Questions (Meseta and Rangers)

[Nani-chan]

I have several questions. I also say some strange things too.. Please ignore the rambling

Meseta Questions
Can a player solo online? I’m hoping I can make my share of decent meseta in parties, but just in case. Is it possible to have a goal like 3,000 per day without being greedy? I think random distribution will be more popular with ranger or force team leaders.

Can players make clothes and parts with synthesis? I’m sure that’s a newbie question and the answer is no. It’d be great if player could make profit with their own designs, though. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

Is meseta really worth something now? If so then I’m excited about having a player shop too.

Ranger Questions
During Pso I really liked being a ranger. As I replay pso offline from the beginning to remember some of the game; my hunter would get interrupted during the combo and I’d fall on my face. Really felt nice sniping in these instances. But I’m sure many hunters can easily get their handguns ready for instances that require it.

However now with the scope and bullets and PP, rangers seem very different. I’m having a hard time finding info about Rangers.

My actual question..
How is a Ranger like now? Is it like Pso with some shooter game (like goldeneye, etc) thrown in?

Also are traps worth using? (I'm sad to say even in PSO I did not use traps much)

I’m sure when I get this game I will play offline mode first to get a handle on the differences. My plan is to get this and a xbox 360 for it at the same time. I hope there is a good keyboard for the xbox 360. Because, when I visted a friend who was playing Halo and the voice chat seemed very lame. However maybe I should give that a chance.

Thank you, if everything goes according to plan I hope to have a somewhat decent guide of some character by mid December. (hoping Ranger and or Force Caseal)

[Katrina]

In terms of soloing online, evolving your PM will allow it to join you in battle, in addition to the specific racial NPC's available. While the AI doesn't seem top notch from what I've seen in the various video's, it does look like you'll be able to 'manipulate' their effectiveness in battle based on timing and positioning.

Being a brand new economy, meseta may start out retaining it's overall value within the community, but over time more the likely will start to fall or curb as it becomes flooded and integrated into the community.

There isn't very much detailed in depth information in regards to the overall long term effectiveness in using traps, although the status effects success rate seems like it might appeal to strategic soloists and such atm. There's no detailed information on Protransers (trapmasters) as far as I know.

In terms of Rangers, and the mechanics (vs PSO, etc..), there are a few very nice posts regarding Ran's I read, but I don't have the experience or knowledge to answer anything specific. (sry)

I'm sure some of the more knowledgeable ppl will be able to answer any and all class specific questions.

[Valkayree]

There's a good post by LoneVandal (sorry don't have the link) that sums most of it up. It seems that rangers are primarily there as a support class to inflict status effects on the enemy, but the rate at which that happens has been nerfed somewhat. It's a little tougher to solo ranger from what I hear, although with a fully evolved PM, well, I'm not sure, maybe it's possible. There's a lot more work to it than PSO, and aiming is one of the big changes. Now, aiming at the enemy is key.

Keyboards for the 360 are pretty much any keyboard you find with a usb connection. Plug it in and play, no problems. I have a cheap wireless keyboard I got for 20 bucks at Wal-Mart and it works great (well the signal sucks, but hey, it was $20). The keyboard doesn't have to be officially licensed (like the video chat) in order for it to work. i.e. you can't just plug any webcam in and expect it to work, but the opposite can be said for keyboards.

[Pinha]

I remember that post.

The main difference is that you can't play a ranger in PSU like you did in PSO... shooting everything from a safe distance until they die. Rangers are now played like a melee/ranged hybrid class.

You will want to use guns to weaken or inflict status on monsters when soloing then finish them off with a melee weapon to save PP. Shooting everything until they die for the whole run will leave you very short of cash when you realize you have to refill your weapon's PP after every mission.

[Valkayree]

Yep, that pretty much sums up what I forgot to cover. Thanks Pinha.

EDIT: In response to the question about 360 voice chat, I found that on the original X-Box the only games that did it right were Halo 2 and PSO. When I mean right I mean multiple people talking at once, voices clear and understandable (not muffled) and you are able to hear and filter anyone you please. Playing Halo 2 on a 360 is much different. The voice chat is muffled, from what it seems, and it is very hard to hear anyone. I also find that the private chat on 360 should have been expanded to allow more than two people to enter at the same time. This was a major letdown among Xbox vets who were used to chatting to multiple friends at one within games like Halo 2 and PSO. However, party games on the 360 arcade like UNO and Texas Holdem have attempted to reincarnate this lost wish, allowing multiple users to speak at once in clarity, and with the video chat it seems to have gotten better. It's just that they have to play a party game to do so. Just don't download Media Center if you get it, and don't connect the 360 to your home computer network. I got all kinds of wierd problems when I made that mistake and ended up having to delete media center from my computer and trade in my 360 back to gamestop. Games started crashing bad, I couldn't even finish a stage of Samurai Warriors 2 or Ninety Nine Nights without a crash before I returned my old box. But hopefully, voice chat for PSU on the 360 has been thoroughly tested, and unlike the developers for battlefield 2: Modern Combat, I seriously hope that ST has taken the time to experiment with going back and forth between game chat and private chat, and handling any problems that type of action will pose. But if they feel comfortable with releasing voice chat to us, I'm certain that it works alright, but I'm a pessimist so I can't get my hopes up. I'm already anticipating having to use a keyboard, although I don't want to.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Valkayree on 2006-10-03 10:13 ]</font>

[CpwninOBrien]

On 2006-10-03 09:26, Pinha wrote:

You will want to use guns to weaken or inflict status on monsters when soloing then finish them off with a melee weapon to save PP. Shooting everything until they die for the whole run will leave you very short of cash when you realize you have to refill your weapon's PP after every mission.



w8, if ur soloing cant u just finish the level and go bathroom break or get some soda and let pp recharge??? no holdin up teammates or nething like that

[Itsuki]

In higher levels, you can use guns as much as your party allows you. I find that the higher I get, the less I use melee for PP management outside of small parties (Like doing 2 people in an A rank, I'm only level 40 using 3 star weapons).

As for how rangers play:
They're main focus is a support role as people have said. The key point to note is don't play them if you want to deal damage. Their damage will never come close to that of a FO or HU. But instead their focus is on mob control. Making a group of 6 enemies fight like they're a group of 3. They're also a bit of a jack of all trades that melds easily from one level to the next. They can change elements easily, and their weapon choices are very diverse compared to HU and FO. Also, FO isn't "ranged" as much as they used to be, so they're the only class that can really effectively attack from outside of harms way.

So basically, key points:
- Don't expect to use guns all the time
- Don't expect to be a primary damage dealer
- Expect to change weapons A LOT
- Instead expect to inflict status effects like paralysis, silence, freeze, burn, etc.

Actually, the ironic thing is, being a ranger makes you have more of a chance of being hit out of combos. Its not the same thing, so let me explain. There isn't much flinch anymore, so being hit only knocks you back for a second (unless you get knocked down or something). Also, you have to consider that a Ranger will use melee weapons often. When using skills, if you take damage you continue the skill. Unless you evade an attack while in the middle of a skill, then you stop the skill and do a block animation. RA have noticably higher evade, so they get stuck in this more.

As for soloing. All classes can solo pretty effectively. Each class also gets an NPC to help them, and they can bring along their PM to supplement. Thats effectively a 3 person party. Don't expect to be killing the same thing that you kill in a party though. Expect to be killing something you did when you were half of your currently level. But the fact that you're not in a party can make the exp and meseta reasonable. I find I still make better exp and meseta in parties. Of course, I'm also a RA, which is better off supporting, don't have a PM yet, and my NPC is maya (who tends to just heal half the time, and doesn't even do that well). If I really focus on it, I can probably pull 150 meseta/minute. In a party, I probably generally make closer to 175.

EDIT: The whole "conserving pp" thing is more about not having to go back to town to recharge your PP. When you're soloing it doesn't matter, waste all the PP you want, nobody will care. The key thing is that if a ranger really really wants to, they can burn all their PP in a room (slight exaggeration). Sure you'll clear out that room good, but then you're kinda worthless in the next room.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Itsuki-chan on 2006-10-03 10:39 ]</font>

[Wubbie]

My take:

We all stop answering and let Sodaboy answer, he's basically shown us all (Vandal, shut up, you took his style too) how to play Ranger

[Nani-chan]

I extremely appreciate all the answers. I did a search on Rangers in Forum Search and read LoneVandal's posts.. That also answered allot of my questions.

Does offline mode make viable training? I don't want to burden my first online teams without some practice first, if possible. Am excited too with all the helpful responses, looks like a great friendly community.