Rifleman Archive

Please refer to my list on the preceding page; even if a Rifleman is able to fire every second for a small period of time, it is amply balanced, and probably exceeded, by the huge number of disadvantages and disabilities even a Master Rifleman will suffer. A Pistoleer or Bounty Hunter, benefiting from low cost styles, will be able to spam 30 or 40 attacks in a row at 1 per second before the HAM runs out; even if a Rifleman can theoretically fire just as fast using second-tier weapons (i.e. not the T21), after four or five attacks, the HAM will have run out, leading to several minutes of down time. Which is ultimately five shots over two minutes just as much as it may be five shots over five seconds. Either consequent DPS figure is just as valid.

So though the Master Rifleman might burn brightly, he will inevitably burn out. The initial pace of damage -may- be faster than a BH spamming Eye Shot, but that will only hold for several seconds; afterwards, the Rifleman must retreat to sit and slowly regenerate his depleted pools whereas the BH can happily move on to a second, a third, and a fourth target, dealing damage at a rate which thus becomes far greater over time. P v P is not about dueling, it is truly a Galactic Civil War . . . most combat takes place in continual skirmishes. Even if the Rifleman can deal out prodigious amounts of damage at the start of a confrontation, he will be consequently unable not even to keep up the pace, but to continue dealing damage altogether. Necessitating withdrawal and recovery.

Now, this may be balanced -- maybe we were envisioned as quick damage dealers with a very long recovery time, attackers without staying power. But please don't imply we have nothing to complain about. We can easily complain about dying in 1-2 hits to all melee attackers, to constantly perishing P v E due to warping mobs, about being less accurate at most distances than a handgun, about a reduced running speed which severely handicaps our mobility. And even if we excel over 4-5 seconds with quick, devastating attacks (and that itself is a hefty concession, and a very big 'if') we can certainly complain about the consequent several minutes which we must spend away from combat, recuperating and praying that the enemy does not have the initiative to follow us.

To state that we have nothing to complain about is the simple assertion we are overpowered, as any class without liabilities is a class that needs nerfing. But our many, many disadvantages are ennumerated on the previous page and have again been presented in this post. They do exist, and they are undeniable. The sole item of contention must be whether they outweigh the advantage of our transitory efficacy at the start of our battle and thus, not whether we are overpowered, but whether we are in fact underpowered. I would choose a third term for us -- "viable". Not necessarily sufficient, but finally, we work. Master Riflemen are functional. So at least we have something solid finally awaiting us if we choose to endure the P v E nightmare that is the Rifleman's domain.

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RhysMarantz wrote:

Rifles:

Flushing Shot1: Damage x2.0, Time x2.1
Flurry Shot1: Damage x2.5, Time x2.0
Strafe Shot1: Damage x2.0, Time x2.0
Startle Shot1: Damage x2.0, Time x2.1

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have these with level 2? Where you get this info from?

/nods at AldeonAvardilun

Exactly.

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=pistoleer&message.id=9136

It is a work in progress, but most of them are there.

Anyways, becuase of this post Im attempting to change my spec around to get master marksmen. Will be nice doing 500 damage every second. So instead of taking 4 seconds to kill 10 people it takes, 2.

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AldeonAvardulin wrote:

At master rifleman, (without master marksmen) everything will be 2.0 seconds. (styles) Except for maybe a Spraystick,or a DLT20a, with a speed slice of 40, and a 32 percent speed power up. It will showup as 2 seconds, for example, I have a 5.1 spd DLT, (5.1x2.5).1=1.275, but on your combat screen it will show up as 2.0 seconds all the time.

But with master marksmen, everything is 1.0 unless you have a T21, with 9.0 seconds.(9.0x2.5).05=1.125, this should show up as 2.0 seconds.

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I'm not sure what you mean by showing up as 2.0s. Over time, you should see the delay to be less than 2.0s, even if a particular pair of lines in the chat log shows 2.0s due to the lack of precision. That is, if your delay is 1.125, you should be getting 8 shots every 9 seconds.

Well, I really dont pay attention much, but like the first 5 shots maybe, but they all show up as 2.0 seconds.

I wouldn't even bother with master marksman unless you want to use pistols and carbines. Wouldn't it be much easier to get a socketed backpack or trench coat so that you could toss some +rifle speed tapes in them? I have seen +mods on tapes at +2to +23, but some people will charge you a few hundred thousand credits for the better, more desirable ones.

All the pistol special dmg and delay mods I have found to be accurate, and no one has said any of them are wrong. There may be a few that are off, I can't say. I haven't found any yet though.