Ask a Bowman Thread.

[COLOR="Blue"]*Has the neccesary experience with Archers so will make some nice Q&A table*

Question: Final Attack. Yes or no?
Answer: Definately no, it will trigger with 2nd job skills and 2nd job skills only (con #1), which means it'll also trigger with AB or IA, which will mess up your mobbing (con #2).
Also, at bosses, you -could- be 1HKO food, if FA triggers, you get to enjoy the sound of a falling gravestone (con #3).

Question: HOLY pomegranate HURRICANE BRB BM.
Answer: Have fun getting to late 14x-15x, because THEN it'll be worth it being a Bowmaster for the reason you made it for.

Question: Ranger, Sniper. What's the difference?
Answer: Rangers use bows, Snipers use crossbows. Snipers can freeze, Rangers can't.
In my opinion, they'll only be significantly different during 4th job.

Question: I heard there are the so called "hell levels". What levels exactly and why?
Answer: Mid 4x-50 and 6x-mid 7x. These are the parts you'll be either stuck at training spots with a weapon that sucks so you can't move on, or you'll be stuck because of underdevelopped 3rd job skills.

Question: Why do most Archers stick with the Red Viper/Heckler at 3x-50?
Answer: Because of the fast attack speed. It's the last fast attack speed bow you'll ever hold, unless you're a snobrich Ranger that can afford a Blue Metus.

Question: LOL MARKSMEN SUCK IN 4TH JOB BRB QUITTING.
Answer: If it were the case that BMs and MMs had about the same range with about the same equipment, I would agree. (Give it up guys. Hurricane > Pierce.)
HOWEVER, this is not the case. Crossbows are WAY cheaper than bows, so scrolling an epic crossbow is easier than scrolling an epic bow. And they can freeze.
I'd say they're about equal. BMs WILL win at stationary DPS most of the times though (Zakum, Horntail).

Question: Will you get ANY party skills at all during pre-4th job?
Answer: No. DURING 4th job however, you'll be loved for SE.

Question: Will you give me mesos please? :3
Answer: No.

Question: Where do I train as an archer?
Answer: In a nutshell: Snails -> Slimes -> Ellinia mushrooms trees -> Wild Boars -> Ludi teddies -> Straw Target Dummies -> Voodoos/Zombies -> First squid map -> Second squid map -> Gobies -> Jr.Newties (-> Skelegons). Et voila level 200.

Question: What do you think what's so good about Archers?
Answer: Their diversity, they have a nice arsenal of actively used skills.

Question: What do you think what's so bad about Archers?
Answer: Their lack of HP. >_>

Question: Any closing statements?
Answer: Make sure you play an Archer for fun, not for bandwagoning. (Most of you will quit around 4x anyways and go back to your Bishops. D: )[/COLOR]

I was going to make a list like that today but you beat me to it xP I'll just comment on some of your points and go from there I suppose.

Final Attack: Its not a definite no. Ive had 2 rangers over 120, 1 with FA, the other without and I'd say that both were fine. I had no hinderances with using either. You just mentioned the cons of FA but there are a few pros to it (such as leveling faster through 2nd job and whatnot). The general consensus is that FA-less is the way to go but I would say its not the end of the world if you did get FA and if you have FA, you shouldnt be discriminated against.

As for hell levels, I'd say they're a myth because of the training spots that we have now. You can get from 4x to 5x easily now as a hunter with zombie lupins or as an xbowman with STDs. Back in beta and early GMS when the only 4x places were lupins, pixies, fire boars and copper drakes, yeah those are hell levels. Now not so much though. Its highly possible to fly through the 4x-5x levels in a day now.

Fast bows: That's not entirely true anymore. Red Vipers/Hecklers have been replaced by maple bows and xbows, which are then replaced by soul searchers and maple crows which are then replaced by kandivas and nishadas. Kandivas and Nishadas are now the last "fast" bow that you use and some people will use them for the rest of their archer careers. That being said, at 120, for rangers/bow masters, the speed wont matter as SoA isnt affected by shooting speed. The Red Viper/Heckler thing was only true back in the day when the only 35 bow was the RV and the only 40 bow was the V2k.

Training: Refer to my training thread. While the little outline you had is somewhat accurate, some of those places are outdated (Ie. Wild boars).

Archer HP thing worthy of mention: If you have the money you can hp wash, almost completely eliminating the "lack of hp" weakness. However, its really expensive, both in terms of nx and mesos (INT equips cost A LOT).

Additional questions?

Focus vs. Blessing: Most archers choose focus for the extra avoidability. Blessing can stack with other skills/pots but for the most part and focus will get overbuffed by Bless, acc pills, etc. That being said, archers dont need the extra acc. They have enough to hit anything in game as it is.

Double Shot vs. Arrow Blow: Because Critical adds 100% dmg and doesnt double, Double shot is stronger in terms of max damage and average damage.

Do attack arrows stack with soul arrow? Nope, proven many times already

Str-less vs. Normal Strength-Strless will be stronger till the high bow master levels and their damage will be the same as normal strength with gear that is significantly less impressive (my glove added 6 more attack than my strless friend, my overall had 15 more dex, my cape 1 atk 2 dex more and we had the same dmg range). However, you also gain fewer advantages from various boss items. You only use 15 stats from the z-helm (normal str use 30: 15 str and 15 dex) and only 22 from a HT pendant (22 str vs 22 str + 22 dex). As well, most overalls have 2-4 str on them anyways so you lose out another few points there.

What is the dex: attack ratio? The ratio constantly changes. The more dex you have, the higher the dex: attack ratio is. I remember at 50 its roughly 3:1 as my 2/9 PAC and my 3/6 PAC had the EXACT same dmg range (like literally exact, rofl).

That's all I can think of for now, lols.