Weaponskills That Need Most Refinement

[Yinnyth]

You have to realize that if all WS are useable or rather should need to be used, then people have to carry around the gear for all their WSs. Some of us just don't have that kind of space.

I assume you're being ironic because we all have exactly the same amount of space, and yet I, being your equal as far as space is concerned, am requesting this change knowing full-well the burdens of situational gear. Try BRD with no Gjallarhorn.

Fie on your inventory woes. We all have them, and unless FFXI ditches console support, we always will have them. Take your pick:
1. Every situation requires exactly the same strategy, but you only need one set of gear to optimize the strategy.
2. Every situation is unique and it is impossible to have the ideal gear for all those situations.

I pick #2.

[ManaKing]

I'm a RDM, don't talk to me about your woes. You CAN get a G-Horn much like I have an Excalibur. My inventory is still full as I get closer to ideal gear.

[Yinnyth]

Hrm... perhaps I'm not as good at making a point as I assumed I was. I'll try being more long-winded and complete. I'm not saying "woe is me, for my inventory problems are worse than yours". I'm saying we all have the same inventory available to us. It is not a situation unique to you.

Before I got Gjallarhorn, yes, I did carry around 17 instruments everywhere I went as well as idle set, fast song set, wind instrument skill set, string instrument skill set, cure set, haste set (for reducing recast timer on spells like cursna), hMP set, TP set, WS set, plus a couple pieces of MP gear so I could still cast raise while weakened. This was before mog sacks even. All of us feel the sting of limited inventory. I do not doubt that you have inventory issues on an epic scale, and I'll even concede that your inventory issues are worse than mine, but in case I'm not being overly clear about this: it's the same situation for all of us.

Yet I fail to see why limited inventory is a valid argument against making every WS in the game useful in some way or another. You could just as easily make the complaint that there aren't enough macro slots to accomodate all the gear swaps and WSs you'd have to use.

SE's new talking point is "fostering skillful play", and this is one area they could revisit to that end. There's only a handful of WSs that people use. Make the other WSs useful in their own, unique ways so people can make conscious and enlightened decisions about what WS they'll use and when they'll use it. This problem is pervasive in many areas of the game. There's only a couple of foods people use, there's only a couple of meds people use, there's only a couple types of ammo people use, there's only a couple party setups people use. These are all areas of the game ripe for change which would reward player knowledge, preparation and skill.

So again, fie on your inventory woes. We all have them. Why should that stop us from making changes which help "foster skillful play"?

[Yrusama]

I agree completely. I say this as a PUP: the problems aren't with the weapon skills. The problems are with the necessity for constant JA use and lack of gear. Then again, people all too quickly feel that the master's stats are all that matter.

[Tim]

I only have excalibur but I would like to see it improved. In my opinion KoR should be the most powerful sword weapon skill.

[ManaKing]

I agree we all need a larger inventory. I think 99 inventory would be enough for me, so long as I didn't obsess over situational items. I'd still have to pick and choose if I wanted all of my mage gear or all of my melee gear. Not all jobs have clogged inventories, but almost every mage/support job does because we have specialized gear for specific magic functions. I also refuse to give up my echo drops spot, ever. There are medicines that are needed for everyday play and hopefully there will be more, since they are adjusting medicated status.

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KOR is in the same category that a lot of WSs are in. Single hit with high damage does little in a game where Ukko's is 2 hits high damage and can crit. Ukko's is probably the best designed WS to show off exactly how much WAR can do. You can double attack on both hits and crit on both hits for massive damage. It is really well designed to make a significant difference in output based on your WS gear.

If anything, all the Relic WSs need to be 2hit. Same things with the ignores defense Empy WSs. At least then you can get the chance at full assistance from multiple attack stats like double attack. It's also not as though a 2nd hit is all good things, but it would be an improvement. The 2nd hit wouldn't benefit from the increased accuracy from WSs so you might have to take different gear into consideration.

It's not like you can't have single hit WSs, but unless they are like Torcleaver, don't expect them to be used.....probably ever. The other thing you could do is adjust the elemental gorgets and belts so they increase 1 hit WSs by significantly more than multi-hit WSs.

It really does all come down to numbers, but how well those numbers are implemented determines how satisfied players are with their WSs. The most important thing for WSs is that they output the same amount of effort that you input. When you gear yourself to the absolute best that a WS can do and the damage is either underwhelming or largely inconsistent, you usually find unhappy players there. That's basically every Relic WS. You took the time to make a Relic and gear for their WSs and you find that you should really look elsewhere if you want the satisfaction of good WSing.

[Alhanelem]

I agree completely. I say this as a PUP: the problems aren't with the weapon skills. The problems are with the necessity for constant JA use and lack of gear. Then again, people all too quickly feel that the master's stats are all that matter.

I wouldn't say PUP has a lack of gear issue anymore. They get put on a majority of the stuff MNK gets these days. The only things keeping PUP from top tier are JA delay and inability to max haste for master and auto simultaneously- both of these things hurt quite a lot.

[SpankWustler]

I think Cloudsplitter really pulls ahead of the pack in terms of "being awful". A lot of disappointing weapon skills make sense in some kind of vacuum; there is no such mercy from Cloudsplitter.

Cloudsplitter is magical, like Wildfire. It is attached to the same tier of weapon as Wildfire, namely, an Empyrean weapon. It has a lower fTP than Wildfire until somewhere around 250% TP. It has no fWhatever, as opposed to the 2x fAGI value of Wildfire. Being attached to an axe makes Cloudsplitter impossible to use while wielding a weapon that profoundly enhances magical weaponskills, which is very much an option for Wildfire.

Yes, Cloudsplitter does have a 80% secondary modifier if the STR and MND are added together, but that means very little even on paper now that a bunch of weaponskills with 100% modifiers and combined fTPs of 4+ exist.

If Camlann's Torment and Quiteus were mentally challenged men who sorted glass or bussed tables to pay for modest apartments, never realizing the profound sadness contained within their lives; Cloudsplitter would be an invalid who uttered "wwwWWWWWuuuugggGG" in the general direction of his caregiver each time he soiled himself, overcome with joy each time he buried his face in a microwaved Swanson's chicken pot-pie.

Similar to the first bro who completed a level 85 Farsha, his caregiver would know a kind of despair that few can reckon.