New 2-hour Abilities

[Arcon]

Ummm... is it just me? or is this how aura steal should have been functioning all along? Why is this an SP ability? This is just getting ridiculous.

Aura Steal stealing enemy SP abilities? No, this is definitely not how Aura Steal should have been. I know it's just one detail, but it's a very important one. This is better than most jobs' SP abilities (old and new), very strategic and useful. This on a 5min timer would be broken. You could have Hundred Fists up all the time in Dynamis, or Invisible, or Perfect Dodge, Meikyo Shusui, etc.

[FrankReynolds]

Aura Steal stealing enemy SP abilities? No, this is definitely not how Aura Steal should have been. I know it's just one detail, but it's a very important one. This is better than most jobs' SP abilities (old and new), very strategic and useful. This on a 5min timer would be broken. You could have Hundred Fists up all the time in Dynamis, or Invisible, or Perfect Dodge, Meikyo Shusui, etc.

That's like maybe 20-30 more coins per run? I know there are a few fights where mobs would have to be resistant / immune to the effect to maintain balance, but lets be honest. Most fights where this would matter are less than 5 minutes long anyways.

Think about what they are proposing. All jobs get a 2 hour... yours gets a chance at stealing a 2 hour. If your group needs to block an SP ability during a fight, are they going to bring a job that can pop an ability before the fight and stay out of range the whole time thus guaranteeing that it works? or a job that has to run into range and stay alive until the mob pops an SP and then hopefully not be stunned / paralyzed etc. when it does? Also keep in mind that you can only block / steal one SP ability, while chain stun / shock squall / PD etc. have a duration that can last through multiple SPs on mobs that do that sort of thing.

You guys seriously gotta aim higher. If you need $5, you don't ask for $2. You ask for $10.

[Arcon]

That's like maybe 20-30 more coins per run? I know there are a few fights where mobs would have to be resistant / immune to the effect to maintain balance, but lets be honest. Most fights where this would matter are less than 5 minutes long anyways.

It's not about the yield at all, it's about disabling almost all mobs' SP abilities with a regular THF ability. That doesn't sound too balanced. With that you'd remove almost all enemy SP abilities from the picture when devising strategies. SP abilities can't get paralyzed, you don't have to stay engaged the whole time, Flee > run in > steal SP ability takes seconds and since it's 100% accuracy you can do it in a full PDT/MDT set, depending on the mob. There's nothing stopping you from doing that. It would make dealing with all Gallus you do in one Hall of Mul run trivial, for example.

You guys seriously gotta aim higher. If you need $5, you don't ask for $2. You ask for $10.

I honestly do feel it's the other way around. It's not exactly what I wanted (I was hoping for something more solo or damage oriented), but it's still great in its own right. In fact, now I wouldn't wanna exchange it for 30s worth of forced Triple Attack, which already sounded pretty badass.

[MarkovChain]

It's not about the yield at all, it's about disabling almost all mobs' SP abilities with a regular THF ability. That doesn't sound too balanced. With that you'd remove almost all enemy SP abilities from the picture when devising strategies. SP abilities can't get paralyzed, you don't have to stay engaged the whole time, Flee > run in > steal SP ability takes seconds and since it's 100% accuracy you can do it in a full PDT/MDT set, depending on the mob. There's nothing stopping you from doing that. It would make dealing with all Gallus you do in one Hall of Mul run trivial, for example.

It's useless for basically anything. It's never going to make people stop using PD or shock squall. Most of the mob's SP are not dangerous. The only one would be chainspell, but really it's completely limited and please don't make a JA good or bad based on it's usability in legion, which nobody does because the rewards are subpar (actually assuming that this would change anything - feint is game breaking in legion but nobody uses it..).

[SpankWustler]

Think about what they are proposing. All jobs get a 2 hour... yours gets a chance at stealing a 2 hour. If your group needs to block an SP ability during a fight, are they going to bring a job that can pop an ability before the fight and stay out of range the whole time thus guaranteeing that it works? or a job that has to run into range and stay alive until the mob pops an SP and then hopefully not be stunned / paralyzed etc. when it does? Also keep in mind that you can only block / steal one SP ability, while chain stun / shock squall / PD etc. have a duration that can last through multiple SPs on mobs that do that sort of thing.

You're right that the new new Thief ability isn't that profoundly potent, and that damage or more stolen buffs could be added to it with no effect whatsoever on balance.

The important thing is that the new Thief SP will have strategic value. This is a huge step up over the Eagle-Eye-Shot-esque absurdity that loomed over Thief before, which would never have been used in the same sentence as "Shock Squall" or "Perfect Defense" in any context. Being in that category, even as a lesser option in most cases, is a good thing.

The ability has value and use and if there are still plans for merits towards SPs, that value can be built on further. Actually, I'd love to hear if that's still planned given all the changes that have taken place. My pessimist senses are tingling.