Summoning magic skill-ups and the rate of which we are getting them.

[Secondplanet]

I play the job, have fun with it, and then after "no time at all", I am still at 150.

It's 169 without gear, actually.

so during the short time between posting on boards in half a day you managed to get 19 levels of summoning magic, See it wasn't that hard, if you put full focus into it you will be 300+ in not time.

and also notice Kysaiana got her summoning magic capped, you make it sound like some pandemic that needs to be taken care of but its been quite some time since level cap has reached 99 and the people who were playing summoner already got their skills capped and knew what they were facing.

It would probably take the dude who knows how to change it something like half an hour to change it, then players could test it for bugs on the test server.

Look at the most current update, even with it going to test servers something as simple as adding basic things and the new mebbles thing we were crashing when going into our inventory and that was already tested and it shut down LS events for several days for it. Even if they did change something it would easily take a year or more before it would go through proper reprogramming and then testing to ensure it works, by then your skills could have been capped.

[Mirage]

No. I didn't report my correct value earlier in the thread. I was taking a guess, and it turns out i was off by a few points.

Even if I got my skill capped before this was changed, it doesn't mean this thread is a waste. Unlike some other players, I don't care that new players have it easier than I had it. I am fine with new players capping their summoning skill in 2 days, even if I had to spend over 2 weeks when I did it.

I am one of those who some days spent 6 hours just skilling parry back at 75 cap. The amount of skill i got from that could be done in half an hour now, without even specifically trying to get parry skillups, but I am actually glad that people don't have to do what I did anymore. It makes the game more enjoyable.

I guess I'm just an empathic person. I wish more people were.

[Arcon]

[..] but its been quite some time since level cap has reached 99 and the people who were playing summoner already got their skills capped and knew what they were facing.

Yes, they were facing horror and despair, and they only had a five level cap ahead of them (if they were lucky). That doesn't apply to new players anymore. Also, not everyone from even back then has their skills capped (I know a few people myself, and so would you if you would have bothered to read this thread).

Look at the most current update, even with it going to test servers something as simple as adding basic things and the new mebbles thing we were crashing when going into our inventory and that was already tested and it shut down LS events for several days for it. Even if they did change something it would easily take a year or more before it would go through proper reprogramming and then testing to ensure it works, by then your skills could have been capped.

That's a lie because it obviously did not apply to the Parrying and Guard changes either, so that point is invalid. And even if it was true it would still be invalid, because irrational fear of something breaking is no reason not to implement it, otherwise we'd never see any new features ever again. It's only reason to take precautions and test thoroughly.

[Babekeke]

OK, here's some stats:

10 hours of solid skilling up, riding the 10 second release timer (6 casts per minute, 360 casts per hours 3600 casts total) starting at level 341 with no skill up prowess, martial master, earring or food.

15 * 0.1 = 1.5
06 * 0.2 = 1.2
10 * 0.3 = 3.0
06 * 0.4 = 2.4
09 * 0.5 = 4.5

Totalling 46 skillups from 3600 casts.
Or 1 in every 78 casts.
1 skillup every 13 minutes.

A total of 12.6 skill.
Average of 1.26 skill per hour

So it seems I'll cap my skill in 51 hours of solid casting at this rate. Assuming that the rate doesn't decrease the closer to cap I get (but I think it does?).

Interestingly though, the average skillup is 0.27, which is higher than I would have expected.

I'll try and re-test this with martial master tomorrow, as I think Phoenix has it right now, but I was in Empyreal Paradox for refresh atma, but I'm not certain I need it.

If it makes any difference to the rate of skillups, 341 (my starting skill) was 1 below cap for level 88, and 353 (my finishing skill) was 1 below cap for level 90 (I am level 99).

[SpankWustler]

My best friend has been working on some of her magic skills after recently coming back to the game, and this divide is definitely noticeable. Turning every skill blue wasn't a problem for her, but making "It was fine for me!" into an argument is a logical fallacy.

After skillfully training her very talented dog to mash Summon and Release macros with his nose, it took almost a week's worth of nights and classes for my best friend's Summoning Magic to climb from the level 80 cap to the level 99 cap.

By comparison, her Elemental Magic on Scholar made a similar climb in about four hours of actual game-play. She was actively murdering worms somewhere or something.

During the time she spent capping Elemental Magic, she would have been able to use less than 1000 Blood Pacts. So, I definitely can't recommend using Blood Pacts to gain skill compared to training a loyal pet in the arts of macro-mashing and leaving the house to do awesome things.

I don't think the Development Bros would be a big fan of the method I strongly recommend, being strange men who care not for uncooked mammals devoid of soy sauce.

Therefor, skill-ups obtained from actions during actively playing Summoner should be drastically increased since Blood Pacts have huge delays compared to any other skill-based action in FFXI. Assault could be changed to give skill-ups as well, maybe?

[Hashmalum]

It's sad, but I confess that although I have all the elemental spirits, and have quested every single avatar, and have acquired various useful rare/ex SMN gear such as Carby Mitts, Evoker's ring, YYR, etc. I can't stand to actually play SMN because of the insane burden of raising that summoning magic skill. How many other people does this keep out of the job, I wonder?

[Secondplanet]

but making "It was fine for me!" into an argument is a logical fallacy.

But isn't this forum about "It's not fine for me!" so then your statement is a paradox.

[Secondplanet]

I am one of those who some days spent 6 hours just skilling parry back at 75 cap.

So you were fine doing it back then and it taking forever to level but now cause they changed you feel robbed, so now summoner has to make up for some self entitled feeling you have? Back then i had skills capped on summoner at lvl 75 with only 1 bloodpact feature not 2 so its already a great deal easier to level it now then back then.

Yes, they were facing horror and despair, and they only had a five level cap ahead of them (if they were lucky). That doesn't apply to new players anymore. Also, not everyone from even back then has their skills capped (I know a few people myself, and so would you if you would have bothered to read this thread).

I've read the thread from start to finish, but it seems that a very small amount complain while all the summoners i've had the pleasure of bumping into don't mind skilling up and most have their skills capped. Once summoning magic reaches a certain point where all your pacts last the max time anyways the rest is just for syphon so people don't sweat it since most sub sch or rdm to make up for the missing mp. After that point you can get them from events like Voidwatch.

[Hashmalum]

I've read the thread from start to finish, but it seems that a very small amount complain while all the summoners i've had the pleasure of bumping into don't mind skilling up and most have their skills capped.

There's obviously a selection bias in your observation; people who don't want to put up with the skill-up grind often don't become summoners to start with. But I doubt that most people think that it's sensible to exclude people from SMN because of some ridiculous chore that has nothing to do with how you normally play the job. Also please do keep in mind that the reason that a number of people "don't mind skilling up" is because they cheat and use third party tools to AFK skill-up. Obviously, their opinion doesn't count.

[Babekeke]

Currently the absolute max chance of skill ups, is to summon avatar, BP rage, release, summon avatar, BP ward, release, summon spirit, release, summon spirit, release, repeat.

6 chances to skill up in a 45 second cycle, and unless you are in besieged by a general, or using your NPC, to healing ruby them for greater chance at a skillup, only 1/6 are higher chance. 480 whole chances in an hour but only 80 (or 160 if with an NPC) of those are higher chance.

Almost wants to make you use windower and run a macro to constantly cast and release spirits while you sleep...