PUP and BST Changes / New automation headpieces

[Jkun]

Yeah, Ts are a joke /NIN. I was trying some VT ghrahs in sea the other day, but had some trouble holding hate off Muffin. Definitely looking to get some Hades Sainti.

I don't have the balls to take on Ghrahs. Well, that's not entirely true. Maybe it's because most days a week I have to chip away at them while sea farming. Infact, yeah. Fuck Ghrahs.

Spiritreaver pretty much rapes Ul'Phuabo with capped magic merits and skill, though.

[DragonCloud64]

I mourn the death of harlewaker, soloing T-VT mobs are out the window D:
Yet there is a brighter future with fixed int and Spiritreaver, im gonna cap magic merits soon and see what kinda new dmg i can throw out there

I was soloing T steelshells with Soulsoother, so it's still possible.

Well soloing T's with ease, at least lol. You could sub anything and still kill t-vts without worrying about taking damage :D

[Jkun]

Post-post update has been pretty nice to me. With Spiritreaver and full MAB+ Attachments, I managed to land hits of 600-700 on Jailer of Justice and Prudence today. (Note: Scanner was not needed at all)

With Valoredge, and uncapped but meritted melee skill, he got off 4-5 Cannibal Blade WSs on Jailer of Justice also. These were unresisted at 336-345 per turn, every time he did Ink Jet, Eraser would automatically get rid of his pretty harsh Blind.

Loving these results!

[Thufir]

I just noticed BLMhead is pretty smart about judging his resist rate. Was doing the puk ISNM, first went in with Manabooster Louspeaker 1 and 2 and puppet was nuking with Water4 (my highest at the time) and Thunder3. Eventually he got smoked and I changed Loudspeaker 1 to Tranquilizer to help with the ocasinal resist. Except he started nukng with Water4 and Stone4 now. No Scanner Involved (he wouldnt have tried to nuke with Stone if he did) but with that boost of Mag Acc I guess he felt safe to nuke with an element puks resist more, and he was doing fine.

At least SE is adding some semblance of AI to puppets.

[Caspin]

I have to say my Favorite Head now is Soulsoother and Waker body...Its awesome in Parties when ya dont have a whitemage healer...Most the parties Ive been in have been Smn healer and they just love the fact they can use avatars more, while my Puppet heals...Im so glad SE gave Puppetmasters what they needed for there puppets to Shine in Parties...Long Live Puppetmasters...

[pchan]

Anyone knows how to trigger regen II ? for some reason it never casted that on me at 75. Both times he casted was regen in a level-30 promy and regen II in a level 50-promy. At 75 it seems to only know cure5.

[Khamsin]

Anyone knows how to trigger regen II ? for some reason it never casted that on me at 75. Both times he casted was regen in a level-30 promy and regen II in a level 50-promy. At 75 it seems to only know cure5.

I've never had it cast Regen II on me, so I can't help you there. But it has cast Regen III on me when I've been under 100% HP, but not low enough to trigger a Cure V (which isn't very low at all).

[Alistaire]

Anyone knows how to trigger regen II ? for some reason it never casted that on me at 75. Both times he casted was regen in a level-30 promy and regen II in a level 50-promy. At 75 it seems to only know cure5.

I've never had it cast Regen II on me, so I can't help you there. But it has cast Regen III on me when I've been under 100% HP, but not low enough to trigger a Cure V (which isn't very low at all).

Cue PUP -max HP macros with Rostrum Pumps etc...

[Sargas]

Anyone knows how to trigger regen II ? for some reason it never casted that on me at 75. Both times he casted was regen in a level-30 promy and regen II in a level 50-promy. At 75 it seems to only know cure5.

In my experience, the puppet will cast regen on you if you have hate, don't have full hp, don't need a cure, and are fighting a powerful enough mob. He never casts regen on me when I fight EP or low DC but keeps it on as much as possible against high DC, EM, or T mobs. Maneuvers don't seem to matter, at least not solo. I'm only level 55 pup, so he uses regen II, but by level 75 he knows regen III (he learns it mid-60s from what I've heard).

[Jones]

Anyone knows how to trigger regen II ? for some reason it never casted that on me at 75. Both times he casted was regen in a level-30 promy and regen II in a level 50-promy. At 75 it seems to only know cure5.

In my experience, the puppet will cast regen on you if you have hate, don't have full hp, don't need a cure, and are fighting a powerful enough mob. He never casts regen on me when I fight EP or low DC but keeps it on as much as possible against high DC, EM, or T mobs. Maneuvers don't seem to matter, at least not solo. I'm only level 55 pup, so he uses regen II, but by level 75 he knows regen III (he learns it mid-60s from what I've heard).

That's the big ticket there. It will only cast Regen on high DCs and up. Also, I keep my AF legs to swap in before a new battle when I solo. It gets the regen III cast to open, then I swap back to the Pahl. legs for the fight.

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On the subject of the Soulsoother AI, I think it is the worst of any frame. SE really needs to fix/address the following:

1. The Soulsoother stops casting Cure/-na spells mid-cast if it's target dies before it finished...THIS IS RETARDED.
1a. Why should it have to be Deployed at all to cast Cures? NPCs don't need to be attacking to cure/-na.
2. Let the Automations use separate times for Cures, Enfeebles, and -nas.
3. Why do -na's take priority over cures? When I'm at 250HP and poisoned I'd much prefer the Cure over the -na. Do NPC's do this too?
4. Allow the Soulsoother to cast the lower tier cure spells if that's all one needs.

[Elcura]

Anyone knows how to trigger regen II ? for some reason it never casted that on me at 75. Both times he casted was regen in a level-30 promy and regen II in a level 50-promy. At 75 it seems to only know cure5.

In my experience, the puppet will cast regen on you if you have hate, don't have full hp, don't need a cure, and are fighting a powerful enough mob. He never casts regen on me when I fight EP or low DC but keeps it on as much as possible against high DC, EM, or T mobs. Maneuvers don't seem to matter, at least not solo. I'm only level 55 pup, so he uses regen II, but by level 75 he knows regen III (he learns it mid-60s from what I've heard).

That's the big ticket there. It will only cast Regen on high DCs and up. Also, I keep my AF legs to swap in before a new battle when I solo. It gets the regen III cast to open, then I swap back to the Pahl. legs for the fight.

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On the subject of the Soulsoother AI, I think it is the worst of any frame. SE really needs to fix/address the following:

1. The Soulsoother stops casting Cure/-na spells mid-cast if it's target dies before it finished...THIS IS RETARDED.
1a. Why should it have to be Deployed at all to cast Cures? NPCs don't need to be attacking to cure/-na.
2. Let the Automations use separate times for Cures, Enfeebles, and -nas.
3. Why do -na's take priority over cures? When I'm at 250HP and poisoned I'd much prefer the Cure over the -na. Do NPC's do this too?
4. Allow the Soulsoother to cast the lower tier cure spells if that's all one needs.

I definitely think Soulsoother AI is a work in progress. I would think with each update the AI would get better, as well as giving PUP some more attachments/boosts. So far Soulsoother is only good in low man situations.

[Kaisha]

I definitely think Soulsoother AI is a work in progress. I would think with each update the AI would get better, as well as giving PUP some more attachments/boosts. So far Soulsoother is only good in low man situations.

Yeah, but what kind of idiot sets an AI to prioritize NAs over Cures in life-or-death situations? Damn thing nearly got me killed because the mob I was solo'ing kept poisoning me.
(now if only Erase would kick in 100% before casting decisions occur...)

Splitting spell categories into their own recast timers is the only way to go from here on.

[Casey_]

1. The Soulsoother stops casting Cure/-na spells mid-cast if it's target dies before it finished...THIS IS RETARDED.

This happens with healing breath as well. it's not just the automaton..
Also yeah it's retarded , you have to use double the MP for the activation..

[Sargas]

1. The Soulsoother stops casting Cure/-na spells mid-cast if it's target dies before it finished...THIS IS RETARDED.

Especially annoying since if you Retrieve while your puppet is mid-cast, he'll finish casting with no problem.

3. Why do -na's take priority over cures? When I'm at 250HP and poisoned I'd much prefer the Cure over the -na. Do NPC's do this too?

Yeah, I've been fighting crawlers, and I think I can handle the 1hp/tick poison more than I can handle being stuck at deep orange or red hp for the next 20-25 seconds. The worst, though, was when I was soloing lab lizards on pup/war and they'd use their tp attack with added silence. I think I can deal with the horrors of no spell casting, thanks. I have seen the puppet prioritize cures over -nas once or twice, but only when I was at 100hp with 2 light maneuvers up or something like that.

4. Allow the Soulsoother to cast the lower tier cure spells if that's all one needs.

Seriously, if they can alter the nuking AI so the puppet chooses the lowest nuke that can still kill the mob, then they can make it so the puppet chooses the most efficient cure. I can't keep a light maneuver up full time for flash anymore, because if I do the puppet will cure IV me when I'm down 150hp (if I take off the damage gauge entirely, curing is way too unreliable).

[BRP]

Spell casting Automatons should have two or three timers. Something like Enfeebling, Nuke, and/or Cure. Maybe for Sooths have Na and two timers for Cure III/IV and V.

[Khamsin]

Spellcasting automatons should have a timer for each spell they have. One for Cure V, one for Cure IV, one for Cure III, one for Blizzard IV, one for Fire IV, etc. And they should be equal to their normal recast times, e.g. 5 seconds for a cure, etc.

Let MP be the limiting factor, and require the automaton to have full MP as well as HP in order to reset the Activate timer when Deactivating.

[Elcura]

Spellcasting automatons should have a timer for each spell they have. One for Cure V, one for Cure IV, one for Cure III, one for Blizzard IV, one for Fire IV, etc. And they should be equal to their normal recast times, e.g. 5 seconds for a cure, etc.

Let MP be the limiting factor, and require the automaton to have full MP as well as HP in order to reset the Activate timer when Deactivating.

Yeah, because, apparently the best White Mages in Aht Urhgan suck really really badly.

[BRP]

Spellcasting automatons should have a timer for each spell they have. One for Cure V, one for Cure IV, one for Cure III, one for Blizzard IV, one for Fire IV, etc. And they should be equal to their normal recast times, e.g. 5 seconds for a cure, etc.

Um... way too powerful. And maybe even unplayable in case of nukes. I mean, who doesn't love having a BLM who spams a every nuke asap in their party? Anything more than 2 or 3 timers isn't really a big deal. The only thing I could see improving that would be an emergency cure that ignores timers and activates when shit hits the fan.

[Khamsin]

Spellcasting automatons should have a timer for each spell they have. One for Cure V, one for Cure IV, one for Cure III, one for Blizzard IV, one for Fire IV, etc. And they should be equal to their normal recast times, e.g. 5 seconds for a cure, etc.

Um... way too powerful. And maybe even unplayable in case of nukes. I mean, who doesn't love having a BLM who spams a every nuke asap in their party? Anything more than 2 or 3 timers isn't really a big deal. The only thing I could see improving that would be an emergency cure that ignores timers and activates when shit hits the fan.

Way too powerful... until you consider that player mages work under the same restrictions. Then you realize it's actually balanced... until you consider that player mages can merit and wear equipment that surpass attachments and do better than automatons. Then you realize that player mages are way too powerful.

[Jones]

Spellcasting automatons should have a timer for each spell they have. One for Cure V, one for Cure IV, one for Cure III, one for Blizzard IV, one for Fire IV, etc. And they should be equal to their normal recast times, e.g. 5 seconds for a cure, etc.

Um... way too powerful. And maybe even unplayable in case of nukes. I mean, who doesn't love having a BLM who spams a every nuke asap in their party? Anything more than 2 or 3 timers isn't really a big deal. The only thing I could see improving that would be an emergency cure that ignores timers and activates when shit hits the fan.

Way too powerful... until you consider that player mages work under the same restrictions. Then you realize it's actually balanced... until you consider that player mages can merit and wear equipment that surpass attachments and do better than automatons. Then you realize that player mages are way too powerful.

Don't forget about the master's dmg input. Our Autos would be dangerously close to being too powerful with just generic timers like nuke, enfeeble, cure, -na, etc. Although I think that split timers are needed, I wouldn't think a timer per spell would be fair.

And to hell with needing full MP to reset the Activate timer, unless we get some sort of dual oil that gives both MP and HP regeneration. On second thought, that would suck too.