CBTers..party system question.

[justinbrady]

can you have a party out of instances/games or is it like PSO where being in someones party just means your in their game. because that is something i liked about wow...because leveling up me and my friends could entertain each other while leveling through party chat and also you could say things like hey buy me some pots on the way to "x" instance.

[Lyrise]

You can indeed have parties outside of instances. If you have cards of your friends, you can even create that party over distances.

[justinbrady]

awesome =]

[Ferali]

I had a question about the party system as well... can any CBT comment on party make-up? My friends and I are going to decide on race/class and any info on party dynamics would be interesting. For example, how would a team of 2 HU, 2 RA, 2 FO fare? Or 4 HU 2 FO? Things of that nature, as well as roles of race/class as observed from CB.

[DurakkenX]

You can play solo v.v Play what you want to play and don't worry about how much better you can do after solo. I assume the general conventions of PSO though are still in order though so a HU and FO compliment each other nicely asa well as does a HU and a RA.

I haven't played the beta but all the same the fact that you can solo says you are not restricted to specific party set ups...

As far as an optimal party...well you'll have to just figure that out when you play it because optimal play is based on a persons own talents in team games.

[mechatra]

Lets not forget soloing is generally harder now due to the stricter class boundaries.

Hunters and Rangers both really benefit from having a force in the team, since they're the only ones with Resta.

Forces and Rangers benefit from having Hunters in the team due to both Ra and Fo classes having sub-par hp, so the hunters can engage the monsters and keep them busy for the other two to do their work.

Hunters particularly benefit from having Rangers due to the rangers long ranged support stops them getting outnumbers massively due to the large number of monsters in the fray, in turn keeps their hp high, saving forces much needed pp from healing to be used on high-damage technics.

It's really a team thing this time around.

[Ferali]

Good answers, thanks. From the number of vids I've seen from the Movie thread, it seems like there aren't a high number of rangers; most teams were made up of 4 hunters (maybe one ranger) and two force, which is why I brought up the question how much effect does party dynamic have on exp'ing? But thank you for your answers. I'm really not interested in solo'ing, since I have five friends also playing; if I really wanted to solo, I'd play a single player game, to me, playing with friends is the fun part. I look forward to the grouping part of PSU.

[DurakkenX]

well my point was... You can play with any combination you want and not have to worry about being completely unable to do anything. Of course there will be benefits to having differing classes on your team, but it won't gimp you to have something not in your party.

For example a WAR/WHM in FFXI while at some points was incredably useful at others were just a waste of space. Or a RDM/BLM not having one later in game in your party virtually meant your party was worthless in most scenarioes people were used to.

In this game if you have 6 Hunters they will all be useful. They may not be as great at clearing out an area as say 5 Hunters and a Force, but all the same they will clear it out quicker than 5 Hunters.

[Ferali]

Haha, thanks for the FFXI analogy, that clarified what you were trying to say http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif.

<3 FFXI

[DurakkenX]

After about a year of playing it i formed the opinion it was mostly a good game that was horridly implemented like most games are now adays

[Ferali]

It's got good amounts of content, but the combat system is semi-flawed. I hope PSU can match the amount of content found in FFXI at some point. They also need to make sure classes keep getting interesting additions through the game, a weakness I thought PSO had.

[DurakkenX]

Actually a lot of FFXI content becomes cliched and repetive...like most quests are the same 2 or 3 quests.

[Saner]

FFXI was a total bore. more work and trouble than it's worth.

I can't believe I leveled so high and for so little in return. even level capped, people are still so pathetically weak and helpless on their own against greater enemies. and that's partially due to the menu/macro driven and slow paced battle system. it was even pointless moving/evading in battle since FF11 is more stat-dependant than PSO on defenses. at least in PSO players had more control over their survival and physics played a more natural role instead of still taking/delivering a melee hit from 5 yards away.

[DurakkenX]

at about lvl 71 i could just barely defeat 2 lvl 50 enemies in a row for 8xp out of millions that was needed.

[Ferali]

I guess I didn't play enough to experience those problems.... but I did invest 1100 hours and never got bored. Maybe there's... something wrong with me.... hahaha.

Or maybe you guys didn't play the right classes http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

[Saner]

On 2006-06-04 17:07, Ferali wrote:
I guess I didn't play enough to experience those problems.... but I did invest 1100 hours and never got bored. Maybe there's... something wrong with me.... hahaha.

Or maybe you guys didn't play the right classes http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif



it wasn't the classes, the whole combat was like watching paint dry and requirements vs. rewards was completely ridiculous. and the sense of power and independance was not there either unless you are fighting easy prey. the whole level caps for a boss was stupid also. Why in the world should someone have to have their level chopped down, levels they rightfully earned, just to help their friends beat a dragon they beat before?

level capped, AF armored clad players may feel like they are at the top of a mountain.
but really, they are barely a single step above from where they started. they are still weak and useless on their own vs. most NMs. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif


and let's not get into the corruption of the Auction Houses. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_rant.gif cheapskates want AH in these games because they can then exploit it and stand on other people's shoulders while they make more money than what things are really worth. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/ducky.gif
I rather have NPCs run the shops and provide limitless quantities of whatever you want to buy at a fair price, instead of rascals that twist the economy towards their own selfish benefits.

[Ferali]

I think the inflation lately has been getting better. Or at least slowing down.

Combat was, yes, a watch fest with the occaisional macro press; not needing to move your character to fight was a bad idea.

But if you really want to boil down a game like that, most games aren't that much better. You can pick out flaws of any game. PSO, in essence, was a blur of three button combinations and run. Timing button presses is moot; a two year old could do it. But then why are we all here, so excited for PSU, lurking the boards like I'm sure we all are, if we didn't love the game? You played hours on end of FFXI just as I did.

[Inazuma]

judging from the psu beta, the best party is 6 forces. however, that mite not work out so well if everyone dies in 1 hit during a tough mission.

im interested to see how the killing speed differs between types at the highest level of play.

forces have the worst defense, but if your not dying instantly, it doesnt matter cuz you can just cast resta. and if everyone is a force, you dont need to waste time w/ supporting others.

it seemes like the offense/defense differences between hunter and force are larger compared to pso. so what i saying is, forces will prob have a harder time surviving in psu, but they will also be able to kill faster.

thats the balance of the game tho. it wouldnt be fair if all types killed at the exact same speed, yet their defense varies so much.

[Saner]

I played FFXI for that long because I had goals. but in the long run it wasn't worth all the time and work.

PSO was better action wise because it felt more natural and like you were more in CONTROL than something as simple as taking delayed turns whacking each other.

combat for both games have the same concept but FF11 executed its system very poorly. people might relate PSO to timed button mashing but at least it's a faster and more interactive version of FF11's, because FF11 is doing the same thing except the rules are simpler
AND the pacing is much slower AND attacking is basically automatic once you tell them to begin, which is completely child's play.

[Ferali]

To get back on topic:

From what I could see in Razon and nem's vids, ice spells don't freeze as often as say, a RA using Freeze Bullets. So I think theoretically it might be tough to stop an oncoming wave. It's also kinda tough to hit the dragon in the air without using guns (Fo can use bow, but still). Besides that, judging by the class populations, I think it might be tough to have a 6 man FO team http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/anime2.gif

I dislike speculating though, so I won't make any party set-up theories without playing. I was just wondering if anyone tinkered with it in the beta.

[Saner]

On 2006-06-04 17:41, Ferali wrote:
To get back on topic:

From what I could see in Razon and nem's vids, ice spells don't freeze as often as say, a RA using Freeze Bullets. So I think theoretically it might be tough to stop an oncoming wave. It's also kinda tough to hit the dragon in the air without using guns (Fo can use bow, but still). Besides that, judging by the class populations, I think it might be tough to have a 6 man FO team http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/anime2.gif

I dislike speculating though, so I won't make any party set-up theories without playing. I was just wondering if anyone tinkered with it in the beta.



Forces can use handguns right?

[Ferali]

On 2006-06-04 17:42, Saner wrote:


On 2006-06-04 17:41, Ferali wrote:
To get back on topic:

From what I could see in Razon and nem's vids, ice spells don't freeze as often as say, a RA using Freeze Bullets. So I think theoretically it might be tough to stop an oncoming wave. It's also kinda tough to hit the dragon in the air without using guns (Fo can use bow, but still). Besides that, judging by the class populations, I think it might be tough to have a 6 man FO team http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/anime2.gif

I dislike speculating though, so I won't make any party set-up theories without playing. I was just wondering if anyone tinkered with it in the beta.



Forces can use handguns right?



And bow. I guess that was a silly point.

[DurakkenX]

i played roughly 180days (4320 hours) of play time on FFXI a fraction of my 20000+ hours of PSO

the absolute best set up for speed/safety you probably will be able to get on PSU is 4 black mage type forces, a hunter with a sword and a white mage type force. RAs are a relatively moot concept to begin with >.> if not that then exchange the hunter for a 5th black mage type force. the reason for hunter is in case there is a spell cast/interuption

[Tetzuro]

im tetzuro and im a FFXI Addict.... lol i sound like im in a AA meeting actually, ff is fun at some instances, it can be boring but its all about accomplishing your goals and being proud lol
and not to mention the end game LS's

[RoboKy]

Dear Sonic team,

Please do not make me wait hours for a healer to be looking for a group so that I can have a healer in my group to heal us. Also, please do not make mages stupidly over powered.

[Keyeszx]

okay they were really weak in PSO so makin em strong would be good other wise they would just keep on dyin

[DraginHikari]

The problem with Forces on PSO was yea they were strong at the beginning but later on unless you were meleeing FOmar or FOmarl or something techs just didn't match up with the rest.

[Roken]

I still play FFXI, mainly because I'm in charge of an LS, and its the first 'real' MMORPG I've actually played. ( lightly played Runescape and Everquest to get a feel of MMO's and PSO I only play offline for DC because back then I couldnt get an internet connection for a console game ) On PS2, I play FFXI and yes it takes a very long time to accomplish things as Saner pointed out, whether it be acquiring AF or just helping others out with missions that you've completed. However there does come a time wheras you may not even be able to make a level or two ( especialy past the 60's or a melee as I am, a Samurai ).

I'm glad you pointed out how valuable each class can be though Durraken, so, you can solo if you want to without having to take considerable amounts of damage, wasting time to recover and all,

or

you can group up with a couple more people in your class in order to take out enemies, without needing to wait for a specific job to come along in order for you to advance in levels. Yeah certain ones may be a bonus, but not 'needed' as a RDM or BRD was, otherwise a pt in FF wont work out at all.. and if it does, a large amount of down time is implemented, added on with the usual amount of time it takes to gain a level.

FF to me so far seems to have the best story-line, of what I've heard from people with other MMO's such as Wow, but PSU seems to be shaping up to have a strong story, along with all the things you can do on the side, like fixing up your home, PMs, inviting people in, deep customization, etc.

But back on topic, I'm glad to hear that having certain jobs will be a plus, but not needed.