Long standing Qs I've had about Materials

[Puppet_Papaya]

Ok, so for a looooong time I have stayed away from using materials because, well, I just simply do not understand them. I was hoping that, perhaps, ya'll might be able to give me some advise then. Pleaese?

My first concern is the manner in which materials affect your stats. Do they simply raise your max in their respective stat? I mean, Does it matter when you use the material or does it only raise abovee the max if you already have that stat at max?

Second, are HP and TP materials on the same count or are the separate? Also, HP and TP mats don't count toward you overall material usage, right?

Third, I was thinking of doing all Evasion materials on my FOnewearl. Would this be beneficial? How many would I have to use to make her EVP maxed at lv 200? I don't want to use more than I need. I might want to do some ATA and Def materials?
Are Def materials even worth it? I heard somewhere (I think from Special K?) that the defernce stat is worthless. Like, for every 10 DEF you have it negates 1 point of damage you recieve and that most enemy attacks are fixed damage and ignore your defence stat.
I think that's all I was wondering about. I know that's a huge mouthful, but I would really appreciate some advise! I've been playing PSO since ver1 on DC and I feel like a disgrace for never figuring this stuff out!

[steaIth]

mats push your char closer to the max stat, and are useless after you reach it. hp mats are in a class of its own, and so are tp mats. so use all of the you find, its impossible for those to hurt.

[Cranberry]

Materials apply to your base stat, not the modified stat.

The value of DFP and EVP has been debated endlessly for years. Some say it's useless, others say its helpful. I myself have always enjoyed having DFP and EVP, but these days most people subscribe to the mindset that it is useless.

DFP and EVP are factored when an enemy strikes you with a physical attack. They don't factor for tech damage and "set damage" attacks.

My advice to you is to save DFP and EVP slot items and use those to test EVP and DFP. This will allow you to test their functions and decide for yourself if you wish to permanently invest in it. I myself have never regretted my decision to invest in defense and evasion and stand by my build 100%.

If you choose to max your evasion use 74 Evade Materials to max it at 200.

The decision is yours to make.

Oh one more thing. HP and TP materials are their own seperate individual counters. Use HP and TP materials as soon as you find them.

[Puppet_Papaya]

Oh wow, these are the answers I was looking for! Great, thanks!
Ok, so just to clarify, you don't reach the max stats simply by leveling up alone. You need materials to do this, right? So I can use materials any time and that will help me get closer, or to max stats by the time im 200?
Also, how many DEF mats does it take to reach max at lv200? I'm pretty sure Imma go with evasion though..

[Cranberry]

Here's how it works my friend.

At level 200 your charactr will have base stats. As silly as this is, lets assume you reach level 200 and don't use a single material and you are not wearing a mag.

Your stats will look like this:

HP: 1148
TP: 2098
ATP: 483
DFP: 334
MST: 1200
ATA: 133
EVP: 735
Luck: 10

At level 200 no matter what you do, your stats will be at least this high.

Now, HP and TP have no true maximum value of what they can be, its limited only by what you can equip and the have no "cap" that the game won't let you pass. THe other stats however do have a cap, and they will show in yellow if you reach that cap. Here are the maximum values each stat could be.

ATP: 583
DFP: 390
MST: 1750
ATA: 186
EVP: 883
Luck: 100

Note that these stats are for your BASE values. Your MODIFIED stats (stats from your weapon, armor, and shields) can and will go higher, except for MST and Luck in which base and modified are always the same.

HP and TP materials as stated are individual counters, so use them as soon as you find them.

Power, Defense, Mind, Evade, and Luck Materials however share a counter. You can use 150 total materials from this pool. So if for example you use 100 Mind, you have 50 left to split among the others.

Materials are not the only thing that affect your base stats. Your MAG does to, and stat units that you equip such as General/Body affect your BASE stats as well. So your MAG can (and should) be part of your stat plan, and you may wish to use slot units for stats too. Materials are a permanent stat increase, MAG and slot units will give you the boost as long as you have them equipped.

Understand?

[NegaTsukasa]

TP material is only available in challenge mode offline as far as I'm concerned.

second, just think of these items as shortcuts to get getting too your max stats faster.

[Cranberry]

TP Material is available from several sources. It can be fond in Rappy's Holiday, it can be received as a prize from the Roulette in Gallon's Shop, and it can also be obtained as a reward in Today's Rate. It is most certainly not exclusive to Challenge Mode.

If you're offline only however on Gamecube or Xbox PSO than yes you will only be able to obtain it in challenge mode.

[Puppet_Papaya]

Wow, Cranberry, you saved my life and my mind. It is all so clear now. I have a plan! Thank you for ending my years of frustration! I feel like such a dolt!

[Cranberry]

Happy to help.

[HUnewearl_Meira]

For what it's worth, PSO-World has a nifty guide on maxing your stats. You'll be using a combination of Materials, Mag and Units to accomplish it. Newmans can't have all of their stats capped at once, so a good build should allow you to switch your Mag and Units around to cap different stats, to suit your mood (I've personally got a HUnewearl build that I've been working on, which, when trading between three different Mags, will cap ATP or MST, or balance between the two). PSO-World's guides (http://www.pso-world.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=2265) are a good place to start when planning your build. Here (http://www.pso-world.com/downloads/guides/ricomaxstat/crqmaxstatguidefonewearl.pdf) is the guide for maxing out a FOnewearl.

If you're playing PSOBB, then you've got a few more options in terms of units which will make it easier to get your stats up to their highest possible values, and it may even be possible to cap all of your stats. The Item Database (http://www.pso-world.com/items.php) is another valuable resource for this.

Personally, I suggest using Excel or OpenOffice.org Calc to do your math for you, and the Character Manager (http://www.pso-world.com/downloads/psocharmngr.zip) available here on PSO-World is a useful tool, as well, for establishing your goals, and keeping track of the materials you've used.

I hope I didn't just overwhelm you with information, there. This is where a lot of the depth of PSO's gameplay is, and it can be a fascinating bit to tinker with. I hope you find the tools useful; thankfully, many people have sought to do this before, and as a result, there are all sorts of resources available to assist you.

[Puppet_Papaya]

Thank you to you too, Meira. This is useful stuff! Seriously, this aspect of the game is really keeping my brain busy lately, but it's a new kind of fun I havn't yet experienced on PSO!

[HUMARS]

"Note that these stats are for your BASE values. Your MODIFIED stats (stats from your weapon, armor, and shields) can and will go higher, except for MST and Luck in which base and modified are always the same."

This is incorrect. Many items such as the Diska of liberator increase MST. Also the L&K 14 combat i balleiv increase Luck(one of the rare meck guns)

[Cranberry]

Nope. Not incorrect. Check for yourself. When they boost your luck or MST they are directly boosting your base stat.

Luck and MST - the base and modified are always the same in any and all circumstances. This is why no item will ever boost your modified MST or Luck past the character's cap.