Rifleman Archive
Thread: Oh my i have to rethink my entire rifleman strategy
this wont affect me too much since i use my pets as mobile armour and i have only once owned and used a fullset of armour. i prefer just not using it even when i am hunting without a pet. i also dont generally use doctor enhancements for every engagement. i would say about 40% of the time i am doctor buffed when hunting.
but we did know this was coming since the advantage we got for defense was due to a bug. maybe the fallout in a few days will stop the rise of rifle being skill of the month and it goes back to being an elite class when the non-dedicated people drain away in frustration because our class no longer offers the golden "I-Win Button". i just cant bring myself to seeing it as a real negative or class killer.
Message Edited by Barb-Wire on 03-17-2004 10:01 AM
Bamboozle wrote:This is the way it should be. You were hard to hit because of the chance to hit a rifleman was bugged, not because of your melee defense.
/agree.
Riflemen have had it far too easy when in melee range for a long time now.
doltec wrote:just meant to say i was surprised by it. i knew it was going to be in but i didnt realize i was going to be hit by every single attack launched at me. you'd think with +82 melee defense you would get missed occasionally.
i guess i grew up with rifles where getting hit once was enough to kill from just about everything worth shooting at
but monsters have always had much higher attack values than players. try it out under controlled conditions with a friendly meleer and a friendly CH and test pet attacks. of course you will have to use non-be pets so they have the same attack abilities of wild pet.
i would be happy to test but im kinda not able to call my nice pets quite yet...
doltec wrote:just meant to say i was surprised by it. i knew it was going to be in but i didnt realize i was going to be hit by every single attack launched at me. you'd think with +82 melee defense you would get missed occasionally.
Ah but you see there has meant to be a bonus to hit for melee attacks against someone holding a rifle for a long time, it's finally working bringing some kind of balance to the rifleman profession.
I understand it's a bit of a shock, but let me assure you it's a great deal better than the 2.5x melee damage that used to be in it's place. And I really do believe it's a weakness badly needed by rifleman.
doltec wrote:
Ok , i read the patch notes and was no where even prepared for what i encountered last night when i went to hunt. I have been in the habit of group hunting and not bothering to buff. By the time a creature was close enough to actually damage me i was usually watching it slide to a halt at my feet dead. Well the power of the rifles hasn't gone away thank goodness, because the melee to hit bonus has made every piece of clothes my squad leader abilities absolutely worthless. with the rifleman tree we get +42 to melee defense, my clothes bring that up to 54 and stacked in group since i am a master squad leader up to +84 melee defense. Well if i had any defenses at all last night they were not appareant. Every creature that close enough to attack me hit me with their attack i didnt avoid, dodge, block anything all not every melee attack landed on me. I am used to having only 500 health and action but could count on at least one miss to enable me finish of the attacking creature. Well that strategy is gone. I have begun stat migration from my mind to health and action so i have more lee way and the possible ability to wear armor while unbuffed.
Has anyone else run into this and what are your new stats going to be?
As others stated, the fact that we were hard to hit with melee attacks at melee range was a bug. We have a +40 melee defense at Master Rifleman (by Rifle Special Abilities IV, actually). I believe this was intended to mitigate the 2.5x melee damage, then to offset some of the new to-hit bonus that replaced it. But they screwed something up, and removed the 2.5x melee modifier without getting the to-hit bonus working. This left us with a +40 melee defense, twice as high as the +20 I get as a Master Swordsman(even adding Master Brawler, I only get +27 melee defense from melee professions). So when the complaint from melee professions that we were able to tank better than they were was not much of an exaggeration, as is indicated from your observations.
However, in answer to your question, I am not changing anything myself. I leveled during the 2.5x melee modifier days, back when we had to level in the snow, and we did not have any shoes, and we had to use sticks for guns.... err...sorry... drifted there for a minute. Anyway, my strategy at that time was to switch to pistol as soon as something got within melee range. After I made Master Rifleman and realized that Pistols IV was never going to be enough and inefficient because I had to switch targeted pools, I decided to give up Ranger and Scout, and I started working on Master Swordsman then Master Brawler to round out my build.
Thus, I have rifle for long range, and Swordsman and Brawler skills for when they get within melee range. My health and action stats are slightly higher than many pure riflemen (700/500/400 for H & A, and 800/800/600 for Mind if I recall correctly). I do this so I do not kill myself with melee specials if I am not buffed.
Because I can go melee if they get in close, and because I usually do not do anything significant (espeically, PvP) unless I am buffed, I am personally not concerned about the change. But I leveled understanding that your chances of survival against melee drops dramatically if you are within melee range and you continue to hold onto your rifle. We had a reprieve from this principle for a time, and those who leveled between the time the melee damage modifier went away and now will need to adjust their thinking. But while those of us who experienced the 2.5x modifier may need to be a little less complacent, this is really nothing unfamiliar, and we are already used to dealing with it.
Just save up and buy a crate of muon, a crate of +400 brandy and a crate of +600 Canape, there you go no mind cost at all.
Message Edited by Seflyn on 03-17-2004 09:25 PM