[dev1024] - Pining Nocturne

[Zhronne]

I'm here, I'm here! Sorry it took a bit to get a response.

We received word back from the development team in regards to your question about why Pining Nocturne will not stack with other magic spells.

There have been a lot comments asking why it does not stack when Elegy and Slow, Carol and bar-spells, and Requiem and other DoT spells all stack. However, there are no set rules about what spells and song effects can and cannot be applied at the same time. Each spell and song is decided on a case-by-case basis along with their effects.

For example, the reasoning behind being able to stack Elegy and Slow is that the monster will still be able to use their special abilities so it’s forgivable.

On the other hand, with Nocturne and Addle, since the enemies casting time could be drastically increased, it would become possible to greatly exploit magic-focused enemies in battle.

While it’s fine to have somewhat of an advantage, however, while someone is casting it is not possible to perform any other actions, so prolonging this state is equivalent to making the enemy completely powerless which is why we decided to make the rule that the two spells cannot be stacked.

I'm fine with Pining Nocturne not stacking, I don't see why people have been asking for that so much.
It's pretty clear that if you allow to stack that with a Saboteur-enhanced Addle, you need to reduce the effectivity of both spells for the very same reasons Camate exposed.

There are two things that Pining Nocturne still needs though, a minor and a major.
Major: Currently Pining Nocturne doesn't overwrite itself. I think this is an unique situation within the Bard Job and should be resolved. It makes it particularly annoying to try to refresh the spell on mobs and creates several other issues when used in conjunction with other Bard Job Abilities like Marcato, Soul Voice and Troubadour.
Minor: Atm Pining Nocturne is just an "option" to use when you have no Red Mage, even though Pining Nocturne is weaker than Addle, but that's fine. What developers could and should change in my opinion is the elemental correlation of Pining Nocturne. Currently it's alligned with Fire, same as Addle, meaning that if a target is immune to fire spells, we won't be able to affect it with either Pining Nocturne or Addle. It would add much depth to the game instead if Nocturne was another element, that way on mobs where Red Mages can't stick their Addle, Bards could stick their Nocturne

(not taking into account the fact that White Mages recently got access to Addle too, since they don't have saboteur, nor the gear/traits/skills RDMs do. The fact that WHMs have it as well doesn't change the reasoning behind what I'm trying to say)