FOcast Balancing

[Kimil Adrayne]

Back in PSO, the force classes were very well balanced with respect to each other.

FOnewearls were glass cannons
FOnewms were best with the Ra-techs
FOmarls had healing proficiency
FOmars mixed melee with Gi-techs

None of these classes were 'useless' with respect to each other, and they all had something the others didn't. I'm glad that Casts can now be forces, I just hope that Sega actually gives them a real role to play other than joke character (FOcasts a la PSU)

What role should FOcasts and Focaseals in play in PSO2? High-def healers, mages with guns? Also, should HUcasts and RAcasts remain tech'less? Discuss.


I'll start.

Having played a Beast WT the whole of my PSU career, I know that building classes with laughable ATP and TP and low skill caps will lead to nothing but a crap class. What I'd like to do would be to give FOcasts and FOcaseals good TP (equal or on par with to newms and humans) and the same tech level caps as the other to races (while being forces).
Now, limit them by only allowing them access to a couple of tech groups at any given time (the attack techs being grouped by element and the support techs being grouped by healing, buffing and debuffing).

Starting off as a FOcaseal with access to 2 groups, I could chose to have access the fire-tech group (foie, gifoie, rafoie) and the healing techs (Resta, Anti and reverser). I would have equal proficiency with these techs to any newm or hume using them but would only be able to use these 2 groups. I could change which I had access to at a counter in the lobby, and maybe I could gain more access to groups as I level up. When ever my current techs wouldn't be enough, I could switch to what ever melee or ranged weapons I'd have access to.

This way, FOcasts would still be potent forces without stepping on toes.

[Pillan]

So far we have seen no discussion of any racial/gender differences, aside from the dash animations. I really wonder how much the base stats will vary between them, if at all, at this point.

[Tetsaru]

If Casts will be able to use certain support spells without MST/TP affecting their potency (such as buffs/debuffs, etc.), then I could see them being similar to how a lot of people used them as Acrotechers in PSU, although personally I think that's rather broken. That, or they could probably solo very well, because they'd also have access to Resta, Anti/Reverser, etc. instead of having to rely on items.

[Pillan]

Assuming it turns out the traditional route of the Force class having the exact opposite stats of Cast, then I would assume every Cast Force would want to hybridize the class toward melee or ranged combat with backup techniques. Of course, if techs still do more damage as a Cast Force that is hybridized toward melee, then it would be a huge deterrent to play Cast Force at all.

So I do agree that the best case scenario would be an Acrotecher of sorts, or a more sturdy FOmarl from PSO classic.

As far as Cast techs outside of Force, I would hope that is purely based on the class abilities that a player chooses, not the race.

[RemiusTA]

Back in PSO, the force classes were very well balanced with respect to each other.

FOnewearls were glass cannons
FOnewms were best with the Ra-techs
FOmarls had healing proficiency
FOmars mixed melee with Gi-techs

None of these classes were 'useless' with respect to each other, and they all had something the others didn't. I'm glad that Casts can now be forces, I just hope that Sega actually gives them a real role to play other than joke character (FOcasts a la PSU)

What role should FOcasts and Focaseals in play in PSO2? High-def healers, mages with guns? Also, should HUcasts and RAcasts remain tech'less? Discuss.

It'll probably go this route. In fact, they'll HAVE to use PSO's style of force balances in order to make this work. There are going to be 6 different classes of force now.

The way i see it:

Fomar - Gi boost + Speedy animations

Fomarl - Support boosts + Grants (light) boosts + Weapon Specialists

Fonewm - Ra/Gi boosts

Fonewearl - Basic + Megid (dark) boost + highest MST potential

With this old PSO setup, there really isn't much room for Casts to get anything specific...

Focast - Faster charging + More efficient Force Melee animations + Attack Power (lowest MST potential)

Focaseal - Faster charging + More efficient Force Ranged animations + Accuracy (lower than other fleshies but higher than Focast)


That's along the lines of MAYBE what i'd think of doing. Casts are naturally going to be stronger and more durable than the other 2 races. Therefore, they'll probably just be better "frontline" forces.

[Allison_W]

They'd have a lot more room to squeeze CAST forces in if they just got rid of gender-based stats and bonuses entirely. That would mean they only need to balance three forces instead of six.

[Dracheseele]

I don't think we'll see the old PSO tech bonuses. Maybe something similar as a sort of skill, but it'd be accessible to all races.

I don't see why they have to fulfill a specific role. I doubt FOcasts will have such abysmal tech ratings that they have to cast more than once or twice more than another character. Also we don't know if there will be any ranged weapons you can link techs too.

[Kimil Adrayne]

I don't think we'll see the old PSO tech bonuses. Maybe something similar as a sort of skill, but it'd be accessible to all races.

I don't see why they have to fulfill a specific role. I doubt FOcasts will have such abysmal tech ratings that they have to cast more than once or twice more than another character. Also we don't know if there will be any ranged weapons you can link techs too.

With third Tech-damage-wise overall (and whatever atp or range damage they rank behind other race/classes), they'll be crap. They need SOMETHING. Jack-of-all trades characters never really have a point in these games.

[RemiusTA]

They'd have a lot more room to squeeze CAST forces in if they just got rid of gender-based stats and bonuses entirely. That would mean they only need to balance three forces instead of six.

I dont really see the need of getting rid of them. On the PSO system, each different race/sex combination was an entirely different class. If they follow that pattern, there's no issue.


The ISSUE came about when PSU followed suit with the gender differences, but then gave each sex/race combo nothing unique. A female newman/beast/cast/human had absolutely nothing different about them, aside from stats.

In PSO, Hunewearl, Ramarl, Hucaseal, Racaseal, Fomarl, and Fonewearl were all very, very different characters. Some had unique animations to the entire game, some had skills and bonuses no other class had.

[ShinMaruku]

I would also like to see racials also give into some mastery things (Mastery in ways like you get a damage and crit bonus on certain techs, for example newmen may get light/dark and fire bonus, humans get dark,earth and casts get a electric bonus)
A nice thing I'd like to see also is:
newman: tech speed bonus due to thier better metnal facilities as well as their int and damage bonus
Human: Some tech speciality
Cast: strengh and def bonus and maybe higher buff bonuses