Cheesecake's Guide to UPCs and defined roles


After reading (lurking?) these forums since beta, I've noticed that many of the same questions pop up every few days. How good is UPC X? Is UPC X better than Stock Y or UPC Z? Is UPC X good for end game?

Unfortunately, most of these questions are not answered accurately, since the majority of forum lurkers either haven't played enough of a UPC to give quality insight or haven't used them in the manner the poster is asking of (end game raids, colony wars, etc). I also see people quote segments from the OTHER UPC guide on these forums in order to answer questions... which saddens me. The creator of that guide did not play the majority of UPCs as extensively as he stated, which is clear in several of his inaccurate observations, such as his unnatural obsession with vet stances.

Thus, this is my attempt at creating a more comprehensive UPC guide that should be able to help both new and veteran players when they are trying to fill a specific role in their barracks. I am going to account for both nerfed and unnerfed stats (since we were previously promised an unnerf at some point in time, unnerfed stats will be included in parentheses). I am going to rate characters on a scale of 1 (low) - 10 (highest) in the following categories:

PvE grinding [PVEG] - Player vs Enemy Grinding from levels 1-100, consistent AE is prioritized, along with weapon choice and versatility

PvE powerleveling [PVEP] - Player vs Enemy active powerleveling a lower level alt, spammable AE and fast kills are prioritized

PvE boss hunting [PVEB] - Player vs Enemy fighting a non-raid boss, tankability, single target damage, or boss utility is prioritized

PvE endgame raid [PVER] - Player vs Enemy end-game raid boss (Gerero, Diablo, Shapen, etc), case-by-case decision

PvE endgame farm [PVEF] - Player vs Enemy end-game farming in 100+ maps, tanking, AE DPS and disables are prioritized, although single target dps is still important since many high level mobs have crazy hp, up to 35k!

AFK leveling [AFKL] - Away From Keyboard leveling, fast attacks and kills without skills or buffs is prioritized. Also, most melee are penalized due to the fact that running around while AFK leads to death more often than not.

AFK powerleveling [AFKP] - Away From Keyboard powerleveling a lower level alt, fast attacks and kills are prioritized, though this is different than AFKL since some normally weak attacks are enough to OHKO in certain areas (like shotguns)

PvP small-scale (duel or small teams) [PVPS] - Player vs Player small scale duels (2-6 families), case-by-case decision

PvP large-scale (colony wars) [PVPL] - Player vs Player large scale PvP (i.e. Colony Wars), strong AE dps and knockdown are prioritized, along with high aspd to destroy towers (all damage to a tower is 1 dmg, so high aspd is the only important factor)

These are the main areas in which players generally want some kind of specialized role. Some players just want to get to vet as fast as possible; some people don't mind a difficult grind if it provides them an advantage in some other role when they finally reach the top of the proverbial mountain. All numbers for stats and my ratings are based on our current nerfed stats; if a different number follows in parentheses, these reflect the future unnerfed stats that we have been promised.

Keep in mind that these are just my opinions. While I consider myself an experienced player, I'll be the first to admit I haven't leveled every UPC to 100. However, I've had firsthand experience with most UPCs at all levels thanks to my clan, and even have friends who have participated in Colony Wars on other servers. Therefore, my projection for [PVPL] is an estimated score which I may tweak when we get Colony Wars ourselves. Also, these ratings and analyses are based on K2 Network's Sword of the New World; not any other version of Granado Espada.

Additionally, I may change ratings or comments based on feedback from other players. I've already tweaked some of my ratings based on feedback from friends and other experienced SotNW players. Thus, this is most certainly a work in progress.

Well, enough foreplay. Onwards and upwards!


Imac2much guide is pretty big, so lets devide it by sections:

Reboldeux UPCs

Port Coimbra UPCs

City of Auch and Mansion UPCs

Ustiur UPCs

Basic Characters.

==Afterword==

Well, that about covers it, right? Hope this has helped people find what kind of info they need. I'm always open to criticism as long as it's constructive. If you have any questions or comments, just post in this thread and I will do my best to answer (or justify) my analyses. Nothing is set in stone, certain ratings may drop or rise in the future based on other experiences... this is a community-wide effort, so I welcome all feedback! Enjoy!

P.S. Thanks to Milktea and Oneesan for providing the pics!



==Version History==

10/4/07 - v1.0 - Rough draft reviewed by clan members and other veteran SotNW players.
10/5/07 - v1.1 - fixed error for Yeganeh (milktea), Brunie (vanas), and Auch Infantry (shokatshin)
10/8/07 - v1.2 - updated analysis on Yeganeh based on feedback from milktea.
10/23/07 - v1.3 - added further analysis of Grenmah


Note: Guide and Info taken from the oficial forum, pinned guide by Imac2Much Here: http://forum.swordofthenewworld.com/index.php?showtopic=12478&hl=