Increase the number of meritable WS

[Nala]

Disagree, and not liked. You should have to specialize, that's what merits were originally about.

You can already merit them all if you don't mind them not being as good.

Following that logic why doesnt SE limit the amount of jobs we take to 99? that'd even further how specialized your character is, oh we can even limit the amount of subjobs you can level too is that specialized enough for you?

Despit the snippy tone of my previous paragraph i do have a point there, we are able to level all jobs, quest all mythic relic and empyrean should you choose ect. ect. why does there need to be specialization in a game that allows you to level all classes in the first place? as it stands inventory limitations already decide how many classes you can play at 100% effectiveness.

[tyrantsyn]

The only things that disturb's the balance more is when I pay for something and I don't get what I want out of it. Take out the cap or increase please.

Thank you.

[AndytheRaven]

Well the way I see it this way is more of a time sink as can possibly be, there is a remove merit for a reason, by having to remove and add merits you will keep having to cycle them. And as such you would be spending more time and merits than just simply leveling all WS and calling it good.

[Economizer]

Following that logic why doesnt SE limit the amount of jobs we take to 99? that'd even further how specialized your character is, oh we can even limit the amount of subjobs you can level too is that specialized enough for you?

I already addressed this when SE had announced the merit cap in the first place. The specialization argument is completely stupid, since it goes against everything that FFXI has different over other MMOs.

If people really must have a specialization argument, then why block people from meriting all of them anyways? There are people who can really do it all, they just work harder at it. Thus, if it is really an issue, then people wanting to unlock the ability to unlock more merit WS should just have to pay merits to get the ability. Thus lets say you spend 30 merits to unlock the ability to get 16th-20th points in the merit WS category, 60 to unlock your 21st-25th points, 90 to unlock your 26th-30th and so on. It will be insanely expensive to unlock all of them, thus countering any logical or intelligent argument against it.

[Camiie]

Disagree, and not liked. You should have to specialize,

Why? Because you say so? I say you shouldn't be forced to specialize. Why? Because the job system they've created is actually the antithesis of specialization. All jobs are fully available on any single character. What part of that says to you that specialization is the direction of the game? Forced specialization is actually jumping the shark. It's quite inconsistent with what's presented at the outset and really serves no purpose.

that's what merits were originally about.

No... Merits are about being able to advance your character once it's reached the level cap. The LIMITS they placed on merits force you to specialize, but the idea of meriting is not about specialization.

You can already merit them all if you don't mind them not being as good.

Not as good? I think you vastly overestimate the worth of a not-fully merited WS.

[Windwhisper]

Disagree, and not liked. You should have to specialize, that's what merits were originally about.

You can already merit them all if you don't mind them not being as good.

i loled at that for obvious reasons.

But to the subject. some merit weaponskills are pretty crappy, but they have a great animation. its neither gamebreaking nor disrupting any balance to allow us to spend our merits to cap them all.

[Tsukino_Kaji]

You can already merit them all if you don't mind them not being as good.

No you can't.

[Alhanelem]

No you can't.

Yes, you can. There are 14 weapon skills, and you get 15 points to spend.

Why? Because you say so? I say you shouldn't be forced to specialize.

Yes, because I said so. [sarcasm]

No, because SE said so. Why do you think there are limits on the categories in the first place? BECAUSE THEY WANT YOU TO SPECIALIZE, AND NOT BE ABLE TO HAVE THE BEST EVERYTHING. Outside of equipment, merit points are pretty much the only thing that makes one character distinct at all from another.

If you can have every merit maxed, then I want to be able to reach level 346. I want to cast all my spells for no mana. I want <insert limit here> to be removed. Hello slippery slope! If you never have to make decisions or those decisions don't have weight, it sucks the fun out of the game- Everybody will be exactly the same.

Not as good? I think you vastly overestimate the worth of a not-fully merited WS.

Not at all. But some people above are saying "oh, some WS aren't as good but I want them anyway so i can see the shiny animation!" - Well, if that's the case, then it doesn't matter how strong it is now, does it? You just want to see the animation because it looks cool.

So here's what you do: Merit it with 1 point. Use the WS over and over til you're sick of looking at it. Un-merit it. Merit something else.

I love "Remove the <limitation> limit!" threads- They're always super popular and gain tons of support because who wants limits? But people don't realize that the limits are there for a reason and in many cases, the game would end up being less fun than if the limits weren't there.

Following that logic why doesnt SE limit the amount of jobs we take to 99?

This doesn't follow that logic. Being able to level and play any job is one of the game's central features, which was specifically advertised. Limiting the merits is what is done instead of limiting the jobs you can play- thus, you can play them all, but you have to choose the ones you like most to maximize. People seem to have this funny idea that it renders all their other jobs unuseable- it doesn't.

I wouldn't be opposed to being able to max 1 or 2 more. But I would be vehemently opposed to being able to max all of them.

[Sparthos]

Disagree, and not liked. You should have to specialize, that's what merits were originally about.

You can already merit them all if you don't mind them not being as good.

Admittingly I shared a similar thought upon the release of the WS but now the dust has settled I must respectfully disagree because well.... certain jobs are just pure crap without their newest weaponskills.

For instance, I've got a BST but I happen to have my merits in Last Stand, Shoha and Exenterator. Without access to Ruinator BST is stuck using Rampage which is quite terrible in comparison to the more modern WS. Axe has pretty much nothing else going for it meaning you either put down the merits or get stuck using something designed for lvl55.

Yeah.

There are other examples like Tachi: Shoha which completely changes SAM. Without it you might as well not use the class if you have it leveled. Fudo doesn't compare and requires an Emp, Ageha is useless now and everything else is old and ineffective.

In short, access to another 3 unlocks would beneficial and open up the ability to modernize classes without being stuck with something vastly inferior.

[Karbuncle]

The idea of forced specialization in a game designed from the beginning to be about free use of any job is just stupid. If you want a game with forced Specialization, There are quite a few on the market. You can play a game where you get 1 job Per character, and every character can only equip 1 weapon type, and 1 set of armor. Sounds enjoyable right?

No. Neither is being able to play 20 jobs, Get 20 Relics, 20 Empyreans, 20 Mythics, Unlock every weaponskill for every job... then suddenly having that freedom to experience every job torn from you and reduced to a measly 1/5th potential from new content.

Problem is, It falls in line with merits. Merit Combat Skills and magic Skills both force limitations on us, I never understood the idea of Category Caps for merits personally, If i wanted to burn through thousands of merits, I should be able too cap all Merits have to offer. I mean, It gives me more of a time sink, Which is all SE Cares about these days, Bottle-necking any smallest thing by adding absurd restrictions... You'd think completely unlocking merit Categories would be a step in their direction.

Maybe they're saving that for when they realize they're out of content and need to give us something to do for about a month?

Either way, unfortunately forced specilization has always been the Theme of merits, So i don't fully condone unlocking all Merit WS's, even though i would thoroughly enjoy it, and i feel thats the direction every merit category should take... But increasing it from 3 to 5 should be a reasonable compromise...