Quote Originally Posted by Frodnon View Post
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/34243
[dev1144]
Haven't tested it, but it better work on pacts, including merit pacts.


http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/34239
[dev1143]
avatar melee hits count as h2h. this *should* affect them.
The elemental magic changes are completely unrelated to avatars. The avatars used by SMNs do not cast any spells. They have a few blood pacts that share names with black magic, but unlike the black magic versions, those blood pacts are JAs, have equal MP costs across elements, and have equal base power (no hierarchy). Merit blood pacts aren't mentioned in that post, and since they have no cast time anyway, and their recast times are bound to Blood Pact: Rage, the only thing that could possibly change is the power increase, which would be a nice adjustment, but it has nothing to do with elemental magic spells.

As far as avatar Assaults being considered hand-to-hand goes... it would be nice if the change affected them.

About avatar STR and DEX, their job base could be black mage, but if it is, the black mage's stat distribution is not significant. Carbuncle is clearly a white mage (Auto Regen), and yet his Attack, HP, and DEF are all lower than the other 8 avatars. If the other avatars being black mages holds any significance, they should have less Attack, HP, and DEF than Carbuncle. Furthermore, if you could somehow get a black mage player to personally bust out Predator Claws or Chaotic Strike, I'm sure the damage would look nothing like what Garuda and Ramuh do.

However, I do agree that avatars don't have high enough stats to see a significant increase in Assault damage even if the update is applied to them.