New 2-hour Abilities

[Babekeke]

BLU - Blue mages say that the recast on Unbridled Learning spells (so they aren't spammable) kind of kill any utility this might have had.

• Blue mage
  In addition to the original effect, the recast timer for spells that can be used under Unbridled Learning will be removed.
  

This was already addressed, though I haven't seen any comments regarding how useful it is since the update, other than 'casting time is too long to make them useful', which seems a poor excuse since half of the UL spells only have a 1 sec cast time. What makes it a poor 2 hour is the fact that most of the spells suck for the amount of TP they cost.

Unfortunately I only have 3 UL spells myself so far so I have to go by what people say about them, but they don't get much praise.

The only one I see worth using is harden shell.

The worst one has got to be Absolute "loldoesnteverproconanythingworthwhile" Terror.

[Byrth]

Ah, missed that. I think people say they can pump Gates of Hades up fairly well?

Maybe if they get 10 chances to cast Tourb it'll actually land the defense down effect once, lol. <_<;

[Camate]

Hello!

We’ve noticed a couple pretty good questions floating around in various places, so I’d like to follow-up a bit about the new special abilities we introduced yesterday for bard and dragoon.

• Dragoon
  The big question on everyone’s mind is “does this new special ability remove the recast timer on Jump only or all jump abilities?”
  
  This ability is still in-development, and the development team is currently looking into making the below adjustments:
  • Recast time will be increased from 0 to 10 seconds.
  • Effect duration will be increased from 30 seconds to 45 seconds.
  
  HOWEVER! The ability will affect all jumps and when activating the special ability, any recast timers that are up for jumps will be reset. While it will no longer be possible to spam the same jump in succession with no delay in between, we feel that the adjusted effect will quite beneficial with the increase duration.
  
  We are also planning to make it possible to reduce the recast time further via merit points in the future.
  
  *This ability will be implemented on the Test Server this week with the effect that was announced yesterday, and will not reflect the above adjustments
  
  
• Bard
  There was a question as to whether it would be possible to have a total of 5 songs when using the new special ability with the level 99 Daurdabla.
  
  While there is a possibility that adjustments are made in the future due to testing or other factors, the ability was designed to allow for a maximum of 5 songs when using the bonus granted from Daurdabla.

As we find out more about other new special abilities for jobs that have not been mentioned yet, we will be sure to share the information with you all.

[Dragoy]

You keep all your buffs when charmed

Okay. I had in my mind that I always lost all buffs (or was it only after charm wearing off... my memory is being just great today in general).

In any case, I can easily imagine how destructive getting charmed there must be.

[Kalilla]

Just to follow up on Camate's post a bit.

Sylph.Nte asked if the new WHM SP could remove status effects on players as well as grant immunity, and Mocchi replied

Benediction is already a powerful recovery effect which includes status treatment. We believe that we should segregate the preventive effect to a separate ability. Therefore, we are not planning to add a status removal effect comparable to Benediction.

Siren.Momama also requested for the durations of these new SP, Mocchi replied:

For now, I can tell you the duration of the abilities that you can try out on the test server. Since this is a work in progress, these will be validated later on.

++Note that due to a bug, the WAR SP duration is currently 60 seconds on the test server.
BLM: Mocchi corrected himself this morning, BLM is 60 seconds not 30 seconds

[Demon6324236]

Camate, are there any plans to make DRG a more powerful job in parties? This ability is not enough to do the trick, not at all, and besides, one ability should not be the dependant on how effective a job is, which is why it was good that Embrava/PD were nerfed, because they were the only reason those jobs were used.

[Urteil]

Is there any plan to do anything with Dark Knight's magic?

Something useful? Darkness equivalent of Holy line.

Please.

[Hashmalum]

Is there any plan to do anything with Dark Knight's magic?

Something useful? Darkness equivalent of Holy line.

Please.

"Something useful" and "Holy" do not belong in the same paragraph. It's something you cast in between more important things when you are in VW, hoping for a random weakness proc or at least a hint message. That, and "came in behind the WHM on the damage parse" is the ineradicable scarlet mark of irredeemable DD shame and failure, the Permanent Key Item that earns eternal admission to the Hall of Gimps, and as such is always good for a laugh.

[CireFF]

Ok, so there have already been a few people posting about their dissatisfaction with PUP's proposed new SP ability. So far it looks like almost every single ability has been adjusted and strengthened except PUP's.

SE has been fairly prompt in responding to questions and comments on all the other abilities yet for some reason has remained completely silent about the underwhealming "Meh"-Fest that is Heady Artiface.

So, I have registered on this forum so I could add my voice and maybe somewhere a developer will realize that they can't just ignore the issue until PUP players just lose interest and go away.



Now, SE, Heady Artiface sounds, in theory, like an awesome ability. It really ties into PUP's theme of mimicking other jobs' abilities utilizing the automaton, and the customization aspects. However, the way it's currently implemented severely limits it's usefulness:

-Infinite MP (Manafont) on a pet that already has multiple ways of regenerating MP is not an impressive special ability. It does not justify a 1-hour cooldown when we already have several attatchments (Mana Converter, Economizer, Mana Tanks), spells (Aspir and Aspir II) and JAs (simply Deactivate and then re-Activate) that let us replenish that MP every couple minutes.

-Invincible on a pet that we can re-summon every 1 minute does not seem worth such a prestigious ability slot.

-Adding a single strong attack (Eagle Eye Shot) every hour to a head that already has the ability to launch attacks just as strong (Armor Shatterer and Barrage Turbine) every minute is not worth such a long cooldown timer.

-Chainspell is a very useful ability to have. The only problem is that it is only usable with the Stormwaker Head. This head has the largest variety of spells it can potentially cast, thus it has the most difficult casting AI to control with maneuvers so it is frustrating to get the automaton to cast effectively when using Chainspell. Also, the universal casting timer between spells utterly cripples the usefulness. It's no longer casting a chain of spells when it has to pause for several seconds between each cast.

-Mighty Strikes is also a very useful ability. The issue many PUPs have is that the Harlequin head/frame is so weak compared to the others that it is rarely used.



Since the abilities are tied only to the Heads, it's possible to swap heads around to different frames to use the abilities differently, but the main issue is that unmatching heads severly handicap the unmatching frames. If a PUP were to try to utilize Mighty Strikes with the Sharpshot frame, they would nearly double the already painfully long delay between ranged attacks. When using different heads on mage frames, the universal casting timer becomes unmanageably long. Reducing these delay handicaps when mixing heads and frames would go a long way to improving the customization aspects of Heady Artiface. Couldn't just the skill cap adjustments be enough of a bonus/penalty for mixing heads and frames?


Some other quick ideas that could improve Heady Artiface while trying to stay with the Mimicking theme:
-Give Mighty Strikes to the Valoredge Head
-Give Chainspell to the Spiritreaver Head- even if the universal casting timer still applies, the long cast times on Spirit Reaver nukes will be more helped by instant casting than Stormwaker's
-Just remove the universal casting timer for Chainspell. You were able to do it before with the Harlequin bug a few years ago. And you were able to lower the timer for spells in a previous update. Why can't you do it here too?
-Give Harlequin Hundred Fists. Heck, allow Harlequin to behave like a MNK and have martial arts where it attacks with both fists per round. It would more closely mimic the master, which seems fitting for the most basic automaton. This could also increase usefulness for this under-utilized Frame.
-Make Eagle Eye Shot damage more impressive considering its extremely long recast- for both Rangers AND Sharpshot, or add an additional effect like HP absorb or shedding enmity/planting enmity somewhere else.


Some ideas for a different direction for a PUP SP ability: focus on PUP's theme of coordinating and working together WITH the puppet as a synergistic team, rather than focusing on one individual at a time.

-Apply Attatchment/Maneuver stat boosts to master as well as automaton for the duration, allowing the master to self-buff themselves with attack, accuracy, and various JTs for a brief amount of time.
-Allow buffs affecting the master to also apply to the automaton. This will strengthen the appeal of PUP in endgame content that relies upon super-buffed melees.
-Allow all attatchment/maneuver effects, and party buffs to affect both master and automaton.



Please SE, throw your PUP community a bone and let us know why our new special ability is being ignored while so many of the others are getting further bonuses, or are being completely revamped.

[Khajit]

So... Is there are reason you guys decided to nerf drg like this?