New idea for Spirits...?

[MakkotoParinne]

Thanks for the feedback. ;D

No perpetuation cost was my initial thought, but I thought it might make it a little unbalanced. Maybe 5 perp. reduced to 0 with merits? (Merits into spirit perp. cost being the cause of the idea)

Being able to heal the Avatar would be nice, too, so that way, it can actually restore some HP without using a BP:Ward, making it a little more viable for soloing.

[MakkotoParinne]

Also, I very much like the idea of it staying put, much like an automaton. The idea behind the merits is it's like a choice between meriting your avatar solely or using a free spirit to help out, betting on the chance it will cast a nuke (which should be a little stronger) rather than cast Elemental DoT.

[Korpg]

Spirits don't really add much damage as is anyway. They are uncontrollable, and can take forever to cast a spell.

Having them out with the avatar won't hurt any other job in damage, it won't unbalance this job because we are in a real need for a buff to increase our damage output to anywhere near other jobs, and spirits are like BRD charmed mobs, except we can use Assault and Retreat with it.

We don't need to have an extra cost to keep spirits out if we have the avatars out at the same time, because they are adding a random amount of damage to our overall DoT, plus additional survivability. Plus, most SMN NMs can summon more than 1 pet at a time, why can't we?

[Soundwave]

This stance would add 10 perpetuation cost, which may be reduced to 5 with merits into elemental perpetuation cost. Elemental Siphon may also be used, but only at 3/4 power.

Is this stance in your eyes for solo summoners only? That's the way I'm seeing it unless I'm blinded from something.

**Edit never mind I missed our post

Also I posted something similar to this but it was for ESiphion, and reflected this post in some way. This is the only spirit post that actually sparked my interest.

My thoughts....

While your stance is activated and having Avatar/spirit out, allow commands to tell the spirit what mode to be in.

-Attacker
-Healer
-Buffer
-Enfeebler
*Much like Assault and retreat.

While keeping balance in mind for party type buffing I think the spirit should only help the avatar or the summoner not the party in this case. *The situation of Carby/Light spirit for main healing a party*

[MakkotoParinne]

I suppose you're right, Korpg. That would be a lot more practical, considering their behavior, but there has to be a downside (slight as it may be), otherwise SE probably wouldn't look into it at all. The reason behind it is either merit your stats for a better avatar, or merit spirit cost to get a free assistant. I changed my original post to reflect this.

I think LightSpirit's AI should be the same, just maybe cast Cures at a higher percentage of HP. It should still cast buffs, perhaps on whoever has more hate first instead of what it's facing, but otherwise cast divine spells and enfeebles if Carbuncle is commanded to Assault. Many Summoners in other games have decent healing ability, I think Yuna did, if I remember right, so why not have a healing Avatar with a healing spirit, assisted by a Summoner with healing spells?
Sounds pretty efficient if you ask me. It would just be another role we could fill if needed.

[Korpg]

There is already a downside, we will never be as good as the main jobs in the party. We are also limited by one element at a time (having Titan out will always summon EarthSpirit, you get the picture), so we can't change out elements on the fly. Plus, our main damage is still limited by the BP timer and MP used to use BPs.

That ability could be like every time you use a Rage BP, your spirit would cast a spell against the mob the Rage was used against and every time you use a Ward BP, your spirit would cast a buff (or healing spell in the case of LightSpirit) on itself or debuff against the mob.

And even that is limited so you can't BP back to back on itself due to the spirits casting time (if you use Geocrush and EarthSpirit starts casting Quake, you can't use a BP Ward and expect the spirit to stop casting Quake to use Stoneskin).

[solodragon1984]

that sounds like a great idea for smn and with 5 -perp and it'll make spirits useful instead of only for MP regain from elemental siphon

[solodragon1984]

btw i found a NM that has both avatar AND Spirit out and it's at same time that it's out forgot exactly where cause it was over 2 years ago when i saw it

[Korpg]

You are talking about Crimson-toothed Pawberry. That is nothing new.

[solodragon1984]

but see SE should let us SMN's summon both but no we smn are getting the short end of the stick when it comes to power yes the new stun BP would help but 4 sec delay is gonna defect the idea for stun if you cant stun Mobs Moves but still it'll help a little and i do mean a little