Alpha Trial Announcement Set For 24th

[Zyrusticae]

The problem with buffing was the asinine PA leveling system. They were useless unless you spent hours mindlessly leveling them.

And THAT is definitely something I'm hoping doesn't return in PSO2.

And I'll bet it won't. No way the Japanese players are cool with it.

[NoiseHERO]

It'll probably have some new more complicated system that expands on customization.

But may possibly prove to be horribly annoying, which is why we're having an alpha test.

There.

[Alexvrb]

The problem with buffing was the asinine PA leveling system. They were useless unless you spent hours mindlessly leveling them.

[lurk]
I actually didn't really mind that part that much. It wasn't fun, and I wouldn't want it to return. But in and of itself, it didn't ruin them for me. In fact, solo I used them all the time on my Wartecher. Well, at least Shifta and Deband. The part that bothered me the most was that buffs didn't stack, not even partially. Worst yet, the most recent one overwrote the existing one, rather than refreshing duration or supplementing it. I don't know if this changed, I haven't played in some time. So as a Wartecher, if there was a 'techer in the party with a higher tier version, mine was less than useless - it actually had a negative impact if I used it.

Don't get me wrong, they shouldn't stack fully, but the strongest buff should remain in place plus a small bonus for additional ones (diminishing returns). Or they could at least refresh the duration of the stronger one. They also didn't scale as gradually as I would like. Every 10 levels was a ramp IIRC. Plus duration wasn't that great, but I complain about that in most MMOs that have buffs, because I am lazy and/or forgetful.
[/lurk]

[Jinketsu]

I'm with you, Krigo. I'm very interested in playing this game, but not so much the pre-finished stage.

Congrats to everyone who does, and got in! Link me all your screenshots and gameplay videos when the time comes! :P

[Randomness]

And THAT is definitely something I'm hoping doesn't return in PSO2.

And I'll bet it won't. No way the Japanese players are cool with it.

It was REALLY bad. Anyone other than hunters basically had to grind PAs for hours to hit their potential. Rifle bullets... level 4 status>anything... but you have to grind. And grind. And... yeah, AFK overnight mode bad. Buffs, as noted.

The leveling was just ridiculously all over the place. Shotguns leveled without trying. Rifles leveled so slowly anyone with more than one element HAD to be AFKing them.

[Arika]

One more day~

[Niered]

I'm honestly kind of torn on how much I want to follow the inevitable flood of screenshots and videos that will accompany this alpha. On the one hand, if I do find this game making up for the clusterfuck that is PSU, I want to be able to play it totally fresh, no content spoiled for me.

On the other hand, I won't know if the game is any good unless I follow it pretty closely, since I followed PSU pretty religiously and still got suckered into that.

Quite the dilemma eh?

[Ark22]

Bout time!

[ARASHIKAGE]

I'm honestly kind of torn on how much I want to follow the inevitable flood of screenshots and videos that will accompany this alpha. On the one hand, if I do find this game making up for the clusterfuck that is PSU, I want to be able to play it totally fresh, no content spoiled for me.

On the other hand, I won't know if the game is any good unless I follow it pretty closely, since I followed PSU pretty religiously and still got suckered into that.

Quite the dilemma eh?

Sure you could try the eyes closed technique but, you have already decided PSO2 is going to make up for the "clusterfuck" that was PSU. That said it seems you are already on the hook (even exploring the PSO2 threads are we?), embrace the information Niered! (Over the shoulder third person shooting for rangers, oh my god get excited!)

I two was one that complained heavily while playing PSU, and I kept playing... playing and complaining. Why did we do this? I'll tell you why; because we love Phantasy Star, because we have friends that love Phantasy Star and because at the end It was still enjoyable.

In PSU if you got to the point were you decided not to play anymore (many of us did) then that's a different story. There are plenty of other games out there to fill your MMO hunger.

I hope that helps with your dilemma Niered, and I look forward to seeing the ever increasing plague of Retardacons on the PSO2 servers!

[Arika]

Now, it is lunch time of 24th June in Japan. I wonder if anybody get Email yet?