Nope. Conserve MP only affects the INITIAL casting (the summoning from the Magic menu). It doesn't affect perpetuation cost or, most importantly, Blood Pacts (they're classified as Job Abilities).
Right now I am leveling up summoner as a sub for my level 40 to be Refresh Mage, (leveling it simply for the mp boost) But reading about aspir has inpired me to switch my sub at lvl 50 rdm to blm for the gain of mp with aspir. I think it would be fun for conserve mp to activate along with refresh and aspir.
I ran 3 tests. Each one consisted of 100 casts of Warp (100 MP each).
1st Run was on a 40 Blm/Whm. Out of 100 casts, Conserve MP activated only 19 times (19%). The lowest MP saved on any one spell was 7. The highest was 50. The average MP saved out of all the times it activated was 30 (so 30% MP reduction on average).
2nd Run was 69 Rdm/Blm. Out of 100 casts, Conserve MP activated 34 times (so 34% activation rate) Lowest MP saved on a given spell was again, 7, and the highest was 50. Average MP saved out of all the activations was once again, 30%
3rd Run, and where I was really looking to definitely see some improved results was: 69 Rdm/Blm, on Watersday using a Water Ring (Conserve MP +15). Out of 100 casts, Conserve MP activated 38%. Once again, a Low/High of 7 and 50% only this time, the average percentage of MP saved was only 28%.
Blm/Whm seemed to give larger MP% saved per cast, but did not kick in as frequently. Rdm/Blm seemed to kick in much more often, but had lower results per spell.
What confused me that with +15 Conserve MP, the results became extremely varied. Slightly higher activation rate, but with a lower MP% saved on average. For those who have wondered if the -15% MP from the Water Ring is worth it, it seems not to be. Out of 10,000 MP possible for 100 warps, I used 8,965, leaving me with a total savings of roughly 10-11%
One thing that seems to remain a constant with the trait, is that it will never save more than 50% of a spells cost.
What i would like to find out is how much the ability "conserve MP+X" (where X is usually between 1-5) does. Alot of BLM armor have these traits and it would be nice knowing how much it really helps.
Although I am not the programmer that write up the formula, the 87.5% thing seems correct to me. Think about it this way:
50% of the time, the ability kicks in. When it kicks in, it gives 1% to 50% saving.
In other word, 50% of your mp usage will enjoy no benefit, while the other 50% of your mp usage will enjoy an average of 25% off benefit. so (100%+75%)/2 = 87.5% (the avg of mp usage with converse mp base on my own assumsion) really makes sence to me. And this number "coincidently" matches Jibujabu's number.
Alright, after extensive testing, I have come up with a theoretical formula for how Conserve MP works.
Using my 25 blm/12 smn, I did 100 casts of Warp (100 mp cost). The different values I got for the mp cost, and the percent of casts which got those mp costs are as follows: 67% - 100 mp 1% - 93 mp 6% - 87 mp 4% - 81 mp 5% - 75 mp 2% - 68 mp 3% - 62 mp 3% - 56 mp 5% - 50 mp Total: 8754/10000 = 87.54% It is worth noting that each value besides 100 has approximately the same chance of occuring, with the exception of 93 mp with only 1% out of my 100 casts. Also, each value can be obtained using the following formula:
(x/16) * mp cost Where x is a random number from 8 to 16, and the final result is rounded down.
Thus, my theory is that Conserve MP works as follows:
There is a 1/3 chance that when you casts a spell, Conserve MP will be triggered. If Conserve MP is triggered, the cost of the spell will be reduced to an amount in anywhere from (8/16)-(15/16) of the original spell cost, based on increments of 1/16 and rounded down.
In other words, the theoretical average mp cost of spells used with this Job Trait would be:
(2/3)*100% (From times when it isn't triggered + (1/3)*(1/8)*(15/16) + (1/3)*(1/8)*(14/16) + (1/3)*(1/8)*(13/16) + (1/3)*(1/8)*(12/16) + (1/3)*(1/8)*(11/16) + (1/3)*(1/8)*(10/16) + (1/3)*(1/8)*(9/16) + (1/3)*(1/8)*(8/16) = 29/32 or 90.625% of the original spell cost.
Edit: In response to some of the previous posts...
Yes, Conserve MP works with any spell. I have yet to find a spell that it doesn't work with. Also, if your damage is being cut in half it isn't because of this job trait, but because your spell is being partially resisted. This is sometimes referred to as "fizzling" and will happen randomly with a probability based on your INT, the INT of the mob, the mob's resistance to the element on which the spell is based, the day of the week, and any weather effects currently active in your zone. Magic bursts also seem to have a reduced chance of fizzling. Fizzles seem to either do half damage or very little damage depending on how strongly your spell is resisted.
I've noticed an even greater ratio of conservation as I have leveled Black Mage. I had one Warp spell that took about 25 MP (hard to tell exactly with Auto-Refresh). Can anyone else verify this?
#Anonymous,
Posted:Dec 29 2003 at 10:30 PM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) Since newest patch I've seen the spell occasionally cut down the damage I deal to 1/2 of what it's supposed to be, but the cost remained the same. Maybe it's broken?