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View Full Version : A Short Review of Force and Ranger Life



Emgro
Oct 30, 2006, 03:09 PM
Since launch, I've gotten my main character, a Female Newmann, up to lvl 27, and job level 5 in both Force and Hunter. Over that period of time, I've found myself doing a number of things that make many people go "huh?" and "why?". So without further ado, here's why I do what I do.

FORCE:
At this point in the game, Forces are somewhat screwed. We get 12 of our 36 or so spells, which is only a third of what we are supposed to have. That's the equivalent of giving rangers access to only single handguns, shotguns, and rifles, or hunters only double daggers, single sabre, and spears. We don't have our buffs, and our AoEs aren't levelling up properly to give us extra hits at Ra-spell skill 11 (at least in my experience and that of the other forces I've asked). Our Technics level up far slower than Bullets or Photon Arts, and are harder to aim.

But we are only somewhat screwed. A good Force with a decent staff and leveled technics can do solid damage close to a hunter (and better than most rangers), take little to no damage, and still heal. The key to solid damage with a force is multiple weapons with lots of PP. I suggest four if you use a mix of staffs and wands, maybe as many as six if you only use wands. Don't sell or throw away any weapons until you have a full palette.

Another important part of damage is keeping techs leveled. Pick two elements for damage, one from either ice/fire, the other from either earth/lightning. Why? I have fire and earth. Even if my fire is slightly lower level, it is still much more effective against ice (fire gets bonus) or earth (earth gets penalty) enemies. The same applies to getting light or dark when they are added. Why not get all of them? You can only know so many PAs, and level even less unless you grind a lot. Futhermore, they are expensive at low levels.

Learn Resta and Reverser. Resta needs no explanation, Reverser is 1000 messies and only costs 8 PP to cast. Curing a poison or burn effect saves you a resta later, and having both on a weapon gives you a bonus 4% to your Resta power (I'm not entirely sure about this, but buy reverser anyway). Don't overheal; you are on missions to tag enemies and get as much XP and loot as everyone else. If people are dumb, get hurt far away from you, and don't buy mates, their death is their fault. I don't let people die, but I don't hover behind them with a Resta wand either. Nobody expects Hunters and Rangers to give up XP, you shouldn't either.

Wands vs. Staffs. I like Staffs most of the time, they are a bit slower but tend to be more powerful and hold lots of PP. In the end, I use both. Wands for tagging and leveling Technics, Staffs for long haul damage output and healing.

Armor. When you get enough cash, maybe around lvl 10-15, upgrade your armor to something with a mind slot. Go to Neudaiz and buy the TP +32 or so unit for 1500 messies. It's very nice to have. I've gone the last 12 levels on 2-star armor, and lived. Yeah, I'd like better armor. No, I didn't think it was important when running in groups with 5 hunters who formed a solid wall of knockback PAs. Your experience will be different, adjust priorities accordingly.

PMs. The bowling ball in your room. Learn to synth, learn to synth grinders, and learn to synth low level ingredients into higher level ones. Read that several times, learn those things, and save several thousand meseta by level 20. I wish someone had told me that before. Also learn to buy things from player shops. All that money you save using your PM is going to be spent on your PM. Have fun feeding him several thousand wands and staffs to get his mind up.

Emgro
Oct 30, 2006, 03:10 PM
RANGERS:

Good ol' Rangers. I didn't switch to Ranger until I was around lvl 20 and had 4 and a half levels of force. As a result, I already had some practice synthing and such. I didn't have any money, courtesy of the fact I had tried to raise a Mind PM. There went my 15k messies I was saving for Ranger.

What do Rangers do all day? Some hang in the back with a rifle or shotgun. Some go melee with a dagger and autogun.

I went Dual Pistols. I found that with a good bandolier of pistols, you can do excellent damage. There is no reason to say Rangers to weak damage unless you are cheap (or poor, which is likely). The problem with Dual Pistols is how much PP they use. I routinely went through 2000-4000 PP on a mission with them, so I carried 5 pairs. I used Twin Autoguns, later Twin Lockguns. Synth them yourself, save the money, and try to grind them once or twice. Whether you prefer Yohmei or something else to my GRMs doesn't really matter; pick your favorite. Mix and match even. Just remember you'll want quite a few.

BULLETS: I bought all four elements and regretted it because I'm spending most of my time as as force. If I was a full ranger, I'd say it's a good idea. You can easily get all the elements to five or so, and then pick one to max out. Ice is nice for the freeze effect, and Fire seems to Burn most often. Paralyze isn't bad either, although Silence lacks on most low-level mobs. It's probably fun on Neudaiz against the Cultists, though. Even though I only went from 20-26 as a ranger, I got Earth and Lightning to 5, Fire to 9, and Ice to 16.

ARMOR: Eh... same as with force. Buy something with an arm unit, and I'd suggest grabbing the ATA+ one. Yes, ATP is nice. But hitting more means you proc status effects more, and level your bullets faster. Maybe buy both and switch if you're having trouble hitting.

BIG RANGER ADVICE: Be dynamic. Switch up your bullets to get the most elemental effectiveness. Switch up your units. Spread your fire out on all targets, not just to tag them, but to maximize status effect procs. Move around so you don't get hit. I only used manual aim to hit De Ragan's head and Neudaiz robot guy's spine. Apart from those and similar hotspots, I always used strafing and hit almost all the time. I recommend you do the same; if you prefer shotguns or rifles, you might have success with manual aiming.

Synthing is more important for Rangers than Forces. Having the latest Rod is not all that important for a Force, but good guns are critical for Rangers. Keep your ATA up; hitting twice as much for half damage means twice as many status effects. Hence my love for Dual Pistols.

Just because I used Dual Pistols doesn't make them the best weapon. I doubt they are. But they are a good, solid, reliable, high-proc weapon that Guntechers will be able to use, which is why I used them.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Emgro on 2006-10-30 12:24 ]</font>

AngelLight
Oct 30, 2006, 03:25 PM
dont agree with 100% of what you've said here, but good work on the post its decent. ^_^

Emgro
Oct 30, 2006, 03:28 PM
What do you disagree with? Not being belligerent, but curious. I'd prefer this to be informative and factual, rather than opinions on "how i got 2 hi lvl".

AngelLight
Oct 30, 2006, 03:39 PM
nah you're not being belligerent at all, no worries ^_~

Personally, being a "squishy" mage type....I prefer to be highly mobile. To that effect, wands are a better choice then staff weapons. Some of the later boss fights (Adahna comes to mind) being quick on your feet is way better then higher dmg output. You can't dmg a target if you're dead >_<.

Also, I keep my bow skills up. By doing that, I can sub out all my freezing needs to it (with it's very very nice proc rates) rather then working up barta type spells. As for zonde, outside of the Abandoned Temple, I never use them and thus dont usually work them up (this will change when Moatoob is open since there's alot of earth enemies I've heard.

Also, I believe that a force can potentially outdamage a hunter, if the force is dilligent enough in their training (and are good at mobility combat). I've been able to outdamage quite a few hunters in the past. Is this cause they suck (the players)? who knows, but I have to believe that every hunter I've ever met can't all suck (I hope not at least). I just think it's harder to outdamage a hunter due to the fact you have to be really focusing on what spells are needed where....also if you're thinking of DPS, then since you're also healing that will hit it too...so in that regard, yes hunters have better DPS since they're not using PP to heal.

Again, just some minor points I disagree with. Overall, I think you've done a good job with your post. Also, I fully admit some of these are opinions. But aren't we all just doing that? Giving opinions? http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

Emgro
Oct 30, 2006, 03:49 PM
It's all about perspective, hehe... I've never really outdamaged the hunters I run with. It's hard to outdamage a beast four levels higher than you with lots of PAs and a Nanoblast. Even harder to outdamage two of them. But yeah, if they were lower level, against enemies of the right element... I could pull ahead.

We aren't all that squishy though. Boss battles aside (I did mention I used both wands and staffs), most enemies attack slowly and are easy to dodge. Maybe it's just Newmanns, but even against lvl 30 enemies I dodge a fair amount of attacks. It is easier to aim Diga with a wand, I'll say that, but aiming Diga with anything is a pain and a half.

And I completely forgot bows. I haven't been using my bow lately though. It's decent for flying enemies, but the rest of the time I just can't justify the time it takes to switch it out, aim, fire slowly, and do it all for less damage than my Technics. Bows and their bullet arts just feel like another money and skill drain to me when you could be buying better staffs/wands and leveling up your technics. Maybe that's just me though.

AngelLight
Oct 30, 2006, 03:59 PM
Yeah, I could see trouble trying to outdamage a Beast Hunter with a Red Tattoo (for ATP output). To be honest, I've only ever partied with one Beast Hunter and he went Blue (for defense). Otherwise they were same level as me (or close +/- to my level)...but again, I can see that it could vary wildly.

Bows are for sure worthwhile (especially if you're planing on using them in the advanced classes). It's just a matter of being diligent in leveling it up. If it's on a comparable level (the bullet art) as your techs, you'll find that it is able to do comparible dmg (you can get out 2 shots per single cast of foie....I think with Diga, it's 2.5 maybe 3, never counted). I actually strife with it a fair amount rather then FPM (except to knock airborne targets out of the sky) and I can proc really well with it (freeze comes off pretty naturally). The big problem with it is cost. You really need a nice bow to take full advantage of it (a low star one will just be a grinding tool only at best) so there's an up front cost involved.

I guess also it should be said that I have no idea if it's going to be nerfed or not when the expansion hits (since ranger procs got nerfed, will that mean force bullets will be too? probably). Also, I may yet switch over to cards over bows when they hit...due to the fact that they have homing shots and are off hand weapons so its slightly quicker to hot swap and shoot slightly faster (though the shots themselves are slower by far and can potentially overshoot if too close a.k.a there's a sort of minimal range with them). Time will tell....

roygbiv
Oct 30, 2006, 06:38 PM
Hmm I was under the impression that the RA spells just max out at 3 hits... regardless of level. The only difference being at higher levels you are more likely to actually hit three targets due to the greater range.

Monie
Oct 30, 2006, 11:20 PM
I thought this was very interesting as I am a Force and I also have a lot of interest in the Ranger field. Some interesting opinions here. I put a link in my thread "Force Guide (Thoughts and Experiences)".