Rifleman Archive

ugh stupid enter key.... sorry about that, what i was going to say is i've got a rough draft of a post i was going to post in general, and want the inupt and opinions of the other riflemen hear to add onto it before I do, so any opinions of the NON FLAME kind would be appreciated.

First off I'm going to keep this from turning into another "my class sucks" whine post, that's pointless and not needed we all know it. Or whine that I'm more important then everyone else and need help noooow (/veruca salt voice) cause lord knows I agree with the issues other classes are having (specially the DE's) But what I am going to do is try to point out as someone who's gone for riflemen since I bought the game why I'm becoming quite disillusioned with the class in general, as a disatisfied customer why I'm seriously considering not renewing my subscription when the first 3 months are up thanks to these problems, and hopefully a few suggestions on how to fix things so you guys and SOE can keep my $15 a month still.

first off a link that sums up a lot of issues.

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=rifleman&message.id=12286

Though I didn't post in that topic I share many of the sentiments in it, and figured it should be posted here in the hope it's got a better chance of being read by a dev.

As it stands now riflemen, through issues with our own class and skills, and general content bugs that still aren't resolved are rapidily working there way up to winning the award of "Best new pre patch commando class."

Combat wise we can solo...provided that the mob does not.

#1 Bring friends: the 2.5 melee means even 2 of the thugs outside most towns will 90% of the time incap a rifleman if they run at him, now make it a lair of gurrcats/ slice hounds / mountian ikopi's / heck even the rasps on talus and a rifleman is incapped, end of discussion, no two ways about it. No other ranged class has this problem, so why do we? And I'd like a better explation then it's cause we hit mind, if that's the case I'm waiting for pistol BH's and combat medics to get it as well. As it stands unless we take the time to conceal shot yellow-red cons (and pray they don't spot us) Rifle xp is an absolute chore to get given our limited choices in mobs we can hunt and xp they give.

#2 Run right at us, and we in turn run from it: When you combine the new "run and gun" accuracy mods, with the fact that at any range below 40m a rifle has almost nil chance to hit once that mob notices us it had better be bleeding to death cause if we have to run (thanks to the 2.5 melee) as it closes into point blank range there's almost no chance of us getting in one last shot before we're incapped. And thanks to the changes to both dizzy and supression fire we can't keep mobs off us anywhere near as well as before either.

http://webpages.charter.net/bennyboy4308/ss1.jpg

Counter: "And warning shot?"

My response: And watching the mob run to 140m, bleed to death, then not get any xp for it? Or how bout trying to chase it across lok though it's friends? Or watching the 1 warning shot we might get miss thanks to accuracy mods? It's a last resort move nothing more.

#3 Warp: General issue I know but again thanks to 2.5 melee if it happens we may as well just stand there and wait to die since by the time burst run kicks in after a 4-7 rifle shot lag we're already dead.

#4 Try to use specials or even auto attack at all: Whatever the last patch did to accuracy it has become so bad for us that even people who have been master riflemen for awhile now are beginning to notice problems hitting.

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=rifleman&message.id=12389

Counter: "But rifle's are way overpowered so when you hit we're dead!"

My response: #1 If we hit that is. think about how long the average PvP situation lasts, riflemen on average get maybe 2 shots pre master a couple more post master before someone notices us, If those shots don't connect, and someone decides to burst run in our face, again we're history thanks to accuracy mods and attack speed for anyone short of master riflemen. #2 I'm 2-1-2-1 almost 2-1-3-2 in riflemen now, and NOT ONCE has my glorified laser rifle err I mean T21 ever one shot killed anything but light blue con imp npcs, and that was with a flurry shot that capped at 1800 in pve and just above 2000 with a 32% max damage powerup. So to those people who were whining about overpowered rifles (And I'll wager had 500 mind bars) I'd love to know where I can get one of those, becuase the rifles on Valcyn don't hold a candle to the ones shooting at you apparently.

#5 Be the third one we're trying to headshot: I have a 950 mind bar after reducing health and action to 800 (may as well have since if I get hit I die anyway), headshot3 with my vaunted and "overpowered" T21 takes 140 mind, it takes 1-3 headshots to kill BLUE CONS on average for me. So killing 2 blue cons for a just over 1000 rifle xp at best and a piddly amount of the combat xp we need for more speed in a couple minutes means on average I'm sitting for 5 minutes even with rations boosting willpower to get my mind back.

Counter: "Well why don't you just go buy muon golds and shoot all day long?"

My response: #1 The day that muon gold prices come down to the costs of stim B's every other class can use to heal much lower ham costs (not counting certain carbine specials or the melee knockdowns) will be the day I might think about doing so, of course even then we still are suffering in built in downtimes anyway. #2 why should riflemen be the only ranged combat class that has to rely on such a thing when it's merely an option for pistol and carbine users? I don't have hordes of credits to burn buying muon gold crates left and right, even more so after the double whammy of less mission payouts and the slashing of ranger harvests (but that's an issue for another post)

And we can group, but...

#1 Damage output is still sub par compared to other classes in a damage = xp system: This is STILL an issue holding us pre master riflemen back. We get on average 1 shot auto attack to every 3-4 a pistol / carbine user is getting at lower lvl's pre master speed mods. And when you throw on top of that now the new LLC and the commando weapons our ability to damage random bars with auto attack or our other random HAM specials just can't hold a candle to them. And again that's if we even hit thanks to the accuracy issues we're having. This is not a call to nerf or a flame to the other classes, it's just the simple truth as it stands right now. And with ham costs even if we're using strafe2 flushing2 and flurry2 we're the ones sitting and waiting on mind while the others stim up and keep killing.

#2 A group even wants us to come along: So you're heading out to go play around of squill bashing outside town, and you get everyone together, and how many groups are actually going to want to bring along the guy who will die in two hits if he gets aggro, as stated above can't hold a candle to the other classes damage output, and pre area attacks and master uses an entierly different set of moves to hit a different bar? And if we do die name how many groups are really going to be waiting around for the riflemen to hike back, and that's just a 1-2k hike from town, if you're the first to die at fort tusken when a warlord decides to 1 shot you for 1000+ you're better off just finding another group (heh) or going solo and putting up with the above problems then attempting the walk back by yourself.

#3 Finding a group in the first place.

Number of people I see with lfg tags in a day: 0

Number of people I see shouting about groups counting myself in the last 2 weeks: 2

Number of groups I've been with in the last 2 weeks: 1

Number of groups that accomplish anything: 0

Number of people probably powerlving like mad and would rather solo then waste their time to try and form a group: To make a guess 80% of the players playing.

#4 We aren't casual players: I'm in college, I get maybe 3-4 hours a day weekdays to play now, I do not want to spend 30 mins looking for a group, 15 mins trying to prepare that group to go out, 15 more waiting for the guy who someone in the group says "will be here in just one second." 15 more going to wherever it is we're hunting with said group. Then maybe 1-2 hours of fighting provided that someone doesn't die, a freak incident *coughwarpingcough* wipes the group and we're sitting healing for 20 mins more, a bad pull makes us camp for 5-10 healing off the damage if we couldn't find a medic or I need to heal mind. Etc etc etc.

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There's going to be a lot more to this like suggestions for the class, and logs of riflemen weapons in action when i get them tomorrow (ordered 1 of each) till then what do you guys think of this?

Brilliant.

All the rifle issues summed up in a neat package.

Here's another moan:

Armour. Most Riflepersons will have Mind/Focus/Willpower maxxed (or **edit** near to it) at the expense of other (generally secondary) stats to cope with the cost of special moves. And to recover as quickly as possible since medics can't get us fixed up and ready to fight again. Makes it tough for us to wear any armour. And the secondary stat cost for helmets is the highest, squarely hurting Riflepersons more than any other profession.

So I don't wear any armour.

Sounds Great, another thing.

We are supposed to be the sniper class right, then how come our max range is 64m, when flamethrowershave the same max range? Shouldnt It be a bit higher so its like we really are snipers.

Good ideas, i bet a dev wont read this, so i STRONGLY urge you to send this as a private message to holo or someone. (don't ask me how, i just know you can)

Another issue for everyoneI found tonight the hard way, and a shameless bump =p

Those weakling lil cute CL 15 pets everyone gets now, that can't do jack, and are lil tanks at best....

I got pegged by one of those cute widdle panthers tonight by an imp camping my mission, 431 damage in one hit before I even knew it was on me (have also noticed when I send inmy faction pets they've been warping so I wouldn't be surprised if this one did too)

If i'm off on panthers being CL15 then my mistake, but it's still yet another pvp issue for riflemen as everyone gets their own personal pokemon now to 2.5 melee us and onlyuswith.

why dont all ranged weopons have a damage mod? If even to a lesser extent? rifle 2.5 carbine 1.5 pistol .5?

Yes I hate that, why is it that a someone withcarbine spec and a weakling creature can kill an expert rifleman!