
Hey - same as me - elven Archer w/ 5 points into LongBow...
I'm using the Elven Court Bow - since I have no proficiency in short bow, I'd be pretty feeble with a short bow, no matter how good it is. With Long Bow I'm getting off 4 powerful shots a round (just about as fast as Legolas in that scene in LOTR/FOTR!), I couldn't fire that many arrows with short bow - not without the proficiency points. Also consider the damage bonuses I'm getting with grandmaster proficiency - no bonus if I use the Gesen bow.
The huge drawback with longbow is that you have to carry so many arrows around. The Gesen shortbow and Tansheron's shortbow generate their own arrows.
If I had wanted to be more powerful, I might have chosen shortbow, BUT I already had experienced a shortbow expert (Mazzy) when I was a cleric, I wanted to try something different...