General

play what u like

@blindnbright: Beautiful explanation. Just note that as Explorer Bowman, you could always switch to BM and back.

I have my soft spot for most classes. Not particularly enjoying BT at the moment and a select few other classes have their irks. To each their own.

Also I'd like to add that if you already know you're gonna be playing a bowman, just put your funds towards a RA bowman set/other tradeable and just use a 70% trace/10star a weapon to try them out before picking one. The bowman RA set/tradeable gears will be able to be transferred to other bowman if you make the switch later on without dumping money into a weapon. If you enjoy it, just finish up a weapon and you're set.

@carlsonlf: Yes, there has been no job skill changes since the introduction of the Battle Analysis system.

@twopointonefour: Is that battle system analysis current, including the recent WH nerf?

@athmyst: Ya! Just copy pasted from the other thread.

@twopointonefour: I like how my basil ID is the only one in that list ahahaha

@besos4beso: (I'm a Mercedes main and I don't even bother keeping that combo counter up)

Thanks to everyone for their input, Im going to go start my Marksman I was debating between Merc or MM, I already have a merc but I just cant keep up with the new combos for the Ignis Roar buff. Call me lazy but I am what I am. Once again thank you all for your help.

*Major Marksman Bias*: I main a Marksman and just started a Mercedes @Level 150. I don't know diddly squat in terms of calculations/ranges/etc, but I'm just speaking from my own experiences and preferences

Mobility: I guess the general mass prefers Mercedes, but something about the archer explorer jump is amazing! The double jump for them just FEELS better, imo. I wouldn't trade it for any other mobility that Maplestory has to offer. I often find myself not liking certain classes because their double jump just feels so lame in comparison to the explorer archer's double jump (distance wise, fluidity, and the presence of an upwards double jump). I know that's a stupid reason to ditch a class all together, but it's just my own preference. Hookshot is also a nice skill that adds "mobility" I guess, although it could be better than it is now; there's been far too many times where I thought I'd hit a hookshot onto the level above me, but I just fall and cry a little on the inside. BUT I can always just double jump back up, so no big deal.

Funds/Bossing & Tankiness: Any meso that I don't spend on stupid chairs, mounts, and NX equips I don't need, I pour into my Marksman. I'm still not very funded (like the $2000-$3000 mentioned above), but I can still solo many bosses with ease thanks to their kit (as others have previously stated above). Fully buffed @550k ish being my higher ranger, I can solo Hard Gollux (sometimes if I don't goof it up) and Madman Ranmaru (with no effort at all). I don't know what the ranges are for these bosses or if they're even that difficult at my range, but I never would've guessed that I could ever take these bosses on. Another note: Pain killer is like a pseudo hero's will, so it's great to have a 2nd one. Mercedes unfortunately I cannot comment on for bossing other than Normal Zakum, but I didn't have any difficulties with it at level 100 (unfunded) and onward.

Fun: Fun is such a subjective term, as many basilers emphasize on these kinds of posts, but it's very true. The flashiness of Mercedes is very appealing to many (even if you don't want to keep up with the combos, something about Ishtar's Ring & Stunning Strikes are aesthetically appealing). I think whatever team that worked on Mercedes definitely wanted to make sure it was a beautiful class overall and personally I feel like they succeeded. Even at first job, Mercedes just oozes with some sort of PIZAZZ. I fell in love with the class the moment I used Swift Dual Shot. That being said, my Marksman is still my pride and joy. I just love the class and never really have anything to complain about that's game-breaking. Some say Snipe + Arrow Piercing gets boring, but I love the fact that Range Finder+Last Man Standing+Vital Hunter have a play in how much damage you can do with these skills.

Last comment: If you really can't just pick one, but still really really want to just focus on one, I'd recommend just keep playing all three equally without putting all your chips on one metaphorical hand. Just wait for that grand moment when you find out which one is your true calling. As you level up/play all three characters equally, you'll eventually yell out EUREKA! _____ is the class I've been seeking for all these years 8]

@elufu: That too.

@twopointonefour: End game*

Under ideal situations you could rank them like this :

Wild Hunter - 133.221b - imgur.com/gbguZO2
Bowmaster - Athmyst - 106.758b - imgur.com/3QDXhxb
Mercedes - 92.78b imgur.com/Lx3oPlX
Wind Archer ?
Marksman - 43.5b - i.imgur.com/eH5Onzm.jpg

Well marksman is quite immobile, and why do you need mobile in the 1st place anyway.
All are good mobbing and leveling is a breeze with them if you are talking about this "mobile" thing.
Fun factor is vary, depend on person, all 3 classes have their own charm, you are already enjoy playing them so no need to talk about it.
Tanky marksman is the tankiest, a lot of damage reduce and the shield on will give you the ability to tank even madman ranmaru, 2nd hero's will with pain killer, arrow illusion to take boss aggro for you.
Bossing endgame merc and wind archer have more hit per second for sure, but to hit snipe's cap is not easy as it sounds. Marksman deals quite a lot of damage and can solo some hard bosses quite easily (hard gollux, madman ranmaru...) so if you are talking about funding ability marksman is your choice here.
Overall marksman is simple and effective boss killer, but if you have like tons of funding to hit cap on hurricane-like ability then wind archer and mercedes. When we say tons of funding here it means like $2-3k, not any kind of halfass funding. Their dps maybe slightly higher but don't let it fool you. A lot of stuffs happen in endgame boss fight so don't expect that you can just sit down and hold your hurricane. Most of the time marksman is more reliable imo, but you can just fk that and play the one you enjoy most.

In reboot or general servers :O?

I would lean towards Mercedes if you're going to play it on the regular servers the "tankiness" you require isn't that hard to acquire from other means such as link skills (They actually have a substantial amount of damage reduction, though not comparable to that of Marksman). Mercedes will be getting their base damage increased quite significantly in an upcoming patch, so keep that in mind.

If reboot, I would go for Marksman. The damage reduction is something to be jealous of.

Marksman is definitly the tankier one whitin those 3, and he also has a second Hero's will skill at 3rd job, called Pain Killer.

Follow your heart.

? But doesn't every job have heros will?