Cait Sith / Atomos

[Kagetachi]

looking at the page here for the basis of Cait Sith's abilities. The link leads to gamerescapes page for the Distorter of Time fight in WotG. (Fight against Bad Cait Sith and Atomos)

Cait Sith uses the following moves
Regal Scratch
Divine Favor - removes all negative status effects by the power of Altana.
Mewing Lullaby
Eerie Eye
Level ? Holy

Thinking about the terms of who Cait Sith is after looking at this fight puts me more at easy with Cait Sith having the raise abilities. Since she is the messenger from Altana.

In the fight Atomos seems to have 2 abilities.

Soul Vacuum - AoE All Status Down
Soul Infusion - Bestows all drain status to target

If Atomos is a 2-hour avatar. Soul Vacuum would make sense as a BP. Actually both could be done with an interesting mechanic. where after you drain the enemies, it would enable a blood pact: ward that would allow the summoner to Bestow all of the status to a target. That would be really cool.

Note: the soul infusion would have a 0 mp cost since you would no mp. Also Atomos would stay out until astral flow ends, he is dismissed or Soul Infusion is used.

[FaeQueenCory]

Whining? How about valid concerns/critiques? I think you need to take a step back and calm down.

I don't see much utility. I have no faith that the amnesia pact is going to land on anything worthwhile. Does it seem likely groups will bring a SMN just for arisega? I don't think so.

Assuming the sleep pact is light based, that will be a nice addition but it really would only affect solo play.

If the potency of the holy spell is good then that will be her saving grace.

Therein lies the problem... if it works even remotely similar to the BCNM version.... then it's gonna be hella variable...
Which is not good for DD.
Sure, it's AoE... but is the cost of an AoE really WORTH the price of damage being so small you just wasted 100mp for? (assumed as it's a 75 BP)
Hopefully She'll be given a single-target-merit-BP-equivalent BP at 80ish.... ala Diabolos and Fenrir's Night Terror and Lunar Bay (80 and 78 respectively).
Heck, Carbuncle got one at 76.... so... who knows.

It's probably because I don't really follow the state of SMN that much but what exactly were we expecting? What did we want Cait Sith to do? What do we want any new avatars to do? I ask these questions sincerely. Aren't these Blood Pacts the same ones from the BCNM? So, it's not like we should be surprised at what we got. We knew that was what we we getting. I guess I'm just confused as to why everyone is so disappointed.

What we were wanting was a replacement for Carbuncle....
A "light Fenrir"... or a "Light Diabolos"... Or even just a "Light phys-2-4-Merit-Buff Avatar" like Ifrit, Garuda, Shiva, Titan, Leviathan and Ramuh.
What we got... was basically Carbuncle again... but with RR2. (though why no RR3? unless.... she can pimp that RR2 out!! .... nah....)

She's not really BAD.... but She's not... good.
She's just kinda... meh.
She really needed the equivalent of Night Terror or Lunar Bay.... Which, I suspect, ??? Holy can reach that level of damage... but that's not a consistent thing... and a normal nuke, not a gimmicky one, was/is needed.


But as I've pointed out, no word on Her Favor (in other words: later update) and Her BPs end at lv75... which all other Avatars gain a few more post 75... so... I'm calling that She's unfinished.
BUT this can actually be a blessing...
There's a dev on the team who not only actually understands how SMN works as a job... but is actively making gear for it that is just... insane. (see SMN's RFs and Nirvana 119)
Not only that... but Matsui himself seems to want to push the job into realizing it's DD-support-tank hybrid status. (it's main purpose is DD, it has great support, and can tank under the right circumstances; and he has said multiple times that he wants to push it's main aspect, DD, further into competitive levels.)
And not only THAT... but Matsui actually listens... to the best of his abilities... he IS being FFXI's God afterall...
So chances are...
They pushed an early implementation of Cait Sith to 1) shut us up, and 2) use our feedback on Her to dictate what Her post-75 BP(s) should be... (Holy 3 anyone?)

And it really won't take much tweaking to make Her the better Carbuncle she was supposed to be.

EDIT:

Thinking about the terms of who Cait Sith is after looking at this fight puts me more at easy with Cait Sith having the raise abilities. Since she is the messenger from Altana.

I found it to be a charming mechanical representation of what She IS:
The Tears of The Goddess.

And what did Altana task Her tears to do?
Raise the dead world to one of life and prosperity.

Though why the hell does the ubergoddess cry kitties?
Supergods like Her and Promathia sure are weird.

[Glamdring]

I'm seeing Caitsith more as a new soloing/lowman avatar with this design, although an AoE Arise is clearly party. as to her lack of combat utility, until I see her hit/dodge I'm gonna withhold judgment on that one. A light based sleep with TP down clearly has utility-if you can keep the idiots from immediately reawakening whatever you slept at least, including Caitsith herself. But that silence/amnesia ability, that has MASSIVE potential, like Aby Proc worth IF SE allows it to work on NMs as well-which is doubtful, or at least any longer than Stun does. The Holy ability, kinda an also ran. still, any new light based avatar has some utility, carby seems to be forgotten endgame. I would like to know what her "Favor" will be.

but based on Caitsith I'm anticipating Atmos will be more combat oriented, either DD or smn's 1st USEFUL tank.

[Rakshaka]

Maybe we should start another thread to discuss Cait Sith; one that has the [dev1185] tag on it.

Edit: nvm, didn't see the tags section at the bottom

[Zeargi]

I know it's been a long time, but let's not forget, they did want to implement 2 more Merit groups for the jobs as well. There may be hope yet that this factor may come back into play.

[Kari]

Only thing I'm thinking about Cait Sith is that Raise II might be practically instant cast. [Do Summons have cast times on any spells? I don't play SMN.]
Potency of some of these pacts may or may not make her useful.

[Imakun]

Only thing I'm thinking about Cait Sith is that Raise II might be practically instant cast. [Do Summons have cast times on any spells? I don't play SMN.]
Potency of some of these pacts may or may not make her useful.

Avatars don't have spells, they are all Blood Pacts and they all have the same casting time except Ramuh's Shock Squall which is a Stun BP.

[FaeQueenCory]

Avatars don't have spells, they are all Blood Pacts and they all have the same casting time except Ramuh's Shock Squall which is a Stun BP.

Same casting time... As each other.
Which is about 6s give or take.
So.... Yes? Her R2s have the potential to be faster casted raises?

[Imakun]

I guess there could be a possibility, but I wouldn't count on it.
If anything, her 2H BP should be the one that's faster for obvious reasons.

EDIT The casting time is definitely less than 6s, more like 4. Shock Squall is a bit less than half of that.

[Glamdring]

I guess there could be a possibility, but I wouldn't count on it.
If anything, her 2H BP should be the one that's faster for obvious reasons.

EDIT The casting time is definitely less than 6s, more like 4. Shock Squall is a bit less than half of that.

is that with or without gear? honestly, I don't know, I haven't played smn naked since like level 7. and I have no idea if "casting time" for avatars are affected by anything, including smn skill. I know there is recast time down gear.