I was thinking of possibly trying to play as a Braver using a katana, but all of the videos I find on YouTube tend to talk a lot about Guarding and Countering. So I was just wondering: Is Braver with a katana even worth trying if you don't ever use Guard or Counter? Because apart from being required to do those in order to pass the Training Missions, I have NEVER Guarded against a single attack in my entire 350+ hours of playing this game since its NA release. (Heck, I didn't even know that guarding and blocking attacks was a thing that existed in this game until I accidentally found it a little under 3 weeks ago.)

it is possible to go without using guard and counter with Braver but you lose a good quantity of damage by playing that way, after all certain buffs will only be applied after doing a counter so if you want to see the real power of the Katana you gonna need to get used to counter

Ok. I've tried the Training Missions for Braver and the timing I had to have for guarding against an attack made absolutely no sense to me. I was only able to pass the mission by pure luck. So I'll just completely forget about trying Braver. Thanks.

just guard and counter is not difficult to pull off, just need to know the timing to use it but if you don't want to do it then you can still use Bow Braver

Well on top of what I said earlier, considering that A: I've put an estimated 100 million meseta total into my Hunter/Fighter build that I'm currently using and B: The only weapon type I have ever used in this game is a Sword, I think I'll stick with my Hunter/Fighter. Thank you very much for trying to help me though.

keep in mind you can use just guard with Hunter too, so you can train using swords and if you are using Guard Stance is a requirement to fully use the buffs of that stance

Well, since my last post in this thread I've been watching video after video trying to explain it and every one of them just makes me more and more confused and more and more frustrated and makes me want to play the game less and less. I've also been trying to figure out what combos they do in the videos and it's all so fast that I can't even tell what the heck is going on. So except for just staying with Hunter/Fighter, idk what the heck else to do.

don't bother with other players combos, see what PAs works better for you and use then as combos the vantage in PSO2 is that every class has access to several PAs and most of then do pretty much the same damage, the trick is just to understand how to use the bonus of each class, after all most of then follow the same pattern with the exception of Summoner and the Scion classes that have their own playstyle

Well, 1: I don't even understand how to do any combos as a Braver at all. And 2: what exactly do you mean by the "bonus" of each class?

the class own mechanic and how to use it, for example Hunter has access to Hunter Focus that affects speed, range and charge of PAs and also Fury Stance and Guard Stance, so if you know how to use those you know how to apply all Hunter buffs and optimize the damage.

now with combos just choose the PAs that are easier for you to use is not much than that

Well as a Hunter, I've only ever used Fury Stance because based on what the description in the game says, I was under the impression that if you try to put skill points into Guard Stance while you have skill points in Fury Stance and then use Guard Stance, it makes Fury Stance not work anymore even after Guard Stance is over.