Questions for the Community Rep Moogles

[Keepsake]

(Thanks in advance for taking the time to read / hopefully answer this question)

I've been playing Puppetmaster since release date and through its many ups and downs has still held the title as my favorite job in Final Fantasy XI. A question has always lingered in the back of my mind when it comes to the Animator Ranged Slot Item and it's overall purpose for the Puppetmaster. In a lore-standpoint, it makes sense for the master to have an item in which to control the automaton's actions (animator sending / receiving messages between master and automaton). Though in a gameplay standpoint, the animator is portrayed as an awkward contraption taking up (not just 1 but 2) item slots in our equipment screen. The questions I'm asking have been tossed around the community since ToAU's release, with varied answers but nothing in concrete proof stated by the programmers / creators of Final Fantasy XI:

1.) In the March 23, 2010 (JST) Update http://www.playonline.com/pcd/verup/...38/detail.html Puppetmaster's hand-to-hand skill was raised from C to B+. At release, our Throwing Skill (C+) was higher than our primary weapon's skill (C). Why was a skill in which Puppetmasters have no viable way to level (except with items such as Trollbane from Aht Urhgan) higher than our own hand-to-hand skill?

2.) Is there a connection between throwing skill and our "connection" between our automatons?

3.) Our Animators (4 at this time) come with varied flavor text (most indicating an improvement of commands relayed to our automatons) and some come with a hidden DEX modifier. As VIT is a modifier for the Dragoon's Jump, is DEX a modifier for Maneuvers (decreasing overload, improvement of response between a delivery of a maneuver and the corresponding action [Flashbulb, Strobe]).

3.) Animators cannot be thrown (as many of us have discovered first-hand). Yet they act as a Ranged Slot item, impeding us from equipping other items in our Ammo slot which can be equipped by our job (Hedgehog Bomb, Thew Bomblet). Adding to this situation, if we unequip our Animator to equip said item, we lose control of our automaton and our TP resets. Other jobs which have companions that aid them in battle (Summoners, Dragoons, and Beastmasters) have no problem with this, as they require no additional item to relay commands. Was this something that was intended from the implementation of Puppetmaster? If so, any reasoning behind the concept?

Extra.) I'm sure the Puppetmaster community is grateful for the continuous maintenance of our job, and the possible AI and attachment overhaul coming in the following months. The versatility of our frames is one of my drawing factors to this job, but I find Valoredge to be not as strong to the role visualized (thought of as a viable lower content / solo tank [with attachments such as Equalizer, Strobe, Hammermill, Flashbulb, Armor Plate]). Is this something that will be addressed in a future content patch or is he working as intended? *Is the a role concept for the Harlequin frame? (this is more out of curiosity).

Thank you for your time and consideration of these questions.

[Dfoley]

3.a) Dex - Only affects certain maneuvers (thunder)
Fire - str
thunder - dex
wind - agi
ETC

If dex affected maneuvers at all you would notice a difference in AI behavior in and out of abyssea as you add + 90 dex. Being as that isn't the case, it is more likely a compensation for our low latent skill (what used to be C rank).

3b) Ahh animators. No other pet job has as little control over a pet as the one job required to full a useless item. SMN and BST can literally pick the abilities they want a pet to use. DRG (now) can also pick to heal/nuke regardless of sub. PUP however, cannot. We can 'influence' behavior by throwing a maneuver up and hoping the machine behaves, but thanks to one of the worst AI systems in a game, it in effect turns the one job who should have direct control of their pet (sense they use a device to control it) into the one job that basically has a honey-badger pet. It does what it wants.

[Kristal]

I really hope they come through with those much-needed AI fixes. HP:15/3000 and the maton casts Viruna. Casting a 6k Thunder V on a thunder-absorbing enemy. Not cast anything on a particularly magic evasive mob. Not casting Regen III because the mob is below decent challenge. Interrupting Cure VI on subtargets because the main target died. Etc etc.

No wonder people laugh at PUP... even Maat ridicules us... ("Why, you're just a pup.")

[Dfoley]

Yeah, it was nice to see it (3x) in the dev posts yesterday that we are in fact one of the top priorities.

[xbobx]

I just hope they look at our suggestions, but filter out the stupid ones. What is sad is for the most part, the fixes to pup are very simple.

Cures - look at hp first, decide best suited cure spell. Since puppet understands percentages, and although its not ideal, fyi master at 30 percent hp or below cast cure 6, if at 60% and below, cure 5
If light manuever up cast cure, if water up cast Na, if neither is up, bad puppetmaster.
Weaponskills - allow us to macro the weaponskill, that way we can choose what to use and when so no more wasted tp, no more ruby, no more dammit Sharpshoot used Barrage I lost all my wind with a fire up now you used arcuballista.

Attachments, have them scale by level like so many things in the game. 100 stoneskin is great at level 5, not so much at level 95, it should be at around 500.

Make the Puppets specialize more in their job, Sharpshot is a ranger type, lets have it actually shoot at the rate of a xbow ranger, that way we can choose to have sharpshot stand at melee range for extra tp, or stand back out of aoe and still actually do damage although slightly less. This is how it should be. FYI SE Ranged attack on Sharpshot should not be considering a JA it is an attack.

I would even considering a switch on puppet, automatic or manual override. Automatic it works as is now, on manual override we macro in /pet "Cure IV" <me>, /pet "Thunder IV" <t>. etc based on timers. That way if we want to just farm and be a bit more lazy how auto, on auto. ( could have down sides)

But do not, and I repeat do not put in charges. I will leave game immediately if we can choose what ws we use but you put on a charge system. Want Armor piercer, thats 3 charges, so you have to wait 3 mins, so you have 100 tp you can choose arcuballista.

[Dfoley]

OMG... wait till you see the jp post on pups today :-D

Bare in mind my jp is terrible:

Automaton associated AI review
Magic Additions/Adjustments
For each category, such as enfeebling magic / enhancement magic, recast intervals have been set to be independent. ※ Cure, regeneration, magic status affect curing is set to have a separate cooldown.

New magic/ magic adjustments:
Protect (I ~ V) / shell (I ~ V) / Stoneskin / Haste / Phalanx / erase / Abuzoatori / dispel / Dread Spikes / Adol / Regen IV ※ Phalanx and Stoneskin are cast only on the master. ※ Protect, Shell and Haste will cast on all party members and the master.


Stormwaker will be getting Elemental magic Tier IV.

Cure Cure V and VI useage will depend on the degree of HP lost on the target.

Weapon Skill Adjustment
Magic Mortar will do a set amount of damage
Adjust fire automaton (???)
Elimination of the distance correction ranged attack

Related PUP changes:
We are addin a job ability to cure status ailments on the automaton (Lv30: 1 minute reuse)
Repair oil will be consumed and will remove abnormal status effects on the automaton (Only status effects normally cureable with Erase) to recover.
The above changes depend on the Tier of Oil being used and can remove up to four status anomalies. Additionally, we are adding Oil level +3 (Lv80 ~) .

There is more about attachments but just figured Id give a heads up.

[Dfoley]

Attachment-related

For the following attachments, raising the effective rate of increase depending on the number of maneuvers
Flash / inhibitor / flame holder / steam jacket / A. Repair Kit II

2 → 1 reduction in the required elemental capacity cost
R. Shield / Scope / Schurzen / Volt gun

Adjusted the performance of the following attachments

• Attachment******** How it was adjusted
• R. Shield********** Additional bonus to the amount of damage depending on the skill of the frame counterattack
• Mana Booster******** Changed to Fast Cast
• Drum Magazine******** Reduced the hit rate down
• Replicator******** Depending on the number of wind maneuvers consumed, increase the number of blinks
• S. Absorber******** Depending on the number of earth maneuvers, and the combat skill values ​​of the frame, adds a bonus to the amount of damage mitigated
• Armor plate/armor plate I******** non-physical damage up effective defense - change (looks like increases magic dmg, decreases physical, again my jp is terrible )
• Analyzer******** The effect will increase up to 3 times for consecutive moves used
• Hammermill ******** Always changed to hit Shield Bash
• Volt gun******** Eliminated the level dependency, depending on the number of Thunder Maneuvers and combat skill value of the frame, adds a bonus to the amount of additional damage that can be dealt
• Heatsink******* Lowers the probability of being overloaded, for all maneuvers → not just fire maneuver
• Damage guage******* Reduces the recast of Cure magic
• Eraser******* Modified to recover more than one status ailment and consumed Light Maneuver ...something

[Anza]

WOW.

BTW, the untranslated spells:
* Abuzoatori = Absorb-Attri (like the lv91 DRK spell).
* "Adol" should be Addle.

Automaton associated AI review
Magic Additions/Adjustments
For each category, such as enfeebling magic / enhancement magic, recast intervals have been set to be independent. ※ Cure, regeneration, magic status affect curing is set to have a separate cooldown.

/cheer. About time, but much better late than never!

Protect, Shell and Haste will cast on all party members and the master.

!!!!! That's more than I expected, and enough to get me back interested in PUP after leaving it mostly alone in the past couple months.

Adjust fire automaton (???)

Could this mean adjusting the trigger maneuver mechanics?

For the following attachments, raising the effective rate of increase depending on the number of maneuvers
Flash / inhibitor / flame holder / steam jacket / A. Repair Kit II

Hmm... does that mean Flash might actually generate significant enmity now?

2 → 1 reduction in the required elemental capacity cost
R. Shield / Scope / Schurzen / Volt gun

Not really a big deal. Scope is still the only one of the four likely to be worth taking up one of the 12 valuable attachment slots, and 1 wind reduction only leaves room to add Replicator if you're using the standard Turbo Charger/Barrage Turbine/Scope setup. Though if the Volt Gun buff is strong enough, maybe it becomes useful.

Mana Booster******** Changed to Fast Cast

That's... kind of a nerf in my eyes. But perhaps understandable if they're splitting the spells into different category recast timers, I guess that might have messed up the Mana Booster's universal spell timer reduction effect. Cures aren't too hurt since the Damage Gauge changes cover that, but it does slow down nuking unless they reduced the elemental magic recast timer.

S. Absorber******** Depending on the number of earth maneuvers, and the combat skill values ​​of the frame, adds a bonus to the amount of damage mitigated

About damn time.

Armor plate/armor plate I******** non-physical damage up effective defense - change (looks like increases magic dmg, decreases physical, again my jp is terrible )

That's pretty odd. I was pulling for straight up PDT attachments, but oh well.

Heatsink******* Lowers the probability of being overloaded, for all maneuvers → not just fire maneuver

LOL they are really worried about overload, huh?

Damage guage******* Reduces the recast of Cure magic

I like it. Will be good combined with the cure spell timers being on their own timer as opposed to a universal spell timer, and paired with Mana Booster for fast cast.

[xbobx]

Looks like Harly is back, those Drk spells, I will bet everything on they will go to harly. So he will be of use again. So melee tank, melee dd, ranged DD, support, curing, nuker.

I think the automation fire with ??? is no more ws based on maneuvers, I think it will be able to choose the ws as a macro.

[Kayn]

WOW.

BTW, the untranslated spells:
* Abuzoatori = Absorb-Attri (like the lv91 DRK spell).
* "Adol" should be Addle.


/cheer. About time, but much better late than never!


!!!!! That's more than I expected, and enough to get me back interested in PUP after leaving it mostly alone in the past couple months.



Could this mean adjusting the trigger maneuver mechanics?


Hmm... does that mean Flash might actually generate significant enmity now?


Not really a big deal. Scope is still the only one of the four likely to be worth taking up one of the 12 valuable attachment slots, and 1 wind reduction only leaves room to add Replicator if you're using the standard Turbo Charger/Barrage Turbine/Scope setup. Though if the Volt Gun buff is strong enough, maybe it becomes useful.


That's... kind of a nerf in my eyes. But perhaps understandable if they're splitting the spells into different category recast timers, I guess that might have messed up the Mana Booster's universal spell timer reduction effect. Cures aren't too hurt since the Damage Gauge changes cover that, but it does slow down nuking unless they reduced the elemental magic recast timer.


About damn time.


That's pretty odd. I was pulling for straight up PDT attachments, but oh well.


LOL they are really worried about overload, huh?


I like it. Will be good combined with the cure spell timers being on their own timer as opposed to a universal spell timer, and paired with Mana Booster for fast cast.

I think ill go cry a bit now.