Character Stat Balance and Abilities Discussion (long)

[SieKensou]

I'm posting this for a friend of mine.

"The way I see it, power-gamer wise, it's better to go with a humar. They have only slightly lower MST, but more than make up for
it in their Attack, Defense, and Accuracy ratings. Not to mention the fact
that they can use all the strongest weapons. If you care, here's how I think they should have balanced the classes...

1)--Only rangers should be able to use guns, except for a select few handguns. ALL 9 star special handguns should be Ranger-only. Everything else (handgun, autogun, lockgun, railgun, raygun) should be usable by anyone.

2)--The strength of guns should be dependent upon your Accuracy rating--not
your Strength rating. Since when does how physically strong you are make a difference on how strong a gun is? Accuracy is the way to go. Makes Rangers stronger with guns, too.

3)--Only Forces should be able to use the RA level spells (RAfoie, RAzonde, and RAbarta.

4)--Only Forces should be able to use Grants and Megid.

5)--Only Forces should be able to use spells higher than level 10.

6)--The RAmar should have a much higher max base Attack (should max at 800 or
so), and a much higher max base Defense (seeing as how he's made of metal, for God's sake....should max at around 400). This would make up for his lack of Technique usage, which I'm finding out, is a MAJOR set back. I mean, a HUmar with Shifta casted on him is stronger than a RAmar, and a HUmar with Deband cast on him has better Defense than a RAmar. And the RAmar's inherint
Trap Detection and Immunity to poison and standard paralysis in NO WAY makes up for this.

7)--All Android types should be COMPLETELY immune to ALL status ailments, save for Short (when he/she gets hit by lightning and it paralyzes them).

--Forces should have their base Magic Strength max out around 900 or so, seeing as how it's their specialty. I mean, come on!!! The max for a FOnewm is only 670---only 80 more than a HUmar. That's not a whole lot to make a difference. 80 more points only equates to about 30-50 more damage. And
while 30-50 more damage might seem decent, it in no balances them out with HUmars who can dish out HUGE amounts of damage with a melee weapon or gun.
FIX IT!!

9)--The RAcast and RAcaseal's base Accuracy max should be MUCH higher. Seeing as how they're Androids and all, a higher accuracy is more......i dunno......fitting? And if the strength of guns would be dependant upon Accuracy, this will give RAcast a bit more
balance since the RAmar can cast spells. In other words, give them something more than a few more measly points of Accuracy and Attack to give players a reason for picking one of these 2 classes.

10)--All Female-types should have much higher max Evade base stats. Since Females tend to be more lithe and limber, it's more fitting to have them able to dodge and deflect attacks better.

11)--All Male-types should have higher max Attack and Defense base stats. Since males are typically stronger and more robust than Females, it's more fitting.

12)--All Female's that can cast spells should have higher base Magic Attack base stats. Since females tend to be more "in tune" with their emotions and their mind, it's more fitting.

13)--And one final thing---More class/sex specific weaponry. This will give players a good reason to pick one character over another.

Well, that's about all I can think of. Feel free to contribute if you like. It seems that Sonic Team really didn't put much thought into the game balance of the available characters. It take a bit away from the game when one certain class of character puts the smack down on every other one ::cough-HUmar-cough::. When they let stuff like this slip, it's no wonder 99% of pso's players use the HUmar. Makes me not want to use one for the fact that they're everywhere."

Comments and discussion appreciated. Thanks for reading!

[darvos]

i was thinking only forces should get support spells like resta/shifta/deband. this way, the game is more fun when playing with skillful teammates. forces want to play with good hunters who doesn't require resta every 2 seconds and hunters want to play with good forces who can keep you alive. of course if the game is set up this way, the way you get xp have to be changed. this will also make offline difficult, but then this game has the word 'online' in the title.

other than numerical stats, other things should determine the characteristics of different classes. for example hucasts move slower than humars, but have more powerful attacks. hunewearls use daggers better than humars, but sucks with swords. ramars get lighting spells only, but humars get fire spells. in other words, make it like a pseudo fighting game where different character has different moves (i'd love to see pso play like the 70 person battle in shen mue, sega should give this project to Yu Suzuki).

a little off topic, but somewhat relevant. weapons too powerful should not exist at all. all weapons should have advantages and disadvantages. normal weapons are pretty well balanced already i think, but a little more difference between swords/partisans sabers/daggers wouldn't hurt. stuff like the spread needle and heavenly punishment is just wrong (but i think the spread needle attack makes a good android only skill (maybe only paralyze, doesn't do any damage) and heavenly punishment makes a good spell(make it really slow)).

just my opinions.

[SieKensou]

Hopefully in version 2, the Force will be made more appealing to play. A high level humar isn't too far off from having similar tech abilities, on top of being able to destroy with a partisan, mechgun, or sword. Really, other than appearance, why even play a Force?

And, the androids should definetely have much higher defense than the others.

[Holocaust]

Good ideas. I was planning to post a similar topic. I was on the same page about the sex specific weapons. Rangers should be the only ones who can wield fire arms. Especially something like the SPREAD NEEDLE. Force characters HAVE to be upgraded. A high level HUnewearl is almost as strong as a force. There should be more diversity amongst the characters within specific classes (even more than now). HUcast should be significantly more powerful than HUmar for example. I think movement speed should be more of a factor too. Androids perhaps could be a bit slower inherently than other races. Newmans perhaps more agile and Humans somewhere inbetween. BTW does anyone want to see the MAGs be more active in battle? Maybe certain MAGs could give you advanced combo capabilities (Double Saber combo gets extended to 9 hits instead of 6)or a MAG can attack also maybe a point defence type of thing. Something other than generic photon blasts. I have a lot of things Ive been thinking about. What else do you think would diversify or balance the game?

[Wu]

OK, about RA needing more class specific weapons, how about the hunters? Sbeats are daggers, chainsawd is a sword, and soul eater is a partisan. Do we even have ONE class specific weapon?
Yet there is no rifle-like weapon that a HU can equip, we can use a spread needle and most handguns, but no rifle.
And forces need better weapons. I use my mind railgun way more that any of the crap that they have. Only thing they are good for is raising mst a little if you are close to learning a new spell.

[Blackheart]

Hmm in the way of ideas for PSO, i have tons..
Mags: Make mags capable of going to higher Lvs, and give them other special abilities besides Photon Blasts, and Casting spells on you like...
1.Being able to equip special types of Mags as a regular weapon or armor once they evolve a certian way.
2.Being able to block attacks, and or counter attack for you.
3.Being able to increase other stats for you, Hp, Tp, Luck, etc...
4.Possessing spells that you can only use with that Mag.
Char Stats: I agree with the above comments on char stats, but maybe not THAT disadvantageous to HUmars, and other classes, but of course the Force chars should be upgraded, and given spells only they can use. And of course more Class and gender, and species specific weapons and armors. Like things only male/female chars can use, Androids, Humans, Newmans.
urgggh, i had more ideas, but they seem to have evaded me now, heh

[Defend]

Yeh, more individual character classes would've been much better. I reckon that various stats should build on how you fight.. like whena baddie dies, you get EXO sure, but little extras like for MST, ATA, ATP and the like. These would be tiny additions, but when you level say, you would get the sum of all these little extras.. so people like me (a HUnewearl that is seriously doped up on fluids and magic) would grow faster in the areas they get most practise in. Hunters that use guns alot would enjoy watching their accuracy grow as they use them alot.
So by about level 40, you've got exactly the same characters having all sorts of different skills in different areas.

[Torment]

Thanks for posing my write-up, Kevin (aka SeiKensou). I appreciate it. It looks like PSOWorld finally allowed me to register. =D

Anyways, i have some more ideas on how they could better balance the classes in PSO...

1)--Eliminate DIM-type weaponry and instead have it to where only Rangers can perform Instant Kills based on his/her Accuracy rating. There would be a base percentage (like 5% or something) and it would increase as the Ranger's Accuracy increased (like +1% every 4 levels).

2)--Since Android-types get the shaft when it comes to their humanesque counterparts, how about balance them out by giving them their own form of techniques? Not magic......but special moves or whatnot. Like, instead of Resta, an Android-type would perform Self Repair to heal him/herself. And instead of...say...Foi.....he/she would perform Booster Rocket. Basically akin to the way WREN from PS4 had special moves. Tell me that wouldn't be badass? =D

Hmmm...that's about all I can think of right now of the top of my head....although there are a lot more that i've thought of that I can't seem to remember (it IS 645am here in Indy =). I'm trying my hardest to keep this all game balance related, rather than ways to overall improve the game. Thanks to all who have responded. =D

[MechDan]

Why do you want a rifle like weapon? They're just ugly handguns with very slightly slower speed and very slightly longer range.

If it makes you feel any better, the Spread Needle is held like a rifle (rather than like a shotgun), so it's sort of the Hunter's "rifle" also.

I just wish there were a cool mech-gun like rare.

[Wu]

Longer range, better ATA, and more power with a rifle.
Not that I really need one for my HU, its just that not having ONE class specific weapon kind of sucks. I should have just made a ranger, if thats the way it works out ya know?

I have a char from each class, a lvl 22 Force, a lvl 60 RAcaseal, and a lvl 78 HUcast. The only one that isnt "unique" is my HUcast, who I have spent the most time on by far. Its a good thing that he is by far the strongest of the three, or Id be really pissed.
HU's should have at least swords/partisans exclusive. Its their best asset, and the most damaging for that class. Just like Forces should have specific spells, and Rangers the only ones that can use a shot.