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View Full Version : Most challenging, Hunter, Ranger, Force?



Yakatsugi
Jul 12, 2012, 03:16 PM
^Title......... Discuss.

Scrub
Jul 12, 2012, 03:18 PM
I haven't played a Hunter yet, but between Force and Ranger, Ranger sure as hell ain't anything close to 'challenging.'

Zorafim
Jul 12, 2012, 03:19 PM
From what I've played of all three, hunter. You've gotta keep an extra eye on defense while attacking. Then again, I'm offense based, which really pushes you to do your best.

Vylera
Jul 12, 2012, 03:19 PM
I'm pretty sure this goes without saying, Hunter.

Only melee class. Only class that has to constantly be on their toes in order to remain in the fight and sustain damage.

Especially since I'm a Fury Stance hunter.

Crysteon
Jul 12, 2012, 03:26 PM
None at all....but yeah, Hunters need to be more aware of what's happening around them.

Gama
Jul 12, 2012, 03:27 PM
force... hunter and ranger is so easy if compared...

specially ranger. its so easy it makes it boring to me.

DreXxiN
Jul 12, 2012, 03:50 PM
I don't know about "hardest to perform well" but Force easily has the highest skill ceiling out of the 3.

Zyrusticae
Jul 12, 2012, 03:55 PM
I find it hard to believe anyone can honestly say Force is more difficult to play than Hunter.

As a Force main, it's a piece of cake. We have the single strongest defensive ability in the game (LOOK AT ALL THOSE INVINCIBILITY FRAMES!), are the only class that isn't reliant on recovery items, and can fight at a distance without issue. Not quite as easy as rangers with that weak shot and all that, but still pretty bloody easy.

Hunters, meanwhile, are always within the line of fire, and their defensive abilities all require strict timing to be used effectively. I will say, however, that hunter HP makes mistakes more forgiving than with a squishy, squishy Force... but with how much easier it is to get hit as a hunter, it's a wash.

Zipzo
Jul 12, 2012, 03:58 PM
This poll is definitely not going to be indicative of the popular choices though...regardless of whether the Hunter is the most "difficult" class to play, it will by and large always be the most numerous class.

Mikura
Jul 12, 2012, 04:05 PM
I haven't played any other class besides hunter so my opinion might be biased, but...at least from my own experience and watching other people play ranger and force, I would also have to say hunter is the most difficult due to the reaction time involved to stay alive without getting slaughtered. Especially if you full-time Fury Stance. Leaves very little room for error when it comes to survivability.

I will say however that it makes the class fun to play. It feels like there's some actual strategy involved in the class for once instead of just "Let's just run in and spam PAs all day with reckless abandon!"

darkante
Jul 12, 2012, 04:09 PM
Hunter, IMO. I tend to get killed a bunch by some stupid mistakes of mine or some effects not showing properly (like Dark Ragne electricity).

Ranger not so much. Weak bullet makes it even more obvious.

Hrith
Jul 12, 2012, 05:03 PM
It may be easier to survive as a ranger, but the game is alot easier as a hunter. High damage, defence and HP with little skill required.
Ranger is the most difficult to play by far; it's the most difficult class with which to deal high damage, it's got weak defences, HP and no Resta like the forces do.

Ranger is way more challenging than the other two if you want to perform well. Hunter is boring, and force gameplay is tailored to make players suck at the primary role of forces: supporting.

jooozek
Jul 12, 2012, 05:09 PM
Ranger not so much. Weak bullet makes it even more obvious.
Here is a challenge for you: solo the tundra panther bosses using only a launcher, you can switch to assault rifle to apply weak bullet.

Nu Lo Yin
Jul 12, 2012, 05:14 PM
I can understand why you would think hunter. But I am going to say Force. Because if you are a good Force, you are looking out for your team, which means you are healing them when needed, and you are running in to the hunter into the battle to heal him when the hunter needs support like that. I have died doing this on bosses where I run in to heal somone, and the boss gets me instead. Very dangerous being a supporter and a good Force. But if you are not a good Force and you just sit back and not worry about your team, then its deffinitly the hunter. But I am a good force, and I look out for my team, and I do run in to heal and revive. Thats why I say Force

jooozek
Jul 12, 2012, 05:16 PM
Because if you are a good Force, you are looking out for your team, which means you are healing them when needed, and you are running in to the hunter into the battle to heal him when the hunter needs support like that.

Ever heard of Talis? lol

Xaeris
Jul 12, 2012, 05:17 PM
I don't see this thread ending well, but what the hell.

I say Hunter. I've been playing Force and Ranger in open beta/release, and as much as I enjoy their styles...yeah, they're pretty easy. Very fun though.

GrandTickler
Jul 12, 2012, 05:20 PM
I find it hard to believe anyone can honestly say Force is more difficult to play than Hunter.

As a Force main, it's a piece of cake. We have the single strongest defensive ability in the game (LOOK AT ALL THOSE INVINCIBILITY FRAMES!), are the only class that isn't reliant on recovery items, and can fight at a distance without issue. Not quite as easy as rangers with that weak shot and all that, but still pretty bloody easy.

Hunters, meanwhile, are always within the line of fire, and their defensive abilities all require strict timing to be used effectively. I will say, however, that hunter HP makes mistakes more forgiving than with a squishy, squishy Force... but with how much easier it is to get hit as a hunter, it's a wash.

i know right.
force is the least challenging class, but still the most fun though imo. they deal sick damage, have huge invincibility frames able to dodge even the largest attacks or traps. heck u can just chill inside a ring trap, wait till its about to detonate and dash to cancel the dmg lol, or attack a ragne head on when hes firing his red discs and just dash right trough it.
ranger/launcher is fun too but can be hard and anoying at times because u cant dodge fast enough while your shooting your launcher, and in Z/aim mode its hard to see what happens behind you.
hunter is.. also fun xD i played 1 a little in cb but it was really the hardest time ive had in pso2 so far :P so i vote that to be the most challenging.

2 solo snow bantha runs i made, i am gonna try but i cant imagine beeing able to do this on a hunter or ranger, but then again.. theres already videos of it though :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkuwP7HyR-E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NO96HwKf48

darkante
Jul 12, 2012, 05:22 PM
Here is a challenge for you: solo the tundra panther bosses using only a launcher, you can switch to assault rifle to apply weak bullet.

Aight, i get your point.

gravityvx
Jul 12, 2012, 05:24 PM
Pretty sure this isn't even up for debate that hunter is the hardest (and most fun imo) class to play as (and be effective) without a doubt.

AlMcFly
Jul 12, 2012, 05:25 PM
I'm a Ranger and I'll say Hunter. Dodge-combo-dodge-hit-dodge-combo-dodge...It's a very tiring class.

Daiyousei
Jul 12, 2012, 05:33 PM
My opinion would be hunter, because you're up close most of the time, you pretty much need a lot of skill to dodge around and stuff.

DemonMike
Jul 12, 2012, 05:38 PM
As it stands, hunter.

Close courter fighting has been pretty tough in this game and I made sure to put some skill points in Jellen Bullet to at least provide some assistance as some one who intends to main as a ranger.

I'm very intrigued as to how much this will change in the future though. We're already seeing some rebalancing going on and despite playing ranger a lot, I've found it far too easy until those pesky snow panthers got introduced.

TetsuyaHikari
Jul 12, 2012, 05:40 PM
Well, I play a Hunter as my main, so I feel inclined to say it is the most challenging. Rangers seem to have it relatively easy with weak bullet and constant nuking with launchers from a distance, but... I haven't got that far with my Ranger yet, so who knows. Maybe things aren't as easy as I've seen them to be in parties.

As for a Force... well, I know their HP is crap, so they can't really take many hits, but they do have invincibility frames going for them. I'd say that, despite all of the HP and defense, Hunters have it the hardest because they're the front line of defense. They're taking on hordes of enemies, usually at once and are the first to head in against bosses. During this, they have to maintain focus on all of the enemies around them or they could drop dead in a matter of 3-4 good hits.

Some think I'm crazy when a dragon suddenly appears on the map and I just go rushing in, despite what it can do, but I know what it can do. The reason I'm rushing in like that is because I'm one of the few in the party that can take whatever he dishes out. Yeah, it's going to hurt, but the difference between me and the Force or Ranger behind me is... when it hurts them, they're going to drop like a fly, lol.

It's my job to try and keep the enemy focused on me so I can do what I can as a tank.

sugarFO
Jul 12, 2012, 05:46 PM
I haven't played anything else but I know that I find Force enjoyable. I don't think it is too difficult, though standing for a bit to charge kind of feels like I miss out on some things in battle. I always Resta and Shifta when the group is close to each other (usually don't have time for Deband because people run away lol) and I find myself liking to be more supportive.

Daiyousei
Jul 12, 2012, 05:48 PM
And if you're really good at using cards, you can cast resta from a quite a distance

Metalsnake27
Jul 12, 2012, 06:13 PM
Even though I also play hunter, they are probably the hardest.

gigawuts
Jul 12, 2012, 06:35 PM
Hunter is the most rewarding. I don't know about most challenging, but I can tell you that after 7 hours of playing, between all my friends with all their classes, it's the rangers and forces that are bored out of their skulls.

Nu Lo Yin
Jul 12, 2012, 06:38 PM
Hunter is the most rewarding. I don't know about most challenging, but I can tell you that after 7 hours of playing, between all my friends with all their classes, it's the rangers and forces that are bored out of their skulls.

Been playing Force and only Force since PSO1. I have yet to get bored of it. Probably never will.

gigawuts
Jul 12, 2012, 06:53 PM
Force in PSO1 and Force in PSO2, even PSU, are considerably different. The ten levels of force I played bored me pretty quickly. Stay at range, hold charge, launch tech. Repeat a few times, wait for PP. Maybe hit some stuff with a rod.

The friends I refer to also played Force since dreamcast version, and are getting bored. They hit the 20-25 "content" (or lack thereof) and stopped playing altogether for a while.

I'm glad you can find it entertaining though. I don't.

Fafnir
Jul 12, 2012, 07:01 PM
Kind of disappointed that you can't pull off a proper melee force anymore.

Gama
Jul 12, 2012, 07:03 PM
lol i actually do allot of damage with gunslash, and for healing purposes on bosses i use the gunslash to charge my pp faster.

xBladeM6x
Jul 12, 2012, 07:07 PM
From Hardest to Easiest.

Hunter > Force >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Ranger.

Seriously Ranger is easy mode.

Tessu
Jul 12, 2012, 07:12 PM
I actually found ranger to be difficult because I cannot aim anything ever under any circumstances. I know I'm a special case, though.

What makes Ranger so easy?

xBladeM6x
Jul 12, 2012, 07:14 PM
I actually found ranger to be difficult because I cannot aim anything ever under any circumstances. I know I'm a special case, though.

What makes Ranger so easy?

This.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUaPy56J3D8&feature=player_embedded

NoiseHERO
Jul 12, 2012, 07:20 PM
This.

?PSO2?????Ra?????Part2??????? - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUaPy56J3D8&feature=player_embedded)

WHAT THE FU-

I smell a nerf.

/Never seen any of my ranger team-mates pull that off. o_o

Indignation Judgment
Jul 12, 2012, 07:22 PM
As a Human HUnter main, I must say...

...maybe because I've been maining all my way till cap level as HU, but I am actually trying to level my FO level for these moments I just can't do anything (Story Mode bosses, mostly). While I didn't try RA yet (even tho my skill tree is planned already), I 'm utterly dissapointed towards how easy is it to get by as a FOrce. I literally got to dance around Vol Dragon. Lock on is extremely cheap.

Tessu
Jul 12, 2012, 07:22 PM
Oh, dang, that's pretty cool. I don't know if they need to be nerfed though, it's not like they unbalance the game and ruin it for everyone else.

At the very least, they haven't ruined it for me. 8)

Ce'Nedra
Jul 12, 2012, 07:23 PM
This.

?PSO2?????Ra?????Part2??????? - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUaPy56J3D8&feature=player_embedded)

/Thread

Seriously rangers and mainly weak shot need to be major nerfed.

9k damage at level 40, Really? You need a frigging lv180 with all stats maxed and whatever on PSU to get close to that damage...lolbroken

gigawuts
Jul 12, 2012, 07:26 PM
Ranger is just hilariously powerful at this level. It's the result of giving a ranged class any good amount of damage. I'm not arguing they shouldn't have damage, or even that they should, just that PSO2 rangers do have good damage and this is the result.

At least in PSO1 rangers had to get closer to an enemy's reach for the sake of grabbing rares. Now? Meh.

I don't think they need a nerf, but if anyone actually believes they're challenging simply because you need to lead your shots...please go play a game where you REALLY need to lead shots, then come back to PSO2.

edit: And I should really be more specific re: Forces. I found them very fun in PSO1. The gameplay had a lot of depth. I just don't really feel what they have going on here in PSO2. I can't get enough of Hunter though, so it's all good to me. I'll still probably level my FOcast just for the principle of it.

NoiseHERO
Jul 12, 2012, 07:27 PM
/Thread

Seriously rangers and mainly weak shot need to be major nerfed.

9k damage at level 40, Really? You need a frigging lv180 with all stats maxed and whatever on PSU to get close to that damage...lolbroken

Isn't this kind of damage and gameplay strategy what people have been whining for when they say assault rifle isn't like a sniper rifle...?

Xaeris
Jul 12, 2012, 07:32 PM
WHAT THE FU-

I smell a nerf.

/Never seen any of my ranger team-mates pull that off. o_o

Well, to be fair, if you have teammates, then the boss comes with adds and that complicates matters slightly. But yeah, that video pretty much Ranger in a nutshell.

gigawuts
Jul 12, 2012, 07:32 PM
What people want and what is balanced are two dramatically different things. I think the launcher is a brilliant and balanced combination of the photon launcher, rifle, and modern game design. It combines burst damage, aoe, and can't be effectively used from infinite ranges on every kind of enemy (travel time).

I'm not personally fond of AOE spam in most games. Given this is a PVE game, there's essentially nothing that I would find "imbalanced" in a way that makes me want to stop playing. Even with hackers using rapidfire launchers, they aren't adversely affecting my personal experience. I'm still dodging, blocking, and hitting things with my sword.

IF Weak Bullet gets a nerf, it should only be for the person who applied it. It's an excellent team-oriented ability and it would be a serious shame to see it nerfed and then removed from common use. It highlights a certain point on a certain enemy and rewards players for coordinating. They focus fire while it's up, without having to speak or type a single word. I love mechanics like that. If it disproportionately benefits a user playing solo, then I'd rather only that aspect gets nerfed.

Vylera
Jul 12, 2012, 07:44 PM
/Thread

Seriously rangers and mainly weak shot need to be major nerfed.

9k damage at level 40, Really? You need a frigging lv180 with all stats maxed and whatever on PSU to get close to that damage...lolbroken

The flaw with this logic is that this isn't PSU.

The second flaw with this logic is that weak bullet is on a 92 second cool down even at level 10. Taking it past level 4 is just a waste of SP. Firing weak bullet at all forces a ranger to stop dealing any amount of DPS whatsoever for whatever time is necessary for them to get the clean shot that they need. Then they have to dispense any extra weak shot bullets, which wastes more time. It all depends on how good the ranger is at judging the boss' movements. 10 seconds of high damage to ONE opponent is hardly broken.

IMHO what really needs to be nerfed is the launchers. It's very clear, to me anyway, that rangers are intended heavily for boss fighting and focusing elite enemies.

The one thing that hunters have over rangers is their incredible AoE damage that can be sustained without any gimmicks like weak bullet. The more enemies there are, the more useful a hunter is. The fact that rangers can equip a rocket launcher and AFK next to a rock with their left click taped down and clean up mobs more risk-free and equally efficient as hunters is a problem.

Excuse my lack of restraint, but honestly launcher rangers piss me off. And when I say launcher rangers, I mean rangers that refuse to switch out and use any other gun, especially when it's just one puny left over enemy. Launchers aren't the god of DPS. They're only the god of AoE. If people stopped using cruise control on their rangers with lock on, auto-target mode, and launchers, they probably wouldn't get bored of them by level 2.

EDIT:

By the way, let's see that video again without auto-aim turned on.

Reyva
Jul 12, 2012, 07:45 PM
Eh, can't decide because playing a force and ranger is pretty easy. Since I've played mostly hunter and force with a minor of Ranger, I can say the following:

Force isn't what it used to be in PSO and PSU. Its more of a damage dealing class now than support or both. The last thing I care about is healing my team members or giving them attack buffs because Jack is over here, Jill is over there, and there is no talis in the world thats going to split two or more ways. In a normal map, jack or jill may be somewhere else and tbh, I get freakin tired of rebuffing shifta all the time. Its a waste of time and dps. Just let me do it on myself and if you are in its range, good for you.

And I kinda agree with what others said about Force. To me, it does get boring after awhile because all I do when I play is Shifta > Rafoie/Foie/Gifoie/Gigrants > Occasional Resta > Shifta > Repeat. I'm always out of harms way even though the boss may have its attention on me so I don't really feel as engaged in the game as a force. I like my aoe damage and my single target damage, but at the same time, I know hunters or rangers can deal just the same if not better.

However, as a hunter, its a different story and this is why when I start to get bored of PSO2, I can just switch to my cast male hunter and have a good time. Thats just me though. Some love to play whatever roles as a force, but I cannot deal with that for the entire life of the game.

Ranger however, just as easy and with weak bullet, it just makes this game even more ez mode than what it already is. I mean its pretty sad when I (as a force) and a random ranger in tundra field can solo Dark Ragne rather fast when its supposed to be for 12 people.

In the end, at least you got flexibility. When you get bored of playing a force, you can go be a hunter or a ranger and back. However, for me, who tailor classes according to race/gender, it would be cast male, newman female, and cast female.

So hunter is the hardest to play and the most engaging. Either offense or defense hunter, its entertaining.

Zyrusticae
Jul 12, 2012, 07:55 PM
IMHO what really needs to be nerfed is the launchers. It's very clear, to me anyway, that rangers are intended heavily for boss fighting and focusing elite enemies.
Yeah, no, pretty sure this is nonsense.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with different weapons being built for different roles. Or different PAs being built for different purposes, for that matter.

There is a problem when one or the other is disproportionately stronger at that role than everything else, however...

Blackheart521
Jul 12, 2012, 07:56 PM
This.

?PSO2?????Ra?????Part2??????? - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUaPy56J3D8&feature=player_embedded)

anyone notice that damage gets capped at 9999? wtf is that? there should never be a damage cap for single hits in online games. ^^;

PrinceBrightstar
Jul 12, 2012, 07:58 PM
Force, mostly because my control setup of a controller in my left hand and a mouse in my right is prohibitive of being about to swap techniques easily.

Shakuri
Jul 12, 2012, 07:59 PM
anyone notice that damage gets capped at 9999? wtf is that? there should never be a damage cap for single hits in online games. ^^;

You need to do a Client order for Koffee to increase the damage cap.

gigawuts
Jul 12, 2012, 07:59 PM
Force, mostly because my control setup of a controller in my left hand and a mouse in my right is prohibitive of being about to swap techniques easily.

Running out of mouse buttons?

http://store.razerzone.com/store/razerusa/en_US/pd/productID.219936100/categoryId.35208800



You need to do a Client order for Koffee to increase the damage cap.

As positive as I am that this is a joke, I still need to ask...

This is a joke, right?

The Walrus
Jul 12, 2012, 08:00 PM
Force, mostly because my control setup of a controller in my left hand and a mouse in my right is prohibitive of being about to swap techniques easily.

Why do you use both at the same time?

Gardios
Jul 12, 2012, 08:01 PM
Now imagine how fast the boss battle would've been with a PP recharging PB. Oh dear.

Ueno54
Jul 12, 2012, 08:05 PM
I've only played Force and Hunter to the early 20's and I think Hunter is more difficult out of the two so far. No opinion on ranger since I've not played it yet.

Vylera
Jul 12, 2012, 08:09 PM
anyone notice that damage gets capped at 9999? wtf is that? there should never be a damage cap for single hits in MMOs. ^^;

So you want rangers to hit 1 mill with weak bullet by level 200?


Yeah, no, pretty sure this is nonsense.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with different weapons being built for different roles. Or different PAs being built for different purposes, for that matter.

There is a problem when one or the other is disproportionately stronger at that role than everything else, however...

I said what I said because of the two most common scenarios you could possibly find yourself in as a ranger.

Either, you're soloing with a party of NPCs to max out the EXP and spawn rate. In case of soloing, there aren't enough mobs for it to be a challenge at all. There aren't enough mobs to put pressure on a ranger. In that case, what's left is the ability to clear random Code: Duels and/or the boss at the end of the mission (mostly free field). Rangers excel at Code: Duel, and that's a fact. Launchers don't really mean much in solo when the rifle's shotgun PA can do the same thing, but faster.

The other case is you're with a big multi-party room, and a crap load of enemies start showing up. You see hunters getting their hands dirty in the middle of all the chaos with their (usually) sword PAs, and then you see a ranger on the edge of your radar blasting launcher bullets in and dealing just as much damage as a hunter absolutely risk free. And in a party scenario, weak bullet makes everyone do more damage, and everyone becomes more useful, which is a GOOD thing. It's not just launcher spam stealing the show.

Disproportionate damage out put is one thing. Disproportionate risk level is another. Launchers achieve both.

You might disagree, but rangers being able to solo code duels faster isn't a problem to me. The fact that launchers replace hunters (strictly per basis of damage output and efficiency) is a problem to me.

Feel free to disagree. This is just what I feel having partied with launcher rangers on my hunter.

Shakuri
Jul 12, 2012, 08:24 PM
As positive as I am that this is a joke, I still need to ask...

This is a joke, right?

:lol:

Well, let's not be surprised if my joke turns into reality.

Xaeris
Jul 12, 2012, 08:25 PM
Final level cap is a one on one duel with Koffie imitating your class. Bank on it.

nadespam
Jul 12, 2012, 08:25 PM
Melee Force takes the cake.

- Your only weapon, for now, Gunslash.
- You get the Hunter's dash so you have to know the timing to get through certain attacks.
- You do very little damage compared to other classes.
- You have to constantly keep Shifta up, and not even the charged version because you waste too much time.
- Deband does nothing because you don't even have the HP to survive 3 hits.
- You have to always be watching your PP bar so you have enough for Resta.
- When casting Resta you have to do the charged version, because whatever just hit you took more than 50% of your HP.
- Lastly, you find mostly Force weapons so upgrades are almost never possible.

Every other class has it easy.

texhnolyze
Jul 12, 2012, 08:37 PM
hunter, because it's the only melee class
and force, because it has a wide variety of technique to use
rifle ranger is a bit tricky too, it's still the easiest among all..

soulpimpwizzurd
Jul 13, 2012, 12:39 AM
i'd say force if you added:

become a master of predicting where your teammates will go and range resta/shifta/debanding

i think aiming talis for heals and stuff is the hardest thing to do in this game. it's also quite helpful but it's still difficult since you'll find your teammates moving everywhere.

Dabian
Jul 13, 2012, 01:06 AM
Would probably have to be Hunter. Not so much because it's challenging in and of itself, more of the other 2 being "easier" to play.

Ranger is easier because...well.../launcher.

My main class is Force, and groups are more than willing to carry me because I actually use resta. Often. Especially to the JP players. A healer in their midst is very welcome. So I'm essentially carried.

Laskiee
Jul 13, 2012, 01:26 AM
I think Ranger is the easiest of all three, but i'm pretty fairly split on both hunter and Force being the hardest. While hunter may not have the invincibility frames the force has, it has Considerably more hp. I think its really all about the given situation at hand. Forces have resta, and their dash but they lack the Hp and defense big time.

soulpimpwizzurd
Jul 13, 2012, 01:28 AM
Would probably have to be Hunter. Not so much because it's challenging in and of itself, more of the other 2 being "easier" to play.

Ranger is easier because...well.../launcher.

My main class is Force, and groups are more than willing to carry me because I actually use resta. Often. Especially to the JP players. A healer in their midst is very welcome. So I'm essentially carried.

yeah i feel like force is the easiest class to zone out the most as in those "grind forever" multi parties. just walk into the crowd with your another history akushion gunblade and spam restas/gifoie fire circles/gibarta blizzards while you watch tv or something. you don't even have to look at what you're doing really. when grinding i pretty much never only have pso2 open now. it's really dull. i only focus entirely on pso2 when there's a boss or a pse burst.

unfortunately i rarely get to experience a burst though since so many low level players in the grinding area don't know what they're doing and they run off on their own *sigh*

Geistritter
Jul 13, 2012, 01:32 AM
I'd say it's between Hunters and Rangers. Rangers because they're more challenging to play correctly; they have support options that a player that just shoots at stuff is wasting, with a lot of enemy mitigation and control options. Rangers can make the party's lives easier without hampering their own effectiveness. Knowing what to Weak Shot and when is also important.

Hunters have to work harder at positioning and mobility to be effective, though, because they have to be in the enemy's face to hit what they're aiming at. But they also have the best defensive options, so anyone that says they're the most in danger isn't using Just Guard and/or Step Attack enough, because they're fantastic.

Nitpick: That Gunslash's name is "Axion", by the way. It says "Akushion" because there's no other way for the Japanese to spell it in their own language.

Dabian
Jul 13, 2012, 01:34 AM
This one time during the city emergency mission where you killed 500 pts worth and stayed on to kill more (:p), I was literally the refreshment stand for 11 others huddled together racking up the kills. And yea, all I did was /resta /shifta.

Husq
Jul 13, 2012, 01:35 AM
My opinion is that the classes are pretty much balanced. Think a lot of people are overrating the launcher, you can only fire 3 shots at a time, before locked in a loading sequence, which means it is useless if you are soloing. The ranger will run into trouble once you get to the tundra stage, unless you have good gear. I have seen some rangers doing high damage, but mine just manages half of it, and I am on level 40. So unless you have grinned a lot and planned ahead, all classes are challenging. On the other side you can make a hunter unstoppable, I mean I managed to only use step attacks to kick of the leg protector of a Dark Ragne once, by dancing around one of its legs.
One thing I have to say is the netcode, what you see isn't necessary what is happening to the other player

soulpimpwizzurd
Jul 13, 2012, 01:35 AM
Nitpick: That Gunslash's name is "Axion", by the way. It says "Akushion" because there's no other way for the Japanese to spell it in their own language.

yo dawg chek out ma preopen beta translashuns mayn u'll find dem reel gud

in all seriousness, if you wanna go down that route, who's to say they didn't mean to say AkuShion as in evil (aku) shion (whatever shion means)

if we didn't have the translation for rasuto sabai-ba, who's to say it wasn't supposed to be Lust survivor? loololoollo

jooozek
Jul 13, 2012, 01:38 AM
This.

?PSO2?????Ra?????Part2??????? - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUaPy56J3D8&feature=player_embedded)

Wow, thats freaking ridiculous, that PA needs to be nerfed and auto-aim should be banned. Also, 800 damage from normal burst on a weak bulleted weak spot with that rifle? What??????? I wonder what buffs and equips they have (never I went past ~450 bursts with that rifle +9 on a weak bulleted weak spot).

Geistritter
Jul 13, 2012, 01:39 AM
My opinion is that the classes are pretty much balanced. Think a lot of people are overrating the launcher, you can only fire 3 shots at a time, before locked in a loading sequence, which means it is useless if you are soloing.

There's a reason people are in the air all the time while using this weapon; it doesn't involve the reload.

Also, I almost exclusively solo. It's so far from useless it's hilarious, and is my primary weapon.


The ranger will run into trouble once you get to the tundra stage, unless you have good gear.

Patently untrue. I've soloed all content that's possible to do so with Ranger to this point, and by solo I mean no NPCs. And hell, I'm only level 34.

This is the part where I whine about the game being too easy again.

soulpimpwizzurd
Jul 13, 2012, 01:45 AM
Wow, thats freaking ridiculous, that PA needs to be nerfed and auto-aim should be banned. Also, 800 damage from normal burst on a weak bulleted weak spot with that rifle? What??????? I wonder what buffs and equips they have (never I went past ~450 bursts with that rifle +9 on a weak bulleted weak spot).

aside from what we can't tell (his armor side additions, what + his gun is, etc.) we can probably understand that he's maxed both weak shot advances, and he does make use of the self buff item.

i'm guessing he teleports back to ship and drinks a shifta EX before he fights (i think EX/Z drinks have a shorter life time than regular drinks) and then he also uses that one shifta item you can buy from the shop.

Geistritter
Jul 13, 2012, 01:50 AM
yo dawg chek out ma preopen beta translashuns mayn u'll find dem reel gud

in all seriousness, if you wanna go down that route, who's to say they didn't mean to say AkuShion as in evil (aku) shion (whatever shion means)

...Because its name is Axion. That's what its name actually is. It's not open to interpretation. That's how it was Romanized for Phantasy Star 0 by the Japanese.

Vylera
Jul 13, 2012, 01:50 AM
Wow, thats freaking ridiculous, that PA needs to be nerfed and auto-aim should be banned. Also, 800 damage from normal burst on a weak bulleted weak spot with that rifle? What??????? I wonder what buffs and equips they have (never I went past ~450 bursts with that rifle +9 on a weak bulleted weak spot).

I wouldn't be surprised if it was +10, 50 fire damage, 50 r-atk attribute total, and both weak hit advance skills were maxed in skill tree on a 100+ r-atk mag.

And yes, they need to REMOVE LOCK ON MODE.

This ain't Metroid Prime.

soulpimpwizzurd
Jul 13, 2012, 02:06 AM
...Because its name is Axion. That's what its name actually is. It's not open to interpretation. That's how it was Romanized for Phantasy Star 0 by the Japanese.

nigras i lost again

ellu
Jul 13, 2012, 02:10 AM
I chose hunter --
but I also just remembered how I have to be pretty careful as a newman force, just about any hit from a monster on my level takes down 1/3 to 1/2 of my hp.

; w ;

Husq
Jul 13, 2012, 02:16 AM
Patently untrue. I've soloed all content that's possible to do so with Ranger to this point, and by solo I mean no NPCs. And hell, I'm only level 34.

This is the part where I whine about the game being too easy again.

Hats off to you.
Even on level 40 I cannot beat the snow banther and banshee solo in the boss fight, killed them half a dozen times solo in field but not in the final stage. Two or three leaps/strikes and I am gone. I have to admit that i nerfed my ranger skills and mag a bit, I just wanted to try the stun grenade and poison traps...

soulpimpwizzurd
Jul 13, 2012, 02:19 AM
Hats off to you.
Even on level 40 I cannot beat the snow banther and banshee solo in the boss fight, killed them half a dozen times solo in field but not in the final stage. Two or three leaps/strikes and I am gone. I have to admit that i nerfed my ranger skills and mag a bit, I just wanted to try the stun grenade and poison traps...

as soon as both cats are out unless you're a hunter you're pretty much toast unless you abuse the corner with the ledges and keep hopping up and down. gotta kill the first cat before the second comes down, if you cant, just give up soloing and make enough money to buy the things you need to do the damage to kill the first cat fast enough

Macman
Jul 13, 2012, 04:25 AM
Hunter.

All those HP and defensive bonuses mean nothing when you're taking 90% of the aggro. Meanwhile the rangers and forces watch you struggle in relative safety, nuking the enemy from afar.

Mizunos
Jul 13, 2012, 04:34 AM
Kind of saddening that the most difficult class to play with (Hu) also happens to be the most boring one. They're nowhere near as fun as they were in PSO despite the plethora of PAs available, they're lacking weapons (issue that should be fixed soon), their attacks feel dull and overall I find them vastly underpowered compared to Ra and Fo. There's literally no incentive to play Hu as of now. Just my opinion though.

Macman
Jul 13, 2012, 04:34 AM
I find HUs fun. Wire Lance has got the best PAs.

soulpimpwizzurd
Jul 13, 2012, 05:30 AM
I find HUs fun. Wire Lance has got the best PAs.

wire lance is the most creative weapon but it's really quirky and a lot of the attacks makes you distance gauge

i really like the grab from afar>kick attack but if you don't get the distance right you miss a lot.

i feel like hunter needs PP normal attack revival asap though, to at least be able to keep up damage wise

Vylera
Jul 13, 2012, 05:36 AM
Hunter.

All those HP and defensive bonuses mean nothing when you're taking 90% of the aggro. Meanwhile the rangers and forces watch you struggle in relative safety, nuking the enemy from afar.

Add fury stance to that and welcome to OH SHI- mode.

Patmaster
Jul 13, 2012, 06:05 AM
I wonder why Ranger even gets 4 votes... distance -> shoot -> win O_o

I voted for Hunter, as it is the most agile and damage compromised class of all. You are always fighting at point blank so every enemy "could" hit you. Ranged combat = always easier!

Joe Friday
Jul 13, 2012, 06:09 AM
Wow, the votes for Hunter are overwhelming.

Personally, I love playing as a Hunter. You really have to stay focused, keeping an eye on everything around you, and choosing the right PA for the situation. Use them right, and you can keep raining damage on groups while keeping the really dangerous enemies locked down.

It's so much more intense than PSO1 ever was, and definitely involves more thought than PSU.

Ce'Nedra
Jul 13, 2012, 06:16 AM
The flaw with this logic is that this isn't PSU.

The second flaw with this logic is that weak bullet is on a 92 second cool down even at level 10. Taking it past level 4 is just a waste of SP. Firing weak bullet at all forces a ranger to stop dealing any amount of DPS whatsoever for whatever time is necessary for them to get the clean shot that they need. Then they have to dispense any extra weak shot bullets, which wastes more time. It all depends on how good the ranger is at judging the boss' movements. 10 seconds of high damage to ONE opponent is hardly broken.


Was just to give a comparison, I know this are 2 diffrent games completely but that damage at lv40 isn't just fun....unles Sega plans to have bosses with lets say, a million HP on ultimate or more for example, then it seems more fitting.

Sure Weak Shot has a cooldown, but the effect remains rather long as well, at least from what I've seen at least 10 seconds. But seriously, even with Weak Bullet, as a HUnter I've never deal above 3000 damage max in whatever situation, let be on a boss which clearly should have higher def stats etc.

I also agree on Launchers. When ship 2 was locked in OBT I was on ship 10 made a RAnewearl, and at level 2 I already managed to do 384 damage with a launcher. When I went ship 2 as a HUnewearl I was at one point level 17 or so and still had yet to see that kind of damage. Maybe if I got lucky and with Weak Shot. Get what I'm trying to say? Rangers are seriously overpowerd right now, specially if they mix Weak Shot and Launchers.

I'd like to see a Hunter solo that boss in 2 minutes. It's not possible I think.

Tianren
Jul 13, 2012, 06:24 AM
Ranger overpoweredness all depends on how they choose to play... I do not find it amusing in the slighest to weak shot sneak shot every boss, nor do I enjoy just blowing everything up with a launcher... Gunslash is where it is at, and for every class it is a challenge to use.

On topic of which is the hardest... It truly is debatable for many standards. How do you play said class, are you reckless and use Fury Stance with no regards for your weakened defense? Hunter is a pain to play then. Are you a gunslash toting ranger that tries to avoid using weakshot until it seems absolutely necessary? Then Ranger becomes fun to use. Force? Well... I have nothing to say there since I don't play force really.

It is all preference, and we have yet to see what the future holds in terms of content and actual difficulty.

Angelo
Jul 13, 2012, 07:08 AM
Remember in the original PSO when Hunter was for 'beginners', Ranger was 'intermediate', and Force was for "advanced" players?

Times have certainly changed.

Ce'Nedra
Jul 13, 2012, 07:38 AM
Remember in the original PSO when Hunter was for 'beginners', Ranger was 'intermediate', and Force was for "advanced" players?

Times have certainly changed.

The game stated that but RAngers always had the most easy time. Frozen Shooter+Spread Needle+S/D(fleshie)/Traps(Cast) and your done.

Casting forces had the hardest time because everything has very high elemental resistance, except for EP2 where Megid starts to work for once (and only really in CCA/Towers/Seabeds)

Angelo
Jul 13, 2012, 07:55 AM
The game stated that but RAngers always had the most easy time. Frozen Shooter+Spread Needle+S/D(fleshie)/Traps(Cast) and your done.

Casting forces had the hardest time because everything has very high elemental resistance, except for EP2 where Megid starts to work for once (and only really in CCA/Towers/Seabeds)

I always thought FO was considered the hardest because TP was an absolute nightmare to manage.

Cyclon
Jul 13, 2012, 08:21 AM
i feel like hunter needs PP normal attack revival asap though, to at least be able to keep up damage wise
I'm pretty happy with my damage as a hunter personally. Buff it and the game would become far too easy, and I do not want that.
I actually need to try and play as well as I can to feel like a decent damage dealer, and I kinda like it that way. I can easily understand how some others don't, though.

anyone notice that damage gets capped at 9999? wtf is that? there should never be a damage cap for single hits in online games. ^^;
It IS surprising indeed, if only for the fact that hunters with heavenly fall could probably already reach that cap at level 30

Remember in the original PSO when Hunter was for 'beginners', Ranger was 'intermediate', and Force was for "advanced" players
To be fair, in the long run it wasn't true for PSO either. I'd say it's all about learning curves or something, which arguably still holds true for PSO2.

Vashyron
Jul 13, 2012, 08:32 AM
The second flaw with this logic is that weak bullet is on a 92 second cool down even at level 10. Taking it past level 4 is just a waste of SP.

:wacko:

You know you can keep bullets in reserve and fire off PAs, meanwhile if in a party this helps out EXTREMELY as you can effectively keep a Boss under Weak Bullet for 60 seconds.

If only I see more rangers grasp this, I see too many place a weak bullet on a boss then shoot the other(s) ones into hell just so they can keep up DPS themselves, when keeping it up for the rest of the party helps WAY beyond.

LionHeart-
Jul 13, 2012, 08:50 AM
In my opinion at the moment is that Rangers are only effective or have high DPS, if they hit the monster's weak spot. Rangers! try it out. Use all your PA's and normal combo's on monster's non-weak spots and see how shit the damage is.

If they didn't get bonus's on weak-spots, they could not keep up with the rising difficulty of enemies, spawns, and their HP in later levels. It would just take to long to solo and to kill anything before, the monsters drained most of our inventory supplies.

Other then that they're pretty weak compared to Hunters and Forces. I played with a force the other day and she just completely ate everything alive, I couldn't even keep up. The time it took to shoot a launcher PA most things were dead or slowing succumbing to death.

Angelo
Jul 13, 2012, 08:51 AM
In my opinion at the moment is that Rangers are only effective or have high DPS, if they hit the monster's weak spot. Rangers! try it out. Use all your PA's and normal combo's on monster's non-weak spots and see how shit the damage is.

If they didn't get bonus's on weak-spots, they could not keep up with the rising difficulty of enemies, spawns, and their HP in later levels. It would just take to long to solo and to kill anything before, the monsters drained most of our inventory supplies.

Other then that they're pretty weak compared to Hunters and Forces. I played with a force the other day and she just completely ate everything alive, I couldn't even keep up. The time it took to shoot a launcher PA most things were dead or slowing succumbing to death.

Oh you know, they can just Weak Bullet and make any spot a weak spot.

Darki
Jul 13, 2012, 09:52 AM
I didn't try Ranger, so I can't give a full oppinion, but...

For me it'd be Hunter. I played Force since the OB and I got the trick in no time. Using a Force is way much easier than a Hunter, because the spells are pretty straightforward. If there's a single monster you use a single targetted spell, if they're many you use a Gi- spell, if there's a small pack of them, Ra-spell, more or less is always the same.

Hunter, however, you gotta try all PAs and see what combos you prefer, and you gotta be careful that you didn't make an "impossible" combo, for example putting a PA that throws monsters away out of range of the next PA, and when to use each weapon for each situation. Then you got the gears, that you have to take care of to use each weapon correctly.

LionHeart-
Jul 13, 2012, 12:26 PM
@Angelo: Yeah but that isn't the point I was making. I was trying to exempt Weak Bullet out of it because as we all know its additional and situational.

Free Forest - Hard mode:

Key: n/wp = None/Weakpoint : w/wp = With/Weakpoint)

First strike. No combo's or anything.

Rifle:

Normal Bullet: 29 - 35+ n/wp : 89 - 100 w/wp
Shotgun PA: 245 - 300+ n/wp : 700 - 900+ w/wp
Sniper PA: 350 - 400+ n/wp : 900 - 1100+ w/wp

Launcher:

Normal Bullet: 150 - 200+ n/wp : 450 - 550+ w/wp
Divine PA: 250 - 400+ n/wp : 1000 - 1200+ w/wp

As you can see Ranger doesn't fare to well in terms of Raw damage, DPS or anything for that matter, by excluding combo bonus's and things like that. This might correlate with Hunters/Forces as this is how the game mechanics might work in general.

My opinion Rangers constantly rely on combo'ing properly (not all the time), but definitively hitting weak points. Why we have skill tree points accordingly for this, to give us a specific 'role' perhaps, and making it worth while lower levels in damage.

Just my few cents :3.

Macman
Jul 13, 2012, 03:17 PM
I wonder why Ranger even gets 4 votes... distance -> shoot -> win O_o
Clearly 4 people can't aim. :-P

jooozek
Jul 13, 2012, 03:19 PM
Clearly 4 people can't use autaim. :-P
True that.

Macman
Jul 13, 2012, 03:22 PM
I spend almost all my combat in TPS mode as ranger and have no issues at all.

...Except Za Oodan's messed up hitbox.

gigawuts
Jul 13, 2012, 03:39 PM
In my opinion at the moment is that Rangers are only effective or have high DPS, if they hit the monster's weak spot. Rangers! try it out. Use all your PA's and normal combo's on monster's non-weak spots and see how shit the damage is.

If they didn't get bonus's on weak-spots, they could not keep up with the rising difficulty of enemies, spawns, and their HP in later levels. It would just take to long to solo and to kill anything before, the monsters drained most of our inventory supplies.

Other then that they're pretty weak compared to Hunters and Forces. I played with a force the other day and she just completely ate everything alive, I couldn't even keep up. The time it took to shoot a launcher PA most things were dead or slowing succumbing to death.

So you mean to tell me that the aiming class needs to be able to aim to be effective?

I'm playing ranger atm, this is hilariously easy and fun. Even if I don't hit a weak spot the enemy still stumbles and can't attack, this is great. If I can see it, I can hit it with a launcher.

jooozek
Jul 13, 2012, 03:41 PM
I spend almost all my combat in TPS mode as ranger and have no issues at all.

...Except Za Oodan's messed up hitbox.

Same here for most, I just find it baffling that most of the vids with rangers feature them using autoaim.

NoiseHERO
Jul 13, 2012, 03:44 PM
I play with controller TPS mode is annoying with controller blah blah blah TPSers aren't the superior race shaddap.

jooozek
Jul 13, 2012, 03:52 PM
I play with controller TPS mode is annoying with controller blah blah blah TPSers aren't the superior race shaddap.

"Wow, cool, they added an aimbot, now I can play on a crippled setup and be more efficient than those who use an efficient one but man sure is this boring LEWLZIE XD"

gigawuts
Jul 13, 2012, 03:53 PM
"Wow, cool, they added an aimbot, now I can play on a crippled setup and be more efficient than those who use an efficient one but man sure is this boring LEWLZIE XD"

He's right though, TPS users aren't the superior race. Casts are.

Now, if a Cast is using TPS mode...

Gardios
Jul 13, 2012, 03:55 PM
Silly you, typing CAST when you actually mean CATS.

We all know that cats are the superior race.

Vashyron
Jul 13, 2012, 04:00 PM
I find TPS mode way more fun for Rangers, but locking on is efficient, lazy and starts to bore me if I keep doing it too long.

Of course it being efficient and the cruise control method it's no wonder most Rangers and Forces use it. Maybe if you couldn't lock onto weak points on most enemies this would be different.

Soul Guardian
Jul 13, 2012, 04:03 PM
Hunter for sure. Playing force is easy as hell. Lock on + Grants' massive range makes hitting weakpoints on most bosses easy. For everything else, there's Gizonde and Rafoie.

gigawuts
Jul 13, 2012, 04:07 PM
Silly you, typing CAST when you actually mean CATS.

We all know that cats are the superior race.

Well, there IS some overlap. You can put cat ears on casts after all.

Vylera
Jul 13, 2012, 04:08 PM
Well, there IS some overlap. You can put cat ears on casts after all.

Cat CAST TPS mode.

OH shi-

FenixStryk
Jul 13, 2012, 04:09 PM
Hunter has to get in close and block.
Force is squishy and sometimes has to get in close, but has Resta and FO-dash.
Ranger... never has to get close.

This game isn't hard, but it should still be fairly obvious who has to pay more attention.

NoiseHERO
Jul 13, 2012, 04:26 PM
"Wow, cool, they added an aimbot, now I can play on a crippled setup and be more efficient than those who use an efficient one but man sure is this boring LEWLZIE XD"

Why are you even getting sarcastic?? D<

It wasn't even funny when you did it! I just said you weren't better, I never said you were worse or I was cooler! D<

Slap yourself.

Also I'm cooler no matter what I do. >D

Macman
Jul 13, 2012, 04:35 PM
Why are you even getting sarcastic?? D<
Because you're fun to get all riled up.

NoiseHERO
Jul 13, 2012, 04:42 PM
Because you're fun to get all riled up.

Implying my current status has anything to do with the way I type. D<

I use "e_e" when I'm serious, not "D<"!

Have at you, foolish knave!

Macman
Jul 13, 2012, 04:44 PM
At least you're not using +^_^+

soulpimpwizzurd
Jul 13, 2012, 04:45 PM
Implying my current status has anything to do with the way I type. D<

I use "e_e" when I'm serious, not "D<"!

Have at you, foolish knave!

what is D< is that like C: local disc?

@shakuri the delay for force dodge is shortened if you jump and then dodge. it helps.

ex: jump>dodge>dodge will be faster than dodge>dodge for force. and i'm not talking about jump>dodge instantly after, since that'll make you half mirage escape it'll actually cancel it midway.

Macman
Jul 13, 2012, 04:46 PM
It's D:< without the eyes.

I don't know either.

NoiseHERO
Jul 13, 2012, 04:47 PM
what is D< is that like C: local disc?

LISTEN HERE, YOU!

http://dumais.us/newtown/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/LetterD.jpghttp://askspike.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/424px-OCR-A_char_Less-Than_Sign.svg_.png

eyebrows so evil there's no eyes!

Can also eat teenage girls.

gigawuts
Jul 13, 2012, 04:59 PM
You can just say these things, you know.

LionHeart-
Jul 13, 2012, 07:27 PM
So you mean to tell me that the aiming class needs to be able to aim to be effective?

I'm playing ranger atm, this is hilariously easy and fun. Even if I don't hit a weak spot the enemy still stumbles and can't attack, this is great. If I can see it, I can hit it with a launcher.

Yes of course. It isn't going to do the job properly by itself, is it? Yes! There is auto-aim or auto-lock-on, but that isn't always going to target the precise spots for maximum damage and proficiency. Its like playing a Sniper class on MW3 and always aiming at the limbs to require 2 shot kills, instead of hitting the torso or head for a 1 shot kill. Not very productive in the long run.

All I am saying is that the Ranger isn't what people are saying it is, unless they are hitting weak-spots and combo'ing properly. Other then that, they're not really overpowered at all, and lost their place for now in this game as being quite broken e.g. unlike RAmarl + CAST Gunmaster, respectively in PSO/PSU.

Garnet_Moon
Jul 13, 2012, 07:34 PM
Most challenging: Hunter
Easy mode: Force
AFK auto-follow until Weak Bullet timer is up: Ranger

Ana-Chan
Jul 13, 2012, 08:33 PM
Ranger. Keeping my eyes open most of the time is really hard. I keep dozing off.

gigawuts
Jul 13, 2012, 10:29 PM
Yes of course. It isn't going to do the job properly by itself, is it? Yes! There is auto-aim or auto-lock-on, but that isn't always going to target the precise spots for maximum damage and proficiency. Its like playing a Sniper class on MW3 and always aiming at the limbs to require 2 shot kills, instead of hitting the torso or head for a 1 shot kill. Not very productive in the long run.

All I am saying is that the Ranger isn't what people are saying it is, unless they are hitting weak-spots and combo'ing properly. Other then that, they're not really overpowered at all, and lost their place for now in this game as being quite broken e.g. unlike RAmarl + CAST Gunmaster, respectively in PSO/PSU.

I don't think you get to claim that an overpowered class isn't overpowered since you need to use it correctly to get OP results.

Besides, overpowered? I don't really think so. Classes always have their niche. RAmarl was great for solo, but didn't really shine in groups. RAmar was good at lower levels, but really suffered at the higher levels when everything was a damage sponge. That's where hunters really started to shine, with damage curves that didn't drop out quite so quickly.

If the trend holds then the class curve will naturally balance things out. If not, oh well, it's a PVE game. All "overpowered" means is someone kills a boss faster than someone else. It's not like somebody being overpowered means they're stomping all over another player's enjoyment, unless their only source of enjoyment is being better than someone else. You can't even take somebody else's rares, and thank heavens for that. That is NOT something I miss from PSO1.