Rifleman Archive

Leaving for World of Warcraft

meh..

Back months ago I wrote several posts about how stacking and templating were killing PvP as pure single combat elites couldn't compete in PvP. It was also done in an attempt to prove that rifleman nor any other class alone are over powerful yet I was met with flames and smack even from the GCW correspondent. Growing tired of being worthless in PvP unless I killed new players or was lucky enough to find pure single combat elites I sat down and figured what classes and boxes would work best to compliment Rifleman.

One thing that I really enjoyed was the time before defenses, buffs and high resist armorkicked in. Back in December and moths before thennobody was using buffs, templating, and you sure didn't see rifleman in full composite. Add to that the only rifleman you ever ran into in those days were the hard core psychotic types as not many could stand the utter torture of grinding out our profession while having to deal with the 2.5x melee modifier and the mob warping issues.

When players ask which works best with which class or how to build your template, there are three things to keep in mind. First and foremost, what will be your primary combat class as only the defenses from this class will be active while you're using weapons and attacks from this class? Second, I always suggest picking up the Defense Acuity (precision strike) from Tera Kasi as it is always active and will work with any other profession.The otherthing that I highly recommend, regardless of which profession you go for as your main combat profession, is to come as close to or over the cap for both Melee and Range defense. These are secondary defenses but will transfer over to all combat classes and by making them reach the +125 cap will help out your character.

The interesting part of the combat system is all pure combat elite range have a pure combat elite melee counterpart. Pistoleers and Fencers share the Dodge as their primary defense, Carbineers and Swordsman share Counter Attack as their primary defense, and Rifleman and Pikeman share Block as their primary defense. Most of the time those same boxes that give you primary defense will also give you secondary defenses as well so you won't have to invest much into the complementary profession.

There are a few professions which gain no bonuses that can take away or hamper a good template. These professions are Creature handler, Smuggler, and Commando. Though these classes are more support / light combat they offer little to no bonuses to defenses so keep this in mind while building up your class. Other than that the options are somewhat endless as to the possibilities that are out there.

One thing that will be interesting to see is what will happen after the combat balance. If all the proposed changes go into effect without stopping the imbalance that templating gives Pistoleer will be the bases of the FOTM and quite possibly the superior class. With the requirements for Bounty hunter being modified and the fact that you can use pistoleer, bounty hunter, smuggler and some commando moves with any pistol class weapon this will make for a deadly combination. We've currently seen players using fan shot from pistoleer with the launcher pistol from commando to drop turrets and any other light to no blast resist targets in a matter of seconds.

This will become an epic problem as soon you'll see players last ditching others with the launcher pistol or using torso shot with the same weapon. Also since there is no need for them to switch out weapons for different class shots, this will mean less delays and the ability to dole out more damage. I don't like asking for nerfs nor declaring one profession uber over another (jedi excluded ) but I've always been a huge proponent over limitations on both offensive and defensive bonuses. The only offensive and defensive bonuses active should be determined by the weapon in hand to help balance out the problems we're seeing now. What templating does is merge classes together and causes them to lose their uniqueness as there is no benefit to being just a single combat elite.

Veustuh - Rifleman/Carbineer
Geno - Old School MD/MCM
Hunter'a - Dark Force Wielder
Kardo - Smuggler Extrodinare - Retired

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Way'ev-Da on Eclipse
Came to life in Restuss, on Rori, 07/03/2003
Master Rifleman 10/18/2003 - present
Master Smuggler 1/25/2004 - 11/05/2004
Dancer buffs + Muon + Musician Buffs + Vasarian Brandy = Sex, Drugs, Rock&Roll, and Alcohol(Man, I love this job!)

Master TKA benefits with meditation make it all worth the overage on stacking....