders. Coupled with a shield tank at mile gates the Volleyer may fire from a position indiscernible to the enemy. The volleyer may take to the wall and set targets on their own, but with higher ground is often at the enemy’s disposal, an enemy archer can engage you. By using a shield tank spotter, you gain the luxury of being impervious to all but a counter volley person. Penetrating the defense of a shield tank is near hard at best when that tank is highly skilled, fully buffed and using gear of exceptional quality. Plus they will like you a lot more for getting them valuable RP’s.

Interdiction and Harassment: All Volley capable persons are also stealth capable. With stealth we can be forward spotters reporting enemy movements. We can see their formations before they unleash fury upon our forces. We have the mean to delay or cause confusion among their ranks.

-Asymmetric Warfare: If you happen across a formation of the enemy, readying to engage a strategic point, you can delay them. By using volley you force them to reassess the situation, deviate from initial plans to deal with you, charge headlong without properly preparing themselves or deviate from the actual attack. Behind enemy lines at a Mile Gate during a stand off is where volley can excel. If the enemy is firmly entrenched in this highly strategic choke point you can set a target in a vital locations and reduce there defensive advantage. The most strategic spot is by the doors. There is a reason for this. To prevent an enemy’s push in the side dominated by your side, Point Blank Area Effect casters move to areas just adjacent to the door. They can easily dispatch any number of persons trying to breech this point by utilizing their deadly arts. This is why targeting this point is vital. If you can get these deadly foes to leave their posts, your side will have an easier time breeching the defense line and lay waste to all who opposed them. If you want to go for high RP gains, firing on the second level of the walls or about 1500-1000 range in-front of the doors is a good way to do it. The trick to maximizing confusion is to set your ground target, fire a volley, re-stealth, reposition ample distance away, and then repeat. You will be surprised how much 1 person can affect an entire battle. Word of warning, do not hide behind trees. This is usually the first spot assassins check. Let clipping range be your shield. Just re-stealth move a long distance away and fire again.

-Prankster: Have some fun with volley. You can hit people and run away. The confusion caused is not only hilarious, it’s useful. Strike foes a few times, disappear and return a while later and repeat. Not only will you build the skills to perfect your volley art you will have fun seeing injured pet classes running around like a decapitated chicken. You will see multiple groups dedicated to seeking you out. Laugh it up and enjoy what you can do.


Portal Keep Bot Snipping: The trick to bot snipping is simple. setup a series of macros for me I did groundset in increments of 1k. I have been volleying just inside the walls for a long time. You will figure out where the enemy thinks it's safe to park their bots. Using the macros you can set you gt at a spot where you think they most likely are. There are no guards that chase in the middle of a pk those are only at the front door. Even those can be killed because by myself I got one down to 70% and I do not have AP or IP. The ones on the flanks or on the wall cannot not be hit outside of melee range and will dodge every shot. They stay put no matter how many times an arrow flies past them. The side effect to this is that though they do not chase they cause allot of spam alerting everyone in the pk and the surrounding area that you are out there. The most common mistake for alb players especially on Galahad is that they stack their bots on the master of arms thinking he will trounce any attacker. He would you get close but when they alt-tab when their buffs drop and see their bot face first in the ground they get madder then hell. I had every class and level under the sun looking for me. Our main advantage is that range increase greatly with elevation. I can shoot from the highest point behind APK and hit people in the middle of the pk.

-TIPS:
1. Caution is your greatest weapon. Do not go over board and chain fire volleys.
2. Re-stealth. One tactic used early on to combat me was to get a minstrel to stand on top of bot getting hit allow himself to get it since you cannot assist at that range then run around spamming auto face. Wait a few moments after a volley re-stealth and reposition. This makes it harder for them to spot you since they normally do not look in places already checked.
3. Bring a friend. Bot Snipers best friends are fellow ranger and especially night shades. Having a NS partner not only helps us by giving us a guards it causes the enemy to leave the mile gates to protect their advantages. This allows our friendly stealthers time to prepare for their return.
4. It does not always work if you constantly do it. I wait a few days in-between doing this type of thing since by then the infs would give up waiting and return to their old hangouts at the mg. It's fun killing a few bots then have a group of infs sprinting to the area.

Border Keep Bombardment: Patch 1.65 removed the ability to Fire into Border Keeps

Basics for volleying:

-Macros: Macros make your life easier when you know how to use them.
These are example macros
/macro 1k /groundset 1000
/macro 2k /groundset 2000
/macro greg /Groundassist Gregaoth
/macro new /chat can someone set a ground target for me to bombard?

/groundset: When use /groundset the ground target maker appears on the ground where it is set for 2 seconds just like tapping F5 to see where you placed your last GT. I do not know how to post screen shots. To practice go where there is plenty of long flat featureless space. Practice those macros. Learn how to estimate angles and distance on various terrain. Learn how altitude relates to overall range. Once you get the hang of this go try it out on your enemy. Groundset as of 1.65 is capped at 5,00 range untis

/groundassist: When you use /groundassist , you grab the coordinates that person set as their ground target. This has the benefit of allowing concentrated attacks on one location. A volleyer may fire on the same ground target point being used by Catapult. A catapult does not have the same rate of fire as volley thus you can rain a high volume of indirect fire while the heavy hitters are being reloaded. Keep in mind that on its own volley will not decimate an enemy formation, but, when multiple Volleyer fire on the same coordinates, the effects are terrifying.

Nice first post Trimen! Welcome to the forums

__________________


WoW - World of Warcraft Hunters

thanks wrote that a while back and wanted the proper forum to post it.

Very well written, I'm sure that players new to the archer classes will find it invaluable.

I have a question about volley...

I know if there are 5+ targets, it will shoot 5 arrows of course, might hit some a few times, might hit each one once.

But, if there is less than 5, will it still shoot 5 arrows and definetly hit someone multiple times?

Example, 2 people in the ground target area, might one get hit twice and the other person 3 times? or will they both just get hit once or maybe one of them hit twice and the other not hit at all?

Well written Trimen.

/cheers

Great post Trimen! Welcome to Critshot.

__________________
"May your arrows find lodging deep in the hearts of your enemies!"

Heartstriker 50 Ranger/LGM Fletcher.......Lavicinnia 50 Hero
Kynwyl 50 Champion/LGM AC....Multipull Stabwounds 47 BM
Teslai Coil 20 Ment/LGM Tailor...Vitalsigns 50 Druid/+200 SC
Hereticus 24 Hero/LGM WC....Harvestmoon 50 VW/LGM Alch

I was experimenting a long time with volleying buffbots but I had one problem maybe you all can help me with. I was actually beyond max range for recieving rp's for a kill. I got the spam, but no rp's were awarded to me. For that matter nothing came up in my information window. Anyone know what the maximum distance I should be away from the bots if I am to volley em?

-Ark

Hmm...i volley Buffbots at the max range and still get rps for them if I kill them. Its possible you were killing people who were res sick or recently killed so that they did not qualify for RPs and because of the distance did not receive the normal message saying such...

Please Explain.. on a few occasions I have volleyed and hit a pet while out of visible range and the pets did indeed come after me.

__________________
Gareth
Akutan - 30 Something

Palomides - Circle of Silence
Akutan - Master Ranger - (Retired)
Kasatochi - 50 Valewalker - (Retired)

OK, recently tried Volleying a BOT at MPK On Galahad. The BOT was outside the doors of MPK and an easy target.

I dropped my ground target on him and backed-up (herein may be my problem ...)

Fired off my volley and hit the bot 2 or 3 times (he didnt die -- nerf bots). Then a named Purple "smart" guard ran all the way out and clobbered me.

Was I unlucky? I dont believe I hit him. Or, is volleying BOTS no longer doable?

Or, should I be further back?

Appreciate your comments on how to avoid getting clobbered again.

Ullran Wrath
WOTS Warlord
Master Scout

You can even have, for instance, 10+ people in the target area and (if unlucky) hit none of them. 5 arrows are shot and each has a chance to hit somebody (random) in the area. The more targets, the highest the chance to score a hit. But to the contrary of a GTAoE spell, you never have the guarantee you will hit.


Marsec

A little trick I use, mostly when fighting to retake a keep.

Lets say it's an albion keep. You just stealthed and went near the left tower to put a GT. Now we all know that against a well trained (and buffed) caster or archer you may experience some difficulties to get a kill.
Example: you see that caster preparing some deadly spell, you shoot (bladeturned), shoot or crit again (hit!), and if the caster is slow, can score another hit (yaha!). The caster is now hidden with a sliver of life left. The trick now is to immediately shift to volley (remember you just put a GT in that left tower were he hides) and shoot. With a little bit of luck you will hit that same wounded guy again et voilà, dead caster.

Obviously it's not a "I win 100%" trick, but nice to use. I usually move back before the volley part, except if I noticed they don't have an archer with them.


Marsec

Hehe, you may have been killing the necklace merchant. I do that all the time. First few times I did it I was wondering who the hell this newbie was that was dying in one hit and always got a rez yet still stayed in the MPK.

Ok..your mistake there was GTing too close to the doors. There are 2 guards (one on either side of the door) that will come after you even if you are at max range. People are beginning to wise up and park their bots close to these 2 guards.