Bumping this. Episode 6 Risa speaking japanese upon recruitment here too.

Not sure a spam'able slideburst matters/grabs to me. Its i-frames are the same as a speced dodge roll. I specifically like the Impact Slider for the longer iframes to dodge those big transition mechanics and such, the ones you can't afford to miss. Otherwise I think i'd agree that Slideburst is a good reaction, but then I'd just recommend dodge roll or SB.

Overall, thread has lots for google searchers to chew on now!

I'd agree to disagree as well. Firstly, Crafted Slideburst is ONLY immune during the little spin. Impact Slide is immune for 4 or 5 times the length (hence my recommendation, as I find is much easier to hit exactly the mechanic dodges without fail).

In a practice round, I did two 20second rounds

Round 1. Auto attack and Perfect Attack into Impacted Slideburst, my PP held out the entire time

Round 2. Auto attack and Perfect Attack into Steady Shots.

Steady shot GROSSY out damaged Slideburst for me (over 1million damage more). The video that Courage linked was very good, and ALSO showed Steady Shot out performing Slideburst. https://streamable.com/8tcmep However, I don't know the conditions of their test numbers, but it seems in line with the samples I provided of how I ranger.

Etoile does not penalize steady shot. In fact there are skills that reduce PP consumption for spamming a single PA and the 3/4 PA rotation (see Blac to Basics video) is something steady works very well in. However, as noted previously, if you have time to just stand still (and Etolie affords this) then there are superior PAs to damage with.

As always, folks are free to do them, but at least now this thread has some meat to chew on now! Cheers.

@Kate-Marsh Thank you for your reply.

I live alone, with my PC physically connected (no wifi).

Sometimes I might have a youtube video open on the other monitor, sometimes not. The only other thing sucking down bandwidth would be Discord. Overally, fairly singular net use. I do pull 100MBs, but not during peak hours (just the nature of bandwidth, and why every ISP advertises "speeds UP TO 100MB/s).

As in the OP, nothing tech or behavior has changed on my end. Ive been playing PSO since it came to Steam, and have seen maybe 2-3 630errors. However, since Dec, the connection is garbage/awful. 630error every hour or two with frequent game activity freezes (me getting stuck in technique cast or moving round shooting and no damage). Even back in June, July, etc, i had discord up and the occasional youtube vid but no issues.

Seems pretty clear its a lack of data coming from the PSO2servers.

When i looked at resmon to see what the TCP was doing, the latency was a solid 40-60ms, and packet loss at 0. Not eating much bandwidth, but occasionally packet loss would spike to 100%, as if the PSO2 servers crapped themselves for 2-4 seconds, then pick back up.

If anyone has any technical knowledge about what could be going one, I'd appreciate it (this is about the limit of my knowhow here).

Lot of updates, and since Cyberpunk came out, I havent been playing much PSO2 since then (so time stamp around Dec 9th).

I've been logging on to collect daily orders and such, but ive been trying to play for a couple days now (finishing that mission pass and bingo card!) and HOLY crap, what a garbage connection!

Nothing has changed on my end. Holidays usually mean heavier load on ISP, but im still pulling 25+MB down and 7-10MBup (my paid down service is 100MB down, but holidays and all).

Nothing's changed on my end... so what gives? Getting a like of disconnects and whole seconds with hitting and no damage. Spent like 5 seconds beating on a blue crate before it finally popped.

Was there any server notifications I missed? I know they disabled mission gold pass, but didnt see anything about load or server updates.

I found this while looking for something else. It was high enough on the google search list and underwhelmingly answered, that I wanted to offer a more robust answer. I put some numbers in of me hitting the practice dummy/rock-bear face. Each Example Damage is 1 use of the PA, no chain. Almost all hits were crits, which is mostly irrelevant for the examples, but just know I didn't record video of the damage, just pen and paper what I saw and final 20sec Dummy numbers. All my PAs are lvl 17. This is my opinion as an accomplished NA-only Ranger (Trailblazer units, rifle, Atlas EX rifle and launcher, etc. Ranger is my main and I have all other classes at 80 or 90). I sub hunter. I play as Vengillian on Ship 3.

Ranger Bread and Butter PAs (In descending order).

1. Steady Shot. This is the Ranger Bread and Butter. It connects with 10-12 (not sure on exact number of hits) near-instant hits over the course of the PA, and allows full movement, often necessary in boss fights and has amazing PP economy. It is very easy to chain and few if any mobs/bosses can move fast enough for any of the shots to miss. Its total damage is equivalent to, or slightly higher than one tick damage from Positron Blast. If you could only have one photon art to solo the entire game with, no other PA on this list could reasonably do it, save for Steady Shot, which could do it with ease. When in doubt, steady shot. Example damage 26,000 per hit, total 312,000.

2. Positron Blast. Arguably the best PA for Bosses or those DPS check/push phases where you need to just nuke hard. Its best followed by a chain, which should be Steady Shot or Normal/Blight Round. You cannot move while charging the PA, and any damage that knocks back or staggers you will fully interrupt the charge. It charges to 2 stages, and you always want the second, full charge. Despite all that, when you let it fly, it's medium'sih speed will travel through ALL hit boxes in a straight line, ticking damage each time. While a single tick of damage is less than Steady Shot, it will often hit 2, 3, 4, etc times traveling through your target. Example damage 240,000 first tick, 240,000 second tick, 90,000 3rd tick, 584,071 total damage.

3. Impact Slider. Not so much for its damage, this is your evade PA. When a situation arises where you think "i need to be completely immune to damage for a second or two, and the split second dive roll isnt enough," then you need Impact Slider. The start up is slow, but you are immune to all damage during the slide, which is my primary method to avoid some boss mechanics. In addition, you shoot while sliding and do decent damage, though I only use it for its invulnerability frames (called i-frames). Example damage, 3 hits, 92,000 92,000 83,000. Total Damage 356,001

4. Piercing Round. This is like Positron Blast lite. Its a instant shot, travels about the same speed, and penetrates enemies/hit boxes. Steady shot is better overall damage, but if you need to shoot through the bosses big, bulky body to hit the weakpoint, or you can line up multiple hit boxes to get several hits on a quick shot while on the move, this is your PA. Also note that the animation is fast, so you can rapid fire this, though its 20PP per, so you can dump PP fast with this. 112,000 first tick, 40,000 second tick, 152,000 total damage.

5. Slideburst. I use this less and less, but when you create the customized version, you can hold it down and glide over the ground, firing your gun for about the same damage as normal attack continuously. Its damage is on the weaker end, but nothing else offers that kinda mobility (the speed of the glide is about par with your run speed after a second or two of no actions, which is faster than your move speed while attacking).

6. Satellite Cannon. This is a primer PA. It hits harder than most, including Positron Blast. When I say primer, I mean "the boss isnt here yet, but will be, you charge this PA up to release when you have a target". However, like Positron Blast, you cannot move while charging and any stagger or knockback will interrupt your charge. Because the 'beam from orbit' can be harder to get the hit box you want and the damage is spread out over a longer animation from start to finish, you could ignore this and just use Positron Blast in its place. I personally favor this as opening damage (it hits the hardest and can be charged when you have no targets) and then I immediately move to getting Blight Round up and into normal DPS rotation. Example Damage 5 hits, 170,000, Total Damage 843,000.

Honorable Mentions:

• Diffusion Round: Shotgun blast, poor range, but does good aoe damage. Fast animation, can use while moving. Example Damage181,000.
• Stealth Shot: A silly PA, but fun. The beginning of the animation apparently has i-frames, but its too short to use reliably. Overall, I look down on Rangers chaining this over Steady Shot or charging up a Positron Blast, though its nice to see variation in the field. Example Damage 132,000 or 152,000 (i used it twice to see if crawling did anything). -Grenades and Traps: Though not a PA, you should be using Grenades and Traps as your primary source of PP recovery. Normal shot will be off the table most of the time because you have blight round loaded, and the dive roll shot is less PP and a longer animation than just lobbing a grenade at its face. I personally only use Gravity and Stun grenades, and that refills almost half of my 205 PP.

Launchers: I have less time in with launchers, but will say this:

• Rocket Rodeo, Craft the custom PA version, and you can ride your rocket like a bike. Best for traveling around maps and or turning PSO2 into a go-cart game of "Can you run them all over?" Does decent damage at end, though I just roll out of the rodeo cause its faster.
• Divine Launcher charged is big aoe, big damage
• Cosmos Breaker: Requires over-the-shoulder because the projectile is so slow, you NEED to just aim at the ground to get its damage off fast. You are also animation locked while the damage triggers, but you can roll out of that to continue DPSing. Good AoE.
• Photonic Laser: The launcher version of Positron Blast or Satellite Cannon. If you couldnt use Rifle for a boss fight, this is the PA you'd use whenever you'd normally Positron Blast.
• Flame Round: Its a flame thrower. I don't care if it does 1 damage. Its a flame thrower... =D