Trap Observations

[A2K]

General Facts:

• Traps come in main categories: regular timed fuse traps and "G" remote detonated traps (denoted in the store list by the letter G at the end of the name). In the offline modes, you can carry up to thirty each of the former category and fifteen of the latter, while in Network Mode, the count is 10 and 5 respectively.
• Only Damage, Burn, and Freeze and their G variants appear to be available offline.
  
• Currently in Network Mode, only Rangers may set traps. (Unlike PSO, any race, as long as you are a Ranger, can use traps.)
  
• Network Mode Rangers can't set all types, though: They are restricted to Damage, Burn, Freeze, Poison, and that four's G variants. Shock and Silence (and their G's) are available for purchase but cannot be used.

How to Set Traps:

• When you wish to set traps, you assign them to the "item" column of your action palette, along with healing items and the like.
• When you select these traps on the battlefield, you will de-equip your current weapons and go into a "trap setting" mode.
• Press Down Arrow/Square/X to set up to three traps on the ground. You may not set any more until the ones currently set have been detonated. In Network Mode there seems to be a bit of a delay in placing them after hitting the button, probably due to network latency. It would probably help to anticipate this.
• If you've set "G" type traps, press Right Arrow/Triangle/Y to detonate them.
• If you move out of trap setting mode by either re-equiping your weapons or switching to a different type of trap before they have detonated, they will disappear and you will lose them forever.
• You may set traps during boss battles, although one would question whether or not they would be all that effective.

Effectiveness:

• Biggest, most obvious drawback? Cost: You have to buy all the traps yourself; no "recharging" at a station like in PSO. 100 Meseta per regular timed trap, 500 Meseta for the G traps.
• On the flipside, 2 star 100 Meseta traps are the easiest way to raise your Partner Machine's DEX.
• Damage traps, obviously, do more damage than other types while lacking the ability to inflict status. I'm uncertain of the exact ratio, but offline it seemed anywhere from two to three times more damaging (about 150 damage or so each versus anywhere from 40 to 70 with the others). (Unfortunately, I haven't done a whole lot of experimenting with non-status damage traps.)
• Why use damage traps, though, if they hardly wound the enemy? Well, damage traps also serve a different function--to knock down enemies.
• A single trap can inflict a status to a single enemy. I am uncertain if damage traps damage more than a single enemy.
• Status Effect Traps (Burn, Freeze, etc.) do rather laughably puny damage, but are highly effective in inflicting their respective SEs. If used correctly, they almost always work.
• Curiously enough, trap placement seems to matter. Clustering three traps close together seriously reduces their effectiveness. Space them apart a little, or... (next point)
• Against a single powerful enemy, say, a mini-boss or tank/dinosaur enemy, it may be in your best interests to set only one trap at a time.
• Against an enemy variant (specifically the big... Chaos Bringer-ish tank-like enemy in Shikon Archipelago) with enhanced defense (shield icon), mental offense/defense (cane), and increased ATA/EVA (boot), traps that would normally inflict status to their "plain" counterparts seem to be much less effective (read, not at all). I'm not certain which specific boost(s) cause that. I was attempting to use a Burn Trap to set it on fire, like its weaker brothers.

Speculation:

• Given: The Protranser expert type will allow the use of all traps, including Silence and Shock varities currently sold in stores as well as-of-yet unseen kinds (Virus/Infection?).
• Possibly: Since the only basic type that can set traps is Ranger, the Protranser expert type may be derived in some way from Rangers in terms of statistics and equippable weapons.
• Unknown, but Unlikely: Protransers may be able to carry more traps than other types.
• Unknown, but Likely: Traps set by Protransers could possibly be more effective than those set by Rangers, or they will have access to more powerful variants of current traps instead.
• Unlikely: Whether or not leveling up your trap-capable type will grant you the ability to set more types. Rangers specifically, as Protransers might be able to use everything from the onset.
• Unknown: All the traps so far seem to be set on the ground in order to do their work. Will there be PSO-style floating traps (with, perhaps, another different detonation mechanism) for use by players (some of these do appear in a certain Story Mode chapter, set [i]against you[/i] over boxes and the like, just like in PSO) at all?
• Probably Not, But It'd Be Nice: Trap discount at stores for Protransers? Pretty please?

Edit: Added knock-down feature of Damage Traps.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: A2K on 2006-09-29 22:20 ]</font>

[Ffuzzy-Logik]

Interesting, I've been wondering about traps, since nobody seems to really be very concerned about them right now.

[A2K]

I think the main deterrent is the cost at the moment. Even I pretty much limit their use because of it, although the burn traps specifically are quite useful against those big tank enemies with a ton of HP.

I should toy with poison traps sometime, just to see how different "poison" is from "burn". They're both HP-depleting, but I'm curious as to whether the mechanism/amount is different. I imagine that there are places where one works more often the other, as well.

[RoninJoku]

Thanks for that! Haven't really heard any ellaboration on traps yet I wonder what protranser will be like.

[Lyrise]

What I like the most about damage traps is that it does indeed cause status, even though its not classified as one. They can launch mostly anything that gets hit by the blast. It's a good way to buy time when you or your party need it.

[A2K]

On 2006-09-29 22:08, Lyrise wrote:
What I like the most about damage traps is that it does indeed cause status, even though its not classified as one. They can launch mostly anything that gets hit by the blast. It's a good way to buy time when you or your party need it.

Agh, right! I knew that, but I forgot to put it in. Thanks for reminding me.

[Katrina]

tyvm for the info A2K.

I've always been curious about traps and Protransers in general. I'm wondering what the benefits will be, and if they are enough to draw ppl into taking this specialization vs. the more popular classes ppl have been discussing.

___________________________
~Nothing can be Everything~
~Everything can be Nothing~

[Tycho]

Detonation time regular traps: ~3.5 seconds
Maximum number you can set simultaneously: 3
Elemental damage for any of them?: Not for the four basic ones at least, so probably not

[Zarbolord]

Nice
I might make my human a protranser

Although there is something buggin me. How will protranser status affect your PAs and weapons that you can use? I know it's an expert in traps, but what lvl PAs will you be able to use? Will you even be able to put any S-Rank? I suppose the PAs will be such as 15 hunter weapons, 15 ranger, 0 techs? I just don't get it...


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Zarbolord on 2006-09-30 00:26 ]</font>

[Tycho]

From what I've heard, the Protranser class seemed to be pretty all-round. Don't know the details though. They could use Techs by the way.