Version Update Notice (02/27/2009)

[Kyreth]

oh.. is that what the 3 tarus are meant to represent?
whats with the bells tho

Geomancer.

(please, gawd no.)

But as far as the hammer goes: Mini cure?

[LD]

The longer it's taking for them to release the Northlands, the more I'm thinking that that will be the sky/sea/ZNMs of this expansion, while the Walk of Echoes might be akin to Dynamis/Limbus/Salvage/Einherjar.

I doubt that. First of all, I remember them saying Northlands wouldn't need to be unlocked through missions (can't remember where though) and WoE is too closely tied to the story to be only for a new Dynamis. It's more likely that Northlands will be like Ule Range (appropriately enough), large areas with high level mobs, accessible from the get-go.

[Spira]

Noctoshield: would be good if utsusemi did not exist
Netherblast: good if you don't have a better job than smn for events its good for
DREAM SHROUD: good for the right time for what you want, but then again someone else could be in the party instead of you so FAIL

Noctoshield was pretty unique before Phalanx II and accession Phalanx came around. It allowed you to Phalanx your whole party at 1 go. Granted its not the strongest form of phalanx, its great for places where you know you're gonna get hit anyway. Very situationally useful, but can be a make or break in places like Blitzkrieg.

Nether Blast: Is good for consistant damage, that requires no accuracy to pull off well, and doesn't accumulate hate. This also works great for kited fights. Only 2 jobs are better than SMN out there if you're going to be using Nether Blast out there.

Dream Shroud: Pretty good. MAB+MDB for the whole party. No other move provides both at once.. and whilst it may be weak depending on time, it can prevent overlapping from Magic Defense Down.
Any argument that 'someone else could be in the party than you' as a point against 1 job is logical fallacy since this applies to every single job.

[Devek]

Right, because we kick those black mages out during fafnir to let the more useful PUPs in.

I'm not sure you know what logical fallacy means. He point is logically sound, because if there are other jobs sitting around a SMN is not going to be in the alliance.

[Silenka]

With our luck they'll give us a meh avatar and nerf astral flow. ; ;

Nerf astral flow? It's already completely useless for endgame, the only use Astral Flow has anymore is free avatar for 3 mins. Can keep your avatar out to tp or what have you. Actually, I just popped it for that purpose for Heavenly Strike in MMM today, first time I've used Astral Flow for something other than limbus elementals since I did all those capped fights in CoP.

Diabolos is not a useless avatar by far, as pretty much everyone has said. Also, SE has confirmed that any new avatars they implement are going to work completely differently from the ones we already have, which will possibly make them actually useful for more than just a few certain endgame events. I love soloing/farming on smn right now, but perhaps if smn can do more things in more situations, it will become less of a somewhat meh jack-of-all-trades and more of a desired endgame job.

[Spira]

honey, fafnir isnt the only endgame event in town

like, I'd rather have a PUP at ixion than a BLM.

p.s. i've actually been there as a PUP at ixion.

[LD]

honey, fafnir isnt the only endgame event in town

This is an odious lie and you should be ashamed of yourself.

[Melios]

They should add an option to buy Goliard/Askar/Denali with tokens, since currently they're not worth wasting assault tags on pickups. Or at the very least, give that option for those of us with a Runic Key.

[orson]

What worries me is no mention of new areas. Didn't the update that added the 3 strongholds mention areas in the first teaser? The longer it's taking for them to release the Northlands, the more I'm thinking that that will be the sky/sea/ZNMs of this expansion, while the Walk of Echoes might be akin to Dynamis/Limbus/Salvage/Einherjar.

I don't think SE has ever been consistent in its update notes. We can't draw any conclusion this early on apart from them likely doing what they say they're doing.

honey, fafnir isnt the only endgame event in town

like, I'd rather have a PUP at ixion than a BLM.

p.s. i've actually been there as a PUP at ixion.

Rng damage ftw on Ixion forget about other jobs.

[Spira]

which is my point.. different endgame events see different jobs being used optimally.
with ixion as far as i know its rng > dds > everything else.. blm are best not present at all.
and blm is nowhere near the top of in-demand jobs for ToA fiends either.

in any case, the topic is about version update and the verdict is still not out of what job adjustments will be happening..
all we see is a 3 tarus wearing black red and white colored cloaks, all of which can be equipped by multiple jobs in game already..

[Araelus]

They should add an option to buy Goliard/Askar/Denali with tokens, since currently they're not worth wasting assault tags on pickups. Or at the very least, give that option for those of us with a Runic Key.

How about trading Nyzul Tokens for Remnants Permits? (echo echo echo)

More activities could be (arguably, should be) modeled along the "points for success = items later" system. Einherjar probably has the best combination of point items and %drop items. Assault provides some fine AP items and some great ???items and some absolute garbage.

Campaign at least combines the AN items with the merit/xp points you're getting at the same time. Whether or not the AN items work for you depends on what else you have. ISNM takes this in the opposite direction with the accumulated points going to a %drop reward, but the worthwhile drops are money items or used towards Salvage.

ZNM has you 100% sure to pop the mob... and then who knows if it'll drop your item. (At least for the first four tiers, who knows if you'll drop Pandy Warden?)

Nyzul Isle does seem to have the odd mix of ???items being random and the boss drops being random. And remember the old weapon drop system? But compared to the Kings System, the newer things SE adds are more "fair" or at least more generally rewarding for our time investment. If they're not, such as Salvage can be, we gripe and rightly so. (Mythics.)

But there would be both backlash and rejoicing from different segments of the population if the update notes said some existing item was now going to be point based.

"Kill Citadel Chelonian 50 times and get a guaranteed Hikazu Hara-Ate!"

EDIT: Regarding the posts about job use, I'd at least like to see the job balance patch increase the relative utility of BLM compared to SCH in long fights somehow. But I don't see how, given the game mechanics that have been outlined...

(Also please don't somehow mess RDM up, Square, really. I know you can, but resist the temptation.)

[Deband]

I think Nyzul would be better if the boss floors dropped a token instead of armor. Like lvl 20 drops a boots token which you then trade to an NPC and pick which boots you would like. Then again maybe SE likes just giving you what you don't want time and time again

[Araelus]

That would be nice without resorting to the whole points deal. Call it a "voucher"? Already have tokens.

[Bingbong]

I think Nyzul would be better if the boss floors dropped a token instead of armor. Like lvl 20 drops a boots token which you then trade to an NPC and pick which boots you would like. Then again maybe SE likes just giving you what you don't want time and time again

^This

After 200+ Nyzul runs, a bunch on floor 80, and 5 Askar bodies, my static has still not seen a Denali jacket.

[Araelus]

After 200+ Nyzul runs, a bunch on floor 80, and 5 Askar bodies, my static has still not seen a Denali jacket.

I can understand the game not rewarding us with anything no matter how hard we work at it, but when it delivers the wrong reward, somehow it's worse than nothing at all.

I'm sure someone out there wants Askar and is getting Denali.

[Kaslo]

I can understand the game not rewarding us with anything no matter how hard we work at it, but when it delivers the wrong reward, somehow it's worse than nothing at all.

I'm sure someone out there wants Askar and is getting Denali.

It's called everyone else out there.

[Araelus]

I am in the "got Askar and then got Goliard and then our leader quit right before the update anyway so we're climbing from zero again" boat so I should go to http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/ffxi-...ite-mages.html and hang out there?

I get screwed by the system on other things, same as everyone overall. Square can do a lot to prevent anguish on our parts at feeling like time spent "succeeding" at the game is still failure when the wrong/no drops. But they don't. That's not right.

[Hyan]

Well, it's partly because the community is focused on "me me me" and not "my group". Another thing is of course if something nobody wants drops, but most of the time that's easy to avoid.. nyzul has 3 drops per boss so it can be more of a problem there though.

[Neosutra]

"Kill Citadel Chelonian 50 times and get a guaranteed Hikazu Hara-Ate!"

Fuck that. /account delete.

[Seraph]

Fuck that. /account delete.

I just get bitter and realize that it's a time sink no matter what I do, or how hard a particular droprate decides to screw me. Something about the journey and roses. And shitty droprates.