Increase the number of meritable WS

[Neisan_Quetz]

Realmrazer isn't worthless outside, with replicating ftp it should average better than Hexa. Might even be used for Prd (if they had a good club) than using requiescat on harder mobs if you don't have excal/almace/burt. Apex Arrow on the other hand...

[RAIST]

Apex Arrow..... That brings my predicament to light. I unlocked Apex to use on SAM for when we need the piercing setups so I don't have to /RNG. Until other members of the pack get their RNG or COR leveled up more, I'm the one that shoots things in the butt in these situations. Further nerfs me when I am already at a disadvantage with 3 mage and 7 melee jobs, among them SMN (who COULD make use of Shattersoul, depending on your playstyle), SAM, DRG, DRK, WAR, NIN.......at best I'm looking at having 1 or 2 capped and the rest being nerfed compared to their best WS prior to merit WS being added. Still haven't decided just where I'm going to distribute the last couple points.

SE REALLY needs to rethink their stance on these. As has been mentioned, we can already unlock all the previously "specialized" WS. I have all WSNM's done except for ranged (because I didn't level a required job high enough). The bulk of those were SOLOED--only had assistance on three of them when I first started unlocking them.

There is really little to justify clamping down on these WS....it's just SE wanting to hold us back for some reason.

[Neisan_Quetz]

Demerit Apex Arrow and don't look back. If you're firing at range on Sam you're on the wrong job. If you need piercing bonus that badly you're better off meriting stardiver and using a polearm.

[Alhanelem]

Make all WSs equally worth and i will agree with you. As it is right now. Realmrazer

Realmrazer is not worthless. It's more accurate to say that you feel it's worthless for those jobs to have it. And the fact is, PLD can use it too- If not for the fact that only WHM gets all the good clubs, it would be a good WS for PLD.. The weaponskills are available to all jobs with worthwhile skill level in that weapon (the minimum skill required to meet the requirements at level 96, which is C+). Any job that isn't on a particular WS probably wouldn't be using that weapon type anyway, with the only real exception being scholar whose only likely weapon type is C+.

Shattersoul is also the best staff WS by miles and miles.
There may be some quesitonable WS, but I don't think those are the ones. The fact that you feel that <insert mage job> will never/shouldn't/doesn't use a WS ever does not make the weaponskills bad.

In short: Most of the WS are worth something to somebody. Whether or not a particular WS is "worth it" to you should be your primary basis for choosing which ones to merit. In my case, I maxed Shattersoul, and for my personal needs, it's totally worth it. Your mileage may vary, of course. I'm not entirely sure which weaponskills are terrible for anyone that might ever try to use them. Which jobs can use a WS is not a metric for how good the WS itself is, at least not from where I stand.

[RAIST]

Demerit Apex Arrow and don't look back. If you're firing at range on Sam you're on the wrong job. If you need piercing bonus that badly you're better off meriting stardiver and using a polearm.

Tried that before....got a bit hectic when I wound up taking over the tanks roll. It's also sometimes better to be pelting away from a distance without consuming too much hate, leaving the healers to concentrate on just healing one person. I often will pull out my bow and /range when I'm weakened, another situation when being able to do moderate damage without taking hate helps out.

The point is, some WS have specific utility in certain situations. If we want to take advantage of that utility (for whatever reason that may be) we have to nerf something somewhere else. It's SE's twisted little game to keep us in check somehow I guess....just doesn't make much sense in the grander scheme of things when you compare to all the freedom they give us with our builds in other aspects.

Oh, and having Stardiver for SAM is another issue. If I want GK, Scythe, GS, however many I feel compelled to have....not much left for Stardiver is there? May be better off using Penta instead---which makes the merit WS system a bit self-defeating with the steep restrictions on it if you are looking at them from a damage standpoint and not utility.

[FrankReynolds]

You don't get it, do you: If you can get all of them, then there's no decisionmaking involved: You just get all of them. If there is a limit, you have to make a choice. SImple, isn't it?

Is the current limit too low? Yes.

Should the limit be removed entirely? No.

... and the benefit of being forced to choose not to get some of them that you really want is?

[Llana_Virren]

... and the benefit of being forced to choose...?

Customization. Which was SE's modus operandi when the merit system was introduced. Although some merit categories are so unbalanced that everyone picks the same merits, the intent was to allow characters to customize themselves beyond the copy-pasta gear that everyone wears at max level.

[Reiterpallasch]

Customization. Which was SE's modus operandi when the merit system was introduced. Although some merit categories are so unbalanced that everyone picks the same merits, the intent was to allow characters to customize themselves beyond the copy-pasta gear that everyone wears at max level.

Wouldn't say everyone. There's always that one guy each census that decided to cap their defender merits.

[Llana_Virren]

Wouldn't say everyone.

Well played, sir, well played. :P

Although, yes, there is always that one guy, the merit system was designed for customization, not "evolution".

Maybe add another public (non-job-specific) category for meritting job traits?

Duel Wield
Double Attack Rate (stacking with WAR merits)
Triple Attack Rate (stacking with THF merits)
Quad Attack Rate (maybe...?)
Provoke potency
Circle effect potency/duration
Fast Cast
Conserve MP
Auto-Regen (1/tic)
Auto-Refresh (1/tic)
Auto-Regain (1/tic)
Cure Potency (up to 5%)
Magic Accuracy (up to +10)
MAB (up to +10)
MDB (up to +10)

etc, etc


You know, just throwing out some crazy ideas, 'cause that's how we do it here in the FFXI Oh Eff!

[FrankReynolds]

Customization is good in theory, but annoying in practice.

When you are trying to put together a group, having people say "I have <insert job here> leveled, but it sucks because I spent all my merits on puppetmaster..." does not make the game more fun for anyone in reality.