AoI PA, grinding and character questions

[Jaspaller]

I remember hearing/reading about how in the expansion that the photon art system will change slightly. Since there were 36 slots only they were going to make it so that characters could convert old PA's back into disks.
Will PA's turned back into disks hold PA levels and exp, or will that stick with the character it came from?
And can you change PA's back to disks at will or do you need to overwrite an old PA first?

lol at level 1 with level 50 PA's

This is still a for sure thing right? I can't find info about it in the recent threads through search at all. It would give me a good reason to level the rest of my classes to adapt to whatever playstyle I feel like at anytime (also save me from creating say 4 beasts being different classes lol).

For grinding, when you look at a weapon it should say how many grinds and fails it has based on the new grinding system, right? I'm assuming like a (0/9) or (4/7) type of thing instead of just the regular (8) or (4) by the weapon name (AoI beta players might know)?

And last, is there any info available about the character slots increasing at all?

Thanks to anyone who can answer these.

[JAFO22000]

I don't think any exact details about this possible option have been released, but I would assume that you would not be able to transfer them between characters. Also, building upon you thought, one would not be able to sell them to other players in their shop.

[A2K]

If I recall correctly, you can't even put them in the common box, if you wanted--just your partner machine's storage. I don't believe there's any certainty on whether or not the level is maintained, personally, I'm betting that it won't be (it will reset to 1 when you relearn it). No idea whether or not you can do it at any time, or only if you've hit the limit.

I assume that there will be a max. grind display on weapons with the system, but we just don't know for sure yet. The Ambition of the Illuminus trial did not have this implemented yet: the system there was simply no break without any setbacks.

With the two worlds on the Japanese PC/PS2 servers merging, there's a good possibility of a total of eight character slots. Maybe. No confirmation yet.

[Ryoki]

On 2007-07-16 09:57, A2K wrote:
If I recall correctly, you can't even put them in the common box, if you wanted--just your partner machine's storage. I don't believe there's any certainty on whether or not the level is maintained, personally, I'm betting that it won't be (it will reset to 1 when you relearn it). No idea whether or not you can do it at any time, or only if you've hit the limit.

I assume that there will be a max. grind display on weapons with the system, but we just don't know for sure yet. The Ambition of the Illuminus trial did not have this implemented yet: the system there was simply no break without any setbacks.

With the two worlds on the Japanese PC/PS2 servers merging, there's a good possibility of a total of eight character slots. Maybe. No confirmation yet.


Well then, what is the point, even? >.> Maybe ultimate pa's, but other than that...

[Jaspaller]

Wasn't the new PA system implemented into the AoI beta in any way?


On 2007-07-16 09:57, A2K wrote:
With the two worlds on the Japanese PC/PS2 servers merging, there's a good possibility of a total of eight character slots. Maybe. No confirmation yet.


Nice for the PC/PS2 users but I guess that doesn't really help out the 360 users http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_confused.gif. If it ends up being that we get at least 1 extra slot, then... http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_eek.gif. 1 more extra slot is good enough for me.

I'm really hoping that the new PA system is going to be a for sure thing and not something that gets scrapped.

[EspioKaos]

Here are some clarifications for you guys. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

PA Disk Conversion
With the new system being implemented in Ambition of the Illuminus, you will be able to convert any of your Photon Arts into disk form and save them for later. The level of the converted PA will be maintained, so if you decide to relearn the PA, you will get it back at that level. As far as transferring a converted disk, they cannot be transferred to a third party, i.e. a different account, however it seems they can be given to different characters on the same account.

PA Cap
Just to say so, the cap for all PAs (not based on your Type) will be 40. The level 50 support TECHNICs originally assigned to Acrotechers has been cut back to 40 (along with other readjustments being made here and there.)

Grinding System Modifications
All weapons will show you what grind the weapon is currently at and how many possible grinds it has left. So, a weapon that has been ground successfully three times in a row from the first grind would have (3/7) next to it. A brand new, never-ground weapon would have (0/10) next to its name. A fully ground but failed weapon would appear as (0/0).

Eight Character Slots
It has been confirmed for the Japanese version that when the World servers are merged together, they will receive an additional four character slots. This has not been confirmed for the expansion outside of Japan due to the NA/EU servers not being split into Worlds.

Hope this helps!

[Jaspaller]

Great! thanks for the info. It answers and confirms most of the things I was unsure about... guess I'll just have to wait until more info surfaces for the rest of the answers.

woot if the 8 slots happen.

[Mayu]

0_0 8 slots

[EspioKaos]

On 2007-07-16 13:01, Jaspaller wrote:
Great! thanks for the info. It answers and confirms most of the things I was unsure about... guess I'll just have to wait until more info surfaces for the rest of the answers.

woot if the 8 slots happen.

My pleasure.
What else are you curious about? I might be able to help with those things, too.

[Zorafim]

Wow, this is really good news. I have all my slots full for pure PMs, so I can't delete any to make an alt. Now, I can technically level every PA in the game, and make my lv1 uber! Not to mention finally being able to cap all classes.

[Soukosa]

On 2007-07-16 12:39, EspioKaos wrote:
As far as transferring a converted disk, they cannot be transferred to a third party, i.e. a different account, however it seems they can be given to different characters on the same account.

Lyrise stated in that one topic that you couldn't transfer it between characters and it was just stuck on that particular character. Someone needs to recheck their statements here o.O

[Jaspaller]

On 2007-07-16 13:18, EspioKaos wrote:

On 2007-07-16 13:01, Jaspaller wrote:
Great! thanks for the info. It answers and confirms most of the things I was unsure about... guess I'll just have to wait until more info surfaces for the rest of the answers.

woot if the 8 slots happen.

My pleasure.
What else are you curious about? I might be able to help with those things, too.



Mainly just this one which was in my first post

"And can you change PA's back to disks at will or do you need to overwrite an old PA first?"

Also, any word if it's possible to restore weapons back to 10 grinds when they get degraded?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Jaspaller on 2007-07-16 13:52 ]</font>

[MayLee]

Why is it so damn hard for others to get more slots? 8 is a bit too much but it could help some PM rasing...If they ever fix the disconnection error..

[Powder Keg]

8 character slots? That'd be sexy...

[Ryoki]

On 2007-07-16 12:39, EspioKaos wrote:
Here are some clarifications for you guys. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

PA Disk Conversion
With the new system being implemented in Ambition of the Illuminus, you will be able to convert any of your Photon Arts into disk form and save them for later. The level of the converted PA will be maintained, so if you decide to relearn the PA, you will get it back at that level. As far as transferring a converted disk, they cannot be transferred to a third party, i.e. a different account, however it seems they can be given to different characters on the same account.

PA Cap
Just to say so, the cap for all PAs (not based on your Type) will be 40. The level 50 support TECHNICs originally assigned to Acrotechers has been cut back to 40 (along with other readjustments being made here and there.)

Grinding System Modifications
All weapons will show you what grind the weapon is currently at and how many possible grinds it has left. So, a weapon that has been ground successfully three times in a row from the first grind would have (3/7) next to it. A brand new, never-ground weapon would have (0/10) next to its name. A fully ground but failed weapon would appear as (0/0).

Eight Character Slots
It has been confirmed for the Japanese version that when the World servers are merged together, they will receive an additional four character slots. This has not been confirmed for the expansion outside of Japan due to the NA/EU servers not being split into Worlds.

Hope this helps!


Thank god.

[Parn]

PA Disk Conversion
With the new system being implemented in Ambition of the Illuminus, you will be able to convert any of your Photon Arts into disk form and save them for later. The level of the converted PA will be maintained, so if you decide to relearn the PA, you will get it back at that level.
Am I the only one who thinks this is stupid? The whole point of the cap was to have your character specialized and forced you to make choices. If we're going to be able to switch around our PAs anytime and retain the levels on these disks, why have a cap of 36 at all? Why not just remove the cap? It'd accomplish the same thing.


PA Cap
Just to say so, the cap for all PAs (not based on your Type) will be 40. The level 50 support TECHNICs originally assigned to Acrotechers has been cut back to 40 (along with other readjustments being made here and there.)
I suspect that the level 40 cap is temporary, and that we'll see another 10 levels unlocked several months after the expansion goes live for certain skills on specific classes. My justification is the color sets designated for skills that are in the game data, which go from green--> blue--> purple--> red--> gold. Level 40 would stop short of reaching gold I'd think.

[ShineOnline]

Does the PA 'relearn' mean that you have to re-buy the disk?

[Jinto117]

On 2007-07-16 14:45, Parn wrote:
I suspect that the level 40 cap is temporary, and that we'll see another 10 levels unlocked several months after the expansion goes live for certain skills on specific classes. My justification is the color sets designated for skills that are in the game data, which go from green--> blue--> purple--> red--> gold. Level 40 would stop short of reaching gold I'd think.

Dear god I hope you are right. Otherwise I don't see what Acrotechers would have over Fortetechers in terms of ability. The whole point of being an Acrotecher is to become the ultimate support class. If their buffs only go to 40 then what more can they do then a Fortetecher can't?

[Johnny_Future]

On 2007-07-16 14:45, Parn wrote:
Am I the only one who thinks this is stupid? The whole point of the cap was to have your character specialized and forced you to make choices. If we're going to be able to switch around our PAs anytime and retain the levels on these disks, why have a cap of 36 at all? Why not just remove the cap? It'd accomplish the same thing.

Look this way!

Some take the straight road by the strip malls and rock the Little Ceasers (pizza! pizza!).

Some ACES take the windy road even though the straight one is there.

Sega is making the game appease the non-Johnny Futures out there who need straight roads and fast food.

In other words: the bourgeois are like pigs. The older they get; the fatter they become!

[Golto]

Lvl 50 pa caps in the 2nd expansion in fall 2008 http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

[pikachief]

we betetr ge tthose 8 character slots! i've been planning on what to make my other 4 characters for about 2-3 months now XD

[EspioKaos]

On 2007-07-16 13:39, Sounomi wrote:
Lyrise stated in that one topic that you couldn't transfer it between characters and it was just stuck on that particular character. Someone needs to recheck their statements here o.O

I remembered that when I posted this earlier today. It's why I went over my translation numerous times before hitting the submit button. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_lol.gif I pulled my information from here (http://www.g-heaven.net/pso/topics/070712b.html). It gives a list of four points under the PA Disk category. Here are the third and fourth.

03: Henkanshita PA Disk wa jouto fuka - daisansha (hoka account) nomi
04: 03 no reigai toshite, douitsu account no hoka character ni kagiri joutokanou - saishuutoku mo ka

(I would've put the actual text here, but it doesn't show up correctly, plus it stretched the tables out really bad when I previewed this post.) This translates as...

03: Converted PA Disks cannot be transferred to a third party (i.e. another account)
04: One exception to 03 is that it is possible to transfer to another character on the same account.

Please, feel free to check over my translation. I want nothing else than it to be correct, so if I've made a mistake, let me know.


On 2007-07-16 13:51, Jaspaller wrote:
Mainly just this one which was in my first post

"And can you change PA's back to disks at will or do you need to overwrite an old PA first?"

Also, any word if it's possible to restore weapons back to 10 grinds when they get degraded?

Oops. Missed that one; sorry!

It looks like you can change them into disks at will, though I'm not 100% sure as it hasn't been clarified by SonicTeam yet. It's possible that you are prompted if you want to change a PA into a disk only when you have reached the cap, but I could see it being a menu option where you go into your PA list, select one and then are given the choice to convert it.

And on the grind question, no mention on being able to restore a weapon's lost grinds. I doubt they'd do that, though, as SonicTeam said they wanted some penalty left in the grinding system after toning it down so much.


On 2007-07-16 15:02, ShineOnline wrote:
Does the PA 'relearn' mean that you have to re-buy the disk?

No. When you convert a learned PA into a disk, that disk will stay in your inventory, and once you're ready to relearn it, simply use it like you would an ordinary PA disk.


On 2007-07-16 15:06, Jinto117 wrote:
Dear god I hope you are right. Otherwise I don't see what Acrotechers would have over Fortetechers in terms of ability. The whole point of being an Acrotecher is to become the ultimate support class. If their buffs only go to 40 then what more can they do then a Fortetecher can't?

Naturally cast TECHNICs faster than any other Type.

[Inazuma]

omg, we can transfer PAs to other chars on the same account?! thats gonna save me SO much time (^_^)

[Jaspaller]

Awesome, thanks. That pretty much clears it up for me.

[Zorafim]

Let's say a fortetecher and a acrotecher both use lv30 diga from a wand. The acrotecher will cast 10 of them by the time the fortetecher casts 9? Something along those lines? Is the same true for acrofighter and fortefighter?

[Sekani]

Great, so well have a bunch of level one alts running around with level 40 PAs.

[Soukosa]

On 2007-07-16 15:06, Jinto117 wrote:
Dear god I hope you are right. Otherwise I don't see what Acrotechers would have over Fortetechers in terms of ability. The whole point of being an Acrotecher is to become the ultimate support class. If their buffs only go to 40 then what more can they do then a Fortetecher can't?

Uh... no... FT will always be a better support class purely because it has rods. Madoogs are rather lacking in PP which would make them them horribly for support techs which have a high PP cost. It's actually been discussed a bit if AT would actually be able to sanely cast all 4 buffs when they had tier 5 support techs because of this. But now with that changed, there's nothing that says that AT is better at support than FT and that was never meant to be the case.

AT is a melee/tech hybrid unlike WT and should NOT be compared to FT in any way. Don't know why it's so hard for people to understand this http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif



On 2007-07-16 16:36, EspioKaos wrote:
I remembered that when I posted this earlier today. It's why I went over my translation numerous times before hitting the submit button. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_lol.gif I pulled my information from here (http://www.g-heaven.net/pso/topics/070712b.html). It gives a list of four points under the PA Disk category. Here are the third and fourth.

03: Henkanshita PA Disk wa jouto fuka - daisansha (hoka account) nomi
04: 03 no reigai toshite, douitsu account no hoka character ni kagiri joutokanou - saishuutoku mo ka

(I would've put the actual text here, but it doesn't show up correctly, plus it stretched the tables out really bad when I previewed this post.) This translates as...

03: Converted PA Disks cannot be transferred to a third party (i.e. another account)
04: One exception to 03 is that it is possible to transfer to another character on the same account.

Please, feel free to check over my translation. I want nothing else than it to be correct, so if I've made a mistake, let me know.

The way it's stated it does sound a lot like you can. I can't make out Japanese very well yet so I'll have to take your word as to what it says. From what I can tell, you do seem to be right.

I do hope it's right too so that if I end up giving up on my GT I can make use of all of the bullets I leveled up on her on another char x.x

[Niloklives]

being able to transfer PAs to other characters is about the sexiest thing I've heard all week.

if JP gets 8 character slots, I see no reason we won't get it state side. think of it this way: if they get 8 and we don't it's like we're getting a different game. think about how bad that PR would be. I realize this is specualtion and wishful thinking, but I honestly don't see how we WON'T get this

ATs got screwed. anyone who says otherwise hates puppies, kittens, and anything else even remotely loveable. ultimate support class or not, lvl 50 buffs were a huge advantage and made them a very welcome addition to parties. now FTs out damage them. offer the same level of support, are as good for ranged combat as they have lvl 30 bullets which makes up for their lower ata and atp along side bows which have better SEs, are defense piercing and have arguably more beneficial bullets. (not to mention FTs get S rank bows). and every other class in the game is better for melee combat, save GTs and FTs. But a bullet and tech resistant enemy is likely also melee resistant, so its of little consequence to not be able to melee in those cases. but in places where melee IS a good option, you'd be better off as a: FF, fG, FG, PT, WT, or AF...did I miss one there?

ATs are like sad sad substitutes for situations where you don't have a FT. because almost any other class can do any of an AT's other jobs better. This seems like a good class to solo with, but that's about it.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: NIloklives on 2007-07-17 07:14 ]</font>