Pupdate 10-28-2011

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Originally Posted by Nezha

- Revamping "Equalizer". It really lost in purpose in the shadow of the Armor Plates which are now PDT-. Suggestion: Recalculation of damage absorbed by Equalizer or extending its effect to "Magical Damage" also instead of only "Physical Damage".

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i really like this idea, and i highly agree that equalizer needs to be changed/enhanced since there are now three PDT attachments

since stormwaker head is the only one to get stoneskin and phalanx, i wish they had lower priority for elemental magic. the stoneskin effect would be excellent for soloing with ninja sub, but i wouldn't want my puppet wasting all her MP on nukes... or please just give soulsoother stoneskin. <3 i don't see the problem with it since real whms have afflatus solace.

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Originally Posted by Dohati

since stormwaker head is the only one to get stoneskin and phalanx, i wish they had lower priority for elemental magic. the stoneskin effect would be excellent for soloing with ninja sub, but i wouldn't want my puppet wasting all her MP on nukes... or please just give soulsoother stoneskin. <3 i don't see the problem with it since real whms have afflatus solace.

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Aside from wasting mp, if you have any MAB attachments fit it'll hurt your hate control too. The nice thing about soulsoother is that no matter how much it cure bombs you, it hardly ever pulls hate, but once you get rolling with stormwaker, if you engage will all your buffs up the first thing it'll do is THUNDARFOARDURPHURP.

Aso for the delay issue with stormwaker frame, I'll go try valoredge since it's got a different delay and see if that's any better. I honestly don't know where/when the 400 delay for harle/stormwaker/sharpshot was figured out, but it was forever ago, so that it might not be totally accurate isn't to surprising (and we can test this on the live servers, which will be a lot more accurate given various limitations of the test server)

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Originally Posted by Siviard

I'm on the Test Server now, but I see a bunch of unfamiliar names. Are you all using your mains, or using mules?

I know I saw Shinron on the test server b/c I know his main on Fenrir. But how about everyone else?

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Right click their forum name, view profile, then look at their characters. That'll tell you which character has 95 pup unless they have a bajillion jobs at 95 (it only shows 3, iirc). For the record, I'm still Theytak on the test server. xbobx is shuffles, and I think dfoley is gilmour (sp?). If anyone else uses a different name on the test server compared to the forums, they'll have to speak up.

edit: wtf happened to the tp formulas on wiki? when the hell did someone change their format and remove all sorts of random shit that as far as my math said, was still correct? :confused:

Gonna redo my calculations with the bg wiki tp formulas

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Originally Posted by Dfoley

Okay i have some data for some math people

Inhibitor: was 5/10/15/20 store tp
Tested using soulsoother (wiki says 400 delay)

0 attachments
0 10 20 30 40 51 61 71 81 91 102
Confirms 400 delay

inhibitor 0 fire maneuvers
0 10 21 32 42 53 64 74 85 96 107
+4 store tp would be
10.7 21.4 32.1 42.8 53.5 64.2 74.9 85.6 96.3 107
Okay, so 0 maneuvers = is 4 store tp (says it used to be 5, so -1???)

inhibitor 1 fire maneuver
0 11 23 35 46 58 70
+14 store tp would be
0 11.7 23.4 35.1 46.8 58.5 70.2
Okay, so 1 fire maneuver = +14 (was +10, so +4 from what it would be)

inhibitor 2 fire maneuvers
0 12 25 38 50 63 76 88 101
+24 stp
0 12.7 25.4 38.1 50.8 63.5 76.2 88.9 101.6
So 2 fire maneuvers is +24 store tp (was 15, so +9)

inhibitor 3 fire maneuvers
0 14 28 42 56 71 85 99
+38 store tp
0 14.2 28.4 42.6 56.8 71 85.2 99.4

I am going to assume
1) Delay is 400 (screw you wiki n your bad formulas)
2) it is 4/14/24/38 store tp

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okay theytak, thank you for pointing out the wiki formula is off. here is the final results which confirms the 400 delay and confirms 100% of data points

That leaves:
flame holder
damage guage
strobe
reactive shield by level
analyzer

Inhibitor: Done using valoredge, Base TP/hit 9.3

Inhibitor, 0 fire maneuvers: 9, 19, 29, 38, 48, 58, 67, 77, 87, 97, thus 9.7 tp/hit, which is due to Store TP +5 (same as it was originally, thus it's unchanged)

Inhibitor, 1 fire maneuvers: 10, 21, 31, 42, 53, 63, 74, 84, 95, 106, thus 10.6 tp/hit, due to Store TP +15 (originally +10, so 5 stp increase)

Inhibitor, 2 fire maneuvers: 11, 23, 34, 46, 58, 69, 81, 92, 104, 116, thus 11.6 tp/hit, due to Store TP +25 (originally +15, so 10 stp increase

Note about this last one: Caroline borked it up the first try, but that bork up still allowed me to get an accurate number. Due to how much tp/hit is, it's a bit annoying to get the last couple of numbers since the puppet will randomly WS. The highest I've gotten is 9 hits, and the numbers held true to that point. If anyone can pull off getting all 10 to confirm 100% that would be nice, but I don't want to deal with the headache since the math is already clear enough.

Inhibitor, 3 fire maneuvers: 13, 26, 39, 52, 65, 78, 91, -fuckup- 102 (third fire maneuver wore off a second before the hit), however given that 2 fire maneuvers is 11.6 TP/hit, 3 can't be anything other than 13.0. If it were 13.1, the 2 fm hit would have resulted in 103 TP. Additionally, I ran through again and got the following: 13, 26, 39, 52, 65, 78, 91, 104, 117, WS, which further solidifies this one. 3 FM is 13.0 TP/hit, due to Store TP +40 (originally +20, so 20 stp increase)

tl;dr:
Inhibitor:
0 FM: STP +5
1 FM: STP +15
2 FM: STP +25
3 FM: STP +40

Basically they gave it turbo charger's scaling.

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Originally Posted by Dfoley

That leaves:
flame holder
damage guage
strobe
reactive shield by level
analyzer

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Strobe's values are gonna be annoying to test, but given how they changed inhibitor, we can assume with moderate safety that they changed strobe in the same manner, from enmity +5/10/15/20 to enmity +5/15/25/40.

Reactive shield testing is simple enough, it's just gonna take forever to do. Also, you need to stay clear that it's affected by the puppet's SKILL level, not the puppet's actual level. Assuming either

A: Melee for Valoredge, Ranged for Sharpshot, Magic for Stormwaker, and for Harle, it'll be impossible to test which individually affects it since all our skills are capped and all of harly's skills are capped at the same level (and I doubt 30 skill from cirque pants+2 and merits will make any difference)

or B: Universally by Melee skill, or less likely, by magic skill (ie valoredge and sharpshot will have shitty returns with it, but from playing around yesterday this doesn't -seem- to be the case)

Analyzer testing, I would assume is probably easiest to test via thousand needles spam (I'd say get a blu and try it in diorama for a base line, since getting cactuars to -spam- thousand needles is not exactly easy.

Damage Gauge, and Manabooster's exact fast cast values are pretty much impossible to test accurately on the test server, so until it goes live we won't be able to know for certain.

Flame Holder is also gonna be tricky, but that's less to due with the test server and more to do with how fucking difficult it is to test pet ws fTP values since we can't just SA WS test it like we can player WS. I'll play with this after I finish my magic mortar testing and see if I can't at least get a general idea of the values.

Also missing from your OP:
Elemental Recast is the same as Enhancing (they're separate timers, but the same length), and healing/na recasts are the same length, but shorter than elemental, ~6 seconds.

and we still need to do some work with magic mortar (I'm gonna do that next)

You guys are simply awesome, thanks a lot for the testing. Keep up the good work!

Oh, and you may want to mention anything that remotely resembles a bug in the Test Server subforum thread, so that we make sure the community reps see it.

Preliminary findings, Magic Mortar can be resisted, and has a HIGH rate of resistance.

Harlequin Head, Stormwaker Frame, 1051 HP (only HP boost was animator +1) 10 WS vs level 0 wild rabbits in west ronfaure. Variance in TP has no effect on damage.
Magic Mortar: 91, 365, 365, 91, 365, 91, 91, 365, 365, 91. 91 = 1/4 damage (91x4 = 364, + decimal rounds up to 365 since it's taking a quarter of an odd number)

HYPOTHESIS (Read: NOT proven fact, but rather, educated guess as to what the out come will be based on 5 and a half years of playing pup and crunching pup numbers, that I will attempt to confirm/disprove via testing)

Base damage = current automaton melee skill, but can be resisted based on current TP. 100% TP: 50% chance of dealing 1/4 base damage (~1/12 max HP), 200% TP: 25% chance of dealing 1/4 base damage (may be 1/2, I'll have to do some testing here to determine if it's the same resistance or not), 300% TP: 0% chance of resistance. Additionally, base damage is added cumulatively to the damage dealt based on missing HP.

If anyone else wants to test this theory too, more data will always be welcome.

edit: due to me being a dumbass, I JUST noticed that harle/waker has 365 melee skill. I changed heads to valoredge (for more light slots) to boost HP, but noticed the change in melee skill to 370, so I figured wtf. I tried it. Result? 370 damage. Took off cirque +2 pants, damage? 360. So Magic Mortar Floor = Current Auto Melee Skill.

Of course, there's more to it than that, since people are reporting numbers in the 400s, but vs tw bunnies in ronf, the damage is 100% consistent. I still have a lot more things to test, though

edit 2: ok, the 100~200 TP resistance window applies to ALL damage for the ws. I used DEA to activate with 31% HP, then proceeded to do 20 more magic mortars. damage was again consistent, but was also , again, resisted literally half the time. 10 ws came out 811 damage, 10 came out 200 damage. I've never seen magic mortar resist before, and I don't think I've read anything about anyone getting magic mortar to randomly do 1/4 damage vs anything normal... I'm flabbergasted.

Additionally, I tested with increasing the puppet's max HP by 200, and base damage didn't flinch, it was static 370 damage (when it didn't resist for 92 damage) with valorwaker and af3+2 pants at both 1051 HP and 1267 hp.

What the fuck did they do to this ws...

edit 3: done testing for today, magic mortar has given me a migraine.

edit 4:

Ok, smn's have blood pacts, bst has sic/ready, drg has w/e their forced breath JA is called. I want some pup love. Let's axe cool down in favor of something like this:

Striking Maneuver: The Player chooses one of the weaponskills currently available to the automaton and forces the automaton to execute it. The automaton must have at least 100 TP for this ability to be successful.

Get rid of random weaponskilling at random TP%. Get rid of maneuver priority. Just give us WS like all the other g'damn pet jobs have, simple, easily controlled, and so much less aggravating.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Theytak

tl;dr:
Inhibitor:
0 FM: STP +5
1 FM: STP +15
2 FM: STP +25
3 FM: STP +40

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Interesting that i would get 5/14/24/38 with soul soother. Maybe it depends on the frame?

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Also missing from your OP:
Elemental Recast is the same as Enhancing (they're separate timers, but the same length), and healing/na recasts are the same length, but shorter than elemental, ~6 seconds.

and we still need to do some work with magic mortar (I'm gonna do that next)

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With which head? Or are all heads on 15 sec for elemental spells now?

Same with other spells are they all independent of the head now?

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Originally Posted by Dfoley

Interesting that i would get 5/14/24/38 with soul soother. Maybe it depends on the frame?



With which head? Or are all heads on 15 sec for elemental spells now?

Same with other spells are they all independent of the head now?

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the fact that you got 5/14/24/38 can be attributed to the probability of the frames not actually having 400 delay, and rounding errors in your math somewhere, 5/14/24/38 makes absolutely no sense and is completely unlike anything SE would do. As for whether the casting times are different, I hadn't thought of that. That's something we'll need to look into. My comment though was related to stormwaker head.

updated first post with inhibitor and casting times

Figured out the store tp thing, missing a parentheses was causing it to floor to early.

I am getting the same values of 5/15/25/40 with 400 delay

Cure magic on soul soother is as low as 15 sec as high as 20
global recast is exactly 10 seconds (possibly whats blocking healing)
enfeebles are 10 sec

enhancing > healing.... 25% hp and it casts haste on me instead of cure....wtf


/rage face

reported this as a bug, im so sick of the stupidity. This should never have happened. Between this and a global recast for spells, its screwing our automaton over hardcore.

okay, this is beyond frustrating.

Trying to test damage guage and how it is supposed to reduce the recast on cures.

The issue is that base recast is 15 seconds, global recast is 10 seconds

99% of cures are landing at 20s with/without it because at 10s global recast is up but cure recast isnt, so it goes to casting enfeebles/buffs/na.

We really need damage guage to:
1) actually prioritize cureing (aka if it could cure/na/haste....make it pick cure)
2) stop wasting mp on enfeebles when light maneuvers are up

best i can tell:
damage guage -1/-2/-3/-4 seconds of cures

cures are 15 sec recast -> with 1 light i can get it down to 13 if the mob stays debuffed >< with 3 light up i cant beat the global recast of 10 seconds so it has to be longer than that (-4 would put you at 11 second recast).

enhancing recast is >10, <20

global recast is making this a pain to test

OKay, found a use for tactical processor.

Took 20 time stamps for casting, range was from 8-12
With tactical processor it was from 8-10 with 0 ice man up
with tactical processor + 3 ice it was between 8-9 sec recast

Global recast (for whm and rdm) is 8 seconds minimum

30 sec cool down on nukes (blm head)

that is not good

Okay not sure how to calculate fast cast sense i am NOT a mage :-p

Text for start of cast - time when pet turned yellow - time when msg showed in log

• no MB 13 - 24 - 28 (11 sec till yellow 15 sec till msg)
• mb +0 40 - 50 - 54 (10 sec till yellow 14 sec till msg) (10% ~ 6.6%)
• mb +1 36 - 44 - 48 (8 sec till yellow 12 sec till msg) (28% ~20%)
• mb +2 49 - 56 - 00 (7 sec till yellow 11 sec till msg) (36%~ 26%)
• mb +3 45 - 51 - 55 (6 sec till yellow 10 sec till msg) (45%~ 33%)

So depending on how you calculate fast cast (to the yellow aura around pet, or until the text log) 3x ice is either 45 or 33%, which stacks with optic fiber ><. You know, just in case your testing.

With rounding and errors it is most likely:
10/25/35/45

edit : my table looks like balls...

Shouldn't this thread have gone into the test server forum?

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Originally Posted by Babekeke

Shouldn't this thread have gone into the test server forum?

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While the info on bugs/things broken/flat out screwed up should be reported in the test server forum, i think that the good hard testing and communication between the actual players is fine right here where it is.

No need to clutter up the test server forum with anything other than the hard-ish conclusions of what is NOT working as intended. And that info is being hammered out here. Of course that's just my opinion.

And a quick thanks to all you guys doing the rigorous testing. I'd be doing some myself if i hadn't been feeling half-in the-grave the last month. Keep up the good work guys/gals.

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Originally Posted by Theytak

Get rid of random weaponskilling at random TP%. Get rid of maneuver priority. Just give us WS like all the other g'damn pet jobs have, simple, easily controlled, and so much less aggravating.

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I would like to add that I do agree with this. A few days ago I was having fun with Sharpshot in Zeruhn Mines and a few too many times my automation would use Barrage just before deciding to weaponskill, hardly giving me any time at all to put a Wind Maneuver back up, which would then result in the automaton using Daze due to Thunder Maneuver being up. I could be throwing in Dark Maneuver to make sure at least Armor Piercer goes off as a backup, but I found myself hesitant to use anything more than Wind Maneuvers to make sure Armor Shatterer would trigger reliably. Or else I would need to always be on guard to throw a Wind Maneuver back up when TP is ready. In general it's problematic and it shouldn't be so stressing to make sure the automaton works the way we want it to.

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Originally Posted by Babekeke

Shouldn't this thread have gone into the test server forum?

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If you go actually look....
there is a thread in the bug section where theytak and I have reported the bugs and a second thread in the feedback section where we have complained/suggested things that we have concluded from here.

The vast majority of the things in this thread dont need to be reported to the developers. They already know the % of armor plate and fast cast on mana booster, that is more beneficial for the community

Update on JP thread about known issues:

1) Cure still not being priority: Their response "use a damage guage + 2 or more light maneuvers to make cure take priority". They are considering lowering it to 1+ light maneuvers

2) They know about it trying to erase sleep (not sure about it trying to erase aura affects)

3) harle head + harle body wont cast. And harly head + any body (mage or range) wont cast or range.

4)They are still recommending using scanner to test a mobs resistance while casting silence on mobs ><

5) something about shield bash, and it not going off in time unless its a long casting spell.

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Originally Posted by Dfoley

4)They are still recommending using scanner to test a mobs resistance while casting silence on mobs ><

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would that actually do anything about your puppet casting silence on regular crabs etc? i'm guessing absolutely not

Fooling around with the Drum Magazine, Each wind seems to cut off about 5 seconds of RA delay. With Turbo Charger and Pantin Dastanas SS was making a Ranged Attack and a Melee Attack at about the same time. No swing of the weapon would display, but an attack would be made in the chat log.

Lol they are considering it? Hello SE it shouldn't be that way in the first place you tools.

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Originally Posted by Lessina

Fooling around with the Drum Magazine, Each wind seems to cut off about 5 seconds of RA delay. With Turbo Charger and Pantin Dastanas SS was making a Ranged Attack and a Melee Attack at about the same time. No swing of the weapon would display, but an attack would be made in the chat log.

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From first post in thread

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[*] drum magazine - 20/15/10/5

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<-- will need to go back and confirm now that i can do times better.

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Originally Posted by Dfoley

Update on JP thread about known issues:

1) Cure still not being priority: Their response "use a damage guage + 2 or more light maneuvers to make cure take priority". They are considering lowering it to 1+ light maneuvers

2) They know about it trying to erase sleep (not sure about it trying to erase aura affects)

3) harle head + harle body wont cast. And harly head + any body (mage or range) wont cast or range.

4)They are still recommending using scanner to test a mobs resistance while casting silence on mobs ><

5) something about shield bash, and it not going off in time unless its a long casting spell.

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1) *Sigh* that's just stupid. It should be the exact opposite; we should need a maneuver to prioritize -na's, over cures, not the other way around. HEALING MY HP is ALWAYS more beneficial to my survival than removing a status effect when under 50% HP, and almost always more beneficial over 50%. There is not a single healer in this game who would honestly choose to blindna/paralyna/silena/cursna/viruna/stona/erase/poisona INSTEAD of cure IV/V/VI when the target in question is in red HP. Not one, INCLUDING NPC FELLOWS. The fact that this is apparently the INTENDED way automatons work is not an acceptable answer. I'm not going to be happy with it until it's Cure > status removal at all HP%, with status removal becoming top priority if, and ONLY if there are more water maneuvers than light maneuvers.

2) Honestly though, if they can fix this to what it should be, casting Cure I when slept, I'd be hard pressed to believe they can't make the cure selection a little more intelligent, especially given that npc fellows have had the exact cure selection we've been asking for for years. If the automaton can determine which specific nuke from stone I to thunder V will remove the remaining HP of a monster (if unresisted), there's no reason it shouldn't be able to also determine the inverse for players; which cure is needed to restore x amount of missing HP.

3) Good, it's a bug. At least it makes testing magic mortar more convenient by removing offensive spells from morethan one head/frame combo (VE/storm beingthe other), thus allowing a little more freedom with attachment selection for testing.

4) This whole "well just equip scanner and that should fix it" crap is absolutely unacceptable, and they need to realize it. We shouldn't be required to waste slots to fix an AI problem that shouldn't exist in the first place. It's like preventing the player from casting certain necessary spells if they don't have a piece of gear equipped. I don't mean like impact from twilight cloak, I mean like a whm having to have full AF (including af weapon) equipped in order to cast any cure spell. It's just obnoxious.

5) no idea.

I think we just have to come to terms with that fact that the remaining staff of FFXI are family members of top SE executives that took programing/customer service/project management through an internet course and were unemployable at Capcom, Sony etc.

Lol why did this get moved

New update on Puppetmaster Automaton Testing:

-Phalanx consistantly absorbs 31 damage against 1000 Needles.

-Automaton's Stoneskin (casted on Master) IS effected by Enhances "Stoneskin" Effect Gear!

-Automaton's Shock Absorber seems to absorb random amounts between 279-283 damage though on 3 occasions it absorbed 350-363 damage...

Theoretical Calculations: Stone Gorget + Earthcry Earring + Haven Hose + Siegel Sash = 420 Damage Absorbed + 31 Phalanx = 451 Damage Shield!

More to come so stay tuned!

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Originally Posted by xbobx

Lol why did this get moved

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Because everything in this thread relates to things only relevant on the test server, which is what this forum is for.
Strange that the mods didn't add a comment when they moved it though.

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Originally Posted by Nezha

-Phalanx consistantly absorbs 31 damage against 1000 Needles.

-Automaton's Stoneskin (casted on Master) IS effected by Enhances "Stoneskin" Effect Gear!

-Automaton's Shock Absorber seems to absorb random amounts between 279-283 damage though on 3 occasions it absorbed 350-363 damage...

Theoretical Calculations: Stone Gorget + Earthcry Earring + Haven Hose + Siegel Sash = 420 Damage Absorbed + 31 Phalanx = 451 Damage Shield!

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Phalanx is affected by masted gear ?
(a pup can get +50 enhancing skill with gear)

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Originally Posted by Babekeke

Because everything in this thread relates to things only relevant on the test server, which is what this forum is for.
Strange that the mods didn't add a comment when they moved it though.

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Sounds more like someone like you requested it to be moved without reading the threads already in the test forum...

Being as nothing in this thread is relevant to either the feedback or the bug threads already created that already contained all relevant information.

I'm pretty sure this won't work, seeing is I have no enhancing skill to begin with anyway. If there was an "Enhances Phalanx Effect/Potency" Gear then yes, but my Phalanx/Stoneskin potency are calculated from the Automaton's Magic Skill and affected by "Enhance Stoneskin Effect" gear since I take the effect of Stoneskin. I believe the same would be true for Stoneskin-ga cast by a SCH (i.e. Stoneskin calculated from SCH's enhancing magic + whatever Enh. SS Effect the receiver has (and/or caster?) has.

I wanted to take the moment to thank SquareEnix for the changes they have made thus far. I have only been posting my suggestions and haven't taken any time to express my gratitude. I am in the process of actively updating and compiling any bugs/suggestions/etc. that I come across in-game, in-forum, or by word of mouth that has been tested by other PUPs on Undine or in the PUP-Testing LS (FashionSenseless).

To the people wanting Stoneskin and/or Phalanx on Soulsoother

I hope SquareEnix DOES NOT add Stoneskin and/or Phalanx to Soulsoother frame. This would be awesome... it really would, but it would steal Stormwakers new-found light. Instead add Protectra(I~V)/Shellra(I~V) to Soulsoother for when the PUP is in a party. Before, Stormwaker was a pretty unused frame beside when alternating between Stormwaker & Spiritreaver frame for double nukes during the downtime of Deactivate.

Attachments:

Most of the attachments as there are, are great, though I think Damage Gauge/Equalizer/Strobe (giving Strobe a reduced recast time when using Fire Maneuvers, such as how Barrier Module is to Shield Bash) could be a bit better.

If SE could only do/fix/change one more thing between now and Lv.99(beside what they have already done)

I would love to see either a revamp of Harlequin in the case that they will not make any new Head/Frames (giving him access to dark magic/ranged attacks via a Bow/Gun he pulls out, or maybe his has pops off and he uses an arm cannon (lol *jokes*)) or a final automaton (he could be a universal automaton, but this might defeat the point of revamping Harlequin, so every pet has a purpose and is an inticing option, so instead a new pet job concepts: MNK, (True) DRK, (True) PLD, SAM (I don't think any other job could be feasibly implemented or created without upsetting the balance between jobs such as DNC, BRD, COR, NIN, etc. even though I'd love them).

As for the new Puppetmaster two hour:

Two Automatons is what I'd really like to see (of course the second Automaton being active only for the time limit of the new 2hr ability). I'd imagine it Summoning Ovjang or Mnejing (or Alexander *jokes* lol even though he is a pseudo-Automaton... really just want to see summoners flip out for even suggesting this lol <3) this could be completely random or chosen, and the Ovjang/Mnejing would either operate completely independently, the effect of elemental maneuvers would be shared in between both automatons, or after choosing a maneuver you would then choose a target (Mnejing/Ovjang or your own Automaton to take the effect of the maneuver).

I really can't image what our new 2hr could be besides two automatons, seeing as SquareEnix opened that can of worms with Empress Nashmera (which by the way, if you guys [SE] are planning on making a final AF set (aka AF4), something like Nashmeras white outfit wouldnt be horrible... enough with the rediculous colors, I want to be proud in my gear >.>). I would NOT like to see our pets recieve respective two hours(i.e. Eagle Eye Shot, Benediction, etc.) due to the fact that it would upset the balance I know SE wishes to maintain between jobs and I'm getting a little tired of recycled content.

Another extended idea is that for all jobs (WAR,MNK,PUP,etc.) the new two hour has two different effects or an added effect when combined with the original two hour (i.e. Might Strikes + (New WAR 2HR) = One ability, while (New WAR 2HR) alone = another ability or lessered effect that the the combinded version.

Other Puppetmasters merits I foresee/would be useful|awesome|etc.:

-Merits to reduce recast of "Maneuvers" (all or by element)

-Merits to increase the duration of "Maneuvers"

-reducing "overload" rate via merits [can never have enough overload rate down especially with the new PUPdate coming :)]

-new JAs (We only have 8 [incl. Maintenence, not incl. Overdrive (2hr)])

-merits that Reduces Automaton decision making time (i.e. Time interval between spells, abilities, and TP ability usage)

-Reducing Automaton Attack Speed/Ranged Attack speed delay

-Enhancing the effect or reduces recast of Tactical Switch and Maintenence(Such as adding regen effect to Maintenence)

-Meriting Deus Ex Automata so pet is spawned with more HP/MP

-Merit that boosts the effect of all equipped attachments by X%

-Merits that Boost Automaton HP/MP amounts

-Merits that give Automatons access to new spells/job abilities/weapon skills

-More merits being able to be added to Category I and II (Lv. 75) Merits

Can't really think of anything else here...

Anyone elses thoughts?

Where as I would hate to see 2 pets as a two hour. It would just bring on tooooo much pain and complication.

I think theoretical options above aren't complicated at all. Plus Ovjang and Mnejing are awesome state-of-the-art Automatons that probably have abilities that exceed the realms of our ordinary Automatons.