Cure IV (conserve MP)

[Ihnako]

Howdy puppetmasters!

[...]

If you would like your automaton to use a specific Cure based on the amount of damage you take, it’s possible to do so by utilizing a light maneuver while using the Damage Gauge attachment.

Your automaton will still use cure V or VI in case you utilize Damage Gauge and light maneuvers.
Best example. Your fellow Tarutaru got a raise, stands up and has around 25/500 hp. Regardless what you do your automaton will fire a Cure V (while Cure IV would cure him more than enough).

I don't complain about how the automaton is making it's decisions but try to keep 2 partymembers alife with an automaton who'll start using lower tier Cure only when he/she's low on MP. (Still talking only about the WHM automaton)

[hideka]

you do know that how PUP works is still a gigantic mystery to SE right?

[Kysaiana]

I might be wrong since I haven't bothered to test this since the healing skill update, but I don't think it affected puppets at all similar to BLU healing spells. As Spiritreaver said, MP efficiency is a non issue for PUP. I suppose if you're missing key attachments you could have issues. And anyone who's leveled PUP recently likely is missing some considering many of them are upwards of 2 mil, at least on Siren.

[Zhronne]

Can't you just deactivate/activate to reset mp on your automaton? I suppose there are situations where that's not convenient to do, but most of the times it's doable.

Altough I agree it would have been better if Spiritreaver could have made a smarter use of cure spells, didn't want to whine back in the march update because I was so happy about the new stuff, but I always found it particularly stupid that it never uses cures under V unless it has not enough mp for it (in which case, it uses IV or III or whatever else)

[Spiritreaver]

I might be wrong since I haven't bothered to test this since the healing skill update, but I don't think it affected puppets at all similar to BLU healing spells. As Spiritreaver said, MP efficiency is a non issue for PUP. I suppose if you're missing key attachments you could have issues. And anyone who's leveled PUP recently likely is missing some considering many of them are upwards of 2 mil, at least on Siren.

Economizer is nice, but not essential imo. A player can do just as well with the proper use of Mana Converter and oils.

1)Can't you just deactivate/activate to reset mp on your automaton? I suppose there are situations where that's not convenient to do, but most of the times it's doable.

2)Altough I agree it would have been better if Spiritreaver Soulsoother could have made a smarter use of cure spells, didn't want to whine back in the march update because I was so happy about the new stuff, but I always found it particularly stupid that it never uses cures under V unless it has not enough mp for it (in which case, it uses IV or III or whatever else)

@1-With the addition of Deus Ex Automata, any time i am sort of idling, i will DAD whenever Activate recast is set. No reason to be a slave to that timer anymore at all.

@2-I agree here as well. Though i think you meant Soulsoother

[Zhronne]

I meant soulsoother of course, sorry

[Theytak]

Why bother?

Just want to know, because(for me at least) automaton MP is pretty much a non-issue. And has been such for years at this point.

And don't get me wrong, you want to push for the change, go for it imo. It won't harm anything. Just wondering why bother is all.

Imo, the only real issue is situations where you can't readily, easily, or safely, use deactivate/activate to refill. Anywhere AoE heavy, it's fairly risky to run around with your activate timer always down, and it's not really cost effective to just ride deus and repair. That's mostly just convenience stuff.

The real problem is in situations like, say, soloing some of the tougher NMs. In abyssea, even with MM and other strong solo atma, appropriate gear, and being able to keep your puppet outside of aoe range, there are some NMs that can, and do, drain soulsoother's MP to the point that MM alone can't keep up, and even with mana converter, it's rough, but you can't deactivate because the reason you're an MP sponge is due to the mob being AoE heavy and making shadows/evasion completely irrelevant, which makes reactivating a real bitch.

Then, there's also the issue that it's just stupid that our automatons have the MP efficiency of an 04 valkurm dunes whm. Especially since my soothing healer npc won't waste mp on cure V when cure III will suffice... It's pretty much just SE being lazy and pups being able to work around their complete laziness.

Howdy puppetmasters!


At higher levels, automatons will only choose to use Cure V or VI once damage is taken and this decision is not based on the amount of damage taken. This has been the way automatons function since the adjustments that took place during the March version update.

If you would like your automaton to use a specific Cure based on the amount of damage you take, it’s possible to do so by utilizing a light maneuver while using the Damage Gauge attachment.

But why is this the case? It can't be that difficult to make the Healing focused pet at least somewhat competent at one of the most important aspects of healing. Especially since outside of abyssea, pup doesn't even have the HP to warrant a cure V most of the time; one cure V from caroline can take me from ~45% HP to full, and I'm a galka. Consistently letting myself get down to orange/red HP in order to get an appropriate cure is an absolutely terrible system. I realize that's how wyvern healing works, but drgs have almost no control over their pets, relative to pups, so I don't see how it's even remotely sensible to have scaley winged rats be more intelligent in regards to healing than a robot programmed purely for the function of being a whm...

Can't you just deactivate/activate to reset mp on your automaton? I suppose there are situations where that's not convenient to do, but most of the times it's doable.

Altough I agree it would have been better if Spiritreaver could have made a smarter use of cure spells, didn't want to whine back in the march update because I was so happy about the new stuff, but I always found it particularly stupid that it never uses cures under V unless it has not enough mp for it (in which case, it uses IV or III or whatever else)

Honestly, the most annoying part of it all to me is how much the insistence on over curing hurts mana converter's efficiency. SW has 1100~1200 HP, and mana converter takes half of that, so 550~600, and then triggers cure VI, which cuts 227 MP out of that gain. even with power cooler, it's still going to be ~200 mp cut out of the ~600 mp gain. Before the update, Soulsoother would at least sometimes randomly cast cure IV instead of Cure V/VI to heal itself after converting, which was awesome, but now that little boon is gone. Why?

I mean, yes, we have the ability to use Stormwaker instead of Soulsoother, but stormwaker is just as bad, if not even worse, because we can't tell it to not nuke while deployed, and nukes eat up MP so much faster than cure VI that it completely negates the benefit.

Also, while on the subject, what ever happened to fixing soulsoother being able to heal sleep (read: cast cure I)? It tried to heal sleep initially, but used erase, which obviously doesn't work, and instead of simply changing the spell it chose in response to sleep, it was returned to completely ignoring sleep outright...

[SpankWustler]

But why is this the case? It can't be that difficult to make the Healing focused pet at least somewhat competent at one of the most important aspects of healing.

Theory 1:

The part of the Development Bros' development (bro?) kit that handles spells cast by AI things is just wonky and not very advanced. Spell-casting monsters in FFXI started out as either random Black Mage beastmen, or big and scary things with a less than a half-dozen big and scary spells to augment their big and scary TP moves.

The current incarnations of the spell-casting automatons are so different than the original spell-casting monsters that they may well be the equivalent of some impoverished Russian guy's ingenious Russian ceiling fan built out of lawn mower parts, tin foil, one pair of pliers in lock position, and one pack of chewing gum.

Those guys are just doing the best they can with something weird and wonky, working on something way more complex than was ever meant to exist, using a decade-old development kit.

This might also explain why the Development Bros don't even know what the puppet actually does half the time, if that's not what it "should" be doing in accordance with a crazy mess of code piled onto itself endlessly.

Theory 2:

Like the last son or daughter jettisoned from a dying world, the Soulsoother automaton has been imparted with all the knowledge of its progenitors. All of it. Every bit.

Thus, how the Soulsoother cures is a window into how the Development Bros think curing a bro works.

This would definitely account for why the Development Bros don't know what the puppet actually does half the time, although I don't think "explain" is the right word here.

[Kysaiana]

I miss when eraser removed sleep... Anyway, maybe it's just me, but when I'm soloing with Soulsoother and it uses mana converter, it will usually cast cure V to heal itself... and then that won't be enough to actually heal it to 100% HP, but this is usually in dynamis where it's perma-dark weather. It could be because I don't use either of the auto-repair kits on Soulsoother, and it won't trigger cure VI because of the lower HP.

I'm not really positive casting cure IV would be that useful for Soulsoother unless you ride 3 light maneuvers all the time. And even then, you'd have to swap in AF pants every time it cures you to hit the cure potency cap. Just my opinion, but I'd rather my puppet over cure than under cure to save a few MP.

[Dohati]

ever since the update on automaton spellcasting AI and recast timer, using a light maneuver with the damage gauge just makes your puppet spam so hard they're out of mp in like a minute tops. i'll take 1 hit and get a cure5. i used to ride light maneuver + damage gauge constantly before the AI revamp, but now i have to try avoiding light maneuver period unless my HP gets so low that i have to have a cure like RIGHT NOW. sure, there's deactivate, but if your puppet is out of MP and hurt, and activate is down, you're screwed. i'd actually appreciate if they'd also allow cures 1-3 without low MP.