New 2-hour Abilities

[Xilk]

This will be very interesting to see.

I imagine the Special ability (gonna have to stop calling at a 2hr ability) recast reduction meritting is going to be similiar to the current trade-offs for the 357 skill WS's. I think this is a really great idea. Alot of players have many jobs leveled, and this will make it interesting to see how to balance and prioritize between different Special JA's.

The JA's that are short and go for burst damage will probably be prioritized by most players.

1 hour recast IS really good for any current event. 30 min is actually sufficient for most.

With a shorter duration, It think they could get away sharing the recast timer better between the 2 abilities, however it would still be difficult. The reason has been reiterated many times. Its much more difficult to balance 2 different abilities to each other. like the comments from numerous players about embrava. The new Sp ability doesn't look bad, but when trading it for Embrava, you'll never win. So, even though it might be more possible to keep the recast combined, its safer not to.

The only question I would have after that is, if the recast is shared for other jobs? Will it reset Special abilities just by changing jobs unlike the current situation, OR will there be 2 categories for the special abilities to determine which is still waiting on the recast from one job to another.

The last 2 boxes are ofcourse the most exciting. Alot of ideas have been shared and it will be interesting to see if any survive the rigor which Developers need to apply.
The jobs have changed so much since the initial Special abilities have been designed, that it will be very interesting to see how they might be adjusted.

As a BST main, I imagine a defensive special ability would be well received.. if the 'offensive' ability is adjusted as well.

Frankly, this announcement is a HUGE, "WE are listening seriously to our playerbase" answer and it certainly makes a subscriber feel good.

[Helel]

Can nerf the haste effect of embrava, just not the regain please. I like to pew things on ranger still.

[Vivivivi]

Maybe Geomancer and Rune Fencer will alleviate the need for PD and Embrava for Nyzul or ADL? :3

[Septimus]

There is no reason that if the recast for the new SP abilities has to be the same as the current two-hour effects. The new SPs could be 30 minutes while keeping two-hours the same recast and potency.

While it would be nice to have content that doesn't rely on Embrava and Perfect Defense to win, I cannot imagine that content being produced given the current fetish of giving mobs weaponskills that rain death in a 500 yalm radius.

[Raksha]

Disagree completely. Both Embrava and Perfect Defence is SEVERELY OP on 30 minutes, especially compared to EVERY other 2-hour in the game. Just because a way exists to abuse 2-hour reset doesn't change that.

A way?

COR 2hr
MMM
Resheph
besieged
ISL chests
Limbus Chests


Hell, 2 hour isn't even really a limiting factor for Embrava either, if you have a spot to lock your 2hr on, you could keep a single DD party Embrava'd indefinately without 2hr reset.

There is absolutely no wasy 30m embravas is more overpowered than 2hr embravas

[Ophannus]

Our DDs get ADL from 100% to 50% in less than 30 seconds without WSing at all and we usually turn for 10-15second till he splits. I'm sure if we wanted to, we could CS Stun ADL for 75 seconds with a RDM/BLM aand DDs would kill him in 30-45 seconds(since we get him to 50% without WSing at all in 30 seconds, I'm sure with WS spamming we could take him out before he splits)

[Byrth]

The main strategic benefit behind 30 minute Astral Flows would be only having to bring along ~3 Summoners for your ADL runs regardless of how many pops you have.

I don't think you can take ADL out before his splits, Ophannus. I think that's kind of hard-coded into his AI. It's going to happen and doesn't take him any time, so Chainspell Stun doesn't save you from it. It's similar to AV putting bracers on.

[Secondplanet]

Here's an idea SE, why don't you take this concept of 2hr avatars and change them to normal avatars??? then we won't mind you nerfing PD so much, make it alexander's BP:ward 2hr(loosely) ability, and give him a 2hr offensive one? That way we summoners get 2 actual avatars and you can nerf it without as much complaining.

[Insaniac]

Isn't that the point of this change? Mix things up so you don't see shouts looking for SMN's and SCH's anymore.

No I don't think that's the point of this change and these JAs don't just make the events mentioned easier. They are what make them possible so you would go from seeing shouts for schs and smns to seeing no shouts at all.

Disagree completely. Both Embrava and Perfect Defence is SEVERELY OP on 30 minutes, especially compared to EVERY other 2-hour in the game. Just because a way exists to abuse 2-hour reset doesn't change that.

Your argument is completely illogical. Shortening the timer doesn't affect the power of the abilities at all. If they increased duration or effect it would make them stronger. All a 30 minute timer would mean is no resets required after Nyzul and Legion runs and resets as pointed out by Raksha are easy and plentiful.

Our DDs get ADL from 100% to 50% in less than 30 seconds without WSing at all and we usually turn for 10-15second till he splits. I'm sure if we wanted to, we could CS Stun ADL for 75 seconds with a RDM/BLM aand DDs would kill him in 30-45 seconds(since we get him to 50% without WSing at all in 30 seconds, I'm sure with WS spamming we could take him out before he splits)

ADL will always split he will split while stunned too. There's no getting around it or the linked TP moves his clones do right after splitting because he is still immune to all damage and stun effects.

[Tamarsamar]

If we can merit our current 2-hour Abilities to 30 min. or so, then the Two-hour recast time Evoliths might actually become somewhat useful, particularly if they can be used in conjunction with the Two-hour Enhancing Relic +2 armor.

All in all, another thing to macro.

Still, amazing news. If this was at the behest of Mr. Matsui, he's shown that he knows when to hold them and when to fold them, and there wasn't a much worse hand to fold than the grand majority of these new Two-hours. The inevitable delay in implementation will be well worth the wait, I feel.