New 2-hour Abilities

[Theytak]

If you missed it, the 2hr is dependent on the head that is being used, not the frame. I wouldn't use the Harelquin head on the Harlequinn body, but I would use it on the Sharpshot frame, and then do Armor Shatter spam with Mighty Strikes up. Sometimes, it pays to think outside of the box a bit.

If you'd read my first post on the issue, I addressed the fact that it being based on the heads means nothing. Using harlequin head will cost you in skill, which will cost you r.atk, r.acc, AND weapon damage (because sharpshot's ranged weapon damage is based on it's skill), as well as attachment set ups. Additionally, you're forgetting that Automaton ranged attacks cannot critical hit. That doesn't necessarily mean their WS won't be able to, but this is SE we're talking about. I sincerely doubt it. Aside from that, using harlequin head will also increase the time between ranged attacks by 5 seconds, and I really shouldn't need to demonstrate the math for you to see how much slow that equates to.

The thing is that Valoredge is really designed to take damage. That's why it has the HP of a Galka MNK and a large pool of Earth element attachment allowance (which deals mainly in tanking). I do agree with you on one point and that one of the big problems with Valoredge tanking is the automaton's ability to take and maintain hate, but it was designed to take hits. That's why it has Invincible. If I want my auto to only do damage, I would switch with Sharpshot or a mage frame.

We're probably not going to agree on this, so there's no point continuing the discussion on this point.

I do agree with you on this point that the use of Eagle Eye Shot will be how much damage it does. Considering that Sharpshot doesn't have the same problems that Ranger has (it doesn't need to worry about range), it could do more damage than Ranger's Eagle Eye Shot. With that said, though, if it doesn't do more damage than even a unbuffed Armor Shatter, it's useless.

For rangers, EES is basically a regular ranged attack with a 5x damage proc. So for sharpshot, it would essentially be the same thing, however, it's hard to say that for certain because unlike players, pet ranged attacks function like monster ranged attacks, in that they're structured more like TP moves than actual attack rounds, so it's hard to say with much certainty as to whether or not they'll translate the EES effect 1:1, however, given that they've blatantly said that they're reducing the effect of benediction for us, the fact that the very nature of the automaton's casting AI hinders the benefit of chain spell and manafont, and the fact that they gave the HARLEQUIN head mighty strikes, meaning that to use mighty strikes, you have to gimp your puppet's damage to a degree, I sincerely doubt sharpshot will even get a fully translated EES. It'll probably be reduced to something like 3.5~4x damage instead, in which case there's no way it would beat armor piercer, and armor shatterer would just laugh at it.

That's a bit of a tautology if I ever saw one. While I do agree, and I mentioned this before, that the usefulness will be entirely on if the automaton will be under the global recast while under this ability. And considering that there have been situations where the automaton has ignored the global recast, it isn't an unreasonable hope. Having said that, if this is true, then having Stormwaker in RDM mode will be very helpful in zergs because of its ability to rapidly cast nuking spells.

Realistically, based on puppet AI, it's more likely to rapidly cast enfeebling spells and nuke every once and a while, unless you use maneuvers, but if you use maneuvers, it costs you ws, which defeats the purpose.

Call me an optimist, but I can see potential to greatly help PUP in several areas.

Call me a realist, but I don't see it helping pup anywhere except for an extra ohshitbutton.

edit: I will admit, however, that mighty strikes has the potential to greatly help me in testing the pet melee damage formula, so there's that.

[noirin]

Honestly i was expecting something better for Whm.what i was expecting i have no clue but, yea. Now though, this really depends on what status ailments it blocks.is this just an uber Bar-2hr, where things can still hits us? or is it flatout immunity? if i can make a party immune to Doom for it's duration, than hats off to ya for the concept.

Bst on the other hand....eh. i Barely use familiar as it is, but i can pretty much tell you that on my budget [i.e. all my gil goes towards building my relic] i can't afford to consume pets every now and then for a buff i can get almost anywhere.books, earrings, hairpins, all that whatnot. Why would i sacrifice Falcor in the middle of a Dyna run for hp recovery? that wastes time, that slows down my kill rate, and that costs me money.

[Aldersyde]

Not sure what the dev team was going for when they thought of the new bst two-hour. I can't see any situation where I would be better off without my pet. If i desperately need to recover hp/status, chances are I'm going to get KOed when I let my pet go, because any mob that was beating on my pet is likely going to beat on me next. At least add a short damage nullification or significant sentinel-like effect so that I can get another jug out and try to put a enmity back on it. As it stands now, the whole concept is bad.

I personally like the diminish master's status to significantly boost pet's strength idea. The new 2-hour's goal should be to boost the pet, not the master. Or if it has to be the master, to significantly boost offensive capabilities (a buff prior to a zerg situation: regain,str +,att +, haste).

[Demon6324236]

New 2hour-->Call Beast-->Snarl-->Safe?

[Aldersyde]

New 2hour-->Call Beast-->Snarl-->Safe?

Maybe, it would depend on the situation. I don't fear a whole lot fighting anything one-on-one with bst. If something's pounding me hard enough that I'd actually need such a massive cure, I'm probably just delaying the inevitable and should just keep my pet on it to die while I get a good running head start. The only instances where I take a lot of damage is usually through adds and in that case, my first instinct isn't to cure myself, but to get adds off of me as soon as possible (Dipper's good because of AoE noisome powder). Getting rid of my pet would just make things worse in that instance because I'd have another mob beating on me. On EPs that may not be that big a deal but on anything higher, it would be racing the clock to get everything off me before I get KOed. Snarl would work on the mob that I aggressively acted on, but not on the ones that just agro or link to me, so I would still have to put my pet on it manually (and in this case, I wouldn't have access to AoE ready moves because i would have just dismissed pet and new one would have no tp on spawn). I just don't think there's a lot of utility for the new 2-hour and there's better courses of action in "oh shit" moments than getting rid of your pet.

And people should have reraise for anything important regardless. It's not like scolls aren't 7 conquest points per.

[Demon6324236]

Oh I know, I don't think its good either... like I said, special TPs for each pet or a HNM pet is the way they should go with it, this has so few good uses... ><;

[ManaKing]

I enjoy that everything on this list will be good or bad based on implementation and situation of use, but people are taking it as bad news.

[Karbuncle]

Just got home from work, want to say regarding PUP 2hour.

WIth Mobs, During Chainspell and Manafont, Universal recasts are set to 0, So they cast over and over, Its absolutely pessimistic to the point of being sadistic to assume that the Automaton's will not adopt the same behavoir.

have some degree of faith in SE.

Also, after re-reading the THF 2hour, It looks like a Massive Trick attack... Rather it will be a JA like say, EES Where its one shot one kill, or a Permanent effect for a small time, It remains to see.

Honestly, if its a 1-shot Attack, It better be f**ktons stronger than a 300%TP Rudra's or 99 Mandau Mercy Stroke (If its Stackable with SA/TA, Which it should be).

[Vagrua]

I just got home from work also.

My opinions and suggestions are as followed:

2-hours that sound good:
SMN - No blood pact limits sounds amazing.
WAR - Non-elemental damage could be useful on certain damage resistance mobs.
MNK - It's not better than hundred fists, but I can see it being great against monsters that attack non-stop. MNK already almost counters most attacks with counterstance up.
WHM - Better than Benediction for monsters that spam Doom, Charm or Breakga. Amazing if it stops enemies' special attacks from causing additional effects like Weakness, Muddle, Amnesia, and Encumbrance.
BLM - Nuking with less enmity sounds fun.
THF - Sounds like Eagle Eye Shot to me. I like how they are making the enmity for it go towards the player in front of them.
DRK - Sounds amazing for Ragnarok/Caladbolg users.
SAM - A tough competitor with Meikyo Shisui. I can still see it useful for certain occasions over Meikyo Shisui.
DNC - Sounds better than Trance.
SCH - I can see it good in certain occasions where/if a tank is ever actually needed. With the enmity system broken, most people just zerg everything in content nowadays.

2-hours that could be potentially good:
RDM - Dependent on buff enhancement. RDM soloers may love it.
BRD - It sounds like good debuff ability. It could possibly increase BLMs damage by a considerate amount in nukes. Wait for test server testing.
NIN - Wait for test server testing for parry amount.
DRG - Sounds good for soloers, but it doesn't really help out DRGs in party/alliance situations.
RNG - Better than Eage Eye Shot depending on the duration.
COR - Sounds great, but I wish it would also make the recast timer of Phantom Roll instant while the ability is up or if you bust, no bust would appear and you could re-roll immediately.

2-hours that need revising:
PLD - Horrible. How about changing it to cap the enmity of the PLD and resetting the enmity of all party/alliance members on the designated monster instead? Or have the designated monster's attention only on the PLD while the ability is in use.
BST - It could be useful for soloing if you can use the ability on charmed monsters as mentioned, but besides that it sounds horrid.
BLU - The recast timers of the spells accessible from Unbridled Learning along with their damage and effects make this ability useless. BLU's main problem, in my opinion, exists with the wait in between spells being set. Why not make an ability that lets all spells useable while it is active? You don't have to activate all job traits with the spells if it would seem too overpowered. Instead, only the original job traits from spells that are already set would be active. Lastly, there was a discussion long ago on the forums about an ability to turn into a Soulflayer for a limited amount of time with enhanced stats, Magic Attack, and Magic Accuracy.
PUP - As others have already mentioned, the two hours need to be changed up. The idea of the implication of 2-hour abilities to automatons is a giving though.

[Cyranda]

While I like the idea behind the PUP 2 hour, I'm not sure any of the puppets would use them as even close to as effectively as the jobs that already have them, which means they're not really "Two hour" abilities in terms of power. VE, Stormwaker and Soulsoother's could be be useful in a pinch while soloing (and might even be somewhat fun there), but that's about it.

Mighty Strikes for Harle, if anyone ever used it, on a VE frame with three wind maneuvers up, MIGHT do something (though I doubt it) if it didn't just die instantly (with the Harle body, it would waste time casting during its Mighty Strikes... Oh yeah, you paralyze that monster instead of hitting it with your weaker but still guaranteed crits, Harle!) and all of String Shredder landed. Maybe.

As far as Benediction, I'm most disappointed in that one even if it's potentially useful. Why the hell give PUP a two hour that is directly inferior to another job's ability with the same name and still treat it like it's a "Two hour" power? I mean, really. It's not like you can use all of them at the same time. If you're going to do that, SE, just give it a different power instead. Or you could make it a real joke by naming it "Weakened Two Hour." At least Stormwaker will probably chain cast, VE will be invincible from physical damage, Spiritreaver will cast with no mana cost and Harlol will get guaranteed crits like the jobs their powers come from (even if the result is a lot weaker in all cases). But Soulsoother won't be getting the WHM's Benediction. It can achieve essentially the same thing by casting Cure VI on the master while the master uses Repair, with a three minute cooldown.