Scythe Weaponskills vs. Resolution

Recently players have been talking about how amazing Resolution is again. It's able to do 30-40k damage consistently with high buffs and doesn't need to skillchain to be worthy.

This means the Mythic Scythe I just made this year has serious competition. If I'm in a fight where I can't get 3000tp for the Aftermath, it's going to be a hard time keeping up with a WAR or DRK using Resolution.

But I asked about Scythe Weaponskills way back when Resolution and the other merit weaponskills were introduced. How is it that DRK's A+ weapon does NOT get better weaponskill damage than someone using Resolution.

Just a quote from someone who is using Resolution and is very, very knowledgeable on the mathematics and the formulas behind calculating weaponskill damage.

"Petition SquareEnix to stop screwing around and fix Scythe Weapon Skills, tell them to fix Great Axe and Hand to Hand while their at it.

Insurgency, raise WSC to 50/50

Entropy, change to STR, DEX or VIT

Cross Reaper, have fTP transfer on hits

Quietus, raise fTP to 5.0 and have the def ignore effect changed to 30/50/70.

Those would make Scythe kick ass and be competitive with other Super Weapon Skills in the game. "

I'm not expecting anything to be honest. I made Scythe because I love the weapon, but whenever I get a Scythe I think is going to bring me the best damage in almost all situations, a new Great Sword is introduced, or Resolution starts pumping out great numbers again. Can we leave Resolution spams to the Warriors? While DRKs seek out Mythics and Relic Scythes and do just as well? It's not like WAR, PLD and RUN can't use Great Sword already. Please, make Scythe great for the first time in the history of FFXI.

Please upvote this if you agree. I'm not saying I want Resolution nerfed, or DRK nerfed, or BLU nerfed, or for anything to be nerfed. Just a few changes to some weaponskills on jobs such as DRK, and even on other jobs like MNK and WAR (when using GA) who are really struggling at this point in the games life.

I will agree that scythe weaponskills need to be adjusted . Lets get that out first. Yes, in laymans terms, they suck. The real problem with the DDs you have mentioned is not damage output, it is their inability to survive at close range in todays latest content. I don't care if they buff Insurgency so much that you can do a 100k weaponskill... it will not matter because, at best, you'll get off 1 or 2 before you die and have to sit on your scythe for 5 minutes. I'm not saying you are wrong at all... I totally agree . All I'm saying is there is a much more important issue to deal with right now. I don't really play DD to events and I still say that their inability to survive is the #1 issue in this game today.

Thanks Zeldar. I am aware of the lack of survivability for the average melee DD on higher content, and I've made several posts about the balance of melee DD jobs since 2010. I've been an active campaigner for DD jobs to be tweaked to have a more even playing field. On one hand, most DDs (except BLU) need ways to stay alive so the damage potential can be reached. At the same time, weaponskills like Resolution can be easily exploited while other weaponskills (like Scythe for example) can't be exploited so much.

It's all good giving us Smite, but on a job like DRK who didn't need anymore attack it was a bit of a waste. I would have preferred ACCURACY, even if it was only half the value of the attack Smite currently gives. Let's compare ...

My THF easily hits 1200 primary accuracy using Taming Saris. My DRK struggles to get near that using Mythic Scythe and some Reisenjima pieces. Dual Wield jobs have the unfair advantage of more accuracy. In the past, 2-handers were given grips to compensate. The only thing is, the grips are NOT strong enough to compensate. A Bloodrain Strap with Accuracy +6 is nothing compared to another i119 weapon.

Not only that, but I see a huge difference between Relic weapons and Mythic Weapons. I understand that Relics should have something to give which Mythic doesn't, but in this instance Relics such as Ragnarok get so much accuracy compared to Mythic it's required on anything remotely difficult and evasive. Are we expected to make both? I'm just wondering if Mythics for melee DDs were supposed to be used in niche situations where you can make use of the Aftermath AND not be punished for the lack of accuracy. Was that the intention of the devs? It confuses me. Mythics should have the same accuracy as their Relic counterparts ... because 1) they are harder to make 2) accuracy is the most essential stat a melee needs, and sometimes needed more than an Occasionally attacks twice or thrice Aftermath.

In the end, Smite didn't do a lot for the jobs it was added to. Mythics such as Liberator and Conquerer should be two of the best weapons in the game, but a WAR or DRK with Ragnarok is going to be just as good or better in most situations. I'm not against DRKs or WARs who prefer using Great Sword and want a viable option, but it shouldn't be the #1 choice for both jobs. Warrior is the master of Great Axe, Dark Knight is the master of Scythe, so why can't the game represent that? It makes zero sense to me, or anyone who plays these jobs. Some players love these melee jobs for the weapon type, and when we can't use the weapon type we believe should be most associated, then we ain't playing the jobs the way we originally wanted to.

I agree. It's kinda weird that scythe is THE drk weapon and it's not their strongest. If DRK isn't going to use scythe, who is? No one...

Hopefully the upcoming update fixes Scythe!