Accuracy and Archers?

Blackula__ - Archosaur

Hey, so I haven't played archer much since about 2 years ago....I stopped at L99 pure build because I felt no one ever wanted archers in squads since it was all about sins and bms doing aps farming. Have things changed? I know that archers can get high aps but I guess the lack of bp makes them not desirable?

I would love an update on archer squad acceptance but also am curious about future play. I also should say I went sage on my archer. I tried Nation wars and was surprised how many times I missed? I don't remember missing so much during TW's and things. Squishy yes...but if I got the first shots in I had a good chance. I don't have any accuracy gear, has something changed?

Is it still advisable to go rank 8 if you are not going rank 9 (close to rank 8). Or should someone just focus on getting G16 gear? The rank 8 has interval top and ring but I assume the rest should be G16 or rank 9?

Sorry to ramble these are just some thoughts I had after playing NW with archer on Friday.

qzazn8

Don't worry too much about APS. It's ineffective in pvp. You should be more concerned in maximizing damage you can deal with your bow rather than fists or claws. Since the Sirens of War update, nirvana has become obsolete, so the bm/sin aps grinding has disappeared. As an archer myself, I don't have much problem getting into the squads I want to join.

About your accuracy problem...I suppose you can get a few rings to increase your accuracy, such as http://www.pwdatabase.com/pwi/items/16030.
In the past, it was sort of okay for archers to not have any +accuracy gear since other characters had low evasion anyways, plus archers have huge amounts of dex. However, today's gear makes it essential for more players to have better accuracy. Restat any extra strength points you have into dexterity. Anyhow, that's my opinion.

Answering your gear question, I personally went rank 8 so I could have a decent bow. Then again, I had rank 8 for over a year before g15/g16 became really easy to get due to nation wars. Currently, I am working on getting the full nirvy g16 set. Since you already have the L99 set, you can easily recast it to nirvy g15 with your winnings from nation wars. Then it's off to warsong or lunar glade to upgrade to g16! After that, I plan to work towards a rank 9 bow, since there really no other bow which can compare to that. Hope this helped!

Blackula__ - Archosaur

thank you for the information...I agree APS is not really used in PvP but what about the rest of the time playing? What i remember from before is no one wanted archer in squads...so I spent all my time not getting any help with farming mats for gear and stuff? reason I started a bm was because I wanted to be able to farm gear.....what does archer do the rest of the time, when not in TW and NW?

Don't be me wrong...I tried bm in NW and it felt awkward...all my toons have always been more run and snipe play style

Elenacostel - Heavens Tear

In terms of PvE, there are basically two endgame instances: Warsong (full run) and Lunar.

Archers can get into Warsong without too much difficulty. We tend to defend Fire and Metal pavillions. Fist archers can also do Wood pavillion as well. Earth is also easy for us (even without fists, I think), but for some reason I never get assigned to there.

Also, remember to STA as much as possible in Warsong. While some pavillions (notably metal and water) have mobs which are immune to STA, none of the bosses are immune, and the mobs in the other elements are also vulnerable to it.

As for Lunar, I haven't tried getting into randoms. I am able to multiclient in there, and have faction friends that join all the time. So, I have no idea how hard it is to join randoms that require weapon links or some such. I do know that I use my claws instead of fists; looking at the math, I have to Barrage 6 or more targets at 5+ meter range in order to do as much damage as my perma-spark claws do. However, I can only tank about 5 targets at a time, so I just resort to using claws.

In my opinion, having claws is fine great. Firstly, you can use claws without restatting just by swapping gear. You may have to get lucky on Ornament Engraving (Ring, neck), but it is doable. Secondly, even if you do restat, I find the flexibility worth the loss in damage.

That being said, I am not good at PvP, so while I have the option that the loss in damage is not great, bear in mind that I'm not doing as well as other archers in Nation Wars.

As for which gear to get, the answer basically comes down to: do you want to spend several hundred million coins (Nirvana S3), or several billion coins (Rank 9 S3)? You can compromise and get both: get Lunar-based Nirvana S3 first, and then use that while you work on Rank 9. When you finish Rank 9, you can sell your gear Nirvana gear. (Prices are taken from Heaven's Tear server.)

EDIT: Oh, there's also Endless Universe and Advanced Endless Universe. I don't do those, but I do know others do. I have no idea how easy / hard it is to get into those instances.