[TLDR] Give free level of Master of Archery every 5 points starting at spec level 10
I think the bow classes after the hp buff are in a really awkward state. While Ranger and Hunter do ok, it's mostly because the successful ones invest the minimum needed to use the bow effectively and then invest a lot into melee/durability. The true sniper spec is dead as you will need bubble + 4-5 normal shots (without rapid fire) to kill a caster or soft target after the HP change, even more once legion + pot heal comes into play. Killing a target before it's out of reach is becoming really rare, forcing you to either add or group up.
To help bow while only mildly buff the hybrid spec'ed archers, I would give "autotrain" mastery of archery to the bow spec starting at 10 (level1) and increasing every 5 points. This means a scout with spec 45 in bow would have level 8 for free, while a hunter with 40 bow level 7 and a hybrid ranger with 32 in bow would have level 5 for free. Granted that everyone should have level 2 in mastery of archery (due to its great efficiency at that level) this is about a 11% damage increase for our example scout, 9% for the hunter and 3% for the ranger. You could then still invest regular ra-points to raise to a higher level of mastery of archery.As hunters and scouts usually can spec higher into bow they profit more from the bonus as rangers.
Further, I do not really agree on the scout shield style tbh, because it just creates another willsoning tool instead of being really relevant for solo play and the scout keeps being weak in melee. I'd add an AF buff to scouts in shield spec (same as hunter and ranger), add mastery of arcane as ra-option and increase the weapon skill table of both slash and thrust to the valewalker table instead of that ridiculous root style.
For more reliable performance of bow I'd also consider to change penetrating arrow to 35% at level 1 and 50% at level 2, but change the effect, that the shot damage is applied on a miss, block, evade, bubble. Meaning a blocked shot or into pbt will still deal 35% damage with penetrating arrow 1.
I think the bow classes after the hp buff are in a really awkward state. While Ranger and Hunter do ok, it's mostly because the successful ones invest the minimum needed to use the bow effectively and then invest a lot into melee/durability. The true sniper spec is dead as you will need bubble + 4-5 normal shots (without rapid fire) to kill a caster or soft target after the HP change, even more once legion + pot heal comes into play. Killing a target before it's out of reach is becoming really rare, forcing you to either add or group up.
To help bow while only mildly buff the hybrid spec'ed archers, I would give "autotrain" mastery of archery to the bow spec starting at 10 (level1) and increasing every 5 points. This means a scout with spec 45 in bow would have level 8 for free, while a hunter with 40 bow level 7 and a hybrid ranger with 32 in bow would have level 5 for free. Granted that everyone should have level 2 in mastery of archery (due to its great efficiency at that level) this is about a 11% damage increase for our example scout, 9% for the hunter and 3% for the ranger. You could then still invest regular ra-points to raise to a higher level of mastery of archery.As hunters and scouts usually can spec higher into bow they profit more from the bonus as rangers.
Further, I do not really agree on the scout shield style tbh, because it just creates another willsoning tool instead of being really relevant for solo play and the scout keeps being weak in melee. I'd add an AF buff to scouts in shield spec (same as hunter and ranger), add mastery of arcane as ra-option and increase the weapon skill table of both slash and thrust to the valewalker table instead of that ridiculous root style.
For more reliable performance of bow I'd also consider to change penetrating arrow to 35% at level 1 and 50% at level 2, but change the effect, that the shot damage is applied on a miss, block, evade, bubble. Meaning a blocked shot or into pbt will still deal 35% damage with penetrating arrow 1.