Merit Weapon Skill Adjustments April Update

[Sephiran]

Why cap it at all? It won't hurt balance and gives people something to do. It also increases trust between players and devs since we feel like SE cares.

[Alhanelem]

Why cap it at all? It won't hurt balance and gives people something to do. It also increases trust between players and devs since we feel like SE cares.

It does hurt balance. it gives hardcore players a greater advantage and further discourages specializing in certain jobs. SE *wants* you to make decisions about what to make stronger. Capping how strong and how versatile you can get is part of balance.

Increasing the limit is fine- it should be porportionate to the number of jobs. Removing it is not. What Karbuncle is asking for is within the realm of reasonable. What you're asking for is not.

SE could do the same thing to "increaes trust" and make people feel like they care by giving everybody 1 billion gil. I'm sure everyone would love that, but that would kind of spoil the game. I feel this is the same situation, just on a lower level. To me, it's like putting in a cheat code. It might be fun at first, but the game will wear out faster.

[Snowlock]

I guess it's arbitrary, but so isn't everything else in the game? the amount of damage we do, the HP we have, it was all just decided upon by the people who made the game.

Very much so, even the existence of FFXI is arbitrary, but here it is. We get three merited weapon skills. Why not one or two, why not four? That's the question being posed here, I suppose. We just received two new jobs, and now that the repertoire has expanded it's fair to ask, why not four? There are fourteen to choose from, after all.

Your point about customizability stands even if they do toss us a bone and add 5 points to the cap.

[Sephiran]

It does hurt balance. it gives hardcore players a greater advantage and further discourages specializing in certain jobs. SE *wants* you to make decisions about what to make stronger. Capping how strong and how versatile you can get is part of balance.

Increasing the limit is fine- it should be porportionate to the number of jobs. Removing it is not. What Karbuncle is asking for is within the realm of reasonable. What you're asking for is not.

SE could do the same thing to "increaes trust" and make people feel like they care by giving everybody 1 billion gil. I'm sure everyone would love that, but that would kind of spoil the game. I feel this is the same situation, just on a lower level. To me, it's like putting in a cheat code. It might be fun at first, but the game will wear out faster.

I already do specialize in one job. I play paladin exclusively [insert comments about how I should suck less and just quit right now here]. I need Resolution, Realmrazer, Shattersoul, and Requiescat. Right now, the only way I might only need three of those weapon skills is if my dream comes true and the weapon skill adjustments discussed earlier release the exclusiveness on Hexa Strike.

Three weapon skills isn't even enough for one job, and I put my heart and soul into my paladin.

[Alhanelem]

TL;DR so ppl don't rag on me for the wrong reason: I support Karbuncle's proposition (increase limit 3 -> 5) as reasonable.

Three weapon skills isn't even enough for one job, and I put my heart and soul into my paladin.

You don't need three of the weapon skills for one job. Why do you need shattersoul? how does it help you play paladin? While PLD does have reasons to use a staff, like to help get VW procs for instance, it's hardly essential to the job.

Besides, those three weapon skills are also useable by other jobs. each one is of particular interest to at least one. So you actually are covering several jobs with those three.

Other than for getting procs, I see little reason to use anything other than a sword most of the time on PLD, excluding procs- and unless something has changed or I'm sorely misinformed, the merit WS are not used in the proc systems currently in the game.

You don't NEED all four of those weapon skills. You WANT them. You only truly need one, maybe two of them. Even within your job, you specialize- with the group 1 and 2 merits, and with the weapon skills. You don't get to merit every weapon skill, so you pick the ones for the weapons you use most often.

Just FYI, 3 weaponskills (sword or dagger, club, staff) can give something to almost every job. 5 is enough to both do that and give you something specific tot he ones you play most.

[Sephiran]

You are correct. None of the weapon skills are used in procs. However, when I'm fighting things weak to blunt damage that have high critical evasion and defense, I like Shattersoul because Realmrazer falls apart due to multiplier penalties and Chant du Cygne actually needs critical hits to be effective. Also, in the event that I'm backup healer, I can occasionally use Spirit Taker to replenish my MP supply. That's how I used to heal people in Retro Nyzul Isle.

[Snowlock]

TL;DR so ppl don't rag on me for the wrong reason: I support Karbuncle's proposition (increase limit 3 -> 5) as reasonable.

So you were defending an opposing position in this and other threads because...

[Alhanelem]

So you were defending an opposing position in this and other threads because...

It wasn't really an opposing position. But I was content with the changes they are already making- in stark contrast to the mega outrage from most of the people here- something there is generally way too much of. Some of it is justified, some of it isn't. In this case, I don't feel it's justified.

[Snowlock]

It wasn't really an opposing position. But I was content with the changes they are already making- in stark contrast to the mega outrage from most of the people here- something there is generally way too much of. Some of it is justified, some of it isn't. In this case, I don't feel it's justified.

Take another glance through the thread. There is no mega-outrage here. Only a perfectly reasonable, rational and popular suggestion.

Edit: Until the JP community suggests it, it'll get no traction at all, so in the interim your compromise premise is the best we can hope for.

[Yinnyth]

You are correct. None of the weapon skills are used in procs. However, when I'm fighting things weak to blunt damage that have high critical evasion and defense, I like Shattersoul because Realmrazer falls apart due to multiplier penalties and Chant du Cygne actually needs critical hits to be effective. Also, in the event that I'm backup healer, I can occasionally use Spirit Taker to replenish my MP supply. That's how I used to heal people in Retro Nyzul Isle.

That's part of the nature of merits. You can't have it all. Is the blunt damage important to you? Then take a WS which lets you maximize blunt damage.

You can be really good at a couple things, or you can be mediocre at most things, but you can't be really good at all things. This is the nature of category caps on merits. I'm really good at bard because that is what I have chosen to invest my resources into. My other jobs are also good, but I'm specialized towards bard. This helps to define who I am ingame. I like that.