Merit Weapon Skill Adjustments April Update

[Masamune11]

Could we please get some clarification? Are we talking a buff or nerf here? Are DRKs going to be running back to scythes again? Very interested.

[Zumi]

Merit Point Weapon Skills

This is a topic we have seen in threads asking to increase the cap on the merit point weapon skill category.
Instead of adjusting the cap value, we are currently looking into adjusting the modifier values so that these weapon skills can be used with a single merit point.

We are envisioning to make it so 1 merit point will yield a 65% status modifier, and each point afterwards will grant an addition 5% for a maximum of 85% (no changes to the max value).

Current
1 Merit gets 17% mod each merit after adds 17% more to the modifier for a total of 85%

Next Patch
1 Merit gets 65% mod each merit after adds 5% more to the modifier for a total of 85%

This isn't what we wanted at all and we are very limited on the jobs we can play. A lot of the my melee jobs are now benched because I can't get their merit WS. Being gimped isn't an option for me so they will stay benched until they up the merit cap which they already said they didn't want to do.

[Demon6324236]

Could we please get some clarification? Are we talking a buff or nerf here? Are DRKs going to be running back to scythes again? Very interested.

It is not a nerf, it is an adjustment so that 1 merit gives 65% rather than 17%, with each additional merit giving 5% rather than 17%, so that they both cap at 85% but you can put in less merits for a much better effect than before.

[Hayward]

I see nothing wrong with frontloading the stat mods like this. This allows for much more experimentation (Shattersoul for SMN, for example) and flexibility (Realmrazer for club PLDs and Entropy/Upheaval for DRKs). This is a move in the right direction for those of us who have more than 1 preferred job.

[Alhanelem]

I see nothing wrong with frontloading the stat mods like this. This allows for much more experimentation (Shattersoul for SMN, for example) and flexibility (Realmrazer for club PLDs and Entropy/Upheaval for DRKs). This is a move in the right direction for those of us who have more than 1 preferred job.

This.

While it won't please the hyper-perfectionists (whom can never be pleased by anything), it does give a few inches more freedom.

[Zumi]

I see nothing wrong with frontloading the stat mods like this. This allows for much more experimentation (Shattersoul for SMN, for example) and flexibility (Realmrazer for club PLDs and Entropy/Upheaval for DRKs). This is a move in the right direction for those of us who have more than 1 preferred job.

Its not a good move that 20% modifier makes a huge difference in WS damage. Your WS will be doing less damage if they aren't capped there is no arguing that point. For the hardcore end game player there is no choice, you still have to have 5/5 on your weapons skills no going 1/5 with a bunch of gimped ones.

[Alhanelem]

Its not a good move that 20% modifier makes a huge difference in WS damage. Your WS will be doing less damage if they aren't capped there is no arguing that point. For the hardcore end game player there is no choice, you still have to have 5/5 on your weapons skills no going 1/5 with a bunch of gimped ones.

going 2 or 3 / 5 closes that gap sufficently for the WS to be better than alternatives in most of not all cases where the WS is better at 5/5.

3/5 in 5 WS lets you merit enough weapon skills that most of your jobs will have one they can use.

[Taint2]

In a game where people will pay 8mil for 1 extra STR. (or more) 3/5,4/5 in a WS is not going to be acceptable for much of the player base. They really just need to raise the cap to 25 total points. Give us 5 5/5 WSs.

[Zumi]

Yea pretty much, FFXI is a game where people will pay 200m for Huginn Gambieras which only net you +9 str over ravg.+2 feet.

Going 3/5 or 2/5 or whatever on WS is just out of the question for most people.

[Alhanelem]

In a game where people will pay 8mil for 1 extra STR. (or more) 3/5,4/5 in a WS is not going to be acceptable for much of the player base. They really just need to raise the cap to 25 total points. Give us 5 5/5 WSs.

IMHO, only crazy people do that. Of course, crazy people might have more gil than I do.