Hunter vs. Ranger vs. Force

[amtalx]

With all the changes to the stat and elemental system, how is this affecting the class balance? With fighters criting left and right, are forces confined to "buff, heal and STFU"? What are all the rangers up to? Is SE still important, and how does ranger DPS stack up?

I know its still pretty early to be asking all these questions, but I'm curious about what people think.

[MSAksion]

==Rangers==

With AOI giving FIGUNNERS lvl 30 bullets they now step into Guntecher Territory. Meaning they can critical hit with each melee combo and they can light Large mobs on fire with status 3 BURN crossbow while unleashing 24% elemental dualies on their victims THEN Spam lvl THIRTY-One Tornado Dance to boot.

Rangers now are only unique because of the RIFLE, GRENADE, and Laser now. But hardly anyone uses Laser so its really RIFLE status 4 and Grenade lvl 3 (?)

Everyone else who can use a gun now gets it to lvl 30 stepping all over fortegunner's toes. So only Rifle status 4 and Grenade sta 3 is the only unique option.

==Forces==

Forces are the same but BETTER. Now ALL techers are deadly with;
- level 21 DAMUBARTA sta 3 Freeze
- level 21 FOIE sta 4 Burn
- level 21 DIGA THE ALMIGHTY w/ lvl 4 SILENCE - who cares its DIGA.

Expect to see three times as much DIGA flying now. OH you can't - the screen's white with Damubarta =D

But the same goes to BUFFS. Even Wartechers have lvl 30 support so there's no excuse for all Forces to get all 7 buff/debuff and max those out to 21+

Now FT can be the Black Mage 100% attack while the other hybrid TECHERS can help with the team support. Expect more laziness since there are now THREE times as many RESTA SLAVES for hunters.

==Hunters==

I am actually glad that Hunters get these critical hits - its TOUGH to be on the frontlines. Just us support teammates will be LESS impressive then. Hence the need to lob LEVEL THIRTY ONE Diga over hunter heads hehehehe

==Conclusion==

Oh come on everyone knows no one job is superior to another. A GOOD team has all 3 types in various configs. Its fun to help Hunters out by statusing enemies or weakening squads - everything us Rangers and Forces do is to make Hunter life easier.

*Prepares the Diga Artillery Cannon = awaiting coordinates

[HFlowen]

"Rangers now are only unique because of the RIFLE, GRENADE, and Laser now. But hardly anyone uses Laser so its really RIFLE status 4 and Grenade lvl 3 (?) "

*Cough*Protranser*cough*

[amtalx]

On 2007-09-20 06:45, MSAksion wrote:
==Conclusion==

Oh come on everyone knows no one job is superior to another. A GOOD team has all 3 types in various configs. Its fun to help Hunters out by statusing enemies or weakening squads - everything us Rangers and Forces do is to make Hunter life easier.


Unfortunately, the whole "balanced team" thing only works in theory. Practice is a different story. I would love to see the classes balanced. However, there are always going to be missions like Desert Goliath where unless you are packing Killer Shot...get out your bus tokens. I haven't experienced the changes for myself, so I can't really say, but I'm just concerned that PA criticals will render the rest of the classes useless. It just seems like hunters drilling everything for 2k would make SE unnecessary.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: amtalx on 2007-09-20 07:28 ]</font>

[Menochi]

On some enemies, SE IS useless now.
When my fortegunner can take a 16% ice dagger and tear up gul dova faster than a fire burn trap without any buffs, and only lv11 dagger PA, its just a waste of a trap.

Other enemies still are good to use traps on, like svaltus.

[panzer_unit]

Of course you can always trap it AND go balls-out in melee for extra damage. Every bit helps.

Fighters are getting what, a 50% boost in damage from being able to critical on most of their hits? That's sweet, but they deserve it for putting up with all the damage you take plus all the additional time wasters you don't need to put up with from ranged attacks... chasing targets around, knockdown hits, no defensive SE's like shock, etc.

[amtalx]

I think the damage boost for fighters is well deserved. It was a little silly that rangers could meet or exceed hunter damage in a number of situations. fFs are supposed to be the damage heroes, but given what I'm hearing, I can't help but question such a significant increase. Of course...I don't have the ablility to compare it to anything.

[panzer_unit]

Keep in mind that gunners are getting another level of ATP% and Element % increases, heavier stagger from most weapons, and a massive boost to SE proc rate. The changes sound focused on making every class be more of what it's supposed to be. I guess that's why lasers are going from an almost support-less raw damage weapon to bad-ass AOE stagger/SE support.

It sounds like soloing and small teams will be a lot faster and more fun. As long as monsters stand up long enough to be some sort of danger to fighters, gunners and forces will be able to make a big difference with incapacitating SE and ranged damage.

[HUnewearl_Meira]

fF may be getting all these extra crits and such, but keep in mind that melee isn't terribly effective against all mobs. When you encounter a mob with high defense, you're still going to want a Techer of some sort in there to slam on it, and when you encounter a mob that's just plain high, you'll need a Gunner to shoot it. That Fighter's handgun can only go so far.

Beyond that, there's bound to be missions that'll put all these extra strengths to good use.

[biggabertha]

Wait, is this question about the basic classes of Hunter, Ranger and Force?

Also, don't Wartechers and Fortefighters use guns but have Lv. 20 bullets?

Laser Cannons are going to be the new hot weapon with the changes they've made. I was SO hoping that Lasers would get a massive boost and they have! Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!! Now the problem is, do I tell everyone I know who doesn't use lasers and don't have access to information sites like this, or do I wait until they update us with it and literally, "shock" everyone into surprise with my awesome lasers?

DECISIONS DECISIONS

[panzer_unit]

With the rapid-fire trick lasers are already really hot. They're just a different kind of hot in AoI.

[amtalx]

On 2007-09-20 08:44, panzer_unit wrote:
With the rapid-fire trick lasers are already really hot. They're just a different kind of hot in AoI.



I hear they fixed the goggle glitch in the update? Honestly, it needed to happen because Laser Cannons would be serious hax if they left that alone with the new improvements. I can imaging stun-locking an entire mob while throwing out SE...BBBBBBBRRRRROKEN!!!