Starting Now?

[gaijin_punch]

I had to remake an account here, since I registered w/ an old address and forgot the password. Anywho....

I placed the DC version a lot. Then a gave a piece of my soul to the GC version... Then did it again on Blue Burst (sad to lose those characters). I tried PSU for a month and it just didn't click. I have a crazy schedule with work and whatnot now (why wouldn't I, I'm now a grown man ^^; ) so opted out of PSOV2 from the get go.

A local friend and I talked about playing one iteration or another over the holiday break. I even went out and bought V2 on the DC and played through Normal (no extra items, just all default) for some good old fashioned nostalgia. But, it looks like we're going to be limited to PC versions, and have decided to give PSO2 a whirl.

My main question is the Premium package worth checking out? It's about 3000 yen now, considerably cheaper than the time at release which was 5000. I don't really know what I get with the package, if it's useful, or any of that jazz. Now that the game's been released for 18 months, the stuff in the pack might not be useful. I'm not looking to put a ton of time in. I'm sure the game is all kinds of fun, but I don't think I can pour hundreds of hours into another character know that in about 3.5 years from now, it will vanish.

Thoughts?

[Zorafim]

It's free, so you aren't losing anything. If you enjoy the game, keep playing. If not, just dump it. I say if anything, the game's great for just customizing your character.

I wouldn't suggest buying the premium though. If you really want meseta, then a shop's an easy way to get it, sure. But the only time you should get premium is if you want everything in it.

[Rain Walker]

You get


5 different item codes
30 days of the premium set
1000 FUN
A mag evolution device (cell)
A color change ticket
5 scape dolls
A selection of boost items


I personally would get it if i had the dosh, but it's mostly up to you, since you can enjoy the game without throwing a single penny at it

[gaijin_punch]

Cheers

The list is semi useful. As I've not played the game, it's hard for me to judge. Is the mag evolution device something I can use on a mag after it's hit level X. Is this something I can't get in the game?

I guess the idea would be if possible I'd like to jump in and enjoy. I don't mind supporting via real cash to some extent (I never had a problem w/ BB's 1000 yen a month fee). Just not sure if this is really worth it though.

[holmwood]

Cheers

The list is semi useful. As I've not played the game, it's hard for me to judge. Is the mag evolution device something I can use on a mag after it's hit level X. Is this something I can't get in the game?

I guess the idea would be if possible I'd like to jump in and enjoy. I don't mind supporting via real cash to some extent (I never had a problem w/ BB's 1000 yen a month fee). Just not sure if this is really worth it though.

If you're iffy about buying, don't. I never paid a dime for this game, and I probably never will... I could get all the costumes and weapons in game. It'll just take more effort.

One reason people really want a premium set is to buy 10* rares from the player shops as that requires a ticket. You get the ticket from sacrificing a junk 10* weapon/unit. Other than that, the other benefits are kind of... underwhelming.

Once you get all the rares you're looking for, there is no real endgame goal after that. Just upgrade and farm... :(


It's hella fun for sure . But I personally wouldn't pay cash for it.

[gaijin_punch]

A good testimonial. Free loading it is. :)
For anyone on the JP ships, is it still going strong? I guess the big problem I had with Episode IV is I came REALLY late to the party. So late, it was basically over. I didn't want to buy the package version (and that was probably a good call), but I did get back into the game some time later, but it was clearly dying out. Can't blame most people.

Hopefully I can find time to enjoy this and not have to carve something else out. When the DC version came out, life was fun. Went to worked. Came home and played. Almost no responsibilities. Oh, the good old days!

[Link1275]

Ship 2 is where almost everyone left is at. Oh, and don't venture into B-20 it's full afk'ers and no-skill-know-nothings(historical reference and insult at the same time).

[Zorafim]

I don't quite share everyone else's opinion on B20, but I came from WoW where I get insulted for speaking and not overgearing content.

[gaijin_punch]

I don't quite share everyone else's opinion on B20, but I came from WoW where I get insulted for speaking and not overgearing content.

I think you guys might have misunderstood. I'm not referring to English-speaking players. Just players in general. Generally after a year these things tend to die down.

[UnLucky]

Most of the ships are fairly populated, or so I hear. Ship 1, 2, and 10 I believe have the most, as they were locked to new characters for a while at the beginning.

As for the premium box, I personally wouldn't buy it. The Sato mag skin is great (possibly the best one), but anything else is meh or obtainable elsewhere. Maybe you could check out the 2nd premium box if you're interested, but I'm not even sure what's in it.

If you would like to support the game financially, I'd suggest premium subscriptions once you're lv50+ and extra skill trees or mags as you see fit. Those are the most useful cash items.

[gaijin_punch]

If you would like to support the game financially, I'd suggest premium subscriptions once you're lv50+ and extra skill trees or mags as you see fit. Those are the most useful cash items.

In gamer terms, I'm a grumpy old man. I absolutely loathe the payment architecture of games these days. I'm old school. I want to pay $50-$60 for a complete game. If it offers something else (like online play) I don't mind a subscription fee. I don't like getting something in-game for money. I'm more of an unlockables through skill kinda guy. I know, those days are long gone though. :(

Who knows, maybe I'll hate it and bust out my GC.

[doubleEXP]

I just started about 3 weeks ago. Took me a week or so to get used to things, then I remade my character based on everything I learned about the game (and about the character creation choices). I'm weird that way. Anyway, once I settled down with the controls, and thanks to AIDA's awesome PSO Tweaker (which Anglicizes a lot of the game's content, including most menu options, most item items, and even a lot of the npc dialoque) I'm really loving it.

You really don't need to spend a single cent to enjoy this game.

I think the only two things, from what I've learned, that are important to understand - from the get-go - are these:

#1 It costs real life money to buy additional mags
#2 It costs real life money to re-spec class skills*

* Caveat: sometimes Sega resets, for free, the skill lists, after they've done some sort of rebalancing to the skills

So, knowing the above two things, you just want to spend a little time researching the sort of mag you want to raise and the sort of skills you want to choose. There are excellent topics on this site that cover those topics.

Other than that, just play and have fun.

I think it's an awesome game. It's the true sequel to PSO I've been waiting for for a long, long time. The more I play it, the more I love it.

[Edson Drake]

Well, the game's awesome and all, but the droprates are atrocious.

You will rack up so much 10* items overtime that you don't need and can't do anything else except sell them for 1000 MST to some vendor, that it feels like buying premium just to get the 10* passes.

Cheesy tactics by Sega, but the game's free and fun, so I guess it's fair and square for them to make money this way.

[UnLucky]

Oh right, here's the 2nd Premium Package contents (http://bumped.org/psublog/phantasy-star-online-2-premium-package-vol-2/).

Still not worth it unless you really wanted the gimped OST.

No mag, no tree, no buy.

I'd totally pay $60 for 2 spare mags, an extra tree for every class, 50 inventory pack, and 30d premium.


Just wanted to point out that, although this was the case at launch, this is no longer true.

It's just full of inane conversations, like you would expect from any public chatroom. A similar experience cannot be found elsewhere, for better or worse.

That, and quests for all difficulties can be found here. Again, for better or worse.

[FacelessRed]

In gamer terms, I'm a grumpy old man. I absolutely loathe the payment architecture of games these days. I'm old school. I want to pay $50-$60 for a complete game. If it offers something else (like online play) I don't mind a subscription fee. I don't like getting something in-game for money. I'm more of an unlockables through skill kinda guy. I know, those days are long gone though. :(

Who knows, maybe I'll hate it and bust out my GC.

Hey how you doin'? Honestly PSO2 is definitely one of the upper tier free to play games out there in regards to its payment scheme.

You really don't get horribly shafted save, for a few things like Character inventory space and Mags (You should be SUPER CAREFUL, WITH MAGS AND CHECK A GUIDE if you don't plan on paying for anything).

I personally play with someone who may Consider themselves a grumpy old man, who has 3 kids I believe 2 of which are in college, he pays for a lot of things within the game and he enjoys his time. On ship 1 our community is tight. Slightly divided between English players but for the most part we're quiet.

"Unlockables through skill" isn't that far off from the game, It's a bit grindy on a first character, but with proper friends (and proper communication) you can get through. I would suggest trying it out before new year, as doing things when large bug ridden updates happen is always a nightmare. I can't vouch for ship 2 or 10 But the people around are pretty awesome and we just enjoy playing. So give PSO2 a try. I'm not the youngest of people myself, and I'm an old Game cube PSO player and my best friend is an old Dream cast player (and game cube).

[gaijin_punch]

Thanks guys. Sounds pretty fun.
The whole "mag costs real money" thing has me a bit irked though. I loved feeding mags on every other version... something that really turned me off from PSU. Is there a guide that sums up how all that works? I assume mag cells don't just drop?

I wonder how Sega is making money off this game if so many are playing totally for free.


Oh right, here's the 2nd Premium Package contents.

Still not worth it unless you really wanted the gimped OST.

No mag, no tree, no buy.

Yeah, that's the one that's now 3000 yen. The first premium pack is still 6000 yen.

[Zorafim]

Mags aren't too different than you remember. It evolves at lv20 (30?), then again at 100. I think its lv100 evolution is final, but it will evolve to a new form every five levels between 20 and 100 if the stat changes are big enough.

You get one free by doing a quest at the beginning, and you have to pay a few dollars for each one after that. If you're planning on playing a certain class, and don't deviate much from that, then you're fine. For instance, if you're mainly doing hunter, you're fine with a striking mag. I suggest getting at least 50 points in the attack and defense of your choice (so, striking attack and striking defense for hunter), and spending the rest of the points on whatever. But I'm a bit out of the loop.

As for how Sega is making money, well, many things can only be got from paid items. All costumes must be paid for with real money. Not necessarily yours, though. If you want a new piece of clothing, you can just drop a modest amount of meseta for someone else's.

[UnLucky]

Yeah, that's the one that's now 3000 yen. The first premium pack is still 6000 yen.

Oh, whaaat? Not even the Sato mag skin? What a ripoff!


I suggest getting at least 50 points in the attack and defense of your choice (so, striking attack and striking defense for hunter), and spending the rest of the points on whatever. But I'm a bit out of the loop.
Well pretty much nothing requires extra Def to equip since all units' requirements dropped in a recent update. Of course, that could change.

Most mags are simply 175/175 pure Atk. You can go 125 Atk and 50 Dex or something if you really want a Dex req weapon or you're just lazy, it's not a huge deal.

But yeah, if you're going to switch between Striking, Ranged, and Tech classes, you will want multiple mags. Splitting your mag stats between them will just ruin all of them.

[Valimer]

I've played since beta and the only time I've spent FUN on something other than FUN tickets was for a photon chair.

In all that time, I have gotten 2 My Shop tickets, and both of those were around when I first started the game. I still have one of them.

[Dark Priest]

I've played since beta and the only time I've spent FUN on something other than FUN tickets was for a photon chair.

In all that time, I have gotten 2 My Shop tickets, and both of those were around when I first started the game. I still have one of them.

I actually was not even aware you could buy my shop tickets with fun points, they accumulate so slowly, however, that is still seems a moot point, unless you plan on dumping multiple valuble items at once for 1 tickets worth, also assuming you can still take the money out after it expires, as you will no doubt have to deal with expensive items not selling quickly.

[ZIE creations]

Phantasy Star kinda has its own terms/abbreviation. Vendering was called NPCing because all shops use to be NPCs, this also raised in PSO time which was before the korean game market explosion iirc lol. Stuff like Player Shop is actually direct to what the game calls it. Also don't be hostile, gets you no-where. ^.^

On-Topic, PSO2 is awesome! Worth a try, especially since it's free only costing some time to actually play it. Ship 2 has the largest English community and is a good place to start, unless you know people on another ship I'd recommend this ship exclusively (no offense to other ship players).

Mags and character customization is "touchy" the first time around since it costs Arks Cash to change your character's proportions and to get additional Mags. You DO have 2 free character slots however, so you can make one character and then, if you don't like it, make another without losing your other character (you can also delete a character and re-make it if you wanted). Also you have an account wide storage you can use to store any item and up to 999,999,999,999 meseta (which you will likely never reach) so even if you delete your characters you will still have anything you put in storage also maintaining friends and stuffs.

Each character gets 1 free mag and 1 skill tree of each class. Sega hands out Tree Resets what seems to be about every 4 months(?) but that is variant since it is only when skill trees are actually altered. Also anything that isn't proportions (such as face shape or height), hair color or skin color can be changed at the esty shop, free of charge, any time you want in the lobby.

Also add me when you get in game =^.^=
Acc. Name: スピリットシャード
Char. Name: スピリット
Ship: 2


EDIT: Mag Debate
Mine is a hybrid attack mag since I play all classes. I rather like mine since I also evolved it to be the cat-like mag with a giant laser. =^.-=

59 Striking Force
58 Technic Force
58 Ranged Force
0 Ability
0 defense
0 " "
0 " "

[gaijin_punch]

On-Topic, PSO2 is awesome! Worth a try, especially since it's free only costing some time to actually play it. Ship 2 has the largest English community and is a good place to start, unless you know people on another ship I'd recommend this ship exclusively (no offense to other ship players).

Well, I'm in Japan, and will be playing at night mostly, w/ a local friend. So, I assume that's when the English speaking ships are a little less busy. I actually assumed an English version of the game was out by now. Egads -- that's painful that it's not!



Also add me when you get in game =^.^=
Acc. Name: スピリットシャード
Char. Name: スピリット
Ship: 2

Will do -- thanks or the quick and dirty guide. Will be useful. And I can always spam questions here if it's not. ;)

[Zorafim]

I feel like they didn't bother much thinking through mag design. Like, they saw people liked it in PSO, and saw them complain about it being gone in PSU, so they put it back without doing much with them. Before, it was a way of customizing your character. Kinda. Now it's just a way to do slightly more damage, because nothing else matters.

Meh. It's kinda awesome having a shark float over my shoulder. I guess it's not all bad.

Oh, if you want questions, there's a thread floating around specifically designed around that. It's a quick, easy way of getting things answered. Should be "The quick questions/answers thread" or something along those lines.

Uh, stop by the Fashion thread once you get a character done to show off, and post your pictures in our pictures thread. We're always happy to have more.

[ZIE creations]

I feel like they didn't bother much thinking through mag design. Like, they saw people liked it in PSO, and saw them complain about it being gone in PSU, so they put it back without doing much with them. Before, it was a way of customizing your character. Kinda. Now it's just a way to do slightly more damage, because nothing else matters.

Meh. It's kinda awesome having a shark float over my shoulder. I guess it's not all bad.

I rather like the Mag design. But it only compliments your character if you make it. Also mags still control Photon-Bursts and also have abilities that can compliment a playstyle a ton such as my mag's auto-revive chance >.<. My cat-like mag compliments my "newmacat" (newman with a cat tail and whiskers that only goes ニャン and other cat noises). Can't really complain about having more features to a game anyways lol. =^.^=

[Zorafim]

My cat-like mag compliments my "newmacat" (newman with a cat tail and whiskers that only goes ニャン and other cat noises).

I tried making one of these in PSO. It didn't work out very well. I'm glad the option's here this time around. Greater customization is always better.

But yeah, I guess mags aren't too terrible. The stats just aren't very creative. "Pour everything into attack" isn't much of a strategy.

[WildarmsRE5]

._. If you have items at the shop and your shop ticket expired, you can still take out your profits and the items will stay in there until they are sold. want a screenshot? I'll give you mine later if you want. . .

._.

[UnLucky]

I actually was not even aware you could buy my shop tickets with fun points, they accumulate so slowly, however, that is still seems a moot point, unless you plan on dumping multiple valuble items at once for 1 tickets worth, also assuming you can still take the money out after it expires, as you will no doubt have to deal with expensive items not selling quickly.

Yeah, I mean, you have 200 bank slots, so it's pretty common to stockpile valuables until a Shop Pass falls out of the FUN scratch.

Any other 10* can be traded in for an Excube, a Photon Sphere, or 30 Grinders. 10* units can't be traded for an Excube, but 5 of them can still get you Grinders or a Sphere (why they don't just give out Crystals and fewer Grinders for a single unit, I have no idea).

Or for anyone with premium (not just a Shop pass), you can turn them into 10* trade passes so you can purchase 10*s from other players.

Can't do anything with spare 11* or 12*s, though, but you may as well just keep them (or display them in your Room).

[Takatsuki]

I tried making one of these in PSO. It didn't work out very well. I'm glad the option's here this time around. Greater customization is always better.

But yeah, I guess mags aren't too terrible. The stats just aren't very creative. "Pour everything into attack" isn't much of a strategy.

You don't need a strategy. There is literally no reason to go with anything but those 3 builds I posted.

[ZIE creations]

You don't need a strategy. There is literally no reason to go with anything but those 3 builds I posted.

Not sure if you're just trying to troll or really believe you have some higher right intellect that no one can ever contradict.. (not trying to be offensive, just commenting ^.^)

There are a lot of reasons for different builds such as adding Ability on a newman can help you equip some bows as a braver hybrid, or maybe you need defense to make your tank build complete? Not everyone goes for min-max damage and everyone plays the game a little differently. Just let people build what they want. Of course I don't support ruining mags with terrible stats without reason such as if you build a Striking Defense mag "just because" but if you have reason I'm all for it! =^.^=

[Takatsuki]

Not sure if you're just trying to troll or really believe you have some higher right intellect that no one can ever contradict.. (not trying to be offensive, just commenting ^.^)

There are a lot of reasons for different builds such as adding Ability on a newman can help you equip some bows as a braver hybrid, or maybe you need defense to make your tank build complete? Not everyone goes for min-max damage and everyone plays the game a little differently. Just let people build what they want. Of course I don't support ruining mags with terrible stats without reason such as if you build a Striking Defense mag "just because" but if you have reason I'm all for it! =^.^=

But Tank builds aren't viable. Ever. Nobody with any sense plays a tank because nobody NEEDS a tank in their party. PSO2 is not like other MMOs. If you're getting hit at all, you're doing something wrong. If you're not aiming for high damage, then you're just playing the game wrong.

And I'm not saying everyone has to have a perfect build and BiS equipment or anything silly like that, heck, I don't have anywhere near the best equipment. But what I am saying is that by putting points into your Mag where they don't need to be is just sabotaging your own character.

And like I said, having a ATK+DEX Mag is not necessarily a terrible thing, because not everyone has the patience for a pure Mag, and that's fine. But there's a big difference between having a Hunter/Fighter with say, 90 points in S-ATK, 50 in DEX and 35 in S-DEF. It's a waste of points that could go towards being able to use better equipment and better damage. Plus the amount of damage reduced by having a small amount of DEF is not even that much. For it to even matter, you would need to have a pure DEF mag, and that would just be plain stupid.

[Zorafim]

You won't notice 35 points of def on a mag. You also won't notice 35 points of atk. At 100 points, you'll start to notice a difference. But it's hardly worth the extra effort getting that high.

Really, with mags, you just have to know how much is enough. As long as you can equip stuff, you have enough of a stat. And if you can already equip everything, it's time to stop bothering with your mag.


You don't need a strategy. There is literally no reason to go with anything but those 3 builds I posted.

Thanks for catching my point.

[UnLucky]

30 Atk on a mag is an extra affix slot that you don't have to spend millions for.

30 Def on a mag will never amount to anything.

[Zorafim]

30 Atk on a mag is an extra affix slot that you don't have to spend millions for.

I stand by my original argument.

[UnLucky]

I stand by my original argument.

Don't give me that attitude

[Zorafim]

Don't attitude my give me

[FacelessRed]

as someone who has mags with 30 and 35 defense on them. I actually do Feel it. Because everyone around me who builds like you guys explode in 1 hit (and they have better equipment than me, but they didn't care for defense), where as I can survive pretty much any 1 hit kill move without needing Iron will. I also can equip pretty much if not already every item my class requires and then some, and my DPS is only at most 5% maybe 10% lower than theres.

I'm not saying they're wrong to do so, but I enjoy surviving and being tough, and not stressing myself out with insanity levels of kill speed. Also anyone who says "Tank builds" not being viable is full of it, and anyone who says "if you get hit at all you're doing something wrong" is also full of it. There are so many things that can go wrong outside of player skill where being tough or having some defense will play in your favor. and there are A LOT of battle options if there IS a tank in your party. LIKE KEEPING A BOSS STILL LONG enough for your 3 other dps in the team to wail on it instead of it jumping around like a spastic confused over who to attack.

Kill time of an SH boss with 4 DPS during a ta 5 seconds, Kill time with 3 DPS and a TANK 5.5 seconds. The difference? A scratch on the ass is what the difference is, so get off your high horse.

[jooozek]

don't put def on mags, crafting is coming and in the vids they were actually bumping up the units
here you go, extended unit:
[SPOILER-BOX]http://bumped.org/psublog/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Weapon-Customize.png[/SPOILER-BOX]

[UnLucky]

as someone who has mags with 30 and 35 defense on them. I actually do Feel it. Because everyone around me who builds like you guys explode in 1 hit (and they have better equipment than me, but they didn't care for defense), where as I can survive pretty much any 1 hit kill move without needing Iron will. I also can equip pretty much if not already every item my class requires and then some, and my DPS is only at most 5% maybe 10% lower than theres.

I'm not saying they're wrong to do so, but I enjoy surviving and being tough, and not stressing myself out with insanity levels of kill speed. Also anyone who says "Tank builds" not being viable is full of it, and anyone who says "if you get hit at all you're doing something wrong" is also full of it. There are so many things that can go wrong outside of player skill where being tough or having some defense will play in your favor. and there are A LOT of battle options if there IS a tank in your party. LIKE KEEPING A BOSS STILL LONG enough for your 3 other dps in the team to wail on it instead of it jumping around like a spastic confused over who to attack.

Kill time of an SH boss with 4 DPS during a ta 5 seconds, Kill time with 3 DPS and a TANK 5.5 seconds. The difference? A scratch on the ass is what the difference is, so get off your high horse.
As someone with a pure Atk mag and only Atk/PP affixes on all my gear, I can survive SH Falz's attacks and rare Ringahda's lasers, even if I somehow managed to get hit by them. Twice now I've survived Falz Arm's grab.

I sincerely wish tanking a boss was possible. So many of their attacks have them spinning around and flying through the arena that it doesn't matter who has aggro, it's not going to stand still. And with so many bosses with a frontal weakpoint, it doesn't matter who has aggro, you're all going to be in the same spot regardless.

[Rakurai]

I personally dropped 40 points of R-ATk/T-ATK on my mags for DEX so I could barely equip all of the many 450 DEX requirement weapons that are out there.

[Zorafim]

Poor Gaijin. We've completely taken over his thread.

[~Aya~]

as someone who has mags with 30 and 35 defense on them. I actually do Feel it. Because everyone around me who builds like you guys explode in 1 hit.

Kill time of an SH boss with 4 DPS during a ta 5 seconds, Kill time with 3 DPS and a TANK 5.5 seconds. The difference? A scratch on the ass is what the difference is, so get off your high horse.


4 DPS 5 seconds and 3 with a tank 5.5? You must have had one dps stand around so that you could have an arguement.

The game is easy enough as it is and don't feel that I need to dump millions of meseta to have more defense and more HP when I can dodge or JG most anything while having the power and pp to kill as fast as I feel like killing something.

Money better spent on the true focus of this game: cosmetics :D

[gaijin_punch]

Poor Gaijin. We've completely taken over his thread.

Haha. Makes it all the more inviting, I guess. ;)

Sorry to hear they didn't put as much thought into them. Seems like a missed opportunity (of which Sega has made many in this series, TBH). But I guess that's better than always thinking about how I can raise my next one. That shit got a little out of hand. ;)

[gaijin_punch]

Okay, i've played a bit and it's time to fight about mags some more.

I'm trying to build mine up w/ ATK only at the moment (the hunter one) . Which seems to make sense. However, I'm now a sub-classed Ranger. Let's say one day I want to lay as a ranger. Isn't this mag going to be semi-useless? Wouldn't I need 射撃 raised? The feeding process is going rather slow. I'm only level 22, sub-class (ranger) is level 6 or so, and my Mag is like level 12 only. :-/

[Edson Drake]

Isn't this mag going to be semi-useless?

Yes. unless you don't mind having a mag for a different class.

You can either delete your character and start from scratch(I lost count how many times I did this, though I don't mind) or buy AC to get a new Mag and switch them along with your character class.

[gaijin_punch]

Yeah, buying a new mag and feeding it seems like the way to do it, although it seems to be taking a while.