My biggest issue with the game is the lack of gun diversity. In PSO there were 4 types of ranged weapons, Handguns, Rifles, Mechguns and Shots, and in PSU there were 11 whopping ranged weapon types, Rifles, Shotguns, Longbows, Grenades, Laser Cannons, Twin Handguns, Handguns, Crossbows, Cards, Machineguns, and RCSMs. PSO2 by contrast only has Assault Rifles, Launchers, Twin Machine guns, and Bullet Bows. While that’s the same number of ranged weapon types as in PSO, its worth noting that the most options a player can have at the same time is 3 ranged weapon types. RaGu has Assault Rifles, Launchers, and Twin Machine guns, RaBr has Assault Rifles, Launchers and Bullet Bows, and GuBr has Assault Rifles, Twin Machine guns, and Bullet Bows.
I have specifically ignored gunslashs in this argument because they really don’t feel like ranged weapons most of the time, as well as the fact that they are considered by the game to be Striking weapons color wise, but even if you factor them in, its nowhere near the 11 types that PSU had, or the 6 ranged weapons that PSU rangers could have.
Most of the time I make this argument, I am met with the counter argument that “there are custom skins that improve the variety”, and while they does increase the visual variety, it doesn’t help with the lower rare weapon advancement that players who prefer ranged weapons experience.
Now you might be asking yourself, “what exactly does rare weapon advancement even mean”.
I’ll be honest, its not that easy for me to explain, but perhaps I can illustrate it.
Rangers alone have 25 7 star weapons, 8 of which cannot be obtained anymore.
Hunters alone have 32 7 star weapons, 6 of which cannot be obtained any more and 5 of which have require codes or were part of a campaign.
So that’s 17 for rangers, and 21 for hunters.
Now, I wont lie, this isn’t a great illustration, nor is it the best way of quantifying rarity progression, the site I used is likely outdated, and going by stat requirements would be a far better way to track progress.
However, even beyond the progression, its worth noting based on http://pso2wiki.net ‘s weapon pages, there are, unless I miscounted, a total of 144 Rifles and 148 launchers, and 133 Partizans, 141 Wired Lances and 155 Swords.
292 guns vs 436 melee weapons, is a pretty big difference.