Useless Update (AKA: Update Fail)

[Daniel_Hatcher]

Personally, I prefer to have Protectra V fully merited, as well as Devotion (like you said, it's great being able to drop MP to a party member when they need it). When you look at the bonus you get between Protectra and Shellra, Protectra gets one more over Shellra, per.

Shell trumps protect easily by one thing. Shells is percentage base, protect is points based in a game where Defense means little. That and Physical attacks can't one-shot you, magical attacks can.

[saevel]

I'm glad to see that some people actually take time to back up their arguments to my original post, like Economizer. Rather than just posting an insult and thinking that is all they need.

Economizer:
Personally, I prefer to have Protectra V fully merited, as well as Devotion (like you said, it's great being able to drop MP to a party member when they need it). When you look at the bonus you get between Protectra and Shellra, Protectra gets one more over Shellra, per.

I also prefer the Regen merits because when you drop a Regen IV at your tank, it can make your life a lot easier in the long run. If you have the Relic body too, that makes it all the nicer. Which is another reason why I wanted to know why SCH got Regen V and not WHM. WHM Relic body caters SPECIFICALLY to Regen spells. It just doesn't make sense.

I also understand that Holy II costs 150 MP, the point I was making is, if you cast both Holy I & II, you can kiss 250 MP goodbye, quicker than a WHM can Devotion you.

I can see how some WHM might want to take Bar Spells fully merited. Personally, I am not fond of magic defense, I like physical defense more.

And Alhanelem, none of these jobs are my favorite. I prefer Dark Knight, which was never mentioned. I am just getting sick of seeing White Mage get dumped on in every update. Especially with Cure VI, the worst cure in the game, but hey, at least it looks pretty. That seems to be what SE is going with lately. Let's make more stuff look prettier in the game and maybe we can distract the players from realizing that we're on our 7th Development team.

Shellra V crushes Protectra V. It's a percentage reduction to all magic damage. The difference between Protect V and Protect IV is miniscule, a parser won't even show it. Your better off completely removing Protectra V and going 5/5 Shellra V, 5/5 Devotion and calling it a day. Pro V is a placebo over Pro IV, I laughed really really really hard at the difference.

[Economizer]

I'm glad to see that some people actually take time to back up their arguments to my original post, like Economizer. Rather than just posting an insult and thinking that is all they need.

Only two statements even got a "ha" instead of the explanation that completely backs up any arguments - but they should be self-evident regardless. The majority of your post was completely wrong compared to the reality of what happens in FFXI, so I cannot apologize for merely assuming either trolling or willful ignorance. While you may have legitimate issues with the update, every single thing I disagreed with you about was something that is not an actual issue with the update.

But, as I said, I do intend to clarify anything you asked about, in the hopes that you may be a better White Mage.

Economizer:
Personally, I prefer to have Protectra V fully merited, as well as Devotion (like you said, it's great being able to drop MP to a party member when they need it). When you look at the bonus you get between Protectra and Shellra, Protectra gets one more over Shellra, per.

Defense caps out in effectiveness, and on top of that, is not very useful in the small amounts that Protectra V gives over Protect V (or even Protectra IV).

Some numbers for these:

• Protectra IV - 55
• Protect V / Protectra V 1/5 - 60
• Protectra V 5/5 - 68

So basically, one merit gets you +5 points, and the rest +2, for a total of +13 DEF over Protectra IV, or +8 over Protect V. Now, this is just an increase to the DEF score, which in such small numbers is a complete joke.

Compare that to Barspell and Shellra merits, which add to your Magic Defense Bonus, which has totally different calculations then the Defense ones. Shellra V 5/5 has an effective ~3% damage reduction to magic damage due to this difference, which is a much, much large impact then +8~+13 Defense.

Given that magic does massive spike damage in a fight, it is extremely unwise to not merit Shellra V, especially when it crushes Protectra V in usefulness much like a 99 Galka Warrior with Ukon crushes level 0 mobs outside Bastok.

Personally, I wouldn't merit Protect V once, but I know some people who do for the spell, and some who even underestimate the value of Devotion and merit Protectra V 5/5 times. But I have never met anyone who doesn't have Shellra fully merited unless they hadn't had the time to merit it, and I would like to keep it that way.

I also prefer the Regen merits because when you drop a Regen IV at your tank, it can make your life a lot easier in the long run. If you have the Relic body too, that makes it all the nicer. Which is another reason why I wanted to know why SCH got Regen V and not WHM. WHM Relic body caters SPECIFICALLY to Regen spells. It just doesn't make sense.

Full Regen merits + Relic Body + WHM AF3+2 gloves = 39HP/tick for a maximum of 975 HP over 75 seconds. This is an MP efficiency of ~11.21 HP/MP.

Compare this to a White Mage with 425 Healing Magic, 140 Mind, and 80 Vitality, 50% Cure Potency, the AF3+2 body and pants. They will Cure V for 1086 and get a 380 damage cureskin effect. Ignoring the cureskin, you can get MP efficiency of ~13.41, including, that's ~18.10 HP/MP.

Basically, Regen is MP inefficient. Until last update it also took an incredibly long time to cast as well. Currently, I'd only cast it if there is no Scholar who can. It is a pity that our AF1 and AF2 sets were mostly useless, and that over half of our merits were crap, but that still doesn't make them define the job role of a White Mage.

Put another way, the changes to Regen would have never happened without Scholar, so basically, we finally get faster casting Regens thanks to that. If there is anything to be upset about, it is that Light Arts doesn't give the bonus effects that a 49 Scholar would get to sub Scholars, or that SE didn't make the new relic body that much better by changing its focus, or that SE still hasn't replaced regen merits (or banish effect merits for that matter) with something useful.

I also understand that Holy II costs 150 MP, the point I was making is, if you cast both Holy I & II, you can kiss 250 MP goodbye, quicker than a WHM can Devotion you.

Paladin should probably only be using Holy II with their job ability just like White Mage should only use Holy for procs and Holy II with a build up Solace charge, or to dump extra MP.

I can see how some WHM might want to take Bar Spells fully merited. Personally, I am not fond of magic defense, I like physical defense more.

If you don't have 5/5 Barspells (again, they do Magic Defense Bonus, think Shellra V) you are gimp. No excuses. If you want to focus on physical defense, go Red Mage and cast Bio III on a mob and Phalanx II on a tank. As for my opinion of doing that, ask saevel of his opinion of the two spells, I think his reply should probably be a good picture of what mine would be.

I am just getting sick of seeing White Mage get dumped on in every update. Especially with Cure VI, the worst cure in the game, but hey, at least it looks pretty.

While there are areas White Mage is getting dumped on, Regen and Shellra are not those things. But yes, you are very right, Cure VI sucks.