Scholar Discussion #3 (post March patch)

[Darte]

Anybody else think that more more merits into the new stratagems will eventually lower the "Stratagem Cost" down to 1? While that may be the sensible thing to do, i'm sure they'll keep it at 2 stratagem cost and simply "enhance" the effect it grants (ie: more magic acc, more -enmity)

Either way, Enlightenment is a no brainer, and max merits will most likely lower recast time down by 1 min 40 seconds (if they stay the way they have done with convert merits). Personally unless they lower the recast time by a LOT (lowering it to say, 2-3 mins or heck even 5 would be okay), i'm thinking this is a 1 point for all sch (unless your the really "efficient type" that notices the minute and 40 second off a 10 min recast JA).

Storm Surge imo would be a great max merit category for most if not all sch who like to party. Thunder or Air up the THF for more DEX or AGI. It could be used as a "Refresh rotation" for melee, or mages.

[Vegetatheprince]

for group 2, the recast deduction is greater than group 1

any 15 min ability can get down to 5 min which begs the question what will the recast be when capped of enlightenment since it's 10 min. 2 min like feint? o.O will be interesting to see what upgrading actually does.

2 charges is crippling cept on tabula rasa. 2 cure 4s or do 1 cure 4 hateless for same~ mp.

enlightenment is a MUST (only caps in whole post lol) and idk from there...+15 to any stat non-deprecating is pretty unique. but i need to unlock the 2 enmity downs for 2hr... touch decisions to come.

[Reapz]

I don't see Stormsurge adding +3 each level, it says +3 initial so my guess would be +1 after each additional upgrade making it a max of +7. STR+15 on Firestorm/INT+15 on Icestorm is a bit much maybe, but we will see!

[Damane]

Category 2 Merits:

Altruism
Light Arts Stratagem (requires two charges).
Increases the accuracy of your next white magic spell.

Focalization
Dark Arts Stratagem (requires two charges).
Increases the accuracy of your next black magic spell.

Tranquility
Light Arts Stratagem (requires two charges).
Your next white magic spell will generate less enmity.

Equanimity
Dark Arts Stratagem (requires two charges).
Your next black magic spell will generate less enmity.

Enlightenment
Optimizes both white and black magic capabilities and allows access to both addenda for your next spell. Recast: 10min.

Stormsurge
Storm-type spells grant a bonus to attributes associated with their element.
Initial bonus value: +3.

Now is it just me, or do the 4 strategems seem too much in terms of cost? 2 each? They better be damn good, otherwise Stormsurge/Enlightenment is going to be the flavor of the day.

depending on the potency of the magic accuracy I would actually go with full Altruism and Focalisation. But thats if it comes close to ES.

Then again if the Bonus of Stormsurge is big enough, like +10 on the stats when fully merited, then hmmm.

Enlightenment is nice, but meh depends on the recast time you get when its fully merited, I have encountered moments where I wished I could access both addendas (and was out of stratagems), but theese moments are rare.

I wont even considere the 2 Enmity abilitys, they are no option.

[jimbobsonofgod]

I think it works out perfect 1 into 5 then 5 into 1.
Personally that's what I'll be doing, even if its 3,1,1,1,1
Rather spend 22 merits then get a maats cap!
And although 2 charge seems steep I guess it comes down to , how long the buff stays active for, If you can blow 2 and have the buff active for 1-2 mins while you get another charge back, might not be so ball bustin.

[evilpaul]

My thoughts on the Group 2 merits. Unlike Group 1, I think they're pretty awesome.

For merits, SE will presumably let you put 5/5 into one if you so desire. I don't know which I'll do yet as they don't really tell much about what each one actually does or what 5/5 into one will do. But I believe some speculation on ideal 5/5ery is in order.

The Magic accuracy+ ones will likely add more macc+ with each additional merit and at #4 or #5 possibly go down to 1 Stratagem charge in cost. Outside of lolDivine Magic and the white magic enfeebles (Paralyze, Slow, Silence) white magic is great from /WHM and /RDM precisely because it doesn't need to be accurate as buffs/cures aren't resisted. Which makes Altruism look to be lolAltruism already.

Focalization looks like it could be pretty awesome. Scholar's main shortcoming from a replacing BLMs perspective is problems landing spells on big things. (There's also the no Stun and -ga3 spells, but those are less important generally.) How much will 5/5 Focalization improve magic accuracy though is what I'm wondering. Macc+25 at 1 Stratagem charge cost would be worthwhile and make it a decent candidate for 5/5ery.

Enmity reduction Stratagem abilities look less useful. Kaeko has made it apparent how useful an Enmity- gearset is with Light Arts. Unfortunately, what he shows that an Enmity- build is useful for is a) Cure IV spam b) AoE buffs. For the former if each Tranquility merit was Enmity-10 to the -50 cap it would be handy for Cure IV sometimes. But using 3 of 4 charges to AoE Stoneskin or Phalanx makes it pretty pointless. But really due to the other options available anything short of halving your Cure IV enmity with 1/5 merit at a cost of 2 charges it's not worth getting.

Equanimity looks even less useful than it's white magic counterpart. I can't think of any situations where I say "Boy, I sure wish I could nuke more without pulling hate" as Scholar. Tanks are either decent enough nowadays that you can nuke at a decent pace or there is no tank and you can go all out in a solo/manaburn situation. This is like the Muted Soul of SCH merits.

Enlightenment actually looks quite cool. It's in effect a mini-2hr that lets you save your Light Arts/Dark Arts change recast as well as 2 Addendum Stratagem charges to use a spell that's in either addendum with full B+ skill. From the description it doesn't sound like 5/5 will increase it's effect in any way (like Formless Strikes), but rather just reduce the recast on it (like Feint). Following the existing pattern among Group 2 merits that means it will be able to go from 10 minutes down to 2 minutes.

The ability to stay in Addendum: Black and get around the penalties to white magic and use an Addedum: White spell every 2 minutes makes this one of the top candidates for 5/5ery. If you are filling a Curing/buffing role you can pop it and throw out a Blizzard IV to finish some mob off. Or, perhaps more usefully, you can Sleep 2 an add without having to change to Dark Arts, use Addendum: Black (assuming you have a charge ready), and then cast Sleep 2. If you are in a super MP efficient BLM type role, then the ability to toss a Cure 3/4 for less MP or put Reraise 2 back up quickly would be rather handy too.

Stormsurge looks fairly interesting. STAT+3 for the first merit and presumably +3 for each additional merit to a total of +15. The obvious bonus to the Scholar would be to use Hailstorm for INT+15. Running around more quickly with Desert Boots + Sandstorm would also provide a nice VIT+15. For other people they could get +15 to the stat of their choosing as well. Samurais could get STR+15 for their WS, other melees might like DEX+15 for an Acc boost and possibly get bumped up a crit tier. RDMs might like MND+15 for debuffs. Other BLMs might like the INT+15 boost as well. Being able to have an INT+15 boost fulltime makes this another candidate for 5/5ery. (Or it could be 3->3->3->1->1 sort of like Overwhelm.)

Plenty of assumptions as to how the things will actually end up working, but I think they are reasonable.

Now to go get 11k EXP and finish my Group 1's before the update. :D

[Enygma55]

I highly doubt storm surge will be +3 across the board. It says Initial is +3 which implies that the extra wont be the same. Most likely +1 more per merit for a total of +7. Definitely a nice boost to Helix with storm up. (Hailstorm of course)

[Aemora]

Sooooo much to merit Recently, I finished Snake Eye 5/5 for Cor and thus my T2 Merits for the job (I hardly ever merit), but damn, when I first read stormsurge I totally didn't see the +stat in the description, and just thought that it would enhance Weatherbuffs (like +2% dmg), but womggggggg... Stat+ is a wow... For Salvage, this shit is crazy. Imagine, on Firesday, Enfire and Firestorm on a party... That's some super ripping.

The one thing that I am severly disappointed in the lack of SCH Merits, is the inability to merit the recast timer of strategems down, like Charges for Cor, or ES for Blm (not that any Blm would), or Convert for Rdm... If they enabled you to lower the strategems to a 50s recast, that would be so awesome. I'm an advocate of spending all my charges and play Sch as MP efficiently as I can, and if I'm sitting on 4/4 Strategems (a rare thing), I'll start tossing out Penury Cures or Ebullience Nukes.

The mini-2hr seems pretty epic, but, depending on what Stormsurge adds (+7 or +15) and the recast on Enlightenment debates which I'll go for; could be 1 in everything, 5 in Stormsurge or 5 in Stormsurge/Enlightenment, or 3 Focal/2Enlight/5Storm... God I hope it's +15 on Stormsurge...

[Cakes]

I can see us getting extra range on our AOE spells as one of the perks of the new AF.

[LD]

I can see us getting extra range on our AOE spells as one of the perks of the new AF.

I'd prefer they just make the radius bigger, but considering SE's trend of putting important job issue fixes onto gear that might not always be used or is difficult to get, you'll probably get what you want.

[Cakes]

I'd prefer they just make the radius bigger, but considering SE's trend of putting important job issue fixes onto gear that might not always be used or is difficult to get, you'll probably get what you want.

Why fix a job and provide new gear with interesting effects when you can just combine the two, with half the work and 10% of the accessibility!

[Grandphoenix]

Bodies
Scholar's Gown +1
Body DEF:39 MP+18 INT+3 MND+3
Enhances "Dark Arts" effect
MP recovered while healing +5
CanEquip, NoSale, Ex, Rare
SCH74

Argute Gown
Body DEF:38 HP+15 MP+15
Enhancing magic skill +7
"Magic Def. Bonus"+5
Enhances "Sublimation" effect
CanEquip, NoSale, Ex, Rare
SCH75

Argute Gown +1
Body DEF:39 HP+17 MP+17
Enhancing magic skill +7
"Magic Def. Bonus"+6
Enhances "Sublimation" effect
CanEquip, NoSale, Ex, Rare
SCH75

Feet
Sch. Loafers +1
Feet DEF:11 MP+20 AGI+3 INT+3 Enmity-2
Grimoire: Reduces spellcasting time
CanEquip, NoSale, Ex, Rare
SCH74

Argute Loafers
Feet DEF:13 MP+20 Healing magic skill +7
Weather: Enhances "Celerity"
and "Alacrity" effect
CanEquip, NoSale, Ex, Rare
SCH72

Argute Loafers +1
DEF:14 MP+25 Healing magic skill +9
Weather: Enhances "Celerity"
and "Alacrity" effect
CanEquip, NoSale, Ex, Rare
SCH75

Head
Sch. M.board +1
Head DEF:16 MP+20 INT+5
Enhances "Sublimation" effect
Enmity-1
CanEquip, NoSale, Ex, Rare
SCH74

Argute M.board
Head DEF:16 HP+10 MP+10 MND+5
Elemental magic skill +7
Grimoire: Reduces spellcasting time
CanEquip, NoSale, Ex, Rare
SCH75

Argute M.board +1
DEF:17 HP+12 MP+12 MND+6
Elemental magic skill +7
Grimoire: Reduces spellcasting time
CanEquip, NoSale, Ex, Rare
SCH75

Hands
Sch. Bracers +1
Hands DEF:14 MP+20 MND+5
Spell interruption rate down 20%
Enmity-3
CanEquip, NoSale, Ex, Rare
SCH74

Argute Bracers
Hands DEF:14 MP+20 INT+3 MND+3
Enfeebling magic skill +7
Enmity-2
CanEquip, NoSale, Ex, Rare
SCH71

Argute Bracers +1
Hands DEF:15 MP+20 INT+4 MND+4
Enfeebling magic skill +7
Enmity-3
CanEquip, NoSale, Ex, Rare
SCH75

Legs
Scholar's Pants +1
Legs DEF:28 MP+25 VIT+3 MND+3 Enmity-2
Enhances "Light Arts" effect
CanEquip, NoSale, Ex, Rare
SCH74

Argute Pants
DEF:27 HP+15 MP+15 INT+5
Dark magic skill +7 Enmity-2
CanEquip, NoSale, Ex, Rare
SCH73

Argute Pants +1
DEF:28 HP+17 MP+17 INT+6
Dark magic skill +7 Enmity-3
CanEquip, NoSale, Ex, Rare
SCH75

Accessory
Argute Belt
Waist DEF:6 MP+20 INT+5 MND+5
Magic Accuracy+2
"Magic Def. Bonus"+2
CanEquip, NoSale, Ex, Rare
SCH70

So the question is does enhance sublimation stack and will boots make celerity/alacrity .25% cast time now o.O Besides that I'd say +1 head and uh relic pants + belt

Relic head and artifact boot might be fun too.

[Reapz]

Just put 2 merits into Stormsurge, Voidstorm is + to all stats, at LV2 its +2 to all stats and obviously Hailstorm is +4 int at LV2, Firestorm +4 to str etc. Going to put a level into Enlightenment now I guess.
Edit: Yeh I went into Addendum: Black and using Enlightenment gives me full Addendum: White for the next spell, definetly maxing these 2.
Edit#2!: Am I the only one who was thinking while enlightenment was active you would get the -10% cost for both? Well thats not the case, you still get the +10% penalty to the opposing grimoire but its still good I guess, saves wasting stratagems on addendum all the time

[The Blackrose]

Just put 2 merits into Stormsurge, Voidstorm is + to all stats, at LV2 its +2 to all stats and obviously Hailstorm is +4 int at LV2, Firestorm +4 to str etc. Going to put a level into Enlightenment now I guess.

If Voidstorm is + to all stats, then +5 at 5/5, compared to +7? That... really blows.

[Reapz]

If Voidstorm is + to all stats, then +5 at 5/5, compared to +7? That... really blows.

I'm not sure but I doubt it, the initial was +3 remember, will probably be more like +3 to all stats once capped

[Meian]

Is Enlightment really just letting you cast a spell from the other book without burning a charge? If that is it then I think I rather get the Elemental Seal-thingy >>

[Grandphoenix]

What is aurorastorm charisma?

[Reapz]

I didn't bother checking, just presumed so

[Acturus]

What is aurorastorm charisma?

ZAM tester said yes to this.

[Eldelphia]

Is Enlightment really just letting you cast a spell from the other book without burning a charge? If that is it then I think I rather get the Elemental Seal-thingy >>

Yep I opened it. It opens up both arts and both addenda so whilst in Dark Arts + Addendum: Black I cast Erase on myself. For me this is incredibly useful :D