Red Mage Merit Issue Please Help.

[Soldier]

To All the Red Mages:

I'm now planning on spending my hard earned merits for Red Mage, my merits have so far been aimed at both for Party setting and for solo playing.

5/5 for Covert

3/3 Slow 2, Avesta said this was by far the best investment and all of the red mage threads that I have read seem to agree.

3/3 Bio 3, Again this one for soloing mainly.

Bottom line I wished I could cap the Dia 3 and Paralyze 2 also but can't for now, hopefully SE will let us have that option soon.

My question to you all is about which element accuracy to cap, I have thought about this for sooooo long but can't decide. I'm trapped in between Ice and Wind, in one hand I thought about capping Ice (i'm leaning towards that one) for all the benefits that come from it... Blizzard 3 , Paralyze and Bind improvements. Just when I thought Ice was the way to go I heard other red mages say that Bind still sucks even when capped (the duration is not consistent) and that put me back into the wind column again. I was hoping that with enfeebling merits capped that Bind would finally live up to my wet dream of having it not only sticking it consistently but also having it stay for a full 30 secs which I read was the maximum time for it. I could see my self with haste gear trying to bring that Bind timer down to the point of being ready by the time it stop working...please let me dream >

Anyway back to reality, I was considering wind because of Gravity and Silence which offered the most serious challenge to Ice accuracy improvements. I also thought about splitting them but my experience with merits has been such that I no longer believe that they are good enough unless they are capped. If anyone feels this question belongs in the newbie section please move it, I have searched and found and read too many articles dealing with this issue but never as direct as I believe I'm putting it. Please forgive me if there is no value to this issue any longer , you have all helped me in the past so I keep coming back for more!

Soldier

[Nightbreed]

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/viewt...t=15417&hilit=

http://bluegartr.com/forum/viewtopic...lit=rdm+merits

May help if you have not read those threads yet.

[Solund]

Convert merits make me cry. 100 seconds off Convert is meh in my opinion. I have 4 Earth Acc, 3 Ice Acc, and 3 Wind Acc.

As for tier 2 merits, the only way to go is 3 Slow II, 3 Paralyze II. Bio III just isnt woth meriting since Bio II is the same dmg over time and at a lower MP cost.

[shukuffxi]

Convert merits make me cry. 100 seconds off Convert is meh in my opinion. I have 4 Earth Acc, 3 Ice Acc, and 3 Wind Acc.

I know to each their own, but I can't see any downside to having Convert ready 1 minute and 40 seconds early. It's just so incredibly beneficial in situations where MP is tight for whatever reason, where as I the M.Acc merits feel like placebo to me once you're around 320-330 Enfeelbing Skill. I think you are more likely to be tight on MP than you are to be getting resisted so bad that the M.Acc merits will make a real difference (i.e: I was doing almost all MND enfeebles on HNM with just AF Body/Merits and not getting resisted much, and once AF2 hat came along, M.Acc merits seem nigh useless for enfeebling purposes)

[DanielRemora]

For solo play cap Ice. Edit: Bolded this.

Wind is ok too, but from experience, convert is far more vital. A combination of the 2 works too.

Earth is not worth it, especially if you have gone for 3/3 Slow II. The only things you'll likely have trouble landing it on is Khim, Cerb & Gods. I land Slow II with a very high success rate in full MND gear (Wand/Shield, No Enfeebling+) on almost everything I need to.

And if it fails, the recast time is very low, so it's simple to swap Terra's and Enfeebling+ items to land it without any problems.

[Darkyrm]

Convert merits make me cry. 100 seconds off Convert is meh in my opinion. I have 4 Earth Acc, 3 Ice Acc, and 3 Wind Acc.

As for tier 2 merits, the only way to go is 3 Slow II, 3 Paralyze II. Bio III just isnt woth meriting since Bio II is the same dmg over time and at a lower MP cost.

Convert merits are the best RDM merits.

Earth acc merits on the other side are lolworthy imo.

[Lordwafik]

Vert merits are delicious. If you're an exp rdm, even better as you don't have to heal yourself. Convert / keep up stoneskin / cast regen1 on yourself over and over and by the time convert is up, your HP is ready - very MP efficient, and the /whm will help by giving you an extra tick.

I used to be part of the /whm crowd that didn't like vert merits because it screws up divine seal timer being on par, till I realised who the hell cares about DS+Cure self? I don't party with shitty players anymore, even in salvage I run around with low amounts of HP and just keep regen on , unless I know I'm gonna fight something where my HP matters (like rooms full of gears and stuff).

[Apelila]

RDM that knows what Regen does and uses it effectively

Have my babies?

[Toonshady]

i did 4 earth magic accuracy, 3 ice acc, 3 convert.

for tier 2, 3 slow II, 3 phalanx II.

para II doesn't proc any more than normal para and the MP cost is not worth it. i chose phalanx II b/c of salvage. just give the front line jobs in your party a phalanx II and regen and they will be good to go.

[Aerides]

Tier 1 no one did earth till slow2 came out. I personally still would not.

I went 3ice, 3wind, 4vert in tier1

I popped 1 in Para2 (will get rid of that eventually when done with other stuff). Waste.
So far 2 in Slow2 and 1 in Dia3 just because merits seem to love it... maybe.

Then again I am WHM for sky/sea stuff and brd or Nin in merits so....

[chapstick]

I am 5 convert, 3 ice, 2 wind. I've kinda wanted to switch to 5 ice but meh...

Convert merits are the best thing ever.

3 Phalanx and 3 Slow is my category 2. Phalanx is great for salvage.

[Tajin]

Vert merits are delicious. If you're an exp rdm, even better as you don't have to heal yourself. Convert / keep up stoneskin / cast regen1 on yourself over and over and by the time convert is up, your HP is ready - very MP efficient, and the /whm will help by giving you an extra tick.

I used to be part of the /whm crowd that didn't like vert merits because it screws up divine seal timer being on par, till I realised who the hell cares about DS+Cure self? I don't party with shitty players anymore, even in salvage I run around with low amounts of HP and just keep regen on , unless I know I'm gonna fight something where my HP matters (like rooms full of gears and stuff).

Oh so true.

Edit: wtf this shit still in adv.

[Guni]

Tier One: 4 Convert, 4 Wind and 2 Ice
Tier Two: 3 Slow II and 3 Paralyze II

The one thing I've experienced with soloing is that convert merits aren't really vital, you can be smart with your mp and survive the additional 1:40 by kiting or binding. But for LS events or exp parties convert is a life saver, for when things do go wrong and you're burning through mp trying to keep people alive it's always nice to know you can have it up early.

[Loren]

I would never use Bio III in soloing, you have to reapply (i.e. break Bind) more often, and the loss of MP efficiency will cut into your nukes so you're not even gaining any damage.

[DanielRemora]

The initial damage from Bio III and the additional 1hp/tic gained through Dark+ gear makes it better than most think. Bio III tends to do around 124 damage initial cast plus the additional DoT (With gear).

It's nice for things you can just run away from, but when you don't have that luxury; Bio II all the way.

[Tricen]

Vert merits are the only merits. Anything else is situational.

[Celebrindor]

I was a 5ice/5wind RDM for the longest time (goal wise, was luckily 3ice/3wind for a big chunk since I stopped meriting in burn parties for a while).

Then I put one merit into convert. I'm sold on it now. I plan on finishing category 1 into vert, being 3ice/3wind/4vert.

Category 2....only one I would max would be slow II. I have para 2 unlocked (one upgrade) and am not impressed in the least. I may switch to 2 slow2, 2 dia3, 2 phalanx 2 (right now 2 slow2, 1 para2, 1 dia3) in preparation for salvage.

Bio3 is not worth it in my opinion. Yes it has higher initial damage, but the damage per tic over the shorter duration= same total damage of bio2 over the longer duration, for less MP. Just a personal preference. Its nice for the %attack reduction it gives I guess, but with zerging being so popular these days- Dia3+feint+angon is just that good for a quick fight. and 2 upgrades in it bring it to a 1 minute duration, not horrid.

[Loren]

If we're talking about soloing NMs (lv80+) then the contact damage of any Bio spell is going to be full resist so it's a difference of like 8 dmg vs. 15 dmg.

10 minutes of Bio III is 1600 dmg for 320 MP
10 minutes of Bio II is 1200 dmg for 160 MP

160 MP is a ~500-600 dmg Bliz3 plus change.
Add to that the loss of Dia/Phalanx/Para/Slow and it just seems like gaining nothing at all.
I guess solo styles vary. My experience is with Ungur, Kreutzet, and various WSNMs and I would not use Bio III in those situations.

[AzazaelFenrir]

para II doesn't proc any more than normal para and the MP cost is not worth it. i chose phalanx II b/c of salvage. just give the front line jobs in your party a phalanx II and regen and they will be good to go.

Did you have Para 2 maxed?

I have it all the way maxed and it procs much better than para 1 for me. While not a "ZOMG HARD BOSS!" Ultima spent a little over the majority of the night last night unable to move due to para 2.

I am 3/5 (going for 5) on Vert. From there maybe 3Wind and 2Ice.

[DanielRemora]

If we're talking about soloing NMs (lv80+) then the contact damage of any Bio spell is going to be full resist so it's a difference of like 8 dmg vs. 15 dmg.

10 minutes of Bio III is 1600 dmg for 320 MP
10 minutes of Bio II is 1200 dmg for 160 MP

160 MP is a ~500-600 dmg Bliz3 plus change.
Add to that the loss of Dia/Phalanx/Para/Slow and it just seems like gaining nothing at all.
I guess solo styles vary. My experience is with Ungur, Kreutzet, and various WSNMs and I would not use Bio III in those situations.

With quoted NMs, Bio often lands for full damage (As does nukes). Also with these you can bind and rest a couple of tics for the most part. Having done Ungur/Bune/Guivre many times, Ungur and Bune are pretty much pussies, Bio III (3/3) works well for them. Guivre being that little bit harder, I'd stick with Bio II.

Generally I'd say anything you can move from: Bio III. Anything else (Straight tank, or dangerous mobs that tend to break bind early & fairly often - An example would be Faust) Bio II works wonders.

And as quoted above... the damage over time adds up significantly. But as said many times... It's all situational and down to your own solo style.