darkrangeresp
Member
PSO is an old game and most of the server has been playing it for a long time. However, we still attract newer players and some players are not as experienced as other. The game is set up to be a 4 player cooperative experience using different classes. I thought it would be worth hosting a guide about party team work and how each of the specific classes best fit into the equation. For this discussion, I am going to cover the basics of party tactics I will be posting a new guide for each of the classes every couple of days until I cover all of them.
Party roles:
When you join a party, each of the players in your group brings something a little different to the table. The classes in PSO are similar, but there are some very distinct roles that each of them fill best. Knowing where you fit in the equation can help the party in 2 ways. It lets you know what they expect from you and it lets you play your class to its strengths. There are 3 primary jobs in pso and most players focus on doing one of them and supplementing the other two as they are able. Note this discussion focuses on parties on ultimate, but the same tactics work well on the lower difficulties.
Damage Dealing:
The most basic concept of playing pso is that you are fighting enemies. You need to reduce their hp to zero in order to kill them for exp and loot. Different classes approach this in different ways. Hunters tend to use weapons that deal large amounts of concentrated damage on one or a few closely grouped enemies. They have the highest atp and the best damage weapons. Rangers also tend to use weapons, but they normally rely on shot and needle style weapons to deal a lesser amount of damage, but more spread out to more foes. Forces can vary. Melee forces use the same attack pattern as hunters, but have to rely on their support techniques to supplement their lower atp. Tech forces deal damage like ranger, by casting area of effect techs such as the GI and Ra level techniques. Some forces will use single target techs to do concentrated damage against a single foe as well.
Control:
Control is the tactic of using special attacks and abilities to either disable, or kill enemies outright. Hunters and forces tend to be less effective in this area. Normally, they have to use a high hit handgun or other weapon and target foes one at a time. Rangers have the best controlling ability do to their high ata and a few weapons that are very effective at it. Finally, all casts can serve as controllers through using their traps. Freeze traps can disable a dangerous foe and a confuse trap can turn a group of grunts back on itself making them easier to pick off.
Support and Recovery:
Support deals with shifta, deband, jellen and zalure. Generally, whoever has the highest level of shifta and deband in the party is responsible for providing it on a consistent basis. Jellen and zalure are more situational, depending on the level of the party and where the area they are playing. Sometimes they are a waste of time and sometimes you want them on everything that moves. Generally, support flows as follows. (Forces --> Huney, Ramarl, --> Whoever can do it.) Most often support is the job of the single character who is best suited to the job.
Recovery, is the use of resta to resupply hp to the party. Generally, healing follows the same flow as support. However, anybody with resta is considered a healer and should help out as needed. Anti is a more dependent ability. It's good for getting certain status effects off of you and off of your team mates. If you have anti, you should have it someplace where you can access it on the fly to cover your team mates. Nothing disrupts the flow of a party more than having 1 or 2 of its members disabled.
I realize these situation are more complicated, but this is just meant to be a solid overview. There are exceptions to the rules listed here, but in general this is how things generally flow in a well-organized party.
Party roles:
When you join a party, each of the players in your group brings something a little different to the table. The classes in PSO are similar, but there are some very distinct roles that each of them fill best. Knowing where you fit in the equation can help the party in 2 ways. It lets you know what they expect from you and it lets you play your class to its strengths. There are 3 primary jobs in pso and most players focus on doing one of them and supplementing the other two as they are able. Note this discussion focuses on parties on ultimate, but the same tactics work well on the lower difficulties.
Damage Dealing:
The most basic concept of playing pso is that you are fighting enemies. You need to reduce their hp to zero in order to kill them for exp and loot. Different classes approach this in different ways. Hunters tend to use weapons that deal large amounts of concentrated damage on one or a few closely grouped enemies. They have the highest atp and the best damage weapons. Rangers also tend to use weapons, but they normally rely on shot and needle style weapons to deal a lesser amount of damage, but more spread out to more foes. Forces can vary. Melee forces use the same attack pattern as hunters, but have to rely on their support techniques to supplement their lower atp. Tech forces deal damage like ranger, by casting area of effect techs such as the GI and Ra level techniques. Some forces will use single target techs to do concentrated damage against a single foe as well.
Control:
Control is the tactic of using special attacks and abilities to either disable, or kill enemies outright. Hunters and forces tend to be less effective in this area. Normally, they have to use a high hit handgun or other weapon and target foes one at a time. Rangers have the best controlling ability do to their high ata and a few weapons that are very effective at it. Finally, all casts can serve as controllers through using their traps. Freeze traps can disable a dangerous foe and a confuse trap can turn a group of grunts back on itself making them easier to pick off.
Support and Recovery:
Support deals with shifta, deband, jellen and zalure. Generally, whoever has the highest level of shifta and deband in the party is responsible for providing it on a consistent basis. Jellen and zalure are more situational, depending on the level of the party and where the area they are playing. Sometimes they are a waste of time and sometimes you want them on everything that moves. Generally, support flows as follows. (Forces --> Huney, Ramarl, --> Whoever can do it.) Most often support is the job of the single character who is best suited to the job.
Recovery, is the use of resta to resupply hp to the party. Generally, healing follows the same flow as support. However, anybody with resta is considered a healer and should help out as needed. Anti is a more dependent ability. It's good for getting certain status effects off of you and off of your team mates. If you have anti, you should have it someplace where you can access it on the fly to cover your team mates. Nothing disrupts the flow of a party more than having 1 or 2 of its members disabled.
I realize these situation are more complicated, but this is just meant to be a solid overview. There are exceptions to the rules listed here, but in general this is how things generally flow in a well-organized party.