Rifleman Archive

So Silverlobo

You Mastered Rifleman, within a Month?

You just stated that you didnt get the game until 3 weeks after launch!

And you been a Master for at least 2 weeks now.

So in the remaining month you have mastered Rifleman?

Well, im sorry you have just proved what i thought about you!

You had to have used ever single exploit out there and every bug possible for you to level up rifleman so quickly. It is more than likely we can thank you for all your exploiting that we are no longer able to do things we could do a month ago.

So Thanks SilverLobo, due to your uberness you have nerfed the way xp is gained by every other decent novice rifleman.

I just worked it out, if you played for 8 Hours a day, 7 Days a week for a Month you would need 20k XP per hour to master that quickly and that is if you did nothing else, by the sounds of it you are also a TKA so with that taken into consideration you xp per hour would be even more!

Please explain how with all the troubles and slowness that us whining Novice Rifleman have how you, in you uberness have achieved Master Rifleman in a month!

err

until 3 weeks after launch should read 2 weeks after

Just as a note..

By multikiting Snorbals, I was able to get upto about 60k rifle XP an hour, including the time spent looking for them, and over 100k an hour with the right spawn. I haven't tried them recently, but I know a number of friends who have done snorbals before and after the recent big patch, and there doesn't seem to be much difference.

By multikiting, I mean double bleeding multiple snorbals and using Warning Shot with a CDEF (better accuracy and HAM) to kite 3-4 snorbals at a time. It wasn't too unusual to find two spawns close to one another, and I would multikite one spawn, then multikite the other (I would use the kiting time to regen the mind I used for the bleeds). It's not necessarily easy, and it does take a lot of concentration, but it's very fast with the right spawn.

You can do this with almost any mob, but snorbals are good because they're not faster than you are, and are worth a lot of XP per kill (this is important; you can't really multikite tons of low level mobs since the DoTs kill them so quickly and therefore you don't really get the best efficiency). It's extremely important to understand how Warning Shot works; the effect will always end if you shoot the mob. By shooting the mob at the right time with a regular attack, you can control the range pretty precisely.

Dear WayeinAustin

I feel like this is a dear abby letter

I agree absoultely 100% with what you are saying.

I to dont do the snorbel kiting treatment, in away i think it is an exploit to be honest, since when have you known a sniper to have more than one target at a time?

But getting to the point, im exactly with you.

I dont want it to be easy, i want it to be fair.

I hunt on Endor as a Rifleman / Master Ranger and i enjoy it. I have killed 4 snorbels in my time but found them utterly boring. I play the game, im not to worried about Mastering Rifles, i want to and will when the time comes, like your goodself. Now anyone that has been to Endor knows what it is like there! Pretty scary at times.

What, like most people, gets up my nose is when Master Rifleman (they should be the most sympathetic to our plight as they have gone trhough it) tell us we are whining for a level playing field.

Im not asking for extra skills, or the ability to one shot every creature in the game. All i want is the abiility to play the game, be it Novice RIfleman or Master Rifleman, and enjoy the game.

I can handle mind damage being healed even, my big gripe is the 2.5x melee damage we get, im okay with it in a PvP sense, but there is jsut no logic for it in a PvE sense. its as simple as that.

I would be completly happy with the profession if they took away the 2.5x melee damage against PvE and left everything else the same as it is today.

Well, it seems that what went from a release of pressure on my part has become a way for riflemen to hurl crap at each other. This was not my intent. SilverLobo, you have valid points. I can still level. I can go to endor and take merrick missions and just use conceal shot on them since they don't pack and are usually not aggro to me. I can get 4k rifle and 566 combat from them. Plus the 54 hides or meat I harvest when I have a cat out. (I have a cowardly gurrick that I have stand by my shoulder incase something teleports to me.) So yes, I can find something to level that is worth hunting. Hard work you say....not afraid of it at all. I think the hunt should be challenging. What creates such waves of apathy, loathing and hate in me at times is the fact that I see no other combat class having to go through all the footwork that we do just to level. I have about 5 people I game with. Do to my insistence of using only a rifle, I hear constantly about how I would be so much better off taking another class. Can I handle peer pressure? Sure, that is why I still am a rifleman. I hunt every **edit** day on endor trying to raise money and xp. I have a CH/Doctor/Pistol, A Commando,Smuggler, a Scout,Bounty Hunter as my fellow team members. We all go run our missions solo because with me in their party, I slow them the hell down. I shoot...mind runs out. They have to wait for me to get it back so i can help with some specials. I get encapped from mind. They have to wait for the timer to click down then wait for me to recover so I can get some xp by helping out. So we just go our own ways and they solo and I solo. At the end of the day for my honest effort, I am stuck taking only 2 of the types of missions offered on Endor while they are able to accomplish all of them. I end the day with of 6 hours of gaming at about 100k or so. They have 700k to 1mil. Balls out missions busting with just enough downtime to locate stims is what i am talking about from all of us. I could go to Lok and juggle some critters. What most of us want to know SilverLobo is why WE as a class are forced to go to the extremes of juggling creatures if we can just to advance at a pace that is comparable to all of the other combat classes. I could understand it if we had some huge dmg potential when we reached master level. Basically, the effort put into thhis class versus the rewards are not consistent with each of the other combat professions. I'm not saying I can't kill someone with hardwork and some intelligence. I'm saying that it's gonna take us twice as long as the others to get into a position both of specials gained and bonuses aquired to be able to stand at parity with them. Most of usfind ourselves at midrange riflemen to be no more effective than novice level in other combat professions. At High range riflemen (Right before Master) to be no more effective than mid-range to other combat professions. Please excuse us if we have doubt about being on par with the others at Master level. Have you thought that maybe you have such strong feelings about how much better we are then all of us think because at Master level you finally are doing the kinda of dmg,specials, with quickness that you should have been doing at a lower level? And once again, I ask you to explain the reason that we are forced to take up another combat profession in order to be able to have the same kinda of adventures that BH's, Carbineers, Pistoleers, Ch's and commando's can enjoy. What is so intrisc about their classes that not only do they have mutually complimentary skills to aquire (Pistoleer,Bounty Hunter pistol skills) and Range to Dmg potential that we have that we are constantly left out in the cold working on the same handful of missions types because that is all our skills will allow us to do effectively. I will say this again as well. I could give a **edit** about PVP. I am ONLY concerned with PVE. The dispairity in what can be accomplished by our class vs the other combat classes is not even near the same. I would say that most of it is do to the mind ham issue. But if we are to remain on the mind bar, then changes need to be addressed to allow us the same potential in DMG, Speed and range of working specials as the other classes. I am not expecting to be able to take out an AT-ST in 2 shots like a rocket from a commando. But with a T21 I would think that I should be the next best thing. That is the whole purpose of the T21. To take our heavy armored targets at range. Slower than the rocket yes, But with just slightly lower punch. If a rocket can hit an AT-ST for 6k dmg every 9 secs say... then the T21 should be able to hit for 3k every 9. As for Bounty Hunter Lightning cannon. Tell me why someone who is supposed to bringing someone back need the firepower to kill an AT-ST or destroy a 25k missions worth of badguys in a couple of hits? If it is all about death dealing, then they are assassins not Bounty Hunters. WE are more closely related to assassins than Bounty Hunters. If the whole idea of rocket launchers being used primarly for combat against AT-ST's or major battlefields applies, why haven't they been made not to work outside of those circumstances? If you need to Kill a person quicky and effeciently with the least amount of effort, who do you call? A commando so he can blow up the house? A Bounty Hunter so he can catch him in some bar and hand cuff him and bring him to you for you to kill? or do you order the sniper to go and put a Bullet in his head then go have a sandwich. There is a reason for the 1 shot 1kill motto. And we as a sniper class are no where near it. Commando's rocket spamming lairs for big cash fast and bounty hunters 2shotting everything insight is what we have. While we are left to cleanup. We have more to offer than that if we are given the proper tools. Tools that have been provided to the other classes.

Riflemen aren't really snipers in SWG, as it is now. Riflemen are AE specialists.

I disagree strongly about the reward not being worth the effort, in both PvP and PvE.My DPS currently using a laser rifle with strafe2 is 2950 against AR0 targets. What other class can do 3k damage every second in an area out to 64m? If we were not bound by mind, we would be the most damaging class over any period of time; as it is now, we're the most damaging for about 15s, until we run out of mind (unless buffed). We do damage, we do lots of it, we do it fast and we do it on a lot of targets at once. The master rifleman game is totally different from pre-master.

My friends used to recommend I give up rifleman when I was levelling, also, listening to me complain about all the problems with the profession. They don't suggest that any more.

I honesty dont understand your depression. Ironically, I wanted to be a BH when i bought the game. Then, I found out how *easy* it was to just kill everything. I knew then that the class was gonna get nerfed, and it was. All the poor BH's out there just have eyeshot left to spam. Too bad. Pisotleers? Another "herd" profession, only marginally more skill and tactics to defeat enemies than the BH, so that was out. Carbineer? Tried it, HAM costs for carbines is waaayyyy bad, and you thought your mind went fast. So then, i settled on the rifleman: minority class, good weapons, not gonna get messed with by the devs too much, and a little bit of a challenge.

Im *still* happy about the decision I made. Im not master yet (very very close) and i've managed to fend for myself quite well in PvP, without pets. If youre not a BH, or commando with a cheese weapon, chances are im taking you down. Instead of being disallusioned, develop tactics. Build a character template that compliments your rifleman abilities. Use different rifles for different situations. Combine special moves for devestating effects. Know the limitations and advantages of your rifles. Know the limitations and advantages of your opponents. Maximize yourself by taking the above into consideration, and you'll do just fine at PvP. The funny thing is, you start off with the advantage because most other professions think we're gimped. We're the farthest thing from it.

PvE? Are you kidding me? I'm hogging all the xp because that t21 is just jumping out of my hands firing. Too slow? Use powerups. yep, 30 second timer for supp fire is complete and utter bs and retardation by the devs, but then I discovered warningshot. Mob just warped on top of me? I got my pistol hotkeyed and i start spamming the hell out of warningshot. No 2.5x's dmg mod and the pistol fires every couple of seconds. Mob runs away, i switch back to my rifle and hit it with mindshot's 1 and 2. rinse, repeat. Dead mob.

No one profession in this game is designed to own, save for the BH's (and all of them still combine other professions to compliment their abilities). A master rifleman is a formidable thing (i cant wait!!!!) but without some other wisely-spent skill points, he's gonna be another stain on the battlefield.

Am i annoyed at the t21 getting nerfed because Holo got "nervous" at 3k headshots but then turned around and gave two classes 3k+ weapons in PvP? Hell **edit**ing yes. Are the new range mods messing with me? Yep. Are mobs warping generally a **edit**ty thing? Yes. Despite all these things, riflemen are *elite*. Why? At your highest level, you will be a damage machine that NO other profession can possibly touch. You wont need creatures or to spam spec abilities. You will just simply own. I'm starting to taste a bit of that power right now, and lemme tell you, its **edit** tastey.

Chin up buckaroo, the future is a bright place.

So the basic them of this thread is:

Somenon-master Riflemen:
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!! We suck and it's getting worse. SOE is screwing us.

Other non-masterriflemen:
We suck, but not that bad. If you're willing to bend over backwards you don't notice just how bad SOE is screwing us.

Master riflemen:
You guys suck. Deal with it. SOE didn't screw our PVP so we don't care. Quit whining and go kill some snorbals.

Does that about sum it up?

And Lobo:

I dont dodge the issue when it comes to Novice. I think I make it quite clear, I do not accept when Novice Rifleman say they cant level when the same mob is in game that I used and other used to level to Master. I do not accept when Novice Rilfeman tell me my profession is broke in PvP when I know much better then they on what we can and cant do in PvP.

Is that clear enough for you?

Perfectly clear. In fact I think that's the best post I've read concerning your opinions. I do disagree with you about levelling. If riflemen can only kill 1 high level MOB, that seems to indicate a flaw in the class.
Concerning PVP. I don't know. I wasn't considering PVP-ing until I got to master

Actually, the issue is that riflemen at master are already very powerful. If you do something which increase riflemen in general, you might end up overpowering master riflemen to the point where we'll start getting the calls for nerfs - which we do not want. That's what primarily concerns me as a master rifleman.

It's not about master riflemen not caring about non-master issues. It's about master riflemen caring about -master- issues - the difference may seem subtle, but it's quite significant. Novice riflemen want the curve moved up so levelling isn't so painful; master riflemen realize that if you just simply increase riflemen as a whole, we're all inviting the nerf bat, eventually.

Aldeon suggested moving speed bonuses down so non-masters get a higher speed mod, while the overall bonus at master remains the same. This would be a reasonable change since it'd help novices without affecting masters.

/bump

i feel your pain on the discovering 3/4 of the way done with your char with no (ok, ok..almost no) exploiting, cheating, or 'working the system' (i did a little bit of the biz natches...then i started killing them for real and got a lot better exp. then they were made social and ran faster and i died more, hehe) that its absolutely no fun having to kill mobs that are WAY below your skill level in order to be able to survive a battle.

also...the only true uniqueness (and it IS a marvelous uniqueness!) of the rifleman is the ability to target mind damage (even though it comes at your own mind's cost, which really sucks) is being taken away from you and was never meant to be the determining factor in combat (mind damage, that is). words of holo himself.

your correspondent had a nice thread going that i bumped for ya guys (no love from the devs, it looks like) and another one i was reading listed this as a good one, so they both get /bumps from me as well.

it's time that ALL the elite combat professions rise up and demand to be made ELITE! instead of 'crap', which is what elite means in SWG currenlty.

Wow, has this thread derailed into the gutter. You have a decent fellow blowing off steam about his frustration with a horribly broken class. Deriding him is clearly inappropriate.

And, more importantly, the solution is NOT and should NEVER be, lets get to master.

Why?

It's a game.

You play to enjoy the trials and tribulations, BUT NOT the frustration of broken skills. If the next box says Conceal Shot, then it should work when you get it. Man, am I tired of all of these, "eh screw Box X, Y, Z, the only one of value is Strafe Shot 2 and you get that at master, etc."

IMHO, that means people are really settling for less.

You are supposed to GET THERE by using the skills you develop along the way. That is one of the points of a skill tree, ladies and gentlemen.

And please enough with the killing Snorbals stuff. Ugh. I appreciate the tips of how to level up in a short time, and that it is a path for some. But the way people are posting, it is as if they are saying that that is the only way to succeed in the rifleman profession because it is an easy path (which I think the Devs are now interpreting as an exploit) to master. I think it has been said a million times now that the game is supposed to be designed to enjoy the journey as much as, and possibly more than, the trip. If people have to run to Lok or some such to enjoy the game by killing things that dont really fight back, what the-bleep- is the point of that?

I viewed my toon as a miltary man, not a Big Game Hunter. VIrtually 90% or more of my Rifleman exp is coming from fighting in the war. The other 10% is fighting the impossible squill/kimo/krayt/godzilla when on vacation And yes, I have COmmandoto counterbalance the drawbacks to the class at close range (which is no different from TKA or Swordsman or COmbat Med, etc.) and I dealt with the negatives of that class when it offered little value in the hope of a fix.

Granted, the pace is slow to advancement, but so what? At least there is a challenge. Grinding like the Snorball harvest has got to be wearing on anyone. (Not that the lack of interesting missions in the war helps much, but that is an entirely different issue).

Does anyone think that the Skill Trees are a training course for the war? I can understand why some might think so given that there is a war on, but given the lack of any high-end game, what is the point of doing that?

In any event, I digress. The point of the thread was to vent some completely justified and justifiable frustration at a broken profession. I laud and support what was said and hope they fix us soon.

Jolly good thread, old chap.

I play a human pistoleer on Eclipse, and a Wookiemarksman on Sunrunner who is working on Rifle 4 in the tree. My Wook just got a laser todat rifle and I just hit for 1.4k witha headshot 2, but the missing 4 times with a +50 is a load. My pistoleer can hit at -50 quite often, while on the run.

I vote for extending the max rifle range out to 75 meters, carbine can stay at 64 and pistol in to 50 meters, and brawlers back to 1 meter.