Useful information about PRDPS

[Karast]

Hello everyone,

Before you continue further be warned that a wall of text will follow. Thank you!

From going over and reviewing a lot of the balance discussions, the daily chatter in advice, and a lot of the individual class threads, I noticed that a lot of people are confused about some pretty basic things when it comes to the rdps archetype, and the career balance within the archetype itself. So I thought it might be useful to layout some basic information about RDPS in WAR.

The key thing to know about the RDPS archetype, is that there are in fact two archetypes. There are the MRDPS (magical rdps) BW, Sorc, and Magus. Then there are the PRDPS (physical rdps) SW, SH, and Engi. These groups function differently to each other. They work off of different stat systems, they have different core morales, they have different sub mechanics, and they have access to different pools of tactics as well. A lot of abilities are actually mirrored within these archetypes. This means that a lot of the issues that come up between careers like Engi / Magus which are career mirrors, but exist within different RDPS archetypes are real headaches. They were never built to be exact mirrors, and while the class mechanic and certain key abilities are the same, the bulk of tactics, morales, and stats differ. But before we discuss career to career differences lets do a basic overview of PRDPS.

PRDPS (Physical RDPS) SW, SH, and Engi

All PRDPS share core of tactics, abilities, sub mechanics, and morales.

* Ranged Auto Attack at 1h weapon value. This basic attack does not trigger while casting, or moving unless a stance (sw) or squig (sh) is used.

* Light Armor. All the prdps have light armor rather than robe.

* BS / WS. Being mostly physical damage (except engi wtf 70% is corp!) these classes use BS as their main dps stat, and have WS as a secondary stat on their gear to increase their armor penetration. They face a 75% armor mitigation cap, making armor debuffs and WS vital. It also means that they have issues against high armor tanks, and medium armor careers.

* PRDPS morales. All PRDPS get the following morales: Concealment / Point-Blank / Unshakable Focus (most SW / SH / Engi hate this, but due to mitigation issues it really is vital) / Explosive Shots / Hail of Doom

* PRDPS tactics. All PRDPS get the following tactics: Clever Recovery / Pierce Defense / (BS / WS / STR - Toughness tactic) / Masterful Aim

* Core Abilities. Plink / Gunblast / Eagle Eye. Focused Fire / Rapid Fire / Lots of Arrows. Pet channel on SH (spike squig) / Engi (gun turret).

Hopefully this information will help people understand the dynamic at play between careers.

[Theseus]

Hm, could you elaborate, what those tactics do, and how they influence the careers exactly? I for example never played a RDPS, neither a PRDPS nor a MRDPS..... so this information is nice, but without further details it isnt conclusive, what exactly the problems are comparing the Magus and the Engi for example. Ok, they have different Stats I got that, but do they scale differently or is it just that there are different resistances at work. Which tactics do the MRDPS have and what do they do.... can they be compared to PRDPS? Thats some things I really would have to know if i would adress anything about RDPS.