Comments from the Devs

[Jamison]

Does something being resistant to Fire, for example, have any affect on whether it resists Astral? I'm just not sure why it even matters in the game when I haven't seen or noticed any interaction between the supertypes (astral/umbral) and the 6 base elements. Mostly, I was just wondering why they may have decided to remove Astral/Umbral magic from CNJ/WHM/THM/BLM entirely. I don't even think Holy is counted as Astral. The only evidence they existed seems to be in the leftover abilities of mage-type mobs (SNURBLES!).

I vaguely remember there being some testing right after release that implied that yes, there was some connection (and resist variation) between and among the other elements in Astra/Umbral. If any of that still applies, I haven't a clue.

[Elcura]

It's an idea but I don't fancy wasting time grinding when there's no benefits for me. It's boring enough as it is when you're aiming for rank 50s, nevermind doing it for the sake of doing it.

I don't think he's talking specifically to your case. He's just saying if you need to learn your class/job, a spiritbond party is a good place to do it. Whether you enjoy doing it personally is kinda irrelevant.

[Spider-Dan]

It's an idea but I don't fancy wasting time grinding when there's no benefits for me. It's boring enough as it is when you're aiming for rank 50s, nevermind doing it for the sake of doing it.

Along the same lines as Elcura's reply, if you have limitless gil that you could never hope to spend, you are in a comfortable minority. I'm pretty sure that getting a pair of gloves with triple-meld tier IV ATK would work wonders on emptying my own moneybin.

For everyone else, SB parties (to get materia for sale or for meld) still serve a purpose.

[solracht]

It's an idea but I don't fancy wasting time grinding when there's no benefits for me. It's boring enough as it is when you're aiming for rank 50s, nevermind doing it for the sake of doing it.

It's a better idea than adding another mandatory million exp to grind through, especially if you say you dislike grinding. Let's not forget why this conversation started : p

[Spider-Dan]

Eh, the only abilities/spells/weaponskills that were actually reallocated to be job-specific were:

Collusion (changed classes and reversed function)
Warmonger (completely changed function, just a reused name)
Chainspell (slightly changed function)
Burst/Flare/Freeze (changed classes and new function).

The rest are completely new abilities that I don't think were even floating around in the .DATs. It's a lot more likely that a majority of the ones that were cut, were cut to give classes more identity.

But many of those abilities would have worked towards "class identity" perfectly well if they were simply made exclusive.

Put another way, even under the 1.19 paradigm, if there were no cross classing of abilities, the classes would have been plenty unique.

[Rocl]

Rocl Im sad you didnt like my Dalamud snail shoop

Just because I didn't express adulation doesn't mean I didn't like it =P

[Seravi Edalborez]

Elements form a big "creation" wheel that has the 2 weakness triangles like so:
Wind Lightning Fire
Water Ice Earth
Elements on top are "Astral", elements you can't hold in your hand (don't be a smartass about fire)
Elements on bottom are "Umbral", tangible.
Granted this is way back from ye olde forever ago, but the lore books at CNJ/THM guild say as much and here's a pretty picture from google images
http://zam.zamimg.com/images/3/0/306...18ca741a06.png

[Niiro]

Not having to do with anything in particular, but I feel the need to get this out and see if it's just me:

Am I the only one who finds the new (post 1.20) ways various melee buffs require constant reuse/upkeep annoying?

LNC needs to keep using Surge abilities
PGL needs to maintain MP, turn on off when engaged/disengaged
MRD can't move

On paper, they don't seem that obtuse but in practice I find them incredibly annoying.

For example LNC: it's possible to build and maintain Surges with just Invigorate (no mob-hitting required), so it's not a matter of TP limitations, it's just a meaningless distraction. Whether or not you maintain the effect is simply dependent on you constantly eyeing the buff timer. It's like a fly buzzing around your head that you have to constantly swat at while you're trying to pay attention to more interesting things.

For PGL, the Fists abilities being based on MP is stupid to begin with (imo) but the fact that they continue to drain MP (and thus prevent MP recovery) when you're not even engaged is likewise a meaningless annoyance. The limited ways to recover MP isn't helping either.

MRD gets off the easiest (I guess) but if you actually expect to get anything out of Rampage I hope you're not doing anything that requires you to move at all ever, nvm that WS animations register as movement so much of the time.

I just find all these systems incredibly annoying and/or arbitrary (much like the directional requirements for combos, but that's another issue).

[Lordender]

Not having to do with anything in particular, but I feel the need to get this out and see if it's just me:

Am I the only one who finds the new (post 1.20) ways various melee buffs require constant reuse/upkeep?

LNC needs to keep using Surge abilities
PGL needs to maintain MP, turn on off when engaged/disengaged
MRD can't move

On paper, they don't seem that obtuse but in practice I find them incredibly annoying.

For example LNC: it's possible to build and maintain Surges with just Invigorate (no mob-hitting required), so it's not a matter of TP limitations, it's just a meaningless distraction. Whether or not you maintain the effect is simply dependent on you constantly eyeing the buff timer. It's like a fly buzzing around your head that you have to constantly swat at while you're trying to pay attention to more interesting things.

For PGL, the Fists abilities being based on MP is stupid to begin with (imo) but the fact that they continue to drain MP (and thus prevent MP recovery) when you're not even engaged is likewise a meaningless annoyance. The limited ways to recover MP isn't helping either.

MRD gets off the easiest (I guess) but if you actually expect to get anything out of Rampage I hope you're not doing anything that requires you to move at all ever, nvm that WS animations register as movement so much of the time.

I just find all these systems incredibly annoying and/or arbitrary (much like the directional requirements for combos, but that's another issue).

I hate the fucking stand-still mechanic on MRD, omg, I would seriously like to stab the fucking dev in the head with a pencil whoever thought that mechanic was a good idea. SE putting annoying mechanic's into their games doesn't surprise me though, its going to be just another one of those uphill battles they will end up fighting.

[miokomioko]

To be more specific, Pugilist's elemental fists only drain MP when your weapons are drawn (not sure if that's what you meant). The buff doesn't do anything at all when you're not in active mode. However, that is still stupid in itself even though all it takes is to put your weapon away... I would much rather it be an MP cost per attack round rather than just a constant drain for being in active mode.

All in all, I really like the MP/elemental aspect of Puglist/Monk, I think it's fun. The only time Pugilist MP currently becomes an issue is when you're fighting something that's a combination of high defense and doesn't/shouldn't attack you at all (Ifrit) since it hurts your only 2 MP recovery abilities (Sucker Punch/Featherfoot). This is also before Ballad of Magi comes into the picture... so we'll see.

However, I am not a fan of Power Surge at all.

Then there's that animation-interrupt = movement... burns me up.

[Niiro]

I haven't played PGL much but when I'm not engaged with Fire/Earth up my MP still goes down at like ~3/tic.

Or at least is did like 4 hrs ago when I was messing around on it.

[silverdragontyr]

Your MP does go down when unengaged, but yeah only 3 per tic, and you recover MP still, so it doesn't matter. I too would like it more if the MP drain was per attack rather then a constant drain, but I'm not angry over it because of how much damage it can add to the right enemies. Power Surge rebuffing is really annoying, and I hardly play Mrd because of either needing to stand still, or never take any damage just pisses me off too much.

[Corrderio]

Not having to do with anything in particular, but I feel the need to get this out and see if it's just me:

Am I the only one who finds the new (post 1.20) ways various melee buffs require constant reuse/upkeep annoying?

LNC needs to keep using Surge abilities
PGL needs to maintain MP, turn on off when engaged/disengaged
MRD can't move

On paper, they don't seem that obtuse but in practice I find them incredibly annoying.

For example LNC: it's possible to build and maintain Surges with just Invigorate (no mob-hitting required), so it's not a matter of TP limitations, it's just a meaningless distraction. Whether or not you maintain the effect is simply dependent on you constantly eyeing the buff timer. It's like a fly buzzing around your head that you have to constantly swat at while you're trying to pay attention to more interesting things.

For PGL, the Fists abilities being based on MP is stupid to begin with (imo) but the fact that they continue to drain MP (and thus prevent MP recovery) when you're not even engaged is likewise a meaningless annoyance. The limited ways to recover MP isn't helping either.

MRD gets off the easiest (I guess) but if you actually expect to get anything out of Rampage I hope you're not doing anything that requires you to move at all ever, nvm that WS animations register as movement so much of the time.

I just find all these systems incredibly annoying and/or arbitrary (much like the directional requirements for combos, but that's another issue).

Oh man I'm so glad I'm not the only one that got annoyed with surges.

[Grey Jorildyn]

You'll never be alone on that. Directional crap is really annoying. If they were gonna do it a little better, then the extra effect from the WS should only take effect if the directional requirement is made but the combos should always work from anywhere. Also imo the combo timer for mage should be increased a bit. Thunder combos are np but you have to chain cast the others if you want to use any kind of buffs. Not to mention interruptions from getting hit. Good grief the system is just so poorly implemented. Got it right for Archers though! Gee, wonder why that job's so popular...

[miokomioko]

Ah, I see what's going on. When your weapon is drawn, you get the normal heavy MP drain from having the buff on. When you put your weapon away, you get a tiny residual MP drain if you leave the effect on. However, most of the time, you don't put your weapon away unless you have no aggro. When that's the case, your natural MP regen completely outweighs the little idle drain, so you can't really tell it's there.

For Lv.50~
When your weapon is drawn:
Fists of Fire: 28 MP/tick
Fists of Earth: 21 MP/tick

When your weapon is sheathed:
Fists of Fire: 2 MP/tick
Fists of Earth: 2 MP/tick

I don't really use PGL outside of soloing and when I do that I don't really have anything keeping me from regenning MP when I leave active mode (aggro/dot) so the 2 MP/tick drain is completely irrelevant. Even so, if you were fighting something where you had to back off, 2 MP/tick drain is a joke when your natural MP pool is around 1800.

[miokomioko]

On topic:

• They just mentioned that the in-game "Girls Day" event or whatever that Japanese holiday is called is scheduled for March... which is probably going to be at the same time as 1.21. While no word thus far on when exactly 1.21 it's going to land, they are at least scheduling a maintenance between now and before the end of March.

• They are fixing that lolbug where you don't face your target during emotes and not only are they bringing /blowkiss back, they are adding 1 or more new emotes. Oh joy.

• They are continuing with their plans to having a journal to keep track of all learned recipes and even to have a "favorites" and/or "frequently used" list. Not bad~

[Aratharn]

• They are continuing with their plans to having a journal to keep track of all learned recipes and even to have a "favorites" and/or "frequently used" list. Not bad~

Is this something we'll see in 1.21? Or is that a 2.0 thing?

[Raldo]

Is this something we'll see in 1.21? Or is that a 2.0 thing?

JP translate thread says this:

Yes, we're looking into where in 2.0 you can optionally save the recipes for the ones you use the most. For more details on the 2.0 Recipe please look at this comment

On the annoying battle stuff... I don't think the guy setting up Rampage and the guys setting up how combos work were ever in the same room. Dude, lets make shit where you're forced to run around! Dude, lets make them more powerful, but only when they stand still! At least someone was smart enough to make sure the set of combos before the WS that consumes Rampage only has a single positioning requirement (in front of the monster).

[Niiro]

Oh man I'm so glad I'm not the only one that got annoyed with surges.

To think we had the gall to complain that reusing Surges every 3 mins was pointless because there was no effort in maintaining them fulltime.

Now, even though they can still be maintained full time with just invig, it's 1/min and if you don't constantly eye the duration you have to start over!

If they were gonna do it a little better, then the extra effect from the WS should only take effect if the directional requirement is made but the combos should always work from anywhere.

My thoughts exactly.

I would much rather it be an MP cost per attack round rather than just a constant drain for being in active mode.

This as well, but it is true that Earth (and eventually Wind) has a function even when you're not hitting anything (giving DEF/EVA) but really, I don't think anyone's gonna cry exploit.


Edit: I think it's safe to say, sadly, that I liked the combat a lot more before 1.20 (mages being the exception, the changes to nukes and combos made things a lot more intuitive than just "spam what it's weak to").
I much preferred using fewer skills more strategically than having to dance around the mob, hoping that it was facing the way it appeared to be facing (nvm lag) while having to keep track of a million recast timers (and buff timers) so many of which you can't see because we can only display 1 row of the action bar at a time (FIX THIS).

[Toth]

So it has been now 12 days since he heard any more changes coming in this next patch. I find this pretty unacceptable, especially since the loyal Yoshites such as myself are paying for the game and keep being promised information as to why we should be paying.

My hype for this patch being awesome is slowly waning...Plus, it does not bode well at all for future patches before 2.0. I wonder why they just don't release monthly patches with what is done and go from there...