BLM, INT vs. MAB

[Guppy]

I almost positive a resisted nuke can still crit. I swear I've seen a half resist do more damage than normal occasionally. It makes being resisted a little more bearable. Just a little.

I still find myself hoping a little bit that there's an M.Acc bonus during a critical, or something "special" about a magical critical strike.

It's one of those possibilities that was brought up in the original BG thread investigating Magic Criticals: http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/63710...ml#post2244446

Magic Critical is a very poor stat in general.

If you have an item that says "100% magic critical hit rate" it sounds amazing, but you could just rewrite it as "+10 MAB" and then it doesn't sound quite as amazing.

More and more, I'm starting to think BLM got this as a "fake buff". Something to appease calls for a job adjustment and new gear by sounding really cool (because we mentally compare it to Melee criticals), but doesn't actually make us stronger in any useful way, since apparently BLM is on the overpowered job list.

It just seems that, ever since the big manaburn nerf, we've been getting a steady stream of side-buffs, or buffs that work indirectly through other jobs. Basically, nerf in one direction and buff in another to make us increasingly situational, and more dependent on other jobs and parties.

[Sifer]

Lastly, the whole +10% magic crit = 1 MAB thing is actually itself an oversimplification. Remember that MAB has diminishing returns. So if you want to get REALLY picky, 1 MAB is better than +10% magic crit because you get less bang for your buck by having +10 MAB in 1 attack vs. +1 MAB in all ten attacks.

hmmmm, 10 MAB on 1 nuke or 1 MAB on 10 nukes are the same total damage.

if you were doing 1000 damage without MAB then 10 nukes with 1 MAB would do 1010 damage each for a total of 10100. Nuking with 0 MAB 9 times (1000 damage each) and 10 MAB once (1100 damage) also gives a total of 10100.

MAB returns are actually static in terms of total damage. They're only diminishing in terms of Percentage increase per nuke.

[Spekkio]

hmmmm, 10 MAB on 1 nuke or 1 MAB on 10 nukes are the same total damage.

if you were doing 1000 damage without MAB then 10 nukes with 1 MAB would do 1010 damage each for a total of 10100. Nuking with 0 MAB 9 times (1000 damage each) and 10 MAB once (1100 damage) also gives a total of 10100.

MAB returns are actually static in terms of total damage. They're only diminishing in terms of Percentage increase per nuke.

it would be more accurate to assume 10 mab would drive your damage up by closer to .5% per unit but the drive is correct. 10 mab 1/10 times is the same average value as 1 mab all the time. mcrit is slightly better in that sometimes you'll roll a big hit that can finish a mob you might not have thought you could ace with that shot, but this is a marginal consideration. witch sash is great for resistant targets and for blm w/o sorc belt (as well as rdm and lolnukingwhm) but all the other pieces we've seen to date are absolute and utter rubbish.

[Sifer]

it would be more accurate to assume 10 mab would drive your damage up by closer to .5% per unit but the drive is correct. 10 mab 1/10 times is the same average value as 1 mab all the time. mcrit is slightly better in that sometimes you'll roll a big hit that can finish a mob you might not have thought you could ace with that shot, but this is a marginal consideration. witch sash is great for resistant targets and for blm w/o sorc belt (as well as rdm and lolnukingwhm) but all the other pieces we've seen to date are absolute and utter rubbish.

that can go both ways. If you were doing 24% of the HP of a mob's HP per nuke with your MAB gear then you need 5 nukes to kill the mob (4 nukes and drain). In that scenario, switching to Mcrit gear will make you kill a mob with 4 nukes every couple kills. However, If you were doing 25% of the HP of the mob per nuke with your MAB gear(killing it with 4 nukes only), switching to Mcrit gear would reduce your normal nukes damage (say to 24%) and then you will need a 5th nuke for every mob that the critical nuke didn't proc on.

[Spekkio]

that can go both ways. If you were doing 24% of the HP of a mob's HP per nuke with your MAB gear then you need 5 nukes to kill the mob (4 nukes and drain). In that scenario, switching to Mcrit gear will make you kill a mob with 4 nukes every couple kills. However, If you were doing 25% of the HP of the mob per nuke with your MAB gear(killing it with 4 nukes only), switching to Mcrit gear would reduce your normal nukes damage (say to 24%) and then you will need a 5th nuke for every mob that the critical nuke didn't proc on.

this is true, but if you could do that already, you could just slap 1 int in the bugard strap+1 slot and nail that number instead of a wise strap. it's a question of knowing yourself and your target. don't misconstrue this as advocating a wise strap. that thing's only good for sig pictures and distinguishing the less informed players in a crowd. the observation is that there are situations when 1 mab would be better and situations where 10 mcrit would be better, but in almost all situations mcrit is so SO painfully weak it's a moot argument.

[Kaeko]

hmmmm, 10 MAB on 1 nuke or 1 MAB on 10 nukes are the same total damage.

if you were doing 1000 damage without MAB then 10 nukes with 1 MAB would do 1010 damage each for a total of 10100. Nuking with 0 MAB 9 times (1000 damage each) and 10 MAB once (1100 damage) also gives a total of 10100.

MAB returns are actually static in terms of total damage. They're only diminishing in terms of Percentage increase per nuke.

This is correct, my bad lol

[Lekotas]

My question was generally referring to if you did use wise strap over bugard strap+1, which I don't, I use ele grips period on blm, but just saying, would it be worth mcrit on hat combined with the other two, but seemingly not sooo, but that digresses since I'm making a cure potency hat o.ob

In regards to the full macc v mixed set, thanks yeah I'll focus on just maxing my macc for them, and just pure dmg sets for anything else.

The last question I guess was worded poorly but it got answered as well XD

[Lekotas]

It just seems that, ever since the big manaburn nerf, we've been getting a steady stream of side-buffs, or buffs that work indirectly through other jobs. Basically, nerf in one direction and buff in another to make us increasingly situational, and more dependent on other jobs and parties.

My Ls is 22/25 members having 75 BLM and merited them out, and theres nothing we can't do simply manaburn style in terms of basic endgame sky/sea/limbus/dyna have all in every form pretty much been entirely manaburned, especially since we only average 12-15 people per event and less than that unless its a kirin/ultima/omega/JoL.

I still say BLM needs some kind of adjustment in terms of JAs somewhat like Afflatus Misery/Solace increase overall macc or give bonus dmg on MB's or something like that, or can double ele dots. Something that seperates a general blm role from that of SCH. However, at the same time it requires a ridiculous amount of gear/time to get SCH to even hit the same MACC levels of a BLM in endgame, so I suppose it is back burnered.

[Virtuous Saint]

My question was generally referring to if you did use wise strap over bugard strap+1, which I don't, I use ele grips period on blm, but just saying, would it be worth mcrit on hat combined with the other two, but seemingly not sooo, but that digresses since I'm making a cure potency hat o.ob

In regards to the full macc v mixed set, thanks yeah I'll focus on just maxing my macc for them, and just pure dmg sets for anything else.

The last question I guess was worded poorly but it got answered as well XD

I would use ele grips for very few things, Bugard Strap +1 should be used by BLM 99% of the time.

Side note: Ele grips are just another picture perfect example of how stupid SE is. There is absolutely no reason not to make one grip 'Magic Accuracy+2" instead of adding 8 new grips just to up the amount of grips in the game, and drops from ZNMs.

[Linktri]

Cap your elemental magic merits.
Cap your enfeebling magic merits.
Cap your INT (if you are a mage only) merits.
If you're looking for a healthy blend of stuff to full time to avoid a shit ton of gear swaps, just mix INT, MAB and mACC in somewhat equal doses. Goliard Cuffs as opposed to Zenith Mitts for instance; you'll lose +1 MAB but gain +4 mACC.

You won't be casting any 1500 Thunder IVs but you won't be casting too many 200 Thunder IVs either.

If you're looking to build the baddest BLM on the planet, be prepared to spend a fuckton of time and gil getting the gear for it. There's a ton of gear swaps for this job. You can easily carry around 60 pieces of gear to maximize damage and reduce resists.