Jump to content

Why am I so bad?


Recommended Posts

Hi all,

 

First of all, thanks for taking the time to read this. I play solo 99% of the time, largely because I don't know what I'm doing and feel bad asking for advice while people are trying to do stuff in game.

 

I'm level 181 (RAcast) but still consider myself very much a noob. I feel super underpowered. I have done almost all of my leveling by soloing TTF on very hard, because ultimate still wrecks me, and I just don't know why I'm still so bad.

 

So here's what I'm working with:

Spread Needle +40

Rianov 303SNR-2 +25

Gush Laser +25

Holiness Armor

Genpei

- God/Power

- God/Power

- Heavenly/Battle

- Heavenly/Arms

Kama (12/160/28/0)

 

I've also used over 100 power materials, so my stats are:

ATP: 1623 (1433 base)

DFP: 720 (467)

MST: 0

ATA: 269 (229)

EVP: 865 (576)

LCK: 10 (10)

 

Am I wrong for thinking I'm underpowered? Is there something I should be doing differently? There's so much I don't know about this game. Any advice is welcome.

 

Thanks a lot,

TW

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi... I read your post here and decided to give you a basic summary of what I think can help you.
 For you to play probably how you want it is what many have sought to get where they are.
 These are some "simple" details. The biggest one:

1. Hunt good weapons. Like for example, see what weapons people tend to use in a Racast.

2. Recognize the "quest" well. Know which monsters will appear and where.

3. Know which CORRECT weapon to use on that monster.

(For example: You will not use a "bazooka" to kill a monster that looks like a small bee.
 Because most of the time bazookas were made for "area damage"
Like for example: hitting many monsters together or bosses
 that have more than 1 single part for you to get right)

 
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, check out the max stats plans from this link. It looks like you may want to make a new mag and move around your materials to maximize your stats. Also I'd recommend getting a Faust since you are racast, as well as a good set of mechs such as P Ravens. If I see you in game I can give you some things to help get you started.

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can get a serene swan now through this event. You can beat this whole game with that. Actually I can give u one free. 
 

Don’t worry about being new, everyone was new at one point. Jump in anytime u see an open ultimate game cause that’s where all the good stuff drops. 
 

message me when online and I will give u some shit. 

Edited by wade1212
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Check the link Rocket put in the thread. Max ATA, Luck and POW are all essential on any character other than Forces to be competitive.

A better armour and units would be your next step, as would weapons with hit % and attributes. Message me when you’re around and I may have a few items to help you out. 
 

Don’t worry about feeling underpowered, most here have max stat event only items so you will feel like that but we are a friendly lot and will gladly run games with someone who isn’t as overpowered as we may be and help you hunt better stuff.


(Except when Happy Hour is on as we all tend to hunt then so you may not get much joy asking for help during happy hour in an event)

Edited by Grantz
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey there and welcome!

 

First, be proud that you made this post. This is the first step to better learning and getting advice about how this game works. You'll be happy to know that this community is overwhelmingly positive and helpful. So don't be afraid to ask for help/advice, even in lobby! 

 

I commend you for playing up to level 181 doing mainly v-hard runs. You've allowed yourself to immerse in many of the games basics such as mag feeding, reading your stats, using mats, and figuring out which weapons to use for your class. This will make things much easier for taking you to the next step.

 

Before I dive in, I just want to recommend that you keep an eye on the Events threads and see what event is currently on, as it will help you hunt/obtain much rarer things that will make your game that much better. As an example: Currently we were in the Summer event, and a couple of items that drop are Centurion/Battle as well as Serene Swan, two items that will drastically boost your performance.

 

Looking at your gear:

 

Weapons

  • As a RAcast, you want to get your hands on an Iron Faust ASAP. This weapon will instantly boost your effectiveness. It's probably the cheapest upgrade you can get which will give you most bang for your buck.
  • Get a Frozen Shooter (another cheap, but instant QoL improvement). It's special instantly freezes anything that can be frozen if it lands.
  • That's a good place to start for now. What I would recommend is to play with other players, especially other rangers and see what weapons they're using. You'll quickly learn their purposes, the situations they benefit in, and how to obtain them.

 

Frame/Barrier

  • Your current armor/barrier can definitely be improved. At your level, you can wear most of the good stuff. For easy to obtain, cheap QoL improvements, I would recommend getting a Guard Wave or DF Field for your Frame and either a Standstill Shield or Gratia for your barrier. For armors, if you find one with less than 4 slots, you can always increase the slots to maximum 4 using Addslots

 

Mag/Materials/Units

 

  • This one's important to fully understand what the Max Stats are for your character. Use the Max Stat Calculator. Or better yet, check out this thread to see different plans that optimally maximize each class, including RAcast. If your mag is already maxed and doesn't fit your plan, you can always raise another one, or, there are players who raise/sell mags that you can reach out to in order to get one that suits your needs
  • Once you figure out your max stat plan, you will then have some spare unit spaces to use for other things. Some that I would recommend are:
    • V101 instead of Heavenly/Battle - This not only gives you the speed boost, but raises other stats. Use this until you can find/afford a Centurion/Battle
    • V502 - This increases the likelihood of status attacks to be successful such as freeze/arrest
    • Cure/Freeze - This will especially be helpful against Falz so you dont instantly get frozen to death in his 2nd wave 

 

 

Here is some good information to give you more context of how this game works, and more specifically, how the Ultima flavor works.

 

LEVELING UP:

The fastest way to level up is by spamming TTF (Towards the Future) in episode 1 until you are level 100. Then, you can unlock CCA (Central Control Area) in episode 2 by pressing the 3 switches at Jungle, Mountain and Seaside area. Once you have unlocked CCA, you can rush/kill Gal Gryphon over and over again. He gives you the highest experience in game. Do that until level 200. 

 

USEFUL LINKS:

Drop Tables (without event drops):

https://www.phantasystaronline.net/forum/index.php?/droptable/drop-tables/

 

Item Wiki (with all items and stats):

https://www.phantasystaronline.net/forum/index.php?/wiki/items/

 

Max Stats Calculator (where you can make a plan for your lvl200 character):

https://www.phantasystaronline.net/forum/index.php?/tool-box/calculators/max-stats/

 

Character Viewer (where you can see your character's info, including items in inventory/bank. Great for making lists for shop):

https://www.phantasystaronline.net/forum/index.php?/tool-box/character-viewer/

 

COMMANDS:

Useful commands you will need! You can just enter them into the chat:

 

/dropstyle 1 - will change the dropstyle to individual drops so nobody will be able to steal your drops. You should do this ASAP!

/bank - will toggle between your character bank, and a common bank which can be accessed by all your 4 characters on your account.

/lobby - will exit every quest and put you to the lobby.

/map - will maximize the map if you need to check for something. Type again to minimize.

/hh - will check if Happy Hour is active und how long it remains. Happy Hour (180 min duration) gives you a 3x times increased drop rate. 1/90 will be 1/30 while Happy Hour (hh)  is active

 

Calendar for potential Happy Hours:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jB2zrdLdXs6tRbUaoDr8WX6EIr36FgQI2kyP7fasGIQ/edit#gid=1923746843

 

All the other commands are here: https://www.phantasystaronline.net/forum/index.php?/tool-box/commands/

 

TRADING:

People on this server love to trade items. There is a whole market in the forum where you can sell/buy stuff.

There are 2 currencies accepted by the players: Photon Drops (PDs) and Donation Tickets (DTs).

PDs drop while playing or you can collect them in some quests. DTs you can get by donating real money to the server or selling items to other members for DTs.

1$ = 1 DT = 8 PDs

There are items that go for 2 PDs and others go for 400 DTs. Yes $400 lol...

You can always ask at the chat box on the start page of the forum if you want to know the price of any item. You also can ask me if you want to know more about item values.

 

Here are some useful abbreviations for trading:

S > item X       you are selling item X

B > item X       you want to buy item X

PC > item X     you need a price check for item X

 

USEFUL THREADS:

 

C01D1s Quickstart and FAQ guide for PSOBB Ultima

 

A beginners guide to grinding and getting rich on Ultima -

 

 

 

If you need to know anything special you can always ask me here or in game!

 

EDIT: By the time I got around to posting this, 4 others have already jumped in and given you some great advice too! It's a testament to my earlier statement on the community being helpful :)

Edited by TheIronSheik
  • Like 6
  • Thanks 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

IronSheiks comment is probably the most in-depth on how to get your character in the position to be better, and in general become more comfortable with the environment that is Ultima. I'd definitely recommend reading his comment in full.

 

Almost all these posts are about weapons / gear, but not actually about how to play better. A little can carry you a long lay way on Ultima. Wade alluded to that with this comment. 

54 minutes ago, wade1212 said:

You can get a serene swan now through this event. You can beat this whole game with that. Actually I can give u one free. 

 

Ultima for starters does not have a viable One-Player Mode so playing alone here is something meant more for people that are geared / experienced / familiar. It's a bit of a handicap on early player development especially if you're starting from square one (which is totally fine).

 

If you could get your hands on a simple pair of Charge Vulcans / Charge Raygun and Frozen Shooter you could mostly play to the same level as some of these lads regardless of your materials and other stuff if you know how to PLAY. I've first hand witnessed players that have all the fancy end game gear play so bad that runs would legitimately be faster if they just AFK'd or left. Gear is not the end all be all of PSO gameplay and especially not until you're trying to become "competitive".  

 

It takes a long time to get familiar and comfortable with PSO, its monsters, and it's quests because there's so many of them and they all have their own nuances and little details. It can be really hard to describe certain things over text, but I will do my best. As you branch out from TTF and start playing quests with other people if you start paying really close attention to how monsters behave (movement, attack patterns, spawn animations) and which monsters in which quests need to be killed / handled before other monsters you can really propel your gameplay from bad / decent / good  to superior. As simple as PSO seems if you take the time to "critically" think about the quests you chose to play and which parts are giving you or parties you're in struggles you'll find that there's going to be almost always be a variety of ways to break individual spawns down to a level that you can handle. One of the nice parts of PSO is that each individual quest (almost all of them) the enemies are set in stone meaning they will spawn the same way every time you play a given quest and just memorizing that and knowing where to stand based off that to either be safe or in position to attack will separate you from beginner type game play.

 

I think this is sorta long enough as is, but if you ever have particular questions about combat in PSO or just want to know more in general feel free to say so either here or PM. There's websites that are gold mines for the fundamentals of combat of PSO that I can refer you to and quite literally 1000s of videos to refer to about cleaning your game play up and understanding the core combat of this game regardless of your gear / level.

 

Edit: Something I'll add that in general applies to almost all quests is that controlling spawns is key. There's a lot of ways to do this. I am sure you're already familiar with Freeze Traps and specials like Blizzard and Arrest. These are tools you can employ all throughout the game on practically every spawn to break them down to become more favorable for you and your party. Once a spawn or set of spawns starts moving and entering attack animations and things like that there's potential for "disastrous" (it's just PSO so worst case you virtually die and reset lol) things to happen.

Edited by Saber +7
  • Like 2
  • Dw 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, TheIronSheik said:

Hey there and welcome!

 

First, be proud that you made this post. This is the first step to better learning and getting advice about how this game works. You'll be happy to know that this community is overwhelmingly positive and helpful. So don't be afraid to ask for help/advice, even in lobby! 

 

I commend you for playing up to level 181 doing mainly v-hard runs. You've allowed yourself to immerse in many of the games basics such as mag feeding, reading your stats, using mats, and figuring out which weapons to use for your class. This will make things much easier for taking you to the next step.

 

Before I dive in, I just want to recommend that you keep an eye on the Events threads and see what event is currently on, as it will help you hunt/obtain much rarer things that will make your game that much better. As an example: Currently we were in the Summer event, and a couple of items that drop are Centurion/Battle as well as Serene Swan, two items that will drastically boost your performance.

 

Looking at your gear:

 

Weapons

  • As a RAcast, you want to get your hands on an Iron Faust ASAP. This weapon will instantly boost your effectiveness. It's probably the cheapest upgrade you can get which will give you most bang for your buck.
  • Get a Frozen Shooter (another cheap, but instant QoL improvement). It's special instantly freezes anything that can be frozen if it lands.
  • That's a good place to start for now. What I would recommend is to play with other players, especially other rangers and see what weapons they're using. You'll quickly learn their purposes, the situations they benefit in, and how to obtain them.

 

Frame/Barrier

  • Your current armor/barrier can definitely be improved. At your level, you can wear most of the good stuff. For easy to obtain, cheap QoL improvements, I would recommend getting a Guard Wave or DF Field for your Frame and either a Standstill Shield or Gratia for your barrier. For armors, if you find one with less than 4 slots, you can always increase the slots to maximum 4 using Addslots

 

Mag/Materials/Units

 

  • This one's important to fully understand what the Max Stats are for your character. Use the Max Stat Calculator. Or better yet, check out this thread to see different plans that optimally maximize each class, including RAcast. If your mag is already maxed and doesn't fit your plan, you can always raise another one, or, there are players who raise/sell mags that you can reach out to in order to get one that suits your needs
  • Once you figure out your max stat plan, you will then have some spare unit spaces to use for other things. Some that I would recommend are:
    • V101 instead of Heavenly/Battle - This not only gives you the speed boost, but raises other stats. Use this until you can find/afford a Centurion/Battle
    • V502 - This increases the likelihood of status attacks to be successful such as freeze/arrest
    • Cure/Freeze - This will especially be helpful against Falz so you dont instantly get frozen to death in his 2nd wave 

 

 

Here is some good information to give you more context of how this game works, and more specifically, how the Ultima flavor works.

 

LEVELING UP:

The fastest way to level up is by spamming TTF (Towards the Future) in episode 1 until you are level 100. Then, you can unlock CCA (Central Control Area) in episode 2 by pressing the 3 switches at Jungle, Mountain and Seaside area. Once you have unlocked CCA, you can rush/kill Gal Gryphon over and over again. He gives you the highest experience in game. Do that until level 200. 

 

USEFUL LINKS:

Drop Tables (without event drops):

https://www.phantasystaronline.net/forum/index.php?/droptable/drop-tables/

 

Item Wiki (with all items and stats):

https://www.phantasystaronline.net/forum/index.php?/wiki/items/

 

Max Stats Calculator (where you can make a plan for your lvl200 character):

https://www.phantasystaronline.net/forum/index.php?/tool-box/calculators/max-stats/

 

Character Viewer (where you can see your character's info, including items in inventory/bank. Great for making lists for shop):

https://www.phantasystaronline.net/forum/index.php?/tool-box/character-viewer/

 

COMMANDS:

Useful commands you will need! You can just enter them into the chat:

 

/dropstyle 1 - will change the dropstyle to individual drops so nobody will be able to steal your drops. You should do this ASAP!

/bank - will toggle between your character bank, and a common bank which can be accessed by all your 4 characters on your account.

/lobby - will exit every quest and put you to the lobby.

/map - will maximize the map if you need to check for something. Type again to minimize.

/hh - will check if Happy Hour is active und how long it remains. Happy Hour (180 min duration) gives you a 3x times increased drop rate. 1/90 will be 1/30 while Happy Hour (hh)  is active

 

Calendar for potential Happy Hours:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jB2zrdLdXs6tRbUaoDr8WX6EIr36FgQI2kyP7fasGIQ/edit#gid=1923746843

 

All the other commands are here: https://www.phantasystaronline.net/forum/index.php?/tool-box/commands/

 

TRADING:

People on this server love to trade items. There is a whole market in the forum where you can sell/buy stuff.

There are 2 currencies accepted by the players: Photon Drops (PDs) and Donation Tickets (DTs).

PDs drop while playing or you can collect them in some quests. DTs you can get by donating real money to the server or selling items to other members for DTs.

1$ = 1 DT = 8 PDs

There are items that go for 2 PDs and others go for 400 DTs. Yes $400 lol...

You can always ask at the chat box on the start page of the forum if you want to know the price of any item. You also can ask me if you want to know more about item values.

 

Here are some useful abbreviations for trading:

S > item X       you are selling item X

B > item X       you want to buy item X

PC > item X     you need a price check for item X

 

USEFUL THREADS:

 

C01D1s Quickstart and FAQ guide for PSOBB Ultima

 

A beginners guide to grinding and getting rich on Ultima -

 

 

 

If you need to know anything special you can always ask me here or in game!

 

EDIT: By the time I got around to posting this, 4 others have already jumped in and given you some great advice too! It's a testament to my earlier statement on the community being helpful :)

 

      
1 hour ago, Saber +7 said:

IronSheiks comment is probably the most in-depth on how to get your character in the position to be better, and in general become more comfortable with the environment that is Ultima. I'd definitely recommend reading his comment in full.

 

Almost all these posts are about weapons / gear, but not actually about how to play better. A little can carry you a long lay way on Ultima. Wade alluded to that with this comment. 

 

Ultima for starters does not have a viable One-Player Mode so playing alone here is something meant more for people that are geared / experienced / familiar. It's a bit of a handicap on early player development especially if you're starting from square one (which is totally fine).

 

If you could get your hands on a simple pair of Charge Vulcans / Charge Raygun and Frozen Shooter you could mostly play to the same level as some of these lads regardless of your materials and other stuff if you know how to PLAY. I've first hand witnessed players that have all the fancy end game gear play so bad that runs would legitimately be faster if they just AFK'd or left. Gear is not the end all be all of PSO gameplay and especially not until you're trying to become "competitive".  

 

It takes a long time to get familiar and comfortable with PSO, its monsters, and it's quests because there's so many of them and they all have their own nuances and little details. It can be really hard to describe certain things over text, but I will do my best. As you branch out from TTF and start playing quests with other people if you start paying really close attention to how monsters behave (movement, attack patterns, spawn animations) and which monsters in which quests need to be killed / handled before other monsters you can really propel your gameplay from bad / decent / good  to superior. As simple as PSO seems if you take the time to "critically" think about the quests you chose to play and which parts are giving you or parties you're in struggles you'll find that there's going to be almost always be a variety of ways to break individual spawns down to a level that you can handle. One of the nice parts of PSO is that each individual quest (almost all of them) the enemies are set in stone meaning they will spawn the same way every time you play a given quest and just memorizing that and knowing where to stand based off that to either be safe or in position to attack will separate you from beginner type game play.

 

I think this is sorta long enough as is, but if you ever have particular questions about combat in PSO or just want to know more in general feel free to say so either here or PM. There's websites that are gold mines for the fundamentals of combat of PSO that I can refer you to and quite literally 1000s of videos to refer to about cleaning your game play up and understanding the core combat of this game regardless of your gear / level.

 

Edit: Something I'll add that in general applies to almost all quests is that controlling spawns is key. There's a lot of ways to do this. I am sure you're already familiar with Freeze Traps and specials like Blizzard and Arrest. These are tools you can employ all throughout the game on practically every spawn to break them down to become more favorable for you and your party. Once a spawn or set of spawns starts moving and entering attack animations and things like that there's potential for "disastrous" (it's just PSO so worst case you virtually die and reset lol) things to happen.

  •  

 

What's the main topic, again? :onion-head65:

Edited by Kotta
  • Like 1
  • Dislike 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You guys are legends. Thank you so much for the advice and resources. Can't tell you how helpful it is. The amount of information that exists about this game is overwhelming, so it's incredibly useful to have some guidance from experienced players. I'll definitely spend some time reading up on those links and trying to hunt for the right gear. My RAcast's name is topwing. Hope to see you guys in game!

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, goldhollow said:

Get a frozen shooter and if you use the weakest attack of spread needle you should do better on ultimate

This causes DMC, please dont use weak attacks when grouped with other players

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...