Battle Balance Adjustment: Cure Potency

[Bayohne]

Since increasing the level cap to 99, we have been making systematic adjustments to jobs, battles and various other parameters.

The reason being that since our original plan was to maintain the level cap at 75, it was necessary to make adjustments to allow continued growth up to level 99 and to be able to add other types of new content.

We plan on addressing the following three issues with the next round of adjustments.

• Resistance to Enfeebling Magic
  We will be removing the instances of enfeebling magic not taking effect on monsters and HNMs that have resistance to specific elements. A very small number of special monsters will maintain the ability to completely resist enfeeblement, but it will become possible to cast enfeebling spells on most monsters that used to resist outright.
  ※Spells will not take effect every time and spells may still be resisted if your enfeebling skill is low. Monsters with high resistance will be enfeebled for a shorter amount of time.

• Cure Potency
  Cure potency will be affected more significantly by healing magic skill. If a player has high healing magic skill, cure potency will be greatly increased, but low healing magic skill will have almost no effect on cure potency. The effect of skill level on cure potency will vary based on the type of cure, but cures lower than Cure V will be affected the most. Note that Curaga, Cura and Waltzes will not be affected.
  • Cure I-IV: Up to 1.4 times the normal cure potency
  • Cure V-VI: Almost no change
  With this adjustment combined with the increase of cure potency mentioned earlier, we would like to increase opportunities for mages jobs other than white mage to serve as healers.

• TP Gained through Use of a Weaponskill
  We will be adjusting the specs of save TP so that it serves as the minimum possible TP amount gained through using a weaponskill. In other words, the greater the amount of TP gained through the weaponskill and the save TP value itself will be the actual TP gained.
  
  For example:
  • Save TP value is 20, TP gained through the weaponskill is 25: 25TP
  • Save TP value is 20, TP gained through the weaponskill is 15: 20TP
  • Save TP value is 20, weaponskill misses: 20TP
  The TP gained after using a weaponskill will be more stable, but there will be fewer instances where players gain a very large amount of TP through one weaponskill. Also, with the adjustments to save TP, samurai’s job ability Hagakure’s save TP effects will be increased.

We would like the discussion in this thread focus on “Cure Potency” exclusively.

For the other two topics, please refer to the following threads:

Resistance to Enfeebling Magic
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/20484　
TP Gained through Use of a Weaponskill
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/20483

[Karbuncle]

I'm starting to think you guys are using Balance on purpose now :P

Good Adjustments, Some of them. TP Gained through Weaponskills though... I guess its just 1 nerf amongst 2 buffs. Can't complain!

Thanks for the update Bayohne ^^

[Daniel_Hatcher]

I can't complain about this, I'm just glad RDM will no longer heal for so little.

[Byrth]

I can't complain about this, I'm just glad WHM will no longer heal for so little.

ftfy

WHM Cure IV would cost about as much as a Cure III after this patch with AF3+2 pants. This makes them even more MP efficient and potent. It helps RDM a little bit and helps WHM a lot.

Edit: None of this helps a supporting DNC at all.

[Daniel_Hatcher]

ftfy

WHM Cure IV would cost about as much as a Cure III after this patch with AF3+2 pants. This makes them even more MP efficient and potent. It helps RDM a little bit and helps WHM a lot.

Edit: None of this helps a supporting DNC at all.

And? I don't want RDM to replace WHM..... try harder.

Ps. I could care less about a "supporting" DNC. They're powerful enough.

[Septimus]

And? I don't want RDM to replace WHM..... try harder.

Ps. I could care less about a "supporting" DNC. They're powerful enough.

It isn't about RDM replacing WHM, it is about RDM (and SCH) having some usefulness in this game. WHM has a strangle-hold on curing, while being a superior enhancer and a decent enfeebler. RDM is a stronger enfeebler, but is a slow that has 10% more slow on it worth a party spot considering that anything RDM can land enfeebles on a WHM will be able to do so with ease anymore? No one wants to go back to the Pink Mage days, but as it stands RDM is a complete waste of an alliance spot; curing, enfeebling, and enhancing need to be improved to make the job worthwhile again.

[Economizer]

does healing for dmg really skill up healing faster? i always heard of that as a rumor..but since it has always been such a worthless skill before no one has ever been able to give me a proper response

As a White Mage that is currently less then two points from capping their Healing Magic skill, some advice.

If your skill is really, really low, go there-forth and PL, someone will thank you for it.

If you feel like power leveling it, go to Abyssea-Attohwa and find the EP skeletons, wear as much PDT gear as possible (Earth Staff, Twilight Torque, and Cheviot Cape should do, but more is better), and equip Atma of the Mounted Champion, Atma of Vicissitude, and Atma of the Minikin Monstrosity. Bonus points if you can sub Red Mage for Phalanx, but this should be unnecessary. Spam cures, the Regen from Atmas should take care of everything.

Finally, aside from nuking undead with cures (which is only a good idea for skilling up btw, and Banish spells are only a good idea for the defense down on undead) skillups go something like this: Status Removal > Healing Damage > Healing No Damage.

No one wants to go back to the Pink Mage days

The Pink Mage days come back the second you can do the majority of content with a healer that is just barely, with lots of pain and strain, and undoubtedly will cause high burnout rates, just hardly barely good enough to fill the curing position while having superior MP longevity against a White Mage. If people don't want those days to come back then Red Mage must never be close enough to fill the role just barely. It is a very tight balance position.

Honestly, I don't have a lot of information on these changes, but if they make Healing Magic skill useful, I won't mind White Mage's stranglehold on curing being diminished (and I definitely see hints that it is diminished just by my ability to cure more and more situations without even busting out Cure V these days), it has been something I've been asking for a long time. Of course, we could use more information on what they intend, but so far my reaction is mostly positive. I really would hope that Cure V/VI scale in MP efficiency with this change regardless of if their cure amounts change much, but this will be forgivable if we cannot convince SE.

The best of wishes go out to Red Mages, Scholars, and Paladins - the healing arts are our greatest weapon, and soon will come the day of reckoning where undead once again fear 99999 damage cures, everyone can make a massive impact when it comes to stoppering death, and Healing Magic is finally useful!

That said, if other jobs really do steal the healing spotlight back again, then I have but one demand... White Mage melee must be allowed to rule supreme - SE will have to restore Auspice to its former glory and increase its duration to scale with Enhancing Magic, and those are just the start.

[Byrth]

And? I don't want RDM to replace WHM..... try harder.

The point was that even if you could do all content with a Red Mage, White Mage would be a better choice. They're more MP efficient and have better offensive buffs.

[Vagrua]

Edit: I'm not entirely sure if the op is saying that the 50 cure potency will be passed from this healing magic update or not. To Bayohne, are you saying that the 1.4 will be applied to the current cure potency the player possesses (for instance, 50 cure potency times 1.4 to get 20 added cure potency)or would there be no boost at all?

[Greatguardian]

The TP change constitutes a massive COR nerf, making our strongest roll (Miser's) effectively useless outside of Voidwatch.

Should've known, really. We've been waiting on our third roll for a year, and instead we get a buff to our strongest. Guess we don't really need 3 rolls if all the good ones get nerfed =/.