Black Mages's Testing Opinions

Hey everyone since SE wants us to talk about the stuff that we can play with on the test server I thought I could make this thread. Here all of us who are in the testing server can comment on the stuff given to us.

Hopefuly SE can take this feedback and adjust the spells/ja to our liking. To make it organized I'd like posters to present each post in the following format:

topic of interest (like a spell) here in bold:
Comments and/or opinions on topic

With this simple format we can make it easy for the admins to read our opinions but feel free to write your opinions in your own way if you don't like this set up.

I'll go first to start things off.


Breakga:
Not much to say about this... It's just an aoe version of break. From what I've seen it's has no bugs and it works for stoping monsters that can be effected by it.

Blizzaja:
The next tier of the ja spells... I've played with this alot and seen no problems with it as well.

Thunder V:
next of the single target spells... Like with blizzaja I've used it and like the spell. No problems here.

Comet:
Unlike the other spells on this list im a little (keep in mind just a little) dissapointed with this spell. From what I've seen the damage it does is on par (or a little greater) with Thunder V. This wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for the fact that Comet cost 73 more mp to cast. having to use up more mp for a spell when there is very little of a damage increase isn't very good. I can understand that comet should be used in conjuction with other black mages casting it together (the damage seems to go up by 400~ with each cast inside abyssea) but other then that using comet is a waste of mp unless the monster we are fighting is weak to the dark element.

I think the base damage of comet should be increased by a small amount (again not by much) or just lower it's high mp cost by like 20~30 mp. Again Im not saying this is a bad spell just think it could use a small tweek.

Manawell:
This skill is wonderful. 0 mp cost for a spell... that you can also give to a party member.
This is a very nice skill that will be very useful for both helping others and increasing our offensive capablity.

All and all what we will be getting is very good. Only had a small annoyance with comet but it's not a big deal.


Come fellow testers our opinions must be known!

I have a question. Can Manawell reduce Impact's MP cost to 0 as well?

I don't see a real problem with the cost/damage of comet, since it's bringing back the opportunity to manaburn again :)

Also have you tried it with a magic burst? Dark SC >5 comet MBs could be a quick way to end a mob^^

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Supersun

I have a question. Can Manawell reduce Impact's MP cost to 0 as well?

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I wish I could answer this question with 100% certantly but I can't (I never got that damn cloak even after 13 shinryu kills) common sence says it should tho.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Babekeke

I don't see a real problem with the cost/damage of comet, since it's bringing back the opportunity to manaburn again :)

Also have you tried it with a magic burst? Dark SC >5 comet MBs could be a quick way to end a mob^^

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I haven't had the chance to try it with MBs... I'll let you know when I do.

Yeah I found the same thing, Comet was about on par with Thunder V in abyssea using Lion for T5 and Cosmos for Comet.

Both did 4876 damage exactly to saplings.

However, with Thunder V I was using an Indra's Staff, and with Comet I only had Pluot's - so that's a difference of 2 affinity. I imagine with the magic damage +5 dark staff, Comet should do a hefty amount of damage, possibly break 6k. Who knows with brew?!

But, again, the problem with that is (at least inside abyssea) Blizzard V can easily break 5k, more with AF3+2 set proc.


Comet really does feel underpowered for its cost, though it's supposed to function like the ja spells, so maybe that's where its real strength lies?

I wanna see the +3 Magian stats, please?

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Originally Posted by Meyi

I wanna see the +3 Magian stats, please?

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From the looks of it... the +3 staffs are this:

(element) Affinity: Magic Damage+6
(element) Affinity: Casting time -12%

So looks like they take out the acc from the +2 staff and replace it with another boost in damage.

Wow, that's stupid. They should keep the accuracy because that can be pretty important...

Thank you for looking it up.

I've only done testing outside Abyssea, and I agree something needs to be done with Comet. At the moment, it's simply not worth the additional MP cost in comparison to Tier 5 nukes. I know SE want us to use multiple BLMs to enhance the damage but lets face it, you'll only take 1-2 BLMs to most Endgame events.

Most BLM PRE-comet WANTED comet to function in group acting concertly. Now you complain about it. I haven't tested it out and it does seem niche. But there are ways to increase Magic damage.. For example, have a melee use a -Meva and/or - Mag DEF magian weapon...and/or blue slap a mag down effect on mobs through one of the blue spells.

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Originally Posted by Covenant

Most BLM PRE-comet WANTED comet to function in group acting concertly. Now you complain about it. I haven't tested it out and it does seem niche. But there are ways to increase Magic damage.. For example, have a melee use a -Meva and/or - Mag DEF magian weapon...and/or blue slap a mag down effect on mobs through one of the blue spells.

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It's all well and good giving these suggestions, but the question youu need to ask yourself is "will they?". Because I'm sure most melee won't sacrifice their own damage to buff the BLMs damage. Yes, a BLM can put Magic Def. Down on a mob, but that requires meleeing, nuff said.

In regards to us wanting something like this "pre-comet", I can only assume this was back at 75, where BLMs would not get EXP parties and we were forced to manaburn/solo. SE have said the emphasis on Job Adjustments 76+ is Endgame content where like I said, people are not gonna bring more then a few BLMs, except on some of the new voidwalkers.

It's not a bad thing that Comet does almost the same damage as Thunder V, point being that those spells are very close in level, so it's not unusual for that. Take the tier 2 ancient magic from merits, you get all of those at the same level, so they'll all do the exact same damage. The only way to change their potency was to merit into your element potency. Basically, if you had full Thunder potency, Thunder V might do more damage then Comet, but that's just my thinking. Also, since Comet is a special spell with dark damage and gets bonus damage on successive use, it's not unnatural for it to have a higher MP cost. It's all basic knowledge really.

Would have been nice to see Comet function similar to the new SCH spell Kaustra maybe instead being a moderate damage/enmity spell that added a heavy DoT effect or that had some sort of similar bonus. I was hoping for some more utility with the new spells adding something useful to solo, lowman scenarios where you might be the only BLM as well as burn groups. Given the state of BLMs already incredibly high damage and nearly inconsequential mp use with atmas, I can't really understand the need for higher damage even if you consider the increased mp cost.

Atma of the Endless Nightmare gogo! Is the potency increase through stacking back to back casts with multiple BLMs on par with that of the -ja spells or has no one tested it enough to know yet? If it has been posted elsewhere please forgive my asking.

Err, wtf? They REMOVE the accuracy ?

Not the end of the world, but... wtf?

Maybe the magic accuracy wasn't really needed? You could nuke naked inside Abyssea and get very little resists. 3/5 pieces from the Goetia set already has forms of magic accuracy on them (15 skill - 18acc - 18int).

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Originally Posted by Dirtyfinger

Maybe the magic accuracy wasn't really needed? You could nuke naked inside Abyssea and get very little resists. 3/5 pieces from the Goetia set already has forms of magic accuracy on them (15 skill - 18acc - 18int).

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it's still pretty dumb imo, because some people replaced the HQ staves with them as a built in peice for casting certain enfeebles like silence, or what have you, but if this is the case now have to buy all those HQ staves back or make accuracy paths further killing your space. i think it was a dumb move on thier part but i dunno if that's the "final" peice, and in all honesty if it is some staves i'm probably not even going to upgrade.

Even if they kept Affinity Acc +1 you'd still need to carry HQ staves for accuracy as it would require Affinity +2 to match them in terms of accuracy. But... I do agree in not understanding why they removed it in general, maybe it will be changed back in time for the actual update.