So, optical damage

[it's a gabe]

I remember back when I started playing some tutorial or another mentioning that optical weapons were pretty useless for PVP (against the AI anyway) cuz most players had optical damage defense equipped.

So, a year or so later, I'm curious: is that because NPC enemies (not players) have optical weapons or what? Is optical damage reduction an actually useful chip to have or should I just stick to increasing my damage as much as possible?

[Algester]

just stick to killing them as fast as possible

[it's a gabe]

Originally posted by Sakamoto:

Depends if your role in the party is to tank or to dps... jacks-of-all-trade that are average at both are good at none.

Though in NPC parties, your role is most often the tank one unless you use and abuse invisibility and conceal.

I play single player the most. Would you say it's useful on extreme, then? I was thinking of the industrial area in the solitary sands when I made this thread, cuz that must be the absolute worst spot on extreme with a dozen NPCs aiming at you and it's quite difficult to take them out faster than they respawn, or it least it was difficult for me. I was so overwhelmed that I changed the difficulty to easy to finish the hunting quests that take us there.

[Salvo1]

I'm a bit late to this conversation, but agree with Sakamoto. In addition to having more range and accuracy than many equivalent bullet weapons, optical weapons also tend to be lighter, and sometimes have lower stat requirements in some areas.

And I can confirm that Corpse Sniffer is weaker to optical attacks, along with some other enemies that have hard outer shells or armor that can be burned by lasers or whatnot. That said, it's good to have a physical backup weapon for those enemies that are weak to that, or strong vs optical.

Basically, diversifying is good, and having 1 optical and 1 physical weapon (if possible) is not a bad idea at all. I know in the game world's lore players are supposed to have a shield that resists a certain portion of optical damage, but in this game at least, I'm not sure if that was implemented in the gameplay.

If I pour on damage with dual optical SMG's for instance, enemies go down quick, and if it's slower than with physical weapons, I don't notice. Plus, the greater range and accuracy of optical weapons would probably counteract the damage loss vs using a physical weapon if there was a penalty for using opticals against NPC "player" enemy types anyhow, imo.

[it's a gabe]

I think you guys misunderstood my question, though Or maybe I wasn't clear enough, which happens. In any case, what about defense against optical damage? The game says most players (that is, NPC players) have defense against optical damage equipped, so optical weapons would be "useless" against them. But what about regular NPCs?

I mentioned the industrial area because, on extreme, you have a dozen NPCs aiming at you and it can be quite difficult to take them all out faster than they respawn, especially when they take you out so quickly. So, I was wondering if most NPC players have defense against optical damage equipped specifically because most enemies deal optical damage?

[it's a gabe]

I didn't even remember the anime mentioned optical damage. So much of the anime's mechanics went right over my head cuz they sounded so far fetched.

So us using defense against optical damage is also pointless, I imagine? Ah well Thx for indulging me!

[Algester]

not a lot of enemies even carry optical weapons (Fascimiles being the only notable example) and the floating drones in White Frontier unless you PvP a lot which I barely see anyone actually do it but they spec on optical weapons
in BoB the only ones who carry optical weapons Strea, Kureha, Kirito, Leafa, Yuuki (Photon Swords?)

meaning its as niche case like using Gun Sword, Pistol combo in PvP or the Co-op dungeon where you fight everyone