New Group of Players

[SilentM]

I just was doing some more research and realized that all of the guides on Force Shielders are mainly from 2008 or 2009, and there are no current up to date guides. Which explains why what you all are telling me so vastly differs from what the guides are telling me. I'm probably going to roll with a warrior for the time being and play a force shield in my spare time. With the complete and under lack of information on force shielders out there I think I will just experience the class for myself as an alt. I just hope warriors end up being enjoyable for my play style (heavy aoe and tank). Thank you again to everyone who helped me, and I look forward to seeing/talking with you all again.

P.S. FallenAngel I'll send you PM tomorrow with me and my friends' names. Thank you for helping us out with all the information.

Sincerely,
Rose

Like others have said, you can get level 100 in a few days, and at level 100 you gain access to all skills on the character. If you find that it doesn't suit your needs then play the other class.

An FS is not entirely terrible. If you like to be the tank, then FS is definitely the tank. Fs may not be built off of brute force, but are capable of tremendous critical hits, which give them the ability to two shot any player given the right gear. Warriors are preferred over FS in a dungeon because of their debuff skill and high attack base. Add that with their defense and they easily become more useful. Nothing beats FS defense though. Their three particular good skills are: art of defense, which pretty much reduces damage to nothing, shadow shield, party skill which absorbs 2100 damage for a period of time, and mortal bane, which sacrifices defense for a damage boost. All three buffs can be stacked, causing a pretty overpowered combination.

Dungeon and party wise, FS, like FA, are needed more for the higher leveled dungeons. In general, the most used classes for dungeons are Wa, Wi, Fb, but it doesn't mean that BL, FS, FA would not be just as capable in running a dungeon, it just isn't the "optimal" choice. A dungeon that requires a bigger party would definitely want an FS for its defense buff.

Anyway, you said you were playing both classes so the one you like more will present itself. Don't stress it too much since the game gives you what you need for your character in the early stages. When you have to start gearing the character, that's when you want to make your final decision.

[xvxURIZENxvx]

I just was doing some more research and realized that all of the guides on Force Shielders are mainly from 2008 or 2009, and there are no current up to date guides. Which explains why what you all are telling me so vastly differs from what the guides are telling me. I'm probably going to roll with a warrior for the time being and play a force shield in my spare time. With the complete and under lack of information on force shielders out there I think I will just experience the class for myself as an alt. I just hope warriors end up being enjoyable for my play style (heavy aoe and tank). Thank you again to everyone who helped me, and I look forward to seeing/talking with you all again.

P.S. FallenAngel I'll send you PM tomorrow with me and my friends' names. Thank you for helping us out with all the information.

Sincerely,
Rose

FS is an OP class in the game since he's one that can easily go over 60% critical rate and well over 200% critical damage,you just have to have the right gear for the class like all of cabal's classes

When you have to start gearing the character, that's when you want to make your final decision.

What she said

[plzbuffme]

the reason i picked warrior/force blader/wizard was due to their versatility. they can all do solo plays easily, and in parties, they're all force multipliers... which is a big factor because it sounds as if you prefer pve element more than pvp element.

warriors have nearly as much defense as force shielders, but has useful party buffs that increase hp and damage, as well as debuff that allows you to crit on bosses more often. the thing that makes warrior better than force shielders is panic cry and their awesome battle mode, which has much more dps than that of force shielders.

force bladers are pretty essential in high level dungeons because they too have debuff that allows you to crit. add that with warrior's panic cry and you have extremely high chance of critting... and this game is all about crits. their battle mode 1 also allows them to become the best tank in the game.

wizards have high dps, and their battle mode 2 allows them to cast 2 spells at once at fixed rate of 1.6 seconds at a time. they also have sp buff, which allows you to go battle mode more often, as well as comboing.

force archer for healing purpose is really not that necessary until you start hitting forgotten temple 2 and maquinas outpost. that's something you wont have to worry about until you hit end game.

[Halcy]

FS is an OP class in the game since he's one that can easily go over 60% critical rate and well over 200% critical damage,you just have to have the right gear for the class like all of cabal's classes

very op in pve, amirite?

[xvxURIZENxvx]

the reason i picked warrior/force blader/wizard was due to their versatility. they can all do solo plays easily, and in parties, they're all force multipliers... which is a big factor because it sounds as if you prefer pve element more than pvp element.

warriors have nearly as much defense as force shielders, but has useful party buffs that increase hp and damage, as well as debuff that allows you to crit on bosses more often. the thing that makes warrior better than force shielders is panic cry and their awesome battle mode, which has much more dps than that of force shielders.

force bladers are pretty essential in high level dungeons because they too have debuff that allows you to crit. add that with warrior's panic cry and you have extremely high chance of critting... and this game is all about crits. their battle mode 1 also allows them to become the best tank in the game.

wizards have high dps, and their battle mode 2 allows them to cast 2 spells at once at fixed rate of 1.6 seconds at a time. they also have sp buff, which allows you to go battle mode more often, as well as comboing.

force archer for healing purpose is really not that necessary until you start hitting forgotten temple 2 and maquinas outpost. that's something you wont have to worry about until you hit end game.

These reasons right here are why it's good to have a high critical rate/high critical damage FS,If you get a 60+ rate/200+ damage FS spamming level 9 SS and level 9 SG in a party with a WA and FB spamming rate debuffs...GG on everything in cabal,Panic cry is great for warriors since most can't really break 58% critical rate without losing a large chunk of their critical damage,unless they're alz buyers and rock a 15/80 GS and 7/40 helm,FB's loose half of their critical rate in BM1 so hard luck is there to make up for it,not to mention the skill cools down before the debuff wears off.

A party of 6 of each class is more effective than a party of mixed classes since you can utilize every buff and debuff available in the game.

[EzSeleneEz]

Honestly, one of the best parties would be WA, FA, Wi. The warriors are tanks, they have and awesome debuff to increase everyones damage on a mob/boss, and also has a party buff that raises everybodys magic/attack to deal even more damage. The Fa can keep everyone healed, as well as also having good dps, And the Wi will make sure you guys can BM/Aura as much as possible, to speed dungeons up, and have the best bm2 dps of all the classes, so they too will be putting out massive damage while in bm2.

[SaignementsRose]

Like others have said, you can get level 100 in a few days, and at level 100 you gain access to all skills on the character. If you find that it doesn't suit your needs then play the other class.

An FS is not entirely terrible. If you like to be the tank, then FS is definitely the tank. Fs may not be built off of brute force, but are capable of tremendous critical hits, which give them the ability to two shot any player given the right gear. Warriors are preferred over FS in a dungeon because of their debuff skill and high attack base. Add that with their defense and they easily become more useful. Nothing beats FS defense though. Their three particular good skills are: art of defense, which pretty much reduces damage to nothing, shadow shield, party skill which absorbs 2100 damage for a period of time, and mortal bane, which sacrifices defense for a damage boost. All three buffs can be stacked, causing a pretty overpowered combination.

Dungeon and party wise, FS, like FA, are needed more for the higher leveled dungeons. In general, the most used classes for dungeons are Wa, Wi, Fb, but it doesn't mean that BL, FS, FA would not be just as capable in running a dungeon, it just isn't the "optimal" choice. A dungeon that requires a bigger party would definitely want an FS for its defense buff.

Anyway, you said you were playing both classes so the one you like more will present itself. Don't stress it too much since the game gives you what you need for your character in the early stages. When you have to start gearing the character, that's when you want to make your final decision.

So in other words for below end game PVE content a warrior is best in the dungeons; however, like the Force Archer who isn't needed as a healer type for the earlier dungeons but is needed for end game, the Force Shielders real power lies in end game raids/dungeons? Or are you saying that Force Shielders (as I am starting to get the feeling) really are just more of a pvp type now for both early and end-game gameplay?

[SaignementsRose]

These reasons right here are why it's good to have a high critical rate/high critical damage FS,If you get a 60+ rate/200+ damage FS spamming level 9 SS and level 9 SG in a party with a WA and FB spamming rate debuffs...GG on everything in cabal,Panic cry is great for warriors since most can't really break 58% critical rate without losing a large chunk of their critical damage,unless they're alz buyers and rock a 15/80 GS and 7/40 helm,FB's loose half of their critical rate in BM1 so hard luck is there to make up for it,not to mention the skill cools down before the debuff wears off.

A party of 6 of each class is more effective than a party of mixed classes since you can utilize every buff and debuff available in the game.

What do you mean by your last sentence: "A party of 6 of each class is more effective than a party of mixed classes since you can utilize every buff and debuff available in the game."? Do you mean that having a party that has 6 warriors or 6 FA or 6 WI, etc is better than a party with 1WA,1FB,1WI,1FA,1FS,1BL? Or the other way around the party with 1 of each class is better than the party of 6 people all playing the same class?

[Lann]

what makes WA,FB,WI combo the best is that both WA and FB has a debuff that makes u crit more and to wiz that is essential since they have the highest dps in game added with the crit u will kill bosses easily. If ur friend really wants to be FA its ok since WA has a buff that lowers def and incraeses attack and its really hard to tank with it so the FA can be healing him while hes in that buff

The highest dps classes are WA,WI,BL those could be a combo you'd be using

FS aren't entirely useless but the point is they are mainly for PVP than PVE

[SaignementsRose]

what makes WA,FB,WI combo the best is that both WA and FB has a debuff that makes u crit more and to wiz that is essential since they have the highest dps in game added with the crit u will kill bosses easily. If ur friend really wants to be FA its ok since WA has a buff that lowers def and incraeses attack and its really hard to tank with it so the FA can be healing him while hes in that buff

The highest dps classes are WA,WI,BL those could be a combo you'd be using

FS aren't entirely useless but the point is they are mainly for PVP than PVE

Well my two friends have already decided now that they will play FA (healer), and Wizard for the friend who doesn't play melee. Basically even if the party isn't ideal it doesn't matter because they each have a type of gameplay they enjoy and that's it. The one likes to be ranged dps, the other a healer/supporter (ranged only). I like to tank, so generally speaking in most games we would have an ideal party. Here obviously having the proper debuffs is more important, but that won't be happening. As such we'll be relying on the wizard and myself as a warrior to do the damage, and the FA to heal.