Expert mode requirement : Directory, help and Q&A

[echofaith]

Guess I am guilty of that. I usually skip Elder EQ, but after they added the ability transfer passes, I use the EQ as a mean to get easy cubes for the groups of classes I never play. I assume many others are doing the same

[Loveless62]

The expert requirements, in general, seemed to be pretty arbitrary, but I think it is safe to say that they have been lagging behind the current state of the game. The Phanatical Phantoms XQ requirement seemed like more of a survivability test, since you are not allowed to die, but Et (even as just a subclass) can trivialize survival there. The Mom & Dad requirement is more of a DPS requirement, since dying, at worst, only forces you to run back from the gateway ship. But this requirement needs S-rank on XH, not even UH, and we have 15* weapons now.

[ArcaneTechs]

Man you're pretty blind to see I'm only reacting to it.

And my main isshue here CLASS/CHARACTER restricted Expert Reqs to pervent players to attend EQs whith classes they can't play well or don't have a proper equipment for it after cheesing their status.

For example you can compare me on the Elder Arms dealing minimum 3m damage with Full Connect each 20 seconds + about 500-800k with each Distortion Pierce used and some Hero barely ticlking it with his Rising Slash holding or BNS spam... nuff said.

theres no point in putting class restrictions like that for Expert unlock though, you're just forcing people to play classes they don't play or like. I hate playing Hunter and I'd bad at the class but hell I'd be slightly upset having to learn it but Hu/Et is so stupid atm I could easily tank through it np.

Low effort playing Hero's are not something to be proud of out DPS'ing, it's zero effort, I'd argue I'd out DPS you with Stil wand but thats not the point here

The expert requirements, in general, seemed to be pretty arbitrary, but I think it is safe to say that they have been lagging behind the current state of the game. The Phanatical Phantoms XQ requirement seemed like more of a survivability test, since you are not allowed to die, but Et (even as just a subclass) can trivialize survival there. The Mom & Dad requirement is more of a DPS requirement, since dying, at worst, only forces you to run back from the gateway ship. But this requirement needs S-rank on XH, not even UH, and we have 15* weapons now.

It's like the last Expert req, power creep made it trivial with our current gear then and now. Even when they up the requirements sometime later, despite all the power creep theres still going to be casuals whining about being gated off Expert matching because "it's too hard" "muh elitism". Even now there are people who for whatever reason still can't clear the current Expert Reqs or just now clearing it either because they refuse to put the effort in it and LEARN or just attempt, get mad and give up.

Literally nothing is stopping people from forming their own MPAs but they're too lazy.

you'd be surprised that even being on a team and having 10-30 people online that trying to setup MPA's sometimes because pointless much less the hassle of trying to get everything organized. Not saying it's impossible but it varies on the people

Expert mode is an entitlement so you don't have to make your own MPAs.

wrong

Splitting the player base is anti-player.

it is not, there will always be people who want to play with others of similar skill or better versus being stuck with a mixed bag of good and bad players especially when this game is all about being fast and getting the most of content in as efficient time as possible. If people want faster runs, get Expert unlocked or up your overall play skill or go play some other game because you feel the Dev's personally hate you or something

Saying people have to play a certain way is also anti-player.

Seeing people play Hr and spamming absolutely nothing but BnS on everything including bosses, Br/Ra player who's using Million Storm on everything etc is incredibly useless and inefficient to the point where a Te/Ph support can easily out DPS them without the use of Zanverse. If you want to play niche combo because you think it "works" then kindly stick to non-expert where you can do this to your content because people, again, want the most out of their runs to get drops efficiently (more runs, more chances) but not be held back because someone isn't picking up the slack

If Sega actually cared they'd make affixing easier instead of continuing to separate the base. (which they kinda did, small step in the right direction)
But that's just my opinion even if its the minority one.

Affixing is very easy but obviously more costly, though like most people, I'd argue for a better system sometimes

Expert mode was a mistake.

it never has been from the beginning, just mad casuals who refute this

people with unaffixed units,weapons and expensive fashion on expert matches doe

they'll always place low on the parser though, can't do much about it but inspect gear and expect what effort they'll put out

[Dark Mits]

you'd be surprised that even being on a team and having 10-30 people online that trying to setup MPA's sometimes because pointless much less the hassle of trying to get everything organized. Not saying it's impossible but it varies on the people

And this is 100% Sega's fault, for designing the reward system of PSO2 in such way that ignoring everyone on your Team and friend list, and going entirely solo, has in virtually every single case higher payout. 40% Triboost and 100TP are less than a drop in a bucket, I'll exaggerate a bit and state that the 2000 meseta that you randomly gather in your daily FQ as enemy drops are more rewarding.

wrong

Otakun's statement is both wrong and right. Expert mode was implemented so that players who are better performers can end up in mpas with other higher performers, to bring a better gaming experience for them. This was possible before the existence of Expert mode too, except it required people to manually filter players on an individual basis. Higher performers are the part of the playerbase who wanted additional screening filters, but they did not want to work for it, they wanted it to be entirely automatic. Sega obliged, and they implemented Expert mode. And now we are in the entirely opposite situation, where people who wish to be trully casual and enjoy the game as a video game instead of a job, have to manually screen others and even lock their non-expert runs to prevent zergers and abusers from leaking in.

Also personal opinion: If you are the leader of a group, and you restart a run, or move to the next room in DQ, etc. without first confirming that everyone is ready (for example they have finished picking up the spoils of the last run), you are part of the problem. And quite frankly, this is the main difference I notice in player behaviour between Expert and non-Expert runs.

it is not, there will always be people who want to play with others of similar skill or better versus being stuck with a mixed bag of good and bad players especially when this game is all about being fast and getting the most of content in as efficient time as possible. If people want faster runs, get Expert unlocked or up your overall play skill or go play some other game because you feel the Dev's personally hate you or something

Exactly. People want faster runs for faster personal rewards. This means foregoing any coordination with others, and generally engaging in any activity that may have you ask someone "Are you ready?" This is more frequent in Expert mpas.

But telling others to just work towwards unlocking Expert brings us to the current situation. Someone who unlocked Expert 6 months ago is most likely performing higher than someone who is unlocking it now. So even though both players have it unlocked at present, the former player now has a newly-Expert member in their mpa, and the latter naturally has lower output by about say 30%. So the former player is again in a mixed group of people with performance ranges of 30%, and they complain about Expert reqs needed to be adjusted. And they're right to do so, because Expert reqs should be adjusted every time there is powercreep. But imagine asking players to re-unlock Expert every month.

Affixing is very easy but obviously more costly, though like most people, I'd argue for a better system sometimes

Affixing is easy, but the problem is that it requires external tools and spreadsheets. There are over 100 different rules for transfer rates and synthesizing of non-basic affixes, and the fact that failure is always bringing you at a worse state than before simply makes people say "I cba with this".

I would really like Sega to entirely replace failure chances with heavily increasing meseta costs, but players who are using the tools created by the community would not be favoured by that.

it never has been from the beginning, just mad casuals who refute this

Don't confuse casuals with bad players.

[cheapgunner]

Gonna be honest. I gave up months ago but still haven't quit grinding and working toward better and better gear and new class combos and strategies/playstyles.

Atm I don't think I can even clear Hunar Stage 1, as I keep getting OHKO each and every time I even miss a step.

Mother and Deus should be easy for like 90% of the people in this thread with their eyes closed but I struggle with Boss patterns and even moderately challenging Boss Fights to boot.

I'm a "fight from miles away and snipe" type of player. Not a "in your face and dance around bullets and blows" gamer as of late.

[ArcaneTechs]

And this is 100% Sega's fault, for designing the reward system of PSO2 in such way that ignoring everyone on your Team and friend list, and going entirely solo, has in virtually every single case higher payout. 40% Triboost and 100TP are less than a drop in a bucket, I'll exaggerate a bit and state that the 2000 meseta that you randomly gather in your daily FQ as enemy drops are more rewarding.

ya I agree but at the same time I don't always like trying to look for people to run content with otherwise I dont run it at all. solo is fine but outside the PT boost (which I always try to get ppl to do anyways because 40% on top is better than nothing, w/e increases the odds, the better). Not sure what else can incentivize people to join up more often but at the same time, you have to keep in mind everyones social skills. Intro and Extrovert people, even though I've said just join PTs, you dont have to talk its idk I guess anxiety to do so. Not going to get into the looting issues, you have auto pick-up and auto add drops in the options for the important things so idk what the big deal is anymore

Otakun's statement is both wrong and right. Expert mode was implemented so that players who are better performers can end up in mpas with other higher performers, to bring a better gaming experience for them. This was possible before the existence of Expert mode too, except it required people to manually filter players on an individual basis. Higher performers are the part of the playerbase who wanted additional screening filters, but they did not want to work for it, they wanted it to be entirely automatic. Sega obliged, and they implemented Expert mode. And now we are in the entirely opposite situation, where people who wish to be trully casual and enjoy the game as a video game instead of a job, have to manually screen others and even lock their non-expert runs to prevent zergers and abusers from leaking in.

dont know if I understood this right, you're saying casuals have to look out for shitters and lock their mpa's? I've never heard this seeing as you're going to match with other non expert anyways

Also personal opinion: If you are the leader of a group, and you restart a run, or move to the next room in DQ, etc. without first confirming that everyone is ready (for example they have finished picking up the spoils of the last run), you are part of the problem. And quite frankly, this is the main difference I notice in player behaviour between Expert and non-Expert runs.

you have auto pick up, is it that big a deal that you didn't pick up some 10 and 12* weapons when the important stuff already went into your inventory? frankly I skip whats on the floor after I break the crystal, DQ itself drops a lot of Ex Cubes anyways

Exactly. People want faster runs for faster personal rewards. This means foregoing any coordination with others, and generally engaging in any activity that may have you ask someone "Are you ready?" This is more frequent in Expert mpas.

theres usually a general play that everyone picks up on for content, a general layout that people mostly follow (or rather figure out from different sources). if you people want some sort of coordination, say something in public chat otherwise you kinda have to go with the flow but you can also try and form your own group and get some coordination there

But telling others to just work towwards unlocking Expert brings us to the current situation. Someone who unlocked Expert 6 months ago is most likely performing higher than someone who is unlocking it now. So even though both players have it unlocked at present, the former player now has a newly-Expert member in their mpa, and the latter naturally has lower output by about say 30%. So the former player is again in a mixed group of people with performance ranges of 30%, and they complain about Expert reqs needed to be adjusted. And they're right to do so, because Expert reqs should be adjusted every time there is powercreep. But imagine asking players to re-unlock Expert every month.

I'm more accepting of people who went from being casual to average by unlocking Expert without having to cheese their way in because "usually" this tells me they're willing to improve their play, they did "some" research and practice into actually making it in. Now despite them being fresh in Expert, it doesn't really bother me as long as they aren't doing stupid crap like BnS spam and Million Storm on literally everything

Affixing is easy, but the problem is that it requires external tools and spreadsheets. There are over 100 different rules for transfer rates and synthesizing of non-basic affixes, and the fact that failure is always bringing you at a worse state than before simply makes people say "I cba with this".

whats wrong with doing some research and looking at the swiki? all the affixing bonuses etc are laid out for you, hell theres even an affix sim that can layout a fodder build for you

I would really like Sega to entirely replace failure chances with heavily increasing meseta costs, but players who are using the tools created by the community would not be favoured by that.

why wouldnt they be favored? but paying for mistakes wouldnt necessarily be a risk or reward deal and seeing how easy meseta is to get, you could literally just pay until it all passes which frankly would be guranteed, the price of retries would have to be incredibly high and I don't mean 10mill an attempt either

Don't confuse casuals with bad players.

I'm a mixed bag with this, in my experience I place bad with the majority of casuals but I've met my fair share and have friends who are also casual but good at the game if they want to be but the general view I have is that if you're whining and complaining about the current Expert Req (and future) being too hard, you're just being a shitter who's refusing to "get good"

Gonna be honest. I gave up months ago but still haven't quit grinding and working toward better and better gear and new class combos and strategies/playstyles.

Atm I don't think I can even clear Hunar Stage 1, as I keep getting OHKO each and every time I even miss a step.

Mother and Deus should be easy for like 90% of the people in this thread with their eyes closed but I struggle with Boss patterns and even moderately challenging Boss Fights to boot.

I'm a "fight from miles away and snipe" type of player. Not a "in your face and dance around bullets and blows" gamer as of late.

maybe the class you're playing isn't working out for you? I couldn't tell you without lack of details on class, gear, tree build etc

[cheapgunner]

maybe the class you're playing isn't working out for you? I couldn't tell you without lack of details on class, gear, tree build etc

I will post full info on my preferred builds later today. Summoner, Force/Techer, Hunter/Phantom(Guard Stance), Etoile and Phantom are my main to run. Still early morning and need some more sleep. :[

[Dark Mits]

dont know if I understood this right, you're saying casuals have to look out for shitters and lock their mpa's? I've never heard this seeing as you're going to match with other non expert anyways

As always, it's personal observation. You have to remember that the difference in Expert and Non-Expert is outright a dps one. Player behaviour is not filtered by it. In many circular maps (like Enchanted Forest, UH, UQ etc) players would run in random directions, spawn and complete ECs without waiting for everyone to catch up and be able to get additional rewards. In fact I am quite certain that Sega has removed the boss crystals and enemy drops in seasonal EQs exactly for this reason.
-=EDIT=-
Also my favourite example is Cradle of Darkness and ARKS: Mothership EQs. The players who blaze through it for the exp gains literally prohibit the rest of us from picking up those valuable lvl16 and lvl17 disks.

you have auto pick up, is it that big a deal that you didn't pick up some 10 and 12* weapons when the important stuff already went into your inventory? frankly I skip whats on the floor after I break the crystal, DQ itself drops a lot of Ex Cubes anyways

Most 8slots which are awesome for selling to other players for 100k-500k meseta (or for personal use of fodder creation) are 10*-12*. Those are not autopicked up. Similarily for units. I've sold 7slot units with Glares, Reveries and Crack I these last weeks for millions.

theres usually a general play that everyone picks up on for content, a general layout that people mostly follow (or rather figure out from different sources). if you people want some sort of coordination, say something in public chat otherwise you kinda have to go with the flow but you can also try and form your own group and get some coordination there

Yep, 100% agreed. This is what I have been doing.

whats wrong with doing some research and looking at the swiki? all the affixing bonuses etc are laid out for you, hell theres even an affix sim that can layout a fodder build for you

It's not wrong, but it's a barrier that a majority of players is not willing to overcome. If said affix simulator was an in-game feature, you'd see at least 5 times as many players with high-tier affixes. It's also why you encounter players with 15* weapons that have end-game S-abilities combined with affixes like Burn I and Lucky Rise I (because S-ability transfer is easy, it does not require fodders, it does not require to wait for boost week, and it does not require spending additional time outside the game to get the desired result)

why wouldnt they be favored? but paying for mistakes wouldnt necessarily be a risk or reward deal and seeing how easy meseta is to get, you could literally just pay until it all passes which frankly would be guranteed, the price of retries would have to be incredibly high and I don't mean 10mill an attempt either

They wouldn't be favored because there is a market for fodder creation, which this feature would heavily impact.

[Tymek]

A friend of mine was having trouble unlocking Expert, and I got reminded that this thread still exists. Bumping for newer players etc.

Update: he did it!

[Zephyrion]

Update: he did it!

Great news !!