Thoughts on the FFXI Job Adjustment Manifesto

[Alhanelem]

I'm not sure where people are getting this damage nerf idea from. (Someone told me that people were complaining about a nerf to helixes here- i haven't read the whole thread yet)

I cast pyrohelix on the test server, on firesday, with fire weather (from storm spell), dark arts, ebullence, with klimaform on and did 432 damage to a steppe hare in la theine plateau.

I cast the same spell under the same conditions on the live server, and did 365 damage.
The difference was more dramatically in favor of the test server in abyssea.
(Getting comprable damage with geohelix on earthsday testing further, so I can be reasonably sure it's not a resist)

How is that a nerf?

On top of that, the max duration is now 90 seconds instead of 60. Am I missing something here? This seems like a buff to me, not a nerf.

I've done a little more testing and the numbers are pretty consistent. So unless I'm experiencing weird freaks of nature or all the planets are alinging, we're not looking at a helix nerf here.

[TimeMage]

Max duration has always been 90 seconds. In the normal servers, duration is random between 45 and 90 seconds (I mean totally random, not affected by anything). The difference with the changes implemented on the test server is that in the test servers they fixed the duration to the max, 90 seconds, at high levels.

[Merton9999]

OK, thanks guys. I guess I need to get busy and sign up for the test server myself. We can only go by what people report here and we had some indication that the base value was lower. I'm glad that appears not to be true.

[Raksha]

(Someone told me that people were complaining about a nerf to helixes here- i haven't read the whole thread yet)

It was pretty much a misunderstanding.

Thank you for the test and confirmation though.

[Alhanelem]

Max duration has always been 90 seconds.

Maybe my sense of time is screwed up, but I'm pretty sure its 60 right now (on live)

[TimeMage]

Maybe my sense of time is screwed up, but I'm pretty sure its 60 right now (on live)

Maybe they changed it very recently, but in my fair share of SCH solos I've used Helices countless times and the 45-90 seconds duration variance was always there. It also coincides with the experiences of many other SCHs.

I'll try today again, to see if they reduced duration to 60 s.

[Alhanelem]

It wouldn't be "reduced." 60s is the norm, and it can last longer or shorter under various cases. On average, it's 60s.

[TimeMage]

No, on average was (45+90)/2 = 67.5 seconds, it was a random uniform distribution. Going to test durations right now, let's see what I get.


Editing:

Did a small test, 30 Helix casts on worms on Abyss-Ulegerand.

Raw data, duration in seconds:

46
72
58
62
54
47
79
59
60
56
49
45
83
64
58
51
51
77
48
67
46
72
75
79
63
89
76
56
84
79

Minimum 45 s, maximum 89 s, consistent with my previous assumptions. Average duration 63.5 seconds, lower than expected, but within experimental error.

Did a fast analysis, and the data doesn't seem to follow a gaussian distribution, nor any kind of centered distribution. More data would be needed, but while I had more casts on the lower end of the duration spectrum, It seems that either the distribution is random and uniform, or lower durations are favored.

Considering that the easiest way to program the duration is "roll a random number, and renormalize it to the 45-89 seconds interval", I think the duration is still random and uniformly distributed.

[Alhanelem]

Well, that's interesting, thanks for doing that.

[Sasaraixx]

Has anyone on the test server done any testing on the Grimoire bonus to Helix spells? (I wish I could get on the test server myself!) A Scholar (Tribal) on the Japanese forum is reporting a duration of 170 seconds (base damage 71) as a lv95 SCH/NIN with Dart Arts up and 90 seconds with it down. (I assume the test was done naked.) In fact, his results seem to show a 10 second increase in the difference between the bonus and the standard duration every 10 levels. If the pattern continues it would likely reach 180 seconds at lv99.

Here are his findings. I won't translate the whole post but here is a snippet. It is very easy to follow even if you don't speak Japanese. He used Geohelix and Hydrohelix and all of the tests were done in lowbie mobs outside of Abyssea. He notes that for the test at lv 80 he forgot to remove his Helix merits.

学/忍　Lv95　INT86
敵　ミザレオ海岸　鳥
黒のグリモア〇　水門　ダメージ/71　効果時間170秒　ダメージUP/50%
黒のグリモア×　水門　ダメージ/47　効果時間90秒

SCH/NIN LV95 INT 86
Enemy Misareaux Coast Bird
Dark Arts O Hydrohelix Damage 71 Effect Duration 170 seconds Damage Up 50%
Dark Arts X Hydrohelix Damage 47 Effect Duration 90 seconds

Thanks to Tribal for his hard work.