Rifleman Archive

I have no problem grouping. I believe Aldeon is right, it's all about tactics --- and equally important is weapons. I'll be dead honest, I'm not even a novice rifleman yet, just a specialist; however my friends all LOVE grouping with me cause say, my overcharge shot with my laser does ~800 damage (If I get that lucky shot) and then I switch to a sweet DTL20a (built by shani :smileyhappy that has a 2.1spd and 101-169 damage. With the powerups rifleman get I do consistently 200-400 Damage with the 20a. My friend's love me cause when we want to hunt huge game I pop off 2 mindshots to ensure the creature will die, and then switch to the DTL20a to pelt away. Of course, I've got some friends with enormous health bars and they pull the creature away well -- I just heal em' with my medic skills.

RE: Original post

While your point is a valid one, and very well thought out I disagree. I would like to know "the majority." I know grouping everyone tends to use regular shots or health damaging specials, while we don't shine in these areas we are not terrible either, look at countersniping 3/4, or special abilities 3 for PRE-master health pool damage + useful effects on the mob that benefit the group. I also think that this goes both ways, if a pistoleer is in a group of rifleman, he will gain little xp, or a rifleman in a group of action draining carbineers, pistoleers are just more common at the moment. I believe this problem will work itself out, in the mean time test out those special abilites, dizzying or stunning an opponent is very helpful especially if your group members have pets who do posture down attacks, or if they themselves are "knocking down" the mobs.

RE: Tek

Once again "snipers" and "useless trees" (This is odd, coming from someone who doesn't have all of the rifleman trees)

I find that all trees are very useful, I'll explain to you their usefulness.

Sniping: Good for the obvious, head shot 3, mind shot 2, accuracy,snipershot for pvp, no need to explain further.

Concealment: Problably the worst tree we have, but concealment 1 is far from useless (in PVE, that is.. but this isn't a strictly pvp game, so that is OK) conceal shot is very useful, it targets a random pool does fairly good damage and if you are prone or crouched at 55-60 meters with a laser rifle you will not miss on most targets, on top of that they are fixing the social bug with this making it even more effective.

Countersniping: While the "skill mods" aren't the best, flushing shot 2 (flushing volley) and startle shot 2 are among the best skills we get, both are AE also... try them out, see how you can use their effects, let me know if you still need assistance.

Special abilities: +speed ! ! priceless. And flurry shot 2 is no slouch if you decide not to climb countersniping until later. Try these skills out, once you figure out how they work and the advantages to having them please reconsider.

Via, the Master "Master Rifleman"

Heya,

With the patch and the game being released for around 2 months, I think we have a clearer (albeit not too clear) look at what SOE is trying to do to the game. This patch took a big step in that direction, more grouping. SOE is slowly pushing for more and more grouping, the signs have been popping up for awhile now. More BAF creatures (which seems to grow almost daily), better group EXP model, etc; Its a matter of opinion which kind of game is more "enjoyable", but it would seem that SOE is def. pushing for a group-minded combat system. This does not bode well for aspiring Rifleman.

Already there seems to be very few Non-BAF creatures that Rifleman can attack. Non-BAF has become a practical neccessity, as our low DPS and Melee disadvantage make it difficult to juggle creatures, even if we do have warningshot. So with the list dwindling, sometime in the future the Rifleman will be faced with the ultimate decision to group or continue to solo. As Aldeon has said

"You really should get to grinding XP before they make it any harder to solo XP. Wich you know they are, they are trying to force grouping upon us. Eventually we will have to, and XP will come much slower."

This decision by SOE makes prevalant one of our flaws. We're solo'rs by nature, as mind-damage is inflicted upon by a very small percentage of the total galaxy population (I swear I've only seen 20-30 Rifleman on all of Tarq and Heavy Swordsman are not much better). With the current group EXP model we are at a natural disadvantage as our primary means for defeating enemies is in the clear minority of any server population. So while Pistoleers, Fencers, TKA, etc; (who have much higher base DPS) inflict copious amounts of damage, we're left with doing much lower DPS with only one or two special attacks that actually help the group. So what your left with at the end of the day is a fraction of the EXP while the other combat classes take the cake.

Now I'm not whining about our lack of DPS, we all know about and accept it as a fundamental part of the Rifleman class. But, with SOE enforcing grouping upon us we're essentially left out to dry.

The grouping EXP model needs to be reworked in some fashion to accomadate us (which is, when you think about it, unfair to the other combat classes that ARE doing more damage). Or give us more non-BAF creatures to solo.

I'm not about to purpose what should or shouldn't be done, but nonetheless I fear for the viability of our class if SOE doesn't address this issue that will no doubt grow with time.

Your Thoughts.

This decision by SOE makes prevalant one of our flaws. We're solo'rs by nature, as mind-damage is inflicted upon by a very small percentage of the total galaxy population (I swear I've only seen 20-30 Rifleman on all of Tarq and Heavy Swordsman are not much better).

Completely agree. Since 95% are not master rifleman and are depending on headshots, it means 95% of us are a solo type of class as our damage is not "group friendly".

Personally i believe this could be changed by adding a precision shot line of attacks (each of which targets a specific HAM pool) to one of our useleless branches. After all, we are snipers. Why the hell cant i shoot an enemie's chest just as easily as i can his head?