Haste II and SMN

[solodragon1984]

and that's how i feel they are buffing every job but the job most people like playing(sometimes)

[Glamdring]

@Oph, all you say is true, and much of it is already in place. all that being said, I still haven't seen a recruiting shout for a rdm in a PUG for end-game content since the 1st release of Abyssea, and I play roughly 350 days a year for several hours every day. you would think I would have seen at least 1 in that time but really, not a single 1. Plenty for sch, brd, mnk, and more recently rng and pld, but not one person has asked for a rdm. and that is why I say yes, the simple presence of Hastega II on smn will be enough to knock rdm out of the list of jobs eligible for end-game content, and that's assuming Haste II will be enough to let them in (not a safe bet).

[Babekeke]

@Oph, all you say is true, and much of it is already in place. all that being said, I still haven't seen a recruiting shout for a rdm in a PUG for end-game content since the 1st release of Abyssea, and I play roughly 350 days a year for several hours every day. you would think I would have seen at least 1 in that time but really, not a single 1. Plenty for sch, brd, mnk, and more recently rng and pld, but not one person has asked for a rdm. and that is why I say yes, the simple presence of Hastega II on smn will be enough to knock rdm out of the list of jobs eligible for end-game content, and that's assuming Haste II will be enough to let them in (not a safe bet).

Wait, how many shouts have you seen for SMN?

I don't think that hastega II will be enough to get SMNs into end-game for PUGs, let alone enough to push RDMs out. And recently, since people seem to have noticed that there aren't many decently geared SCHs around for stunning, and that RDM can once again be used for stunning, I've seen a few shouts for SCH or RDM rather than just SCH.

[Zeargi]

Now my biggest question is these New Blood Pacts, Will they be copy and paste abilities only higher tiers and copious more amounts of MP, or will we see fixes for some of the one we have plus the new ones down the road?

[Camate]

Greetings,

While I gave the example of Hastega II, we’ll be introducing new offensive Blood Pacts as well for avatars, so rest assured that we will not be making adjustments to summoner only as a support-type job.

As there are a lot of avatars, it will be a bit difficult to add new Blood Pacts for each of them all at once, but we’ll be looking into adding them individually as we move forward.

[Zeargi]

Greetings,

While I gave the example of Hastega II, we’ll be introducing new offensive Blood Pacts as well for avatars, so rest assured that we will not be making adjustments to summoner only as a support-type job.

As there are a lot of avatars, it will be a bit difficult to add new Blood Pacts for each of them all at once, but we’ll be looking into adding them individually as we move forward.

Thanks for the reply, but I was more so asking about the problem that we have currently. Such as Noctoshield and Earthen Ward, to name a few, being very much underpowered at their current standing. Even wards like Earthen Armor seems to fall short at times. I've seen a MNK on a Difficult run get nailed with a Eagle Eye Shot and be KO'd while having Earthen Armor on. Which is should be the 75% DMG of your Maximum HP lowered to 45% DMG. (And mind you, I'm above the cap for Summoning Magic)
Having offensive Blood Pacts will definitely be nice to change up some of our moveset, but they might want to also think about a few other things as well when doing it. Such as can we Skillchain with these? Being able to create a light or darkness skillchain with the party would be nice. Will there be a variant to the Blood Pacts type? Slashing, Piercing, Blunt on more than 1 avatar would be Awesome~!!

[Crevox]

There's nothing wrong with Earthen Armor. Earthen Armor reduces the damage by 45%, not to 45%. People can still very much be one shotted if the damage, reduced by 45%, still exceeds the remainder of the player's current health pool. It's the same as Scherzo.

Noctoshield, Earthen Ward are fine examples of Blood Pacts that have fallen behind in the times. There are more as well, such as Ecliptic Growl. These have never been updated since the 75 cap, and thus are much weaker compared to buffs provided by other classes.

I hope that these blood pacts are added sooner rather than later (I don't want to wait super long Cait Sith style again ), and I also hope that the "offensive blood pacts" they are mentioning adding are not simply for Cait Sith. I know we're already getting some more for Cait Sith, as it was mentioned when it was added to the game. I wasn't exactly expecting any new ones for the other avatars that aren't support (cool!) but I'm looking forward to any additions.

[Glamdring]

@Babs, not many shouts for smn but a few, yes. Despite the continual grumbling of traditional DDs and the like of how pet jobs aren't DD a pet jobs strat is often one of the 1st developed for any new end-game content. it's eventually ignored as the slightly faster zerg strat is developed, but that doesn't mean it isn't still viable. and smn is always going to be a possible job on new content without a defined cookie-cutter strat simply for Alex and PD. that being said, shouts for smn are also rare because the groups that will use them generally already HAVE their own in it. vs none for rdm, not since the level cap went to 80, even with refresh 2 (everything was in Aby then, who needed refresh?) no one was shouting for it, they asked for scholar if they had need for a multi-role job, and bard (or occasionally cor) if they needed MP--or much of anything else for that matter. No, I don't think Hastega 2 will likely be enough to put smn as a core job in the end-game mix just as haste 2 is probably not enough to put rdm in the mix, but I think hastega 2 makes smn more likely if either job will make it over long odds.

and note, I'm not saying all this to block smn from viability, just to lament that rdm STILL won't be viable as a desired job as it will still be outclassed in every needed party role by another job. I still don't see rdm becoming integral to an end-game strat unless a CS-Stun becomes core on a fight strat again and that simply doesn't seem likely with the boss mobs SE has been introducing for the last few years. And even if they did it still seems wrong for rdm to only get viability based off a spell that isn't even native but only available from a /sub...

[Numquam]

How about you just get rid of Bloodpact Ward and Rage opening up all of the avatar abilities? I mean, keep the minute cooldown on each ability, but allow use of them all whenever we want. That would be a major improvement.

[Camate]

Greetings,

Thanks for the reply, but I was more so asking about the problem that we have currently. Such as Noctoshield and Earthen Ward, to name a few, being very much underpowered at their current standing. Even wards like Earthen Armor seems to fall short at times.

While I can’t speak specifically about these Blood Pacts in particular, we will be looking into revamping the effects of Blood Pact: Ward overall.

As example, we’d like to boost the effects by having summoning skill and level play a larger role.

Once the plans have been solidified a bit more I’ll be sure to let you know!