Job Adjustments and Additions: Part II (10/21/2009)

[Silenka]

if you click it off to do a rage pact, you start from square 1 on the party bonus potency when you put the ability back up. Smn still has no niche and no reason to be in most parties.

Also; I at least am not making shit up.

but I guess it's not worth raging over, smn is never going to have a good place in ffxi the way it is now.

[thatwasnifty]

So tell me what the fucking point is of making smn a retarded cor while simultaneously gimping the only thing it's even useful for anymore (one-shot spike damage with 70BP) ?

Suck harder, SE.

How exactly did they gimp the damage? I must have missed that part of the notes.

[Alkar]

There's no drawback... if there was they would've mentioned it like they ALWAYS do.
This is a great patch for SMN, it gives us a freaking use outside of summon>BP>release and we've been asking for this for a long time. The effects also STACK with everything else so we can have Refresh+Evoker's Roll+Ballads+Diabolos's Favor up at once.
Stop saying that there won't be avatars as well. Nothing points in one direction or the other but we all know they're coming. Again, avatars were NEVER announced this early in the teasers...

[Silenka]

How exactly did they gimp the damage? I must have missed that part of the notes.

Spira's post pretty much nails it though, it's not hard to guess if you know how to read SE-speak.

[Kairos]

I'm so overwhelmingly happy with the summoner buff, and i'm not mad with the bst addition either. Bsts always complain about how horrible it is to not be able to pick pet tp moves and that jug pets have no benefit over charmed, but when they push it that way only complaints.

As far as avatar's favor go, its just what smn needed. Many times i'd be at endgame events with smn and thinking," If only there was another channel for me to buff the party different ways besides just bloodpacts. Now it's possible to stack bloodpact buffs with avatar favor effects. Dream shroud + Fenrir favor or Shiva favor (huge magic def during day and MAB during night), Hasterga+ Ifrit favor.

I think there might be a little underestimation of the favor's strength. SE has always wanted to force smn to keep avatars on the battlefield sometimes, now this is a way for them to do that while still allowing switching of avatars. I don't think they'll have to be out very long to recieve full effect, and if they are as strong as a cor's lucky number roll then smn can always be used. I'm going to gather up all my blu friends and test titan's favor + shining ruby on their cannonball.


Perpetuation is already not much of a problem for a well geared summoner, so if this ability lowers perpetuation any more than 2mp/tick then avatars on well geared summoners will always be free, and will have mp being gained with any form of refresh. The fact that these things stack with rolls will give them a unique slot. The only thing that would make it more perfect is if the avatars gained the effect as well.



New avatar? I'm not expecting for it to be revealed until the day of the update as usual. Like someone mentioned its not job update related, it's always included in new quests and battlefields.

[Midnightjade]

Meh @ the BST update. Now I can use a weak ability every 2min or one that sucks slightly less every *gasp* 6min. Not impressed at all.

[Ryko]

dont quote me but the word I got is banking on it being a 2/3 reduction with a severe cut to the avatar's phys attk, mattk, defense and store tp, and I mean ridiculously so, to the point that it will be inefficient to throw any sort of attack out with your avatar unless you release the favor, which will then reset the timer for it, meaning you either dont attack or you... well, dont attack.

"Bargain bin support job" gripes will not change.

Don't gotta believe me, best to wait and see.

[Hookah]

I can see some potential in the smn JA, depends how it is implemented though of course.

I will say that I'm a little confused about it though. With a 5 min recast and a 2 hour duration, obviously smns will be keeping this up full time, especially since there's nothing mentioned about any kind of penalty to go with the buff. So, why make it a JA?

Doing that means that there might be some reason you'd want to cancel it, or at least not have it up. Otherwise why wouldn't they make this a Job Trait, so it's just always there and not something you have to re-cast everytime you zone...

Seems to me like there might be another part to this (Job Adjustments Part III: The Other Shoe Drops), maybe a converse ability to go along with it.

Or watch them make it so you can't use BPs while the JA is in effect D:

[Rubett]

So tell me what the fucking point is of making smn a retarded cor while simultaneously gimping the only thing it's even useful for anymore (one-shot spike damage with 70BP)

What do you prefer? a random number or a guaranteed lucky roll? I don't see where it mentions a penalty if you use it.

Also, inb4 fulltime Diabolos.

[Taruking]

Diabolos's favor has potential, it should give consistent 4mp/tic at peak according to the JA description. Diabolos is already a fairly strong avatar thanks to Nether Blast and Dream Shroud. I will definitely put SMN in tank and BLM party.

Assuming jugpet are still allowed to use random TP moves without charges, a party consisting of 5 BSTs + 1 COR for puppet's and beast roll will do very well in HNM fight provided BSTs are willing to spend money on expensive jugpets. We are looking at 10k-15k hateless guaranteed damage on virtually any HNM for the first 12 mins not counting Amigo's DOT. Each BST can pick a useful SJ such as SCH and DRK (stun) to add more utilities.

[thatwasnifty]

Spira's post pretty much nails it though, it's not hard to guess if you know how to read SE-speak.

I think you're reading way too much into it, and you're wasting your time hypothesizing such a change when you have very little evidence to back up your claim. SE usually states exactly what the penalty will be for these abilities: they explicitly mentioned the drawbacks to Yonin, Innin, and Composure during the update notes.

[Destinye]

if you click it off to do a rage pact, you start from square 1 on the party bonus potency when you put the ability back up. Smn still has no niche and no reason to be in most parties.

Also; I at least am not making shit up.

but I guess it's not worth raging over, smn is never going to have a good place in ffxi the way it is now.

And DNC will never get a spot End-game, Get the fuck over it. So while SMNs may have no niche or reason to be in most parties, how do you think DNCs feel having no real niche or reason to be invited to most end-game events? Shit this further proves no matter what SE does someone will bitch and cry and never be satisfied.

In a world of 'lol colibri exp only gtfo" nothing SE can do at this point will in the least change the communities set mindset. This was a step in the right direction, however what people want is easy mode, not job fixes.

[CubsWoo]

Spira's post pretty much nails it though, it's not hard to guess if you know how to read SE-speak.

What are the drawbacks to Afflatus: Solace and Afflatus: Misery again?

[Psion]

Jesus people, there's no drawback to this at all. It's an enhancement, with no strings attached, plain and simple. The only question is, does the avatar's favor last through multiple summons, allowing the summoner to also change avatars around for buffs in exchange for the penalty of resetting the boost back to it's starting level, or is it a one shot deal like elemental seal and casting one spell? Either way, it's a great new ability for summoners, and anyone bitching should be shot.

[Genzai Kawakami]

French text does say the avatar's power is reduced by the JA.

[Ryko]

French text does say the avatar's power is reduced by the JA.

Bam, you guys were smoking if you thought SE was going to give a low tier job something straight outta nowhere with no cost.

[Alkar]

Reading the notes these effects will keep building up 'till you release the avatar or you reach the peak. I can see SMNs summoning cycling through avatars to give different bonuses, especially if these last long enough.

[Spira]

Japanese teasers also specifically states 'draws on the avatars strength' in Avatar's Favor.

I'd say an attack down penalty will be received but probably a very small one..

There are "drawbacks" to Afflatus Solace and Misery btw.. that being, mutual exclusivity.

[Xanthe]

The only negative effect I see with these new abilities is the increased amount of QQ on the forums.

Avatar's Favor is an excellent addition to SMN. Free perp- (seriously, ANYTHING is a plus) and free bonuses based on the current avatar increasing in potency to equivalence of a lucky roll is nothing to sneeze at. Don't forget the implications of further reduced perpetuation cost. A SMN can leave their avatar out longer to melee (or in some cases indefinitely) as long as the target supports continuous damage, leading to higher TP stores for more effective offensive blood pacts and a higher overall DoT. There is NOTHING for SMNs to complain about here. If you think you're getting shafted on a new avatar or two check the news again in 9 or 12 days; that's when they'll announce new avatars for this update, if any.

The BST adjustment is a little more grey given the unknown factors, but I still see it as an improvement. Considering Ready will take the place of Sic, it can be inferred that Sic merits will also be applied to Ready recast. Since the charges have the same accumulation rate as Sic/Ready, you might even be able to say that the charge time would be affected. Regarding the "Oh no, now I can only unload my 1000 Needles every 6 minutes" phenomenon, which scenario do you consider better: a 100% guaranteed 1000 Needles every 6 minutes or a 33-50% chance (assuming chances are equal) every 2 minutes? I know Amigo just loves his regen. Your trade-off will be random chance in exchange for frequency, which is fair. As long as the dev team has all of their bases covered on the unknowns people have mentioned, this should be a boon and not a bane for BSTs.

[Kairos]

I think they might reset the bonus for each release simply because their whole purpose was to cut the frequency with which summoners played a summon >BP> release game. These notes do kinda make me think there may be a part 3 with additional stuff for both jobs just to close the case. It seems strange to me that there is no counterpart to this ability. An offensive counterpart perhaps to give the avatar increased def.,MAB,M.acc, acc, attk, haste, etc based on the duration of time it has been perpetuated. We'll have to wait and see next week though.