Thoughts on the FFXI Job Adjustment Manifesto

[Ank]

Ultima as I believe is light based magic

Not really.

so that means divine magic

Not really.


I agree that its kind of weird to boost divine and not have a use for it though, but I also definitely agree that damage should stay on dark arts.

[Daniel_Hatcher]

Don't forget RDM also has Divine Magic skill but no Divine Magic, I know Dia was once divine but it's not now.

Seems to me that SE just decided early on if we'll give 'em Dark magic we have to give Divine too.

[Merton9999]

I think I'll skip the divine magic spells on SCH, unless the same update also includes a gobbie bag expansion.

As far as having to be in Add: White to do high damage I actually wouldn't mind that aspect. If I was main healing it would be nice to be able to toss out a big nuke without switching arts and wasting charges. This kind of fits my request as of late to allow us to function between arts more efficiently.

But, if they did add Ultima for SCH at this rate I'd expect it to be under TR only, in which case it wouldn't matter where they put it and I'd be back just to the inventory problem.

[Fredjan]

I got some info to give you all an idea of what the development is already working on for future scholar adjustments.

The next job adjustment focus will be on Light Arts and Dark Arts.
Below is the concept:

1. Make adjustments so that Light Arts affects the effect of Regen and Dark Arts affects the effect of Helix spells
2. Adjust the level Regen III/IV are learned
3. Adjust the level Helix spells are learned as well as their MP cost
4. Adjust the recast timer of Modus Veritas
5. Adjust the effect duration of Klimaform
6. Make adjustments to Tabula Rasa

We will be posting more information here on the forum as well as adding things to the test server some time after the September version update.

1) While the ideas there are quite nice (I'd also hope that'd apply when SCH is main job ) one of the first things I'd directly think of for LA/DA adjustments is like what people've said beforehand - effectiveness of Light/Dark Arts scaling by level. The reason is anytime I play Scholar I feel slow compared to White Mage and Black Mage - BLM's got the Elemental Celerity advantage (even if I pop Alacrity on SCH main, I feel like it's STILL slower than BLM/RDM, something's wrong with that picture - the plus side is SCH is capable of beating BLM on damage comparing the exact nuke), and WHM has massive cure cast time- gear/merit options. Through this method, I was thinking of something such as the following (as a suggestion):

By default, Light Arts and Dark Arts reduce MP cost by 10% and casting time by 10%. My suggestion if this is adjusted to scale by level would be around the following:

Level 10 - Original effect
Level 35 - 15%
Level 60 - 20%
Level 85 - 25%

Or something like that, but people'd get the idea. Of course by the term of "scaling" here not only does it make the arts more effective as a SCH main, but it also improves it a bit as a support job. These thoughts are similar to how they improved Sublimation, but instead of seeing an improvement every 10 levels, I listed this based on every 25 levels after level 10.

2) The first thing that this implies is that Scholar will likely learn Regen IV, since as things are, Regen IV is currently WHM only (Lv86). I never understood why SCH learned Regen III 17 levels later than WHM, considering they learned Regen I and II both earlier (Level progression and all). I personally wouldn't mind seeing a final Regen that is for SCH only, even though I'm a WHM main. It'd fit the Scholar "theme".

And by this concept, I don't think SCH really needs Cure V - but more of a Regen like cure that's stronger than Cure IV, but weaker than Cure V (yet capable of being potent). WHM should still be able to heal people better in an immediate situation; people simply do NOT have the HP outside Abyssea to justify WHMs casting Cure VI, let alone Curaga V. Those in my eyes are Abyssea spells, simple as that.

3) Unless tier II helix spells are being considered, I don't see much of a reason to adjust their levels, unless they'd go as far down as below 50 (which I'd honestly doubt). I'd definitely welcome T2 helix spells though.

4) This has been needed for a long time ever since it was "broken" in the eyes of many Scholars. I hate using Modus Veritas, because it's not 100% accurate like it used to be, and having a JA that can miss with a 10-min recast isn't exactly encouraging to any of us. However, I'd gladly accept a reduced timer given the situation we're expected to deal with now.

5) I'd definitely welcome this change. I've used Klimaform much more often ever since I obtained Savant's Loafers +2. The duration's extremely short in my opinion as it is, and it's not compatible with Perpetuance, due to being dark magic and thus compatible with Manifestation. Possibly it could gain an additional boost if SCH is set as main job, because /SCH people can use it as well at this point. I'm not sure what I'd suggest... like enhanced magical crit rate, perhaps, since the AF3+2 boots increase damage. (Such as through an additional piece of gear designed to enhance the effect.)

6) Embrava and Kaustra were nice additions to get people to use Tabula Rasa. Before these were added, I don't think I ever used Tabula Rasa ONCE, probably because I never got into situations where I'd want to. Given that it is our two-hour ability, I don't think it's too unreasonable to make some stratagems always active with it up, such as Penury/Celerity/Rapture/Perpetuance as well as Parsimony/Alacrity/Ebuillence/Immanence, perhaps with reduced effectiveness for balance (Probably still too overpowered tho, maybe it's just my mind thinking at 12AM). Given that our two-hour spells are compatible with Accession/Manifestation, I'd want the option to use those or not to use those.

Another point: I know merits will be looked into as we approach 99, but I don't see any reason at all for our merit stratagems to justify costing 2 charges. Even if they were one only, I'd rarely use them.

And that's my two gil on the matters concerning Scholar. ^^

[Daniel_Hatcher]

25% Casting time isn't over powered, but 25% recast is IMO.

How about a 2.5% scale instead.

Level 10 - Original effect
Level 35 - 12.5%
Level 60 - 15%
Level 85 - 17.5%

[Rambus]

What spells linked to Divine skill do you even want?

Keep in mind that chances are the only ones you'd get are Banish, Banish II, Banish III (assuming WHM gets Banish IV next cap raise), and maybe Repose.

Repose would be the only thing I can think of that they can add for us that would play a tactical importance. I do not really need or want divine spells past Repose but at the same time it makes no sense for light arts to improve divine skill. RDM/SCH can't use it because of no spells ether. So right now all it can be used for is on PLD ( i know lol pld/sch) and WHM with underleveled Divine skill. So if Divine skill being improved though light arts has no use, then why does it does light arts improve divine skill? Do something with divine skill or get rid of the divine skill improvement, I like logic.

They can make a new series of spells for us that makes use of the skill, like a buff that has better potency with higher divine skill but I really cannot think of anything right now.

4) This has been needed for a long time ever since it was "broken" in the eyes of many Scholars. I hate using Modus Veritas, because it's not 100% accurate like it used to be, and having a JA that can miss with a 10-min recast isn't exactly encouraging to any of us. However, I'd gladly accept a reduced timer given the situation we're expected to deal with now.

With how that job ability is now and all they do is change the recast, it better reset in 1 or 2 minutes. 3+ will still be retarded.

[I don't think it's too unreasonable to make some stratagems always active with it up, such as Penury/Celerity/Rapture/Perpetuance as well as Parsimony/Alacrity/Ebuillence/Immanence, perhaps with reduced effectiveness for balance (Probably still too overpowered tho, maybe it's just my mind thinking at 12AM)

The notes did say it lasts 3 minutes now right? It would make your idea broken then. I would rather have the 1 minute with the always active all job abilities though; it gets annoying to use all those job abilities with spells.

Another point: I know merits will be looked into as we approach 99, but I don't see any reason at all for our merit stratagems to justify costing 2 charges. Even if they were one only, I'd rarely use them.

And that's my two gil on the matters concerning Scholar. ^^

I have said that over and over and over and over and now I feel like a broken record talking about it. I wonder why SE is ignoring about having useless things.

[Fredjan]

25% Casting time isn't over powered, but 25% recast is IMO.

How about a 2.5% scale instead.

Level 10 - Original effect
Level 35 - 12.5%
Level 60 - 15%
Level 85 - 17.5%

That isn't a bad idea either. My idea seemed to reach into Red Mage's Fast Cast territory by 85, as a RDM's natural fast cast by 95 is -30% casting time and -15% recast time, without using any fast cast gear. I would still want my RDM to be able to cast faster and have a quicker recast time (barring Celerity/Alacrity use), because that's sort of RDM's thing.

With how that job ability is now and all they do is change the recast, it better reset in 1 or 2 minutes. 3+ will still be retarded.

I could see them reducing it to 5. Less would be ideal though.

The notes did say it lasts 3 minutes now right? It would make your idea broken then. I would rather have the 1 minute with the always active all job abilities though; it gets annoying to use all those job abilities with spells.

Duh moment. Yeah, I wasn't really considering the duration boost Tabula Rasa gained. That is a bit too overpowered for three minutes. I wouldn't want them ALL to be active at once, just something like the cast time-/MP cost- at least. Time spent activating stratagems = less you benefit during the 2hr phase.

I have said that over and over and over and over and now I feel like a broken record talking about it. I wonder why SE is ignoring about having useless things.

It's likely they will examine it during the re-examination of merit points, to be honest. Way things are now, I can justify having fully merited Stormsurge and Enlightenment vs. meriting those stratagems. Oh yeah, they need to fix Enlightenment to work like it is supposed to. I do hope to see that fixed at the very least.

[Merton9999]

I agree with the recent suggestions on lowering MV recast to 2-5 minutes, obtaining Regen IV before WHM and adding Regen V for SCH, reducing the merit strategems to 1 charge, and providing a scaling fast cast to arts that brings us closer but still below other mages in their specialty spells.

One thing I'm extremely happy with now though is Tabula Rasa. Embrava is spectacular. The duration, potency, target behavior, and even the icon and sound effect are all excellent. Three minutes is just enough time to AOE + Perpetuance every buff, including Embrava on players outside the party, and have some time left over for a Kaustra or two.

I'm not sure about Kaustra yet. Of course it looks amazing. Damage wise, I'm getting the same initial numbers reported earlier of 3k+ on regular mobs in Abyssea. I like the DoT frequency and duration, and what looks to be a potency of about 25% of the initial damage. My problem is it hasn't been so good for me on HNMs. Maybe that's to be expected as we've seen with helix spells and Zantetsuken, or I'm not targeting the right modifiers.

The only thing that's really bothering me is the way these two spells fit together in Abyssea. I want to Embrava everyone to start a battle, but I don't want to Kaustra at the start because we need to proc. Of course both are viable during farming, but on proc NMs I miss out on being able to do damage with Kaustra. I wish there was a way you could pause the 3 minute window

[Rambus]

It's likely they will examine it during the re-examination of merit points, to be honest. Way things are now, I can justify having fully merited Stormsurge and Enlightenment vs. meriting those stratagems. Oh yeah, they need to fix Enlightenment to work like it is supposed to. I do hope to see that fixed at the very least.

eh, right now it is like merit Enlightenment and have your cat 2 merits be 6/10 where you can claim to be a fully merited SCH. free RR without going to light arts weeeeee.

really though, i been asking for that fix since that thing came out, /sigh.

needs to be less then 5 for it to be not retarded with all those stupid reist rules, like vw ><.

make it 1-2 mins or change the damn rules over it.

edit, 6/10 because i forgot stormsurge was cat II, we actally have something good there >< though i have to admit since the game will be 99 now, the stat jump needs to be higher.

[Sasaraixx]

A SCH post is incoming. On the JP forum Foxclon posted about changes for SCH on the test server. They are exactly what Camate posted about previously:
1. Make adjustments so that Light Arts affects the effect of Regen and Dark Arts affects the effect of Helix spells
2. Adjust the level Regen III/IV are learned
3. Adjust the level Helix spells are learned as well as their MP cost
4. Adjust the recast timer of Modus Veritas
5. Adjust the effect duration of Klimaform
6. Make adjustments to Tabula Rasa

There is just a bit more detail.
1. The change will be that the effect and duration of both spell lines will be affected by Light/Dark Arts.
2-4. Exactly as previously stated.
6. You will receive a bonus to the effect and effect duration of Regen and Helix spells while under Tabula Rasa. Also, (I think I'm reading this correctly) they will remove the recast time for Light/Dark Arts while under the two hour.

Expect an official translation soon. I just thought I'd jump the gun a bit