Job Adjustments: Scholar & Summoner (01/25/2012) Follow

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/20045



http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/20049

Edited, Jan 25th 2012 3:41am by Szabo

(That's interesting.)

-enmity and +MACC for light and dark magic respectively. For the most part, the only useful one could be the -enmity for nukes in longer encounters, but you'll undoubtedly find protest from some what would favor Ebullience's +MATK to presumably kill the foe faster.

Overall, I agree with the adjustment, but this one of those cases where merit spells and JAs should really have just been learned conventionally.

SE needs to do a lot more than this to fix spirits. Overpriced, and under leveled, they justaren't worth using.

They could make spirits give you MP and they'd still suck ass.

I never knew why those stratagems needed two charges to begin with; they were never even that good. Most likely will not remove Enlightenment/Stormsurge.

I wonder what this means for the af2 +2. I heard that the pieces that enhanced these strats allowed the strats to use only one strat at 5/5 anyway. Incoming Emergency Maintenance where the strats are costing 0 charges.

Summoner will need a better cure spell if that happens!

You mean I might actually have a reason to merit those strategems now? I'd been avoiding them due to their abhorrent costs, but if they're going to cost as much as any other strategem, I might just consider picking out a favourite or two.

As for the Summoner changes, I'll just throw a half-hearted 'meh' out. Elementals will never really be that useful aside from MP batteries for Siphon, so I doubt this will entice many people to keep them out longer.

I saw SCH changes and was excited.

I am now disappoint.

HAaaaahahahahaha @ that SMN change!

Such a slap in the face! Ouch, SE!

At this point I'm grateful it wasn't a nerf to how avatar damage is calculated.

SE: All physical blood pact damage formulas will be adjusted. We can't have SMNs actually doing real damage, now.

An issue where Summoners' avatars proved more useful than their support job skills has been resolved. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

the changes to elemental summons can probably be chalked up to a combination of mellowy ceaselessly campaigning and the devs figuring "meh, they're useless anyway, this lets us say we updated something without actually making smn better"

I don't think they actually want them to be useful. I could be wrong, but I don't think any pet job has be overall top tier since they they were added to the game. I'm doubtful that they will do anything to change that.

That's really my point. Their 'purpose' is little more than an excuse. The only benefit in having all the elements is getting a little extra MP on the corresponding day of the week. Otherwise, they level with each other in terms of usability.

They have virtually zero accuracy on enfeebles and very low damage on nukes. At the very least they could give players control over the spells they cast and when rather than have them randomly cast them when it feels like it (only to have it cast Paralyze instead of Cure V!). It would also give Summoner's great utility if they used Light Spirits to supplement healing, since they're one of the few that can cast Curaga spells on alliance parties.

No, I don't think anyone actually believes that will make them useful. People don't use them for their spells now, and they already have pretty useful spells, even if a bit out-dated. However, being able to control their actions like those of avatars (even at the cost of spending mp on their spells, imo) would make them more useful. You can give them all an irresistible death spell. It won't matter if they just insist on enfeebling the mob over and over.



The first part of your proposed purpose for them wasn't even implemented until several years after their release. The second part is completely useless to anybody for whom keeping a free/positive tick avatar out full time is a viable option. This has been easily done with Carbuncle for years (possibly since their release- I don't know when C. Mitts were added), and now all of the other avatars as well. I highly doubt that was all SE intended for them. If so they wouldn't have been given top-of-the-line magic (at 75 cap anyways).

They are sadly just another example of SE being unable to implement pet jobs properly. I like the idea of them operating like normal mages with normal spells, and I like the idea of SMN skill being the basis of their recast time. I don't even mind their high perp cost, because as I said earlier in the thread, they should be nearly free or more than free for most SMNs now anyways. I don't even mind them operating somewhat independently. I just wish their choices in spells to cast were a little smarter..

There are plenty of solutions to this. SE could throw in the towel and redesign them to be like avatars, where the SMN spends mp to direct it to use a certain spell. SE could tweak their AI themselves. SE could let the SMN set the rules for the spirit's AI in a way that's similar to BLU spell setting (for example, the ability to disable certain spells, or to change which spells they make a priority in what situations).

As for all SMNs having low SMN skill, it is by and large the hardest skill I have ever had the misfortune of trying to level. I can't blame other SMNs for not being capped. Old school SMNs were trapped in the main healing slot and barely used their summoning magic leveling up. New age SMNs have let their skills rot in Abyssea with everyone else's skills. Aside from that, it's just a pain to skill up anyways. If they hadn't added skill ups to bloodpacts, my skill would be pretty embarrassing.

Ultima has traditionally been a non elemental magic, wouldn't make sense to tie it to a light elemental jeez kids these days.

What?!? This is the most useful spell of all ... how else do you expect us to hang out with Galkas without Deoderize?



In all seriousness, SE is making an adjustment to Spirits, which SMN only uses for elemental siphon. The kicker is the adjustment is to merits that no SMN's use. Why would you make this type of adjustment to something the player base doesn't use. Spend the time making adjustments to things that people use regularly or to things that are broken, so they can be used regularly.

I personally think splitting SMN buffs from other spells (primarily White Magic) would be a huge help for the job. Having their own unique buff category would be huge. A separate AoE haste that stacked with BRD haste or EnhMag. Haste, Stat buffs that stacked with gain@#%^you se boost spells and BRD songs. So on and so forth.

It would revolutionize the jobs utility, likely to the point it would be wanted for more than additional healing and Alexander.

Complaining about one or 2 spells being useless and complaining about half of your arsenal being useless is the same thing? The only other job that has the same complaint, really, is BRD.

I'm not desperate for my spirits to be useful, or not desperate for that specifically. I'm desperate for something, anything that's going to rejuvenate SMN and make it useful in more situations.

Edited, Jan 31st 2012 3:37pm by RizzoRazzle

BRD can't really complain, their songs stack with spells, same with COR (whose buffs are for the most part unwanted). SMN's have no real unique buff system, any RDM, WHM, /RDM, /WHM can provide most of the buffs a SMN would be able to over the same time. SMN's stuff is just not reliable enough silly recasts allow them for only a few buffs every couple minutes.

SMN is in a sad sad way, and has been for some time.

(although if mellowy was here id be telling him SMN is fine )

Edited, Jan 31st 2012 11:25pm by rdmcandie

in the same vein as BRD my friend, they are wanted for a handful of their long list of buffs. Thats it, so for the most part their buffs are unwanted.