PSO Character Classes

[Alec1382]

I considered posting this in the "Online" forum, but this doesn't really involve online gameplay as much as just the game's mechanics in general...

Anyway, I was wondering what you guys think of the character classes in PSO. I tried the offline mode of PSO for the first time a couple days ago because I knew I'd be getting online fairly soon and wanted to get to know the game before I did. When I got to the class selection screen, I simply couldn't decide as to which class I wanted to play with. I sat there for a good 20 minutes trying to decide.

I want to know what character classes are the best for what purposes, what the main differences are, whether certain classes work better with a team, what are the most and least commonly chosen classes, etc. Even things relating to online play, such as what class would most benefit our online teams, and what are our teams lacking? I initially tried FOnewm, but I'm not sure how much I like it. Maybe it's better suited to supporting a team?

I'd like to know what class I want to play as before I've logged too many hours into the game already. I know I'm taking it pretty seriously, but I think I only get one shot at this decision. I also have trouble taking FOnewm seriously. His giant ass is just a little too ridiculous for me.

[Aleron Ives]

HUmar has the second-highest ATP and the benefit of Techinques, which makes him easy to use and gives him the highest damage output when soloing. His Resta is weak and his TP is low, which can make it harder to heal without using Trimates. His low EVP can also be problematic in Ultimate Mine, as Gillchichs can chain him to death.

HUnewearl has the lowest ATP of the Hunters and the highest MST, which makes her worse at offense and better at support. Her high EVP is beneficial in Forest, Cave, and Mine.

HUcast has the highest ATP and totally destroys everything, which makes him incredibly boring to use, unless you get your enjoyment from clearing rooms as quickly as possible. His lack of Techniques makes soloing harder, so specific equipment is necessary for him to survive in Ultimate.

RAcast has the highest HP in the game and the highest ATP of the Rangers, which makes him essentially the best of them.

RAcaseal has higher ATA and lower ATP, which makes her rather pointless, as ATA isn't that important.

RAmar has the worst physical stats of the Rangers, so his only benefit is that he can use Resta instead of Trimate.

FOmarl has the best ATP of the Forces, which makes her decent with weapons, except that her animations are so slow that she can't attack effectively. Her MST and TP are the worst of the Forces, which makes her the least suited towards using Techniques.

FOnewm has less ATP and more MST than FOmarl along with standard-speed animations, which makes him the most balanced Force.

FOnewearl has the lowest physical stats in the game combined with the highest MST, which makes her the best with all Techniques. Her ATP is so low that she can equip almost no ATP-based weapons, which means that she's stuck using the same handful of weapons all the time.

FOnewm is the least-used class, mainly because he's so hideous. RAmar is the worst class in the game, since his stat caps suck and his stat growth is even worse. RAcaseal is the most pointless class, as she's basically a RAcast with 50 less ATP. Forces in general are uncommon and highly sought after, because they benefit teams more than the other classes. They're infrequently used because of how difficult they are to manage and how badly Sega biased the game against them. HUmar is the most common, since he's the easiest class to solo with under most conditions and has good physical stats. Androids are handy to have in a team in Ultimate, because they can use traps. Many people don't like using them though, because their lack of Techniques makes it harder to survive in Ultimate.

[Alec1382]

Wow, I didn't expect the first post to be so thorough. So what I make of this is:

Each hunter has his own benefits and faults, depending on what you want to use it for.

RAcast is the only ranger really worth using.

Either FOnewm or FOnewearl are worth using.

Forces are sought-after as supporters for their team, though they're difficult to use since the game is biased against them (could you go into detail about that please?).

You're right about FOnewm looking hideous though. I imagine that when one plays an MMO, they want to look badass, not like some absurd royalty.

[Aleron Ives]

Yes, FOnewm is so fugly that I ported one of his GC outfits to make him less painful to look at.

Since PSO isn't a difficult game, you can use any class and succeed, but some classes are still inherently better than others. Since you're posting here, I'm assuming that you're playing with an unpatched version, which means you're subject to all of Sega's original limitations. All Rangers are somewhat inferior to Hunters, simply because there's pretty much nothing that they can use. You can get Yamigarasu and Ano Rifle from Towards the Future (the latter of which RAcaseal can't use, since it's male only), and you can get various S-Rank weapons from Challenge mode, but aside from Red Handgun, there's nothing else that you're likely to find. Hunters, at least, get Red Saber, Imperial Pick, and Plantain Huge Fan (except HUcast) to round out their arsenals.

Forces provide exceptional support that makes them invaluable to others, but they're limited on their own. Ultimate mode enemies have insane resistances that nullify almost all Technique damage, so even if you're using a FOnewearl with max MST and level 30 Rafoie, you'll still only do about 80 damage to Arlans (which is the most damage that Rafoie can ever do). As such, you'll have to cast it something like 40 times in a row to kill a single wave of them. Consequently, the only offensive Technique ever worth using is Rabarta (just for the chance to freeze stuff), and actually killing things requires you to use weapons. Since FOnewearl's ATP is terribad, the fact that she has the best MST and TP doesn't really help much when it comes to actually killing things on her own. Forces are consequently relegated to being Resta slaves much of the time, although ironically, FOmarl's ATP combined with Shifta and Zalure 30 actually allows her to do more damage when soloing than a HUnewearl can do. The problem is that her low HP and slow attacks make her get killed far more easily than a HUnewearl.

[pcwzrd13]

HUcast has the highest ATP and totally destroys everything, which makes him incredibly boring.

Hey! Teal'c resents that!

[Alec1382]

Forces provide exceptional support that makes them invaluable to others, but they're limited on their own... Forces are consequently relegated to being Resta slaves much of the time.

So if I'm a Force, I'm rather useless on my own, and I'm everyone's bitch when I'm in a group. Makes me want to try a new class, though I am tempted to continue with Force, just because it's unique, and since it would be useful to a group. I'm still unsure. Which would you recommend? Are Forces interesting to play as?

[Aleron Ives]

My opinions probably won't be very useful to you, since I've changed most of the things in the game that used to annoy me. Forces aren't that bad to play, but they're definitely the most limited of the occupations, which makes them the worst class for beginners. They're what you make when you have a stronger Hunter or Ranger that's had time to amass a collection of high-level Technique Disks from Ultimate already.