[Mikura]

So I was just sitting here and a question popped in my head: What kind of standards does everyone have, if any? Say for example, you'll only buy/use weapons or armor that is 30% or higher, or you have very stringent rules on what you'll buy and at what price. Or you lvl PAs in a very methodic way. In other words, things you do in the game that are specific to you. Your own "book of PSU standards." I'll give you an example of some things I do unique to me so you'll have a concrete idea of what I mean:

1. I'll only buy/use weapons that are 38% or higher UNLESS it's a weapon that I'm in dire straights of needing in a particular element and despite all my synthing and shopping, something that is below 38% is the highest I can acquire.

2. Normally, I try to get the same weapon in every element. In other words, a full rainbow set of Ank Zagzas, or a full rainbow set of Grand Crosses. I don't tend to mix weapons up that often unless I find let's say...an Okanoh that's 46-50%. Then I'll break the mold from all the Ank Zagzas. (I'm not saying I use just Zagzas, but that I try for rainbow sets for any weapon I like since I like order and symmetry)

3. Armor standards tend to be lower. If it's 25% or above, it's "okay" since cati/rainbow can kinda offset that. Minimum of 3 slots, regardless what it is. Arm is always a must (Goes without saying for a Fortefighter, durrr). Head slot can come and go, but not needed. Extra slot is also nice, but I'll make do without if I don't have anything better.

4. When I lvl PAs, I like to lvl them all up to a tier before moving on. For example, let's say I have a list of 30 PAs on me. I'll take all 30 of those PAs and take them to 11 first one at a time before moving on to 21. When I reach 31, I'll take everything to 35. Then make another lap around my PAs for the final push to 40. (I don't use master classes that often, so I haven't really established any PA rules for them, but it'd probably be about the same as my 31 rule). The 31 rule applies to any PA, including strike, bullet, and tech.

5. On my main character, she always wears pants, or clothing sets that include pants of some description. The only time she wore anything else is when females had no pants options. Yep, we're talking way back in '06!

I have other little guidelines to that I tend to follow when it comes to pricing items or buying them from player shops, but I'm really more curious about what other players do instead of me, so I'll end my self-description here.

Also, I want to point out that I'm not an elitist, and I don't look down on other players that may have standards different than my own, so I'm not going to point fingers at people and make fun of them even if they say "I don't really care, I just use what I can get or afford." That's fine too. I just want to know if other players have standards unique to them, or whether they just fly by the seat of their pants. ;p

[Calsetes]

1. I try to get good percentages on my weapons and armor, usually aiming for anything 30%+ is "good" for me. As for what elements, I try to make sure I have one of each for every weapon type I use - 6 elements for my twin sabers, 6 for my single sabers, and 6 for my swords.

2. I try to keep my weapons somewhat varied. A few extra ATP here and there don't matter too terribly much to me, but I like to have my options varied - a different look / mesh keeps it interesting for me.

3. I always make it a priority to try to get armor that has Arm, Body, and Extra slots on it, or at the very least two of those three. I like to have those skill and bullet savers in there, and that Orpad / Guard just seems to get lonely without me there. As for the extra unit, I like the options that the Whitill or Dark Wings provide, in terms of PP and HP regen.

4. I try to keep all mine around the same tier also. All spear PAs get to 11 first, then 21, then 31, etc. The only exception is with Ultimates that I buy later on. I'll usually use those exclusively until they're caught up with the rest of them though, and then keep leveling in order.

5. My main tries to maintain this "semi-official" look, so he wore his starter clothes until the AMF Army stuff came out back before AotI came out. Now, he wears an SPF Suit all the time - the only one he has, but I'm working on getting him a second one for a bit of variety. As for my female characters, I try to have a few outfits for each - warm weather gear, cold weather gear, temperate gear, and official gear. Again, it just adds a bit of variety to the game. Oh, and they all try to have different color schemes unique to each one.


Edit: Forgot to add, I try to specialize all my guys in certain weapons, and try to not overlap them (though one or two do seem to get covered twice). For instance, my main specializes in single handgun, saber, twin saber, and sword. My GM specializes in rifles, shotguns, and lasers. My Fighgunner specializes in double-sabers, twin daggers, daggers, crossbows, machineguns, twin handguns, and fists. My PT specializes in spears, axes, grenades, bows, shotguns, and lasers. I've used some of the other weapons and gotten their PAs to higher levels, but I'll worry about maxing those later on.

[Ezodagrom]

Hmm...let's see...
- At least 1 weapon per element. But when I choose the elements for my weapons, I don't want to use that weapon with any other element than the ones I chose (for example, my AF has a fire and ice saber, I wouldn't want any other element for sabers, since those are the ones I chose at the beginning).

- 20% or higher element for weapons (12* weapons are exceptions, 17% or higher instead of 20%+), 15% or higher for line shields.

- Having the same type of weapons with around the same stats. For example, my fortetecher has 5 rods, with the rewards it's going to be 3 Psycho Wands and 2 Gaozoran Rods. I'm going to grind the Gao Rods to around 5 or 6 and leave the Psycho Wands at 0 so they can have stats close to each other...

- Never going to change the hair color of any of my characters...XD

Can't think of anything else... :3

[Akihito]

1. Weapons need to be 40% plus now. Axes are my lone exception atm(currently 2 40% ones)

2. Armor needs to be Nico or Armas; currently using 25% Nico. Units I dont really ever change; Orpa/Mind Heart of Dulk work for me. Cati/Power is weakpoint atm but being patient for an LKK, and Red Wall fills defense nicely.

3.Green Hair neatly kept. No exceptions

4. Time Attacking/Speed running; I'm not a big fan of doing TAs because I dont want the burden of re-doing something over and over to shed seconds to a minute not having fun in the process, however I do TA when I'm call uponed(which is happening alot lately ;/) I also dont like "slow" parties so I always do what I can to speed up groups

[Mikura]

Nice, this is exactly what I was hoping for. Thanks for the input you two. Very nice to know other people have the same kind of modalities that I do.

Also, couple other points I want to add to my own list:

1. My main character will always have yellow as her color theme, regardless of the outfit. Her hair always remains the same shade of light brown/blonde-ish color. The hair color and outfit color is her "trademark."

2. With grinds, I tend to shoot for +5 to +6 on A ranks, and +4 to +5 on S ranks, then stop. UNLESS it's a rare I have a lot of and I'm willing to break a few trying for higher. But vast majority of them are within that range (I hate grinding to be honest. It's nerve wracking seeing that bar shake and rattle every time it gets near the end, never knowing whether it'll succeed or shatter into a million pieces, along with your hopes).

[that cast named kai]

hmmmmm.......

it is interesting to see the methodology that comes into play for how others play this game


1. I guess one of my biggest things is in terms of armors, more often than not i buy 0% with often 3-4 slots (if 0% not available, lowest % possible), almost always with a head, body, and extra slot definitely, (mainly for mind units for my casts or quick/smarts for newmans, and leg, guard, or resist for all depending on the situation), even though i use fighters classes for 2 of my 4 char. i will always go for the 'techer' type lines over 'fighter' type lines

2. always keep a deva-zashi on me no matter the class as long as said class can use S-rank daggers. i rarely swap it out not matter the situation. i guess because i believe in the motto "You never know when you need a knife." although i guess it more so like "you never know when you need a knife that silence your opponent." i guess a quirk i picked up from playing as a cast for so long.

3. i often only keep less than 100K on me at anytime during a mission if possible, i bank the rest on my bot or in my common box. i guess to help me keep from making impulse buys and hold on to cash for big items i have been waiting on like a guld back during STD, although this does back fire (just spent 11mil on a har/smart not too long ago, i love the unit i just wished i had waited to see if it would go down lower, being lucky if enough to pick up one while hunting.)

4. if i am going to use something a lot (see rule #2) i tend to pick up at least one 0% of said item, i guess i see it being cheaper to have something that works for any situation with out worrying about element penalties (although i guess i don't get the bonuses either) although this does not really apply to stuff like r-mags since the element is what makes them all that important

5. i play with mirror characters, i have 2 cast M/F both often alternate between AF, FI and 2 newmans, M/F alternating between AT, GT. it seems when on of the "mirrors" is one class the other will always be one of the others. (i go so far as to swap out all 'key' PAs, as well depending on the S-ranks as well as preferred weapons and the likes)

6. i tend to change the look of my characters depending on what class they play, (more so with the cast than the "fleshies")

i think that is it for me, weapon choices are usually what is a 'good deal' considering my funds or working off a my synth efforts (which tend to give varied results)

[Warlock01]

1 - when i level my billet PA's i do them 1 - 40(41) straight.

2 - i dont buy x/10 weapons. only broken weapons. i dont see why people pay seriously ludachrs amounts for 10/10 weapons when a 9/9 will do very similiar damage and cost a LOT less. ok, some weapons its a big difference e.g agito repca, but most weapons its tiny.

3 - when i log on i always check my common box lol. error's happen.

4 - i always bet black in casino. never EVER red.

5 - im addicted to collecting s+10's. its weird. id rather have 500 s+10s than all the meseta.

[Waki Miko Syamemaru!]

1. Carmilla will always use her Lucarel shells and nothing else.

2. Carmilla will always be in Red and black.

3. Use two types of bullets for each weapon (for difficulty purposes)

4.Reimu will only wear Flaxo, Mikuna, and/or G-Formal wear.

5.Reimu will only use Dual daggers, Saber/RCSM, Knuckles, and Claw/Handgun and nothing else.

6. All Kakwane will be killed without hesitation or remorse. Even if small, impressionable children are present.

7. Mystery Science Theater 3000 is the greatest TV show ever concieve by human conciousness.

[Mikura]

Originally Posted by Syamemaru!

1. Carmilla will always use her Lucarel shells and nothing else.

2. Carmilla will always be in Red and black.

3. Use two types of bullets for each weapon (for difficulty purposes)

4.Reimu will only wear Flaxo, Mikuna, and/or G-Formal wear.

5.Reimu will only use Dual daggers, Saber/RCSM, Knuckles, and Claw/Handgun and nothing else.

6. All Kakwane will be killed without hesitation or remorse. Even if small, impressionable children are present.

7. Mystery Science Theater 3000 is the greatest TV show ever concieve by human conciousness.

Bolded the last two for emphasis. ;p

Also, this is just an honest question and not a flame to anyone, but I notice some people using Guard units rather than Rainbow units for their armor. Is there a particular reason for that? Because I find that Rainbow units midigate damage much better than the best Guard unit currently available.

[biggabertha]

At first, it was all items have to be 20% or higher - then when things started to get easier to synth and I got more of a budget, 30% was the new benchmark.

Blue hair for my main, black, blonde and brunette for my alts.

My four characters specialise in their own fields: Traps, Guns (GT, fG and GM), TECHNICs (WT, fT, AT and MF) and Melee (FG, fF, AF and FM). They will not change.

All four of my characters have their own PAs. No PAs will be swapped.

All of my characters have every PA available to their jobs (My main has 56 PAs, my Gunner has 122 PAs (soon to be 128 with Rentis/Dizas and all four Doublesaber PAs), TECHNIC user has 97 (103 with Rentis/Dizas and all four Doublesaber PAs) and my melee has 79 PAs.

All of my characters (will) have their PAs capped to their own PA limits, they won't all be at Lv. 50, just to what their classes in their group can use.


Yes... I know I'm crazy for learning/leveling two sets of Lasers, Grenades and Megiverse, three sets of Longsword and Doublesabers as well as four sets of Handgun and Saber.


With the 100 item capacity common box we'll be getting, the pimping things out at a cost and insane PA leveling boosts... most of this will all be for naught...

But I do the "rainbow" weapon thing as well but mainly because my PS2 can't really handle swapping out to a different weapon type at all without giving me lots of lag. It's helped me choose specific weapons though and it has worked out in my favour too - most of the weapons that I like are suitable for my characters to use with the elements. Ank Dedda/Ank Promotos etc.


Interesting topic - but I fear there may be lots of bragging going on... heh heh.