I believe this has already been discussed before, but I'll say it again, since it is frustrating to find stuff sometimes.

Quote Originally Posted by Hawk View Post
Tier 2 Storm spells: Would add Double weather effect, reduce damage taken by spells of that element, occationally absorb damage taken by spells of that element (much like tier II carol's but stacks with both carol's and bar spells), and Stormsurge merit stats are doubled (instead of +7 str on firestorm, +14 str on firestorm II if fully merited)
Tier 2 storm spells would already be overpowered enough as is, without giving them more overpowered BS on top of it. If you want storm spells to make people absorb the element, it should definitely be a separate spell, at the least. Doubling Stormsurge would be fine however.

Here are what weather effects give, assuming you are wearing an elemental obi:

10% for magic of the day
10% for magic matching single weather
25% for magic matching double weather
35% for magic matching double weather and day

This is also in addition to the 5% boost given by the Twilight Cape. Note that these bonuses stack with other bonuses multiplicatively and ignore caps.

A Scholar with a perfect cure potency set can reach 38% outside Abyssea, and 50% inside. With single weather effects from the Korin Obi and the Twilight Cape, this becomes 58% outside, and 72% inside. If these boosts were double weather, they would be 79% and 95%, respectively. Ignoring the mini-expansion equipment, double weather would still get a respectable 69% outside Abyssea. It gets worse when you consider elemental nukes, which many Scholars consider to be pretty balanced.

Perhaps this wouldn't be as bad if SE also adjusted the levels at which Scholar gets Thunderstorm, Voidstorm, and Aurorastorm to subable levels, but as is, the boost means that in lowman situations, the only thing protecting older jobs from being obsoleted is the ability to proc for Black Mage, or the presence of of a single spell for White Mage.

Having a Scholar is already a incredible useful thing - a 15% multiplying boost to spells in many situations. Perhaps this maybe overshadowed by other jobs getting many of the storm spells - one of the things that make Scholar's unique. Perhaps the solution is to give it the Refresh treatment, or perhaps the solution is to give it the treatment that other jobs with a monopoly on certain spells, skills, and abilities got when Wings of the Goddess came out. But double weather is a very, very, very strong buff, and should be decided on carefully.