Summoner staffs...why do we solo these?

[Michae]

So many of us smns want the ToM staffs, but face it they are a time consuming pain since there are 8 of them. Why dont a few smns group up and knock these out a little faster since it doesnt have to be your avatar's kill, just a kill by that avatar or element.

I have Garuda completed and Ifrit and Shiva about half way, anyone else on Asura wanna just group up and knock these things out? We get a few smns working together they really would not take long at all. /t Michae ^^

[Clou777]

ive been doing this with my summoner LS.

[Yygdrasil]

AWWWWWW!!!! SMN LS?!?!? DO WANT!!!

[Zhronne]

I still have to understand why people do the -avatar perpetuation/-blood pact recast Staves.
Something I'm missing? They look shit to me honestly. Is there some hidden effect?

[Herby]

Well, perhaps because those are 2 of the most important stats on SMN on 1 slot of equipment

[Zhronne]

I didn't mean to troll, I just wanted to understand. I'm not a particularly skilled SMN, I'm just trying to understand something that I'm probably missing here.
You can very easily cap -bp recast without the staves, so clearly that's not the "interesting stat" on those trial staves, right?
As for the -Perp, with full AF3+2, Augur's legs and HQ staves (or Bahamut's staff) does it really matter? I think I have 2-3 mp/tic refresh with my avatar out, without taking into account weather/day (AF3+2 gloves) or storm spells from /SCH, because if we consider that then the difference is even bigger.

So why bother? It's not like those staves can be completed in 3 hours, it's a fuckton of grinding to do all 8 of them, and it also stops you from doing Healing Staff and elemental staves for other jobs like RDM, BLM or SCH.

So once more, what am I missing here? Sorry if I sound arrogant or something else, I'm just trying to understand what I'm missing. So far I've never been not even the slightest interested in doing those staves for SMN, but I'm more than willing to change my mind if someone shows me good reasons to.

[Herby]

Well i guess it's about preferences. I for one like to get other slots than the weapon free for more useful stats than perp cost and BP delay. sure, you can switch gear before, while and after executing blood pacts. But i prefer less gear swapping, while still maximizing effectivity.

For you it will probably not be worth the effort, given you are having multiple mages. But I am just playing SMN and WHM on the mage part and I don't really bother getting the cure potency staff, since i have enough potency without it.

It's really all about choices, I like the perp/bp delay staves, because they give me room to improve on other equipment slots without having to rely on perp gear too much

[Zhronne]

I see, just a different perspective for a different playstyle.
Think I grasped the whole thing a bit better now, and it sounds like I probably don't need 'em in my current situation.

Thanks! And sorry once more if I sounded too arrogant/aggressive in my previous posts.

[Soranika]

Most of SMN short comings are addressed in the AF3 set. One that is not is blood pact recast time, it hampers our ability to not only keep up with other jobs but also our effectiveness in the battle when we really need to pull of a say a healing ward or an offensive blood pact when no other jobs can get close or worried about time (such as in voidwatch). Also necessary to keep hate on avatars since SMN have horrible hate control between themselves and their avatars, unlike other pet jobs. Besides that, most of the gear that was used to cap -blood pact bonus are pretty irrelevant now. See YY robe, out classed by AF3 +1 and +2 for perp reduction as well as increasing Avatar attack damage and out classed by Pluviale as a resting/refresh piece with bonus MP and regen. If you're using the older gear to reduce perp cost, you're doing less damage overall even if you're using blood pacts faster.

Perp cost on the staves are negligible at best right now, but wait until the next level cap raise when perp cost increases again. If I'm not mistaken, average perp cost now with JUST AF3 +2 and evoker's ring sits at around 3 mp per tick if you don't have the right avatar out to gain the -perp cost during the day/weather and let's face it, not every smn have AF3 +2 and some avatars are just ineffective against certain mobs so day/weather isn't going to make them any better.

So overall, you have a staff that effectively knocks off 10 seconds from blood pact and 6mp from perp cost, which makes this already loads more better and effience over HQ staves, fay cozier, and bahamut staff. Coupled with YY Robe if you're unable to get full AF3 +2 knocks caps the -15 seconds to blood pact delay in two pieces. However coupled with a few minor -BP equipment like Caller's earring and tiresias' cape, you have have the benefit of -BP without sacrificing the any benefits that the AF3 set offers.

[Zhronne]

Besides that, most of the gear that was used to cap -blood pact bonus are pretty irrelevant now.

Dunno, personally I use AF2 head, hands, legs, feet, YY robe and Caller's earring for BP (and that brings me at the 45 seconds recast cap) but I never considered the fact that someone might prefer 8 staves instead of those 6 pieces. I mean, if it was a single staff I too would have seen it as an inventory saver and would have aimed for that, but with one staff for every avatar it looks more like an inventory waste to me. But anyway Herby's post made sense, I just never saw things from that perspective before, was looking just at my situation and wrongly assumed everybody to be in the same one.

Also, I wouldn't consider all of them completely useless yet. AF2 hands are still the best +skill hands slot you can use for buff BPs, and AF2 feet I still use for all my physical BPs.

If you're using the older gear to reduce perp cost, you're doing less damage overall even if you're using blood pacts faster.

Why should I? It's not like I use my -BP gear fulltime.
I swap into -BP gear right when I use the JA (and get 45 recast) then right after I swap into the appropriate gear before the BP really goes off. I currently have 3 sets: Physical BPs (avatar acc, att etc), Magical BPs (avatar macc, mab etc) and buff BPs (smn skill).
I mean, if you couldn't swap gear in-between (or if you don't want to for some reason) I would understand, but it's not like you're *forced* to stay in the same gear you swap to when you use the BP.

and let's face it, not every smn have AF3 +2 and some avatars are just ineffective against certain mobs so day/weather isn't going to make them any better.

I concur. But my point is that it's much quicker to get full AF3+2 (especially at level 95...) than getting all 8 staves in their +3 format. That's a whole lot of grinding and will take way more than getting seals/jewels for your AF3.