Originally Posted by
Mathieu
How exactly is duration a problem? As long as there is enough time to cast all the enhancing spells it actually applies to, then its duration doesn't matter that much unless it is longer than 9 minutes. Maintaining the effects of a two hour for nine minutes is far better than almost any other one in the game. Soul Voice, probably the most comparable two hour currently in game, with perfectly timed casting and a merit ability, can maintain one effect almost that long. Bards also have a hard cap on the effects they can have going at once and take much, much longer than Red Mages to cast.
Unless the ability only impacts abilities while it is in effect, not just abilities cast under it, magnitude is going to determine how useful it is. Duration is largely irrelevant unless you plan on recasting all your relevant enhancing spells immediately at the end of it. In which case, that isn't different from it having a short duration.