Spell Interruption Rate questions

[Araelus]

A level 1 Black Mage with Manafont could've told you that.

Fair enough, but

[Argettio]

Someone please remind me what the RDM can do that the WHM can't.

The 3 big ones
Cap the recast timers for both Utsusemi spells. (-50% recast)
Cap the recast timer for Stoneskin, while maintaining 350HP (-50% recast)
Spam high hate spells (dispel, sleep, blind, poison)

Also
29-32 Phalanx build
2 MP/tic refresh from gear
Equip more enmity gear

The main reason RDM can tank is the fastcast... as we all know a WHM could get hate but it would struggle to keep shadows/stoneskin up

[Kaeko]

Do you know when the spell interrupt gear has to be equipped in order to get the effect? Fast Cast bonuses only have to be on the instant the cast begins to work, recasts only have to be on the instant the spell ends.

What about interrupt gear? Would be an amazing addition to 'precast' settings on Spellcast if all you need to get the benefits is to equip it at the start of the cast...

[Starr]

It doesn't cap that's for sure

[Ashokan]

Do you know when the spell interrupt gear has to be equipped in order to get the effect? Fast Cast bonuses only have to be on the instant the cast begins to work, recasts only have to be on the instant the spell ends.

What about interrupt gear? Would be an amazing addition to 'precast' settings on Spellcast if all you need to get the benefits is to equip it at the start of the cast...

I have always wondered this question.

[Ultimagi]

Pure speculation, but I would guess you'd have to be wearing the equipment when you take the damage, since the amount of damage has an impact on whether or not the spell gets interrupted.

[RyaWHM]

Okay, trying it out on a Tough, I figured I might die, so I wanted something that hits fast but not too hard, and where it's easy to die/RR safely.

Lv.77 Qiqirn Goldsmith @ Nyzul Staging Point

(same -100% setup from before)

The best and clearest were when he hit me 3+ times and pretty clearly all within "actual" casting (not too close to the start/finish of the spell). In those [got-hit-three-times] cases, I was able to cast the following spells at least five different times:

Stoneskin
Blink
Reraise III
Regen III


Next, the spells where I took a critical hit while casting, on at least five different occasions:

Repose
Blink
Stoneskin
Reraise III
Regen III
Utsusemi: Ichi


Lastly, the ones where I didn't get lucky enough for three hits, or I did see three but they were too close to the start/finish to be sure. Listing TWO-hit casts without interruption:

Utsusemi: Ichi
Repose


Note#1: The times I counted as three-hits did not include a Double/Triple-Attack. There was one instance of Utsusemi: Ichi getting three hits because of this.

Note#2: In casting over 100 spells and only noting two spell casts (both repose) where he DIDN'T hit me at least once, I was not interrupted a single time due to the mob hitting me!



EDIT: Thanks! Yes, sorry, I meant to say double/triple -- in my head "double-attack" meant either multi-hit trait, because I'm weird. Either way, I tried to just ignore those -- so whether it was double or triple doesn't really matter.

side-question: are they THF/WAR though? I coulda sworn I saw double-attacks.

[Ultimagi]

Qiqirn Goldsmiths are Thieves, they use Triple Attack not Double Attack.

[RyaWHM]

Quick test of mid-cast swapping:

Lv.79-82? Yagudo Eradicator @ Meriphataud Mountains [S] (didn't kill, so not sure exactly what level, but he was VT)

I just used Reraise III as my test spell, since it's easier to see/prove an interrupt, than a non-interrupt, you know what I mean?

In casting it five times, each time I would start in -100%, start casting, then give a short pause before hitting my unequip-all-interrupt-stuff macro (..then he hit me...then the spell fired).

1/5 times, the spell fired
4/5 times, the spell was interrupted

Just from this brief test, it seemed pretty clear that you need to keep it on. I would bet it's checked at the moment he hits you, like shield skill for example..


I also tried some more random spell casting (incl. Utsu:Ichi) in full -100%, and was not interrupted at all. Still, it would be nice to know a few things:
-does damage amount matter?
-do double/triple attacks count as multiple chances to interrupt?
-do dual-wield attacks count as multiple chances to interrupt?
-how much aquaveil helps (though I used its casting to test, I clicked it off each time; I was not really testing that spell here)
-more?

[Gergall]

Wow, it sounds like 100% really and truly means 100%, not some hard cap at 95 as I expected.

Questions:
Since characters with no merits or interruption gear still have a base chance to not be interrupted (believed to be 5%), does that mean that with only 95% spell interrupt gear, you would still never get interrupted?
PLD with 5/5 Iron Will should also be able to answer this. Does the 95% from Iron Will stack with the 5% base for a total of 100%?

Does Aquaveil scale based on enhancing skill? Difficult for just one person to test because if you do level cap events for testing, you restrict your gear options. It's easier if you find another mage with much lower/higher enhancing skill than you and compare results.

[RyaWHM]

I dunno about this automatic 5%, I mean anything's possible ... but usually whatever you're casting has at least some skill to it, which could give you that 5%.

Personally I would lean toward 0% minimum, starting at having 0 skill in what you're casting. But that would be kinda hard to prove. >.>

At least it was satisfying to get hit a dozen times while casting Utsusemi: Ichi, with ~20 ninjutsu skill, and not get interrupted.

[Virtuous Saint]

Excellent.

Someone test 50+ conserve mp, I assume it hasn't been tested; most likely caps at 50, however it could easily have no cap as well, it is not possible to reach 100, and even so obviously it doesn't make a cast cost 0mp.

[Kaeko]

Shouldn't it be possible to estimate the decrease in interruption rate using Aquaveil given this new information?

[Gergall]

Shouldn't it be possible to estimate the decrease in interruption rate using Aquaveil given this new information?

Yes, eventually, but I think that it is first necessary to determine the "base rate". It is possible that Rya (or any other tester) may think they have exactly 100% spell interruption down when in fact they have 105 or 110 or maybe even more.

Example
If Rya has 110%, takes off 20%, and casts Aquaveil and gets every spell past the mob, at a glance we might think that Aquaveil is providing 20% when in fact it is not necessarily providing any more than 10%.


The first step is to determine how much spell interruption gear you need to be 100% protected for a specific situation (preferably against a monster with a known level, such as an Even Match, or a Tough that can't spawn higher than 76, etc). If you only need 90% in gear, then your base rate is 10%...at least against that specific mob.

Once you know your base rate, and you of course know how much you have in gear, you can calculate Aquaveil.

[RyaWHM]

Yes, and in fact, I do have 4/4 interruption merits. >.> So technically, it's possible that equipment caps at ~90% and aqua/merits can take you to 100%. But I don't care. All I wanted to do was give some evidence that:

"Hey, wearing extreme interrupt gear can allow you to pretty much cast no matter what hits you, and no matter how many times it hits you, and even with really low skill!"

It wasn't completely scientific, frankly I don't have the patience to spend hours on stuff like that very often. But this was kinda fun to play around with, so I spent the extra 30min or whatever, to add some credibility/usefulness/control to the testing.

I think a good place to start (maybe I'll do this?) is to get weaker stuff so you can test a bunch without danger, and without having to sleep a bunch and recover.

----

Testing Method!

Lv.20 ninjutsu skill on some Lv.40~ mobbies should do the trick for easy interruption, and just making sure I'm hit only once each cast. That way it's an easy tally to find a rough percentage of interruption.

I would do this once without aqua (and no interrupt gear) for lots and lots of casts (200+ is a good start at least?) and then again with aqua.

It seems simple enough -- it doesn't hafta be for 10,000 casts, because at least for me, I just want a rough idea. If I can't tell much difference in 200 casts, it's not that amazing. If I suddenly get half of my spells to go off, that's pretty spiffy.

----

Kaeko, Gergall, others: if there are any other ideas on how to test it, please lemme know ... I'm more a good candidate for testing out of willingness/curiosity than I am for method/patience and all that.

[Gergall]

There is a better (easier, faster, less frustrating, more reliable) way to test but we will need to figure out your base rate first.

Once we know your base rate, all you have to do is set yourself up with 80% spell interruption rate (combined base/merits/gear) and then cast aquaveil and see if that makes your spells always go through or not. If it does, we know that Aquaveil is 20% or better. If it does not, we will know that Aquaveil is under 20%. Additional tests will allow us to narrow it down until we pinpoint a value.

We can't do the Aquaveil tests until we figure out your base rate, for the reason see the Example in my previous post. In order to figure out your base rate, we need you to figure out the MINIMUM amount of spell interrupt gear you need to wear to get every single spell past the mobs. This is the critical first step.

If you find that you only need 80% in gear to get every single spell through, then your merits+skill are providing the other 20+%.

Results like this would be awesome:
"With 75% in gear, I got interrupted. With 80% in gear, I cannot be interrupted."

[Kaeko]

I'm usually big on concrete testing methods and being thorough but in this case I'm sort of with you - I just want to know the minimum amount of interrupt gear I need to never be interrupted with merits + Aquaveil lol.

Easiest way to 'test' this in my opinion is to con some PLD to merit 5/5 Iron Will with -95% spell interrupt rate =P

[Julian]

Everyone is going to regret not having voted for my -spell interruption based job during that competition a while back now!

[Argettio]

I know you guys aren't planning an big tests, but if any one was to consider it.

You also need to think about when the mob hits you during the casting process. As form my eye-balling it seems the earlier they hit you, the greater the chance of interruption.

[The Stig]

In terms of WHM tanking, I can see WHM being rather good with mobs with AoE....

Get WHM in front of mob, with 3-4 melees close by
Use Afflatus Misery
Spam Cura for every (AoE) hit you take and then Cure IV for every other hit you take (to keep self alive) between shadows, or Cura if others around you are needing HP.

Ultima comes to mind for now.

And Sarameya (-dmg gear and whatever enm is possible to squeeze in... Earth Staff, Jelly Ring, Goliard Legs, Cape... can't think of anything else at the moment. Macro in interrupt gear when casting... and with Sarameya since subbing NIN is slightly pointless due to its attack speed, still, just a thought. Chainspell will probably screw you over though unless you bring a Fire and/or Magic Kit)

Just some random thoughts. I'm not sure of the enmity values generated via Cura.