Dev Tracker

[Kyte]

They're only adjusting attribute merits (so you can max out STR and DEX, or whatever). The number 1 thing people want is to have the WS category increased, because only getting 3 is pretty stupid.

[Chamaan]

Are they ever going to work on relic WS again? They said they wanted to adjust those or is it just the level 99 hidden damage bonuses? Because that's still the cheapassedest bandaid repair job possible.

[Taint]

Are they ever going to work on relic WS again? They said they wanted to adjust those or is it just the level 99 hidden damage bonuses? Because that's still the cheapassedest bandaid repair job possible.

Highly doubt it.

[Spira]

Happy Friday everyone

I’d like to share some information that might give a bit more insight and explanation to the Protect/Minne effect adjustments.

This adjustment mainly took place to turn these spells and songs’ effects into a percentage enhancement as opposed to a static value, so that the benefits can be felt more and more at higher levels. Therefore, currently existing spells such as blue magic and rolls that enhanced defense as a percentage are not being adjusted at this time.

While many players have been asking for an additional damage reduction effect to be added to Protect, we have no plans to add this since the higher defense will already cut damage much more than before.

Finally, as we have mentioned in the past for other topics, by making these spell adjustments, monsters that utilize this magic will also see defense enhancements as well, as is the norm when we make adjustments of this kind.

Be sure to hit up the test server and try out the enhanced defense that can be gained from these spells, feel the difference for yourself, and let us know your feedback

hmm

[arus2001]

It's like they don't understand why turtling doesn't really work well for players on harder targets...

[Churchill]

In the end, I think the enmity and combat formula is more like the Apollo spacecraft. Only the people at NASA in the 60's know what the fuck sent that thing to the moon. This is pretty evident when they release a roll that adds more defense or adjust protectraV to be more potent. If it were easy to fix, you'd have to imagine they'd have done it in the last 3 years.

.

[Chamaan]

That quote gives the coders of this game way too much credit. NASA they are not. They're at best drunken Rooskie cosmonauts. If the def/attack formulas in this game are a space shuttle then it's one made out of chicken wire, empty vodka bottles, and the phantom howls of brave Russian space dogs that exploded on the tarmac in earlier tests.

[Genosync]

That quote gives the coders of this game way too much credit. NASA they are not. They're at best drunken Rooskie cosmonauts. If the def/attack formulas in this game are a space shuttle then it's one made out of chicken wire, empty vodka bottles, and the phantom howls of brave Russian space dogs that exploded on the tarmac in earlier tests.

I don't think he was comparing their intelligence levels

he was stating the fact that the original people on this project are gone and no one is going to be able to step in and know what the fuck is actually going on

nice try though.

[Xantavia]

It's like they don't understand why turtling doesn't really work well for players on harder targets...

I thought some jobs would still /blu for cocoon for the 50% increase, or has that lost effectiveness too post 75? If it is still viable, wouldn't making protect % based be better than current which is what I'm seeing the change about. Side effect, rdm gets invites again for dispel.

[Spira]

its as if they want players to know that turtling can work..

it does.. for certain jobs where their offensive capabilities have a floor that doesn't require gear (like BST using jugpets lol) but theres no real reason why anyone needs to turtle unless they're like solo and don't mind whittling the mob down for an hour or so.

(by the by, they didn't actually go to the moon)

[Julian]

It specifically says Legion battlefields now.

Really? Damn, was kinda happy/hoping it made sense out of something I saw in my mining yesterday.

Pretty much every BC area got their dialog tables slightly adjusted.

For example:

Balga's Dais:
Your 竕ｺPossible Special Code: 01竕ｻ竕ｺPossible Special Code: 05竕ｻ#竕ｺBAD CHAR: 8280竕ｻ竕ｺBAD CHAR: 80竕ｻ竕ｺBAD CHAR: 80竕ｻ tears!竕ｺPrompt竕ｻ
Your 竕ｺPossible Special Code: 01竕ｻ竕ｺPossible Special Code: 05竕ｻ#竕ｺBAD CHAR: 8280竕ｻ竕ｺBAD CHAR: 80竕ｻ竕ｺBAD CHAR: 80竕ｻ tears!竕ｺPrompt竕ｻ
<Pant, wheeze>... What's the mattaru, 竕ｺPlayer Name竕ｻ?
Too much of a pansy-wansy to fight fair?竕ｺPrompt竕ｻ
竕ｺPossible Special Code: 00竕ｻ竕ｺPossible Special Code: 00竕ｻ竕ｺPossible Special Code: 00竕ｻ

Bearclaw Pinnacle
Your 竕ｺPossible Special Code: 01竕ｻ竕ｺPossible Special Code: 05竕ｻ#竕ｺBAD CHAR: 8280竕ｻ竕ｺBAD CHAR: 80竕ｻ竕ｺBAD CHAR: 80竕ｻ tears!竕ｺPrompt竕ｻ
Your 竕ｺPossible Special Code: 01竕ｻ竕ｺPossible Special Code: 05竕ｻ#竕ｺBAD CHAR: 8280竕ｻ竕ｺBAD CHAR: 80竕ｻ竕ｺBAD CHAR: 80竕ｻ tears!竕ｺPrompt竕ｻ
You feel something horrific is about to happen...!竕ｺPrompt竕ｻ
竕ｺPossible Special Code: 00竕ｻ竕ｺPossible Special Code: 00竕ｻ竕ｺPossible Special Code: 00竕ｻ

Chamber of Oracles
Your 竕ｺPossible Special Code: 01竕ｻ竕ｺPossible Special Code: 05竕ｻ#竕ｺBAD CHAR: 8280竕ｻ竕ｺBAD CHAR: 80竕ｻ竕ｺBAD CHAR: 80竕ｻ tears!竕ｺPrompt竕ｻ
Your 竕ｺPossible Special Code: 01竕ｻ竕ｺPossible Special Code: 05竕ｻ#竕ｺBAD CHAR: 8280竕ｻ竕ｺBAD CHAR: 80竕ｻ竕ｺBAD CHAR: 80竕ｻ tears!竕ｺPrompt竕ｻ
繝懊せ驛ｨ莚懊Ο繝・け隗｣髯､縺励 ∪縺励◆竕ｺPrompt竕ｻ
竕ｺPossible Special Code: 00竕ｻ竕ｺPossible Special Code: 00竕ｻ竕ｺPossible Special Code: 00竕ｻ

etc

Or maybe not.. oh well

[Hirronimus]

Good evening, Vana'diel!

As a part of the character growth system, we will be increasing merit caps and adding new categories in the future. However, we will not be removing the cap entirely.

The reason we are not removing this cap is because it would allow players to ultimately max out everything and cause characters to become universal or too versatile.
The whole idea behind merit points is to offer many choices and allow players to choose based on their preferences. This way, even though it’s the same job amongst everyone, their proficiencies and roles are different. With that said, by totally removing the cap from merit points, the fundamental purpose would be lost.

By giving us free access to all 20 jobs at any given time is not being versatile? I think we're past the point in the game where people are unique snowflakes. If I want to be that unique I'd do Lv.99 Afterglow... NOT.

[Damane]

By giving us free access to all 20 jobs at any given time is not being versatile? I think we're past the point in the game where people are unique snowflakes. If I want to be that unique I'd do Lv.99 Afterglow... NOT.

i think you missed the point totaly

[Hirronimus]

I get what they're saying. Merits make certain jobs well developed. What I'm saying is; the basic principal of this game was not founded on job specialization, but rather on ease of access to jobs at any given time.

Here's a suggestion for SE:

Give us Job Specific Porter Slips.

[Genosync]

I get what they're saying. Merits make certain jobs well developed. What I'm saying is; the basic principal of this game was not founded on job specialization, but rather on ease of access to jobs at any given time.

This, a million times over. If they intended during the creation of this game to limit you to X number of jobs, there would have been a cap on how many you could have leveled to certain levels.

[Damane]

I get what they're saying. Merits make certain jobs well developed. What I'm saying is; the basic principal of this game was not founded on job specialization, but rather on ease of access to jobs at any given time.

Here's a suggestion for SE:

Give us Job Specific Porter Slips.

You still miss the point. The Reason merits are capped is simple: job love/specialisation. Example: Someone that loves DRG is a main DRG, will probably focus its merit all to favoring DRG. While someone that plays DRG just for the needs and has WAR(just an example) as a main, will not have those merits favouring DRG as a job, but rather WAR. Its to distinguish your main Job/Jobs from your "OH well I just llvd it for the lulz" jobs. While gear does that too, merits have a bit a greater impact on it.

[Slycer]

Anyone else expecting a "surprise" mini-update next week or the week after with these changes on the test server (new merit cap, VW/Legion adjustments, other tweaks)? I doubt they'd ninja in a new battle system like dungeon crawling, that's the kind of thing they'd be hyping for weeks in advance. Plus there's actually been a version update of one kind or another every month since February.

[arus2001]

You still miss the point. The Reason merits are capped is simple: job love/specialisation. Example: Someone that loves DRG is a main DRG, will probably focus its merit all to favoring DRG. While someone that plays DRG just for the needs and has WAR(just an example) as a main, will not have those merits favouring DRG as a job, but rather WAR. Its to distinguish your main Job/Jobs from your "OH well I just llvd it for the lulz" jobs. While gear does that too, merits have a bit a greater impact on it.

Except right now the only difference is whether or not the WAR has Polearm merits since they could still merit the same shit in DRG. 16 skill points isn't much make or break.

Were caps lifted, Mr. DRG would probably have his DRG fleshed out long before the WAR. The current system is just more of a penalty for having varied interests.

[fantasticdan]

The only thing limiting combat/magic/WS merits does is decrease the amount of jobs I'd play, and the amount of time I'd spend playing the game. For example, I'd like to level drk, but I don't have room for either entropy or resolution, gsword or scythe merits, so why bother?

If people want to "specialize in a job", that should be done by playing/gearing it the best, and making relic/etc weapons for it, not limiting the number of jobs you can play effectively.

The only merits that really make sense to cap (as a category) would be the job specific ones, but after thinking about it, even those are pretty stupid in the current implementation. For the most part, everyone takes the same ones per job, so if you uncapped them, you wouldn't be removing customization/uniqueness, as much as you would be buffing things that people rarely take, don't use, or don't care about. Would anyone really care if a NIN was able to cap san spells and sange? Or if a RDM was able to cap out bio 3/blind 2? If smns were able to cap out all of those different elemental bloodpacts? Would it really make players feel less unique?

[Damane]

The only thing limiting combat/magic/WS merits does is decrease the amount of jobs I'd play, and the amount of time I'd spend playing the game. For example, I'd like to level drk, but I don't have room for either entropy or resolution, gsword or scythe merits, so why bother?

If people want to "specialize in a job", that should be done by playing/gearing it the best, and making relic/etc weapons for it, not limiting the number of jobs you can play effectively.

The only merits that really make sense to cap (as a category) would be the job specific ones, but after thinking about it, even those are pretty stupid in the current implementation. For the most part, everyone takes the same ones per job, so if you uncapped them, you wouldn't be removing customization/uniqueness, as much as you would be buffing things that people rarely take, don't use, or don't care about. Would anyone really care if a NIN was able to cap san spells and sange? Or if a RDM was able to cap out bio 3/blind 2? If smns were able to cap out all of those different elemental bloodpacts? Would it really make players feel less unique?

merit WS indicate also what your main job is imho and differs you from other people, tough I agree that 3 full merited WSs is a bit limiting