Rifleman Archive

I have to choose between master marksman and keeping my novice medic skill for using stims. What do you think is the better choice?

My goal is master rifle, master CH, and then either master marksman or novice medic.

find yourself a +5 Rifle Speed tape (they do exist, i have one) and you'll be good to go.

you will be missing +10 rifle accuracy and a bit of ranged defense, but the +5speed is the real icing on the rifleman cake.

Although the +5 does make a big difference in rifle speed wether the 34-48 (depending on how much ranged supprt you want) skill points is worth it is up to you. If you want to be the best a rifleman can in PvP its a good thing to have but for me its a waste. I wouldn't be able to come close to mastering doc if I had it. In your case it doesnt seem to be worth it also. I wouldnt give up the ability to heal for 10 riflespeed. Healing makes the game so much easier and reduces the down time drastically. Also as a Master CH you wont need the +5 for PvE.

Basically the +5 is only worth it for PvP and its worth it in your case.

Thats my opinion at least.

i don't really understand why anyone would want to be Master CH anyways - a rifleman with a graul is a pretty deadly PvE weapon- 2200 CH would be fine. and then you could keep both master marksman AND medic

You could never use the good graul (graul mauler) at 2-2-0-0.. master marksman effectively doubles my damage output with HS3 (yes I use it now with better stats migration, and food than before), and strafe shot 2 and a 214-501 damage 7.5 second T-21. I take muon gold, ryshcate, and tatooine sunburn... bang, dead canyon krayt before my first graul mauler dies.All creatures are being changed with the upcoming patch however.. take note of that, it's not a nerf, but a universal change... so that will change being a master CH, alsoyou will need to be high up in CH to use a decent level pet. I untrained master marksman for a while to go after some other stuff, and I miss it quite a bit. I think of myself as being similar to a mage in EQ, and I'd like to be able to crank out the highest DPS I can. I'd like to be master marksman, and have a tape.. that way with the new experimentation changes with player cities, perhaps a master WS will be able to grind out a superslow T21 with pre-nerf type damage stats.

it isnt double it is 1/3 faster. with a average T21 the speed is 1.5 on strafe2 non master marksmen at master marksmen it is 1. using a laser there is no difference between master marksmen and non master since they both fire at the 1 sec cap. the only diff is when using a weapon that gets above 7 secs in speed. i find the lack of the extra + to hit be a non-factor.

as for CH it is fun. i like using my pets, having em out, finding wild ones to tame and sell. PvP is not the only part of the game that is fun.

With a 7.5 second rifle.. it's double. Strafe Shot 2 has a 3.5x time modifier. 3.5x7.5s rifle speed x0.1 (90% speed increase from master rifleman)=2.625. 3.5x7.5x riflespeed x0.05 (95% speed increase from master marksman/rifleman) = 1.3125... not sure what the avg. T-21 is on your server, but on mine they are pretty much always in the 7.2-7.5s range so master marksman doubles dps when using one.

Well, I dont know how easy it is to find a +5 tape, but assuming you can NOT find one, I would actually keep the Novice. It is VERY important to me to be able to heal myself and my pets. I would not give that up for the extra speed. In my humble opinion, getting incapped two or three times as often because you cant heal yourself is NOT worth the extra rifle speed.

You people are weird. Why even do CH? I am Master Riflewoman and a TKW, I never get hit and that +5 does miricles when using specials like strafe2. Its worth it.

Thanks for the input. Sounds like my extra skill points are better used in medic than mastering marksman.

Regarding why I want to master CH: I was attracted to CH (and am gradually transitioning from Rifle/Sword to Rifle/CH) because it's a change of pace from what Rifleman has to offer. I considered picking up a crafting profession, but CH built on the parts of the scout tree that I didn't want to sacrifice, and it's fun. Once I decided what professions to pursue, the idea of only dabbling in the was out of the question. CH is not necessarily a profession to augment rifleman--it's another profession for me to enjoy fully in its own right.

Now I fancy myself as something of a hunter with his hunting dogs, except my dogs at the moment are a greater sludge panther and a vesp. If they ever add a "fetch" command that would let my pets drag creature carcasses to me for harvesting, the the role will be complete.biwan:

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Gazkan wrote:
*edit* so master marksman doubles dps when using one.

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well it all depends on how long the measurements are done. the case that master marksmen is a must only applies if ALL other factors are equal and those factors are slanted to make speed an important thing.

master marksmen/master riflemanX can fire 5 shots before running out of mind. non-master markswoman/master RiflewomanY can fire 8. a certain monster only takes 4 hits to kill. in that case X will beat Y in how fast the monster dies and X out DPS' Y.

case2 monster takes 7 hits to kill. Y will out DPS X with her slower fire speed because she can fire more shots than X over time and deal out more damage that is called sustained fire rate and only comes into play with the larger monsters. now the DPS rates of the two are further skewed and hazed out if Y regens faster than X has a lower use rate than X or has a larger mind pool than X.

case3 monster takes 40 hits to kill. If Y has a better regen rate and controls her special use such as using 2 specials for every 4 regular shots while X just spams away Y can extend the amount of shots she can get off with a longer sustained rate of fire and ultimately outdamage X. while X has to stop and regen every 5 shots. this tactic on such a monster would make Y's slower rate of fire and proper stat balancing and tactics far more important than the speed approach that X chooses to solve the problem.

i just think that there are larger factors than the simple question of speed that determine combat effectiveness. speed is a factor but it is not the end all that people make it out to be.

Well if you are using warning shot with a T21 then you need to be shot anyway non-master marksman rifleman using a DTL20 or equivalent can fire of warningshot jsut as fast as a double master (both hit the speed cap here from what I have seen and remember). Mind you it has been a while since I have had this as I am now only have the rifle tree in marksman!

For PVP, master Marksman.

Timed it out with a fellow master rifle on Tarquinas.I'm master marksman, he's not.Using same speed guns, I got 3 shots off in a 2 second window (no the speed cap DOESN'T work) while he got only 2. With elite classes, and extra shot in the first 2 seconds of PVP is crucial.

For PVE...at master odds of anything living past your HAM capabilities (unless you are running around with 800 mind) is unlikely. But, PVE is more personal choice. Master Marksman has less use here, unless its to drop a warning shot or 2 on a MOB that gets too close.