Becoming an effective Force?

[Shugo Wah]

Yo, I'm a Newman Force.

In every game I can remember, I've always gone the magic route. However in PSP2, I'm having a good deal of issues being an effective Force. Playing this character feels like a chore at the moment. Very mobile bosses like De Ragan are a constant pain, my slow cast speed causing me to get knocked down and whatnot. Maybe my set-up leaves something to be desired.

I've got a B-level rod with a 30% Fire ground to 10, quad-set with the Fire spells (that awards some sort of boost, right?).

I've got a similar rod for ice spells for whatever resists fire.

And I've got a similar rod with ground spells, for those levels filled with robotic enemies.

It seems as though my equal level friends (Rangers and Hunters) just button tap and see wonderful numbers, while I have to wrestle with the immobile casting and whatnot. I try painstakingly to chain to get okay damage, while they just plug away with no timing and easily see numbers equaling or greater than mine. This, paired with my abysmal defense sort of defeats the whole "glass canon" mindset. What am I missing?

I'm only Lv. 21 (Force Lv. 5) at the moment, so I know I've got my good abilities coming to me, but can the same be said about the other classes? Will I always be subpar to them as they improve as well?

Also, as far as the different types of magic go (straight shot, AOE, cone spray, player AOE), which ones are actually useful? Some of these spells' PP costs are horrendous.

I'm completely open to suggestions, thanks for your time! Sorry for the wordiness.

[Pavichokche]

Since I don't know enough about this (I sort of have the same question) I can only suggest that you always have Shifta cast. It should really boost your damage output! You'll have a ton of good advice in a second, so don't worry

Also, welcome to the forums :D

[Randomness]

Resta, Giresta, Shifta, Deband. Your friends will love you.

Then, make sure to be picking on elemental weaknesses too. It adds up a lot.

[Shugo Wah]

welcome to the forums :D

Many thanks.

As far as the elemental weaknesses go, I do try.

The only issue is the ridiculous PP costs of these spells. The fireballs seem to be the only thing PP-efficient enough to last through a fight. If I fight a Holy monster and chain-cast a few of those shadow orbs, I'm running around waiting for my bar to recover.

That's really my biggest problem with Force. I don't see how it's expected to be sufficient when the spells cost so much of such a slowly-renewing resource.

[Kimechie]

Heres a tip for you from a fellow force. Like they said always keep the buffs up if possible. Also, heres a tip not many forces know. You should try to build up combos by using a pp efficient tech into the square button. The spells on the square button build up combos, while the triangle breaks them. Build up a nice/decent combo with the square button, then unleash a tech the monster is weak to with the triangle button. Using chain combos can REALLY help with damage.

[pso_crash]

Many thanks.

As far as the elemental weaknesses go, I do try.

The only issue is the ridiculous PP costs of these spells. The fireballs seem to be the only thing PP-efficient enough to last through a fight. If I fight a Holy monster and chain-cast a few of those shadow orbs, I'm running around waiting for my bar to recover.

That's really my biggest problem with Force. I don't see how it's expected to be sufficient when the spells cost so much of such a slowly-renewing resource.

Unfortunately, there are no fluids in this game. Attacking with melee weapons is the best way recover pp faster. I recommend twin daggers to build chains and recover pp. Your best for killing enemies with techs and not run out of pp is to hit whole groups at once and kill them all simultaneously.

If there are only one or two monsters you'll probably just want to melee with a quick weapon. It will be than using techs and save your pp.

[reala728]

i know their totally different games but in PSO i used a force/newman and had a hard time as well. but once i hit around lv 80 i began to outclass my friends it wasnt even funny

also rangers have that pp issue early on. you may not notice because pp cost is lower then a tech's but they'll be firing at around 1/3 the normal rate once pp is out.

[Pavichokche]

You're a force, meaning you have a crazy TEC stat. Take advantage of the few weapons that are TEC-dependent. That is, cards and longbows (both long range so you don't have to get in harm's way). I guarantee you, you won't be dissapointed by the damage cards deal, my ranger (with average TEC) does as much damage with some genuine cards as she does with her dual handguns. Cards have a [somewhat] slow firing speed, so they consume PP slowly, meaning that even with little PP you'll be able to shoot for a bit. Also, have some RMags equipped so that you can be dealing damage as you're running around !

[Alex305!]

You're a force, meaning you have a crazy TEC stat. Take advantage of the few weapons that are TEC-dependent. That is, cards and longbows (both long range so you don't have to get in harm's way). I guarantee you, you won't be dissapointed by the damage cards deal, my ranger (with average TEC) does as much damage with some genuine cards as she does with her dual handguns. Cards have a [somewhat] slow firing speed, so they consume PP slowly, meaning that even with little PP you'll be able to shoot for a bit. Also, have some RMags equipped so that you can be dealing damage as you're running around !

Im not sure about cards but I disliked bows alot. I went with rifles becuase newms have decent ATA but I'm not sure on that decision...I don't have too much problems with my FO but Bosses are really hard. Makes the MH series with no armor look easy...(probably becuase I played that game too much XD ) I use Rods,Rifles,and Fists (for chains/pp regen) and sometimes wand and shield.

[Pavichokche]

Yeah, I haven't had a great experience using longbows with my ranger, but that is [I assume] because her TEC is not as high as a Force's. If there is nothing more the the damage formula (and there most likely IS), longbows should do about as much damage (when used by a Force) if not more, as a rifle used by a Hunter.

[Alexandria]

Yeah, I haven't had a great experience using longbows with my ranger, but that is [I assume] because her TEC is not as high as a Force's. If there is nothing more the the damage formula (and there most likely IS), longbows should do about as much damage (when used by a Force) if not more, as a rifle used by a Hunter.

Bows are multiplied by TP and ATA. However, even if you're a newman force, you still do more damage with a rifle. :/ The TP multiplier really hurts the bows more than helps.