Third Shot

[tank_sniper]

[Shinon is up to her usual level grinding! But this time she's armed with a new weapon. To fully test it out within the restraints of The World, she can be found in a couple of different situations.]

[Field]

[Maybe you just spotted that group of monsters and were about to go in for the kill. Or maybe you were just enjoying the scenery - it is a lovely day out in this area, after all.

Either way, that group of monsters? The biggest of them just got a large hole blown into its head, even though there doesn't seem to be anybody nearby to make the attack. Before long, the remaining two follow suit.

Those who are observant may be able to trace the shots to a small figure on a different island, armed with a sniper rifle nearly as long as she is tall. Want to go investigate?]

[Dungeon]

[While she's still carrying that same weapon along with her, she seems to have paused in an empty area for the moment. It's hard to say whether she's just resting, thinking, or both. Now would be a great time to catch her for the curious or talkative, though!]

Comments

[tank_sniper]

The problem is, when everyone else has ranged weapons, they're all expecting to battle from a distance from the start. Any swordsman would have to have high vitality or speed just to survive the initial shower of bullets if others spotted them first. It's just too risky.

That, and... To be honest, a lot of the players are fans of guns, so of course they would use those weapons instead.

[greatcleavage]

But wouldn't that require a massive bias for long-range encounters? Dungeons would be downright infeasible, since any creature or melee-weapon user would shred a ranged fighter if they were easily able to close the gap.

[tank_sniper]

It all depends on what kind of equipment you have. There was one guy I encountered who had a lot of armor and a special weapon that could shoot enough to riddle a person with bullets all in an instant. There are ways to fight with a gun even in close combat.

[She tilts her head, remembering something else.]

There are also users who can use knives as well. Actually... the winner of the very first game-wide tournament won with just a knife and a handgun.

[greatcleavage]

Hmm. And you get increasing progression to your damage by upgrading your equipment in turn, that has to help.

Still, it's somewhat odd to me to hear that weapons like that existed, and were clearly viable alternatives, but hadn't been exploited by more people other than the ones you've named. But then, I'm accustomed to a great deal more diversity in combat as a rule.

[tank_sniper]

Shop items only go so far, though. After a certain point it's usually better to go hunting for drops or PK someone for their equipment. That's why it's important to carefully allocate your stats depending on what you want to do, too.

[A shrug.]

Like I said, most of the player base is made up of gun fanatics. It's not so surprising that they would focus on those instead of knives or swords. They're just living out their fantasies of being gunslingers in a post-apocalyptic world.

[greatcleavage]

So people are doing what they want to, instead of painstakingly optimizing for damage and defense potential?

...That sounds like a wonderful world, actually.