Well, if you focus on condition damage, Rifle might actually be better. 100% Bleed uptime with the auto attack alone.
If you keep 2 and 3 perfectly timed (easier with enough Expertise), then you can keep 100% Burning uptime I guess.
However, as Roggles suggests, Longbow is great ranged AoE.
---------- Post added 2012-04-26 at 09:33 PM ----------
I hate the minor traits more than anything else in that trait line. The major traits all actually look neat.