[dev1058] SMN Two-hour abilities

[Sasaraixx]

Yup. Smn magic and blood pact recast timers reduced to 0. I'm guessing it will last 30 seconds. Could be interesting!

[Rakshaka]

This is gonna be sweet. I'm gonna crank out so much damage during that time; assuming I have full mp.

[Luvbunny]

Unless it only last 10 seconds LOL, or 30 seconds LOL, it should last at least a good 1.5 mnts or 3 mnts - just like astral flow is. Good on paper, probably implemented atrociously bad just because SE has a grudge over pet jobs, ALL pet jobs 2 hours look downright trash, except SMN - at least on paper.

[Chimerawizard]

ALL pet jobs 2 hours look downright trash, except SMN - at least on paper.

Guess you don't know a Mythic toting PUP. pet gets 500 fists permanently and w/ current 2hr gets 100 fists. stack on top of that mighty strikes and you got some crazy dmg.

just posted this on another topic but w/e.

back in the day; people used SMN in Dynamis a LOT.
someone pulled the group of mobs, 45-60 mobs. BLMs did ES-sleepga.
couple SMN's astral flow'd and guess what? 3-5k DMG to each mob on each BP. (obv. not all mobs got hit each time)
back then it was kinda broken. Now, that's close to what I should be expecting my astral flow BP to do every 45 seconds.

augmented 2hr dmg equation:
BASE=(smn skill)/10 X (Avatar's Level)
DMG=(BASE)X(day/weather bonus)X(resist?)X(MAB/MDB)X(Mythic weapon proc 2-3 hit proc?)

I have seen avatars petrified by lv5 petrify against Akvan w/ me SMN99. So, they can definately spawn lower level than the master.(if anyone didn't know)

[Arcon]

I have seen avatars petrified by lv5 petrify against Akvan w/ me SMN99. So, they can definately spawn lower level than the master.(if anyone didn't know)

That's news to me, and I'm not entirely sure whether or not to believe it, as every level-dependant formula I've come across so far used 99 for the level value.

[Arciel]

i posted this in June

Alternatively, we have the possibility of the 2nd 2HR ability which allows SMN to work outside the constraints of BP timer, for 3 minute. That is to say, for 3 minutes, Blood Pact recast timer is 0. Once again, this is balanced out by the MP limiter. It'd be like a SMN Tabula Rasa.

I hope the duration is good. Anything less than 1 minute would be sad.. and anything more than that would be awesome. Granted we most likely won't need 30s to spend all our MP on BP rages, it would be a wasted 2hr if the enemy can get in a TP move that requires you to resummon and reposition avatar.

This is a most welcome change to have an alternate use for zerging than PD. Some potential strategies involving chain-Squall would be interesting too

[Luvbunny]

They need a minimum of 3 mnts on this since avatar can be slept, or one shotted, and it takes time to resummon and bring it to the NM - not to mention our MPs is not unlimited so being able to land 3-4 hits would be great. But watching the developer bros trying to come up with ideas and figuring out what the players want is like Comedy of Errors. They often fail spectacularly. If the new 2 hours ideas are a sign to come for 2012-2013 we probably would save us some money and headache by taking a year off since everything will hit a total low before they can be saved again.

[Arcon]

They need a minimum of 3 mnts on this since avatar can be slept, or one shotted, and it takes time to resummon and bring it to the NM - not to mention our MPs is not unlimited so being able to land 3-4 hits would be great.

Every job's 2hr can be completely fucked up if they're killed, slept, terrorized, petrified and sometimes even silenced or paralyzed, depending on the case. SMN even has a massive advantage (even over other pet jobs) in that they can respawn avatars immediately at no cost other than some time. 30 seconds is already enough to be a great 2 hour ability, one minute would be amazing (it would be enough to empty your entire MP pool including Convert), three minutes would be massively overpowered. Anything more than one minute is seriously unrealistic. I realize SMN's desire for some love (and it is well-deserved after the years of abuse), but that's just being greedy after already getting a great offer (and possibly the best new 2 hour ability out of the pool).

[Luvbunny]

Anything more than one minute is seriously unrealistic. I realize SMN's desire for some love (and it is well-deserved after the years of abuse), but that's just being greedy after already getting a great offer (and possibly the best new 2 hour ability out of the pool).

A minimum of 60-90 seconds is a must - not being greedy at all, but this a 2 hours job you know, not some 20 mnts JA. It should mean something substantial, and actually useful. Between BP rage and ward, and all those slow animations, 90 seconds would be decent. We need something as close as embrava, and no - Perfect Defense - does not count.

As a pet based job - summoner is the lowest on the totem pole. Beast and Pup both beat it easily when it comes to damage output. I mean if SE wants us to be a pet DD job with mp to put checks and balance then they need to tweak the avatar hp and damage. Otherwise they should revise our avatar favor ability. I mean look at scholar where they can be a very good magic damage and also buffer/healer with no disadvantage at being able to switch around as needed. We should be able to switch between pet DD (slightly less than beast) or buffers (quite good as bard or corsair but can only have 1 instead of 2 effects).

[Arcon]

A minimum of 60-90 seconds is a must - not being greedy at all, but this a 2 hours job you know, not some 20 mnts JA. It should mean something substantial, and actually useful. Between BP rage and ward, and all those slow animations, 90 seconds would be decent. We need something as close as embrava, and no - Perfect Defense - does not count.

As a pet based job - summoner is the lowest on the totem pole. Beast and Pup both beat it easily when it comes to damage output. I mean if SE wants us to be a pet DD job with mp to put checks and balance then they need to tweak the avatar hp and damage. Otherwise they should revise our avatar favor ability. I mean look at scholar where they can be a very good magic damage and also buffer/healer with no disadvantage at being able to switch around as needed. We should be able to switch between pet DD (slightly less than beast) or buffers (quite good as bard or corsair but can only have 1 instead of 2 effects).

Talk about being undeservingly entitled. Almost everything you just said reeks of greed and ignorance. Yes, this is a two-hour ability, that's why it increases our damage output immensely. Even with 30 seconds that would be enough for (at least) six BPs in 30 seconds. That's about a 900% increase in damage. That's nine times the normal damage you do. One minute duration would mean 1800% increase in damage. And you say up to 90 seconds is "minimum"? You say that's a 20min JA? Name any other ability (normal or two-hour) that increases damage output this much. Hell even Hundred Fists on a haste/MA-less MNK doesn't compare. The only reason it would win is because MNK does more damage natively already. But for a percentual boost, it outdoes Hundred Fists by a large margin.

And that's still disregarding your next inane statement. Perfect Defense is very much as good as Embrava. It's for defense what Embrava is for offense. Apart from Nyzul Isle Uncharted there's nothing I'm aware of that takes an Embrava without a matching Perfect Defense. It basically makes you immune to damage, including enfeebles. How is that not already amazing?

It sounds like you're just butthurt that you're just used as a PD whore and your SMN is not really considered outside of it. But know what? The exact same thing applies to SCH. No, SCH is not a "very good magic damage" dealer. They're about average. Average at something that even great is not enough for. How many BLM do you know who are called to deal damage? BLM is a proc job these days. For proper events it's entirely unwelcome, unlike SMN.

And what does this have to do with Avatar's Favor? How is that related to being a DD? And why the BST comparisons? Yes BST is a better DD but so is WAR. Just because they're both pet jobs doesn't mean they're the same, BST and SMN are used for entirely different purposes. Need a dispensable mob? BST fails completely. Need magic damage? BST fails completely. Comparing them is pointless.

If you're at all serious about anything you said, you are entirely delusional to a degree that's hard to comprehend. I fear I'm getting trolled here big time. And if that was indeed your goal, kudos, you got me.

If you wanna take anything away from this post, let it be this: I love SMN. I would love for SMN to get actual boosts. But this two-hour ability does not count. Not because it isn't amazing (it most certainly and definitely is), but because two-hour abilities are, by design, almost useless. We need something outside of situational abilities that will help boost our skills, be it offensive or defensive. Two-hour abilities should never have been in the game at all. But as far as they go, this one is truly awesome.