BST adjustment did not address the problem, Devs please read

[Olor]

I am so disappointed in the devs. Not reupping my sub this month. If BST are intended to be front line, then we need front line JAs, front line stats, and armor that applies to both master and pet. We have none of that.

BST has been back line for more than a decade. Why ruin it now?

[Jile]

SE Devs. Just another reminder that the JA's do not work when we're standing behind mob's we're FIGHTING. This is obscenely designed, please review and adjust it so we can be in MELEE RANGE behind any mob we're fighting with our JA's functioning. We're still waiting for gear to back up your claim that we're frontline... our pets and ourselves (CANT) be geared to have ACC/ATK/-DT etc at the same time so we're simply forced to be in melee range and using JA's while not bothering to engage ourselves since we cant hit end game content when our pets can and vice versa given the pre-nerf-2015 limitations of our gear and job abilities which were NOT designed around this current 2015-BST intent.

We either need you to backup the assertion (with gear and Job Traits/Abilities) that you want us front line or please restore our JA's and leave us alone before you hemorrhage even more good players due to stubbornness.

I love XI, I hate that you killed the playability of my main job at the end of the game's life - please, Dev's, take action.

[Kensagaku]

While I do want them to improve our JA range, I do want to point out that they have made gearing both master and pet for acc/atk or DT easier as time goes. Sure, not at the same time, but that's why you tap a macro to switch to DT when you see a move or spell and use your Acc/Atk set otherwise. Just examples:

Acc/Atk:
Skullrender Path C x2: 10 Atk/Acc (Master), 20 Atk/Acc , 8% Haste, and 5% DA (pet) each.
Despair Helm Path C: 30 Acc and 20 Atk (Master), 20 Acc/Atk (Pet)
Valorous Mail: Acc+20, DA+2, PDT-2% (Master), Up to Acc/Atk+20~30 (augments for pet).
Emicho Haubert Path C: Acc/Atk+15, DA+3 (Master), Acc/Atk+15, DA+3, DT-3% (Pet)
Emicho Gauntlets Path D: Acc+35, STP+6, DW+5 (Master), Acc/Atk+20, STP+6 (Pet)
Despair Greaves Path C: Acc+27, DA+2 (Master), Acc+17 (Pet)
Pastoralist's Mantle: Acc+10/Atk+20 (Master), Atk+20 (Pet), Acc up to +15 and DT up to -4% (Pet Augments)

Assuming Valorous Mail is out of reach and you go with Emicho, you're looking at:
+137 Acc, +75 Atk, +5 DA, +5 DW, +6 STP (Master)
+112~127 Acc, +105 Atk, +13 DA, +6 STP, -3~7% DT, +16% Haste

And this isn't including accessories which can boost your stats or your pet's stats higher. Empath Necklace gives +10 Acc to the master, and +10 Acc/+5 Atk to the pet. Get a good Angel Ring aug from the last fight of ACP, I've got Acc+4/Pet: Acc+6 on my augments. Waist you can do Hurch'lan Sash, with Acc+15 for them master and Acc+10/Haste+5% for the pet. Earrings you'd have to consider between the two, and I'd probably do something like Cessance/Zennanori for extra master acc, or DW earrings if you don't need that extra Acc. Legs, which were not listed above, you can do Acro with a Pet: Acc aug to get 10 acc for the master and up to 25 Acc for the pet. And then there's other augs such as Pet: Pet: Haste (which, if you get 4%, caps your pet haste via gear with the stuff above).

As for a DT build, here's what I currently use:
Izizoeksi (Pet: DT-5%) / Kumbhakarna (Aug'd with Pet: PDT-4%) / X / Vanir Battery (MDB+4)
Jumalik Helm (PDT-5%) / Twilight Torque (DT-5%) / Handler's Earring (Pet: PDT-3%) / Handler's Earring +1 (Pet: PDT-4%)
Jumalik Mail (DT-8%) / Ankusa Gloves (Pet: PDT-3%) / Dark Ring (PDT-4%/MDT-4%) / Dark Ring (PDT-4%/MDT-6%)
Pastoralist's Mantle (Pet: DT-3%) / Isa Belt (Pet: DT-3%) / Taeon Pants (Pet: DT-4%) / Taeon Boots (Pet: DT-2%)

I pop this on when I see a TP move or spell coming. Gives, in terms of PDT/MDT: 26 PDT/23 MDT (Master) and 31 PDT/17 MDT (Pet). With Shell V on the master (via trust), that nearly caps MDT, or with Shell III from the scroll, you're only 6% lower. If I capped my augs and got some DT- luck on Taeon hands to switch those in (assuming a cap of -4% on all Taeon), pet defenses start looking like 33 PDT/24 MDT. With Stout Servant, that's an additional -9% DT, so we look at 42 PDT/33 MDT.

So yeah, of late they have done a lot better for creating hybridized gear for us, and we can adapt to situations with a variety of gear sets. They still need to do something like double our current JA range though.

[Xilk]

testing if I really am banned.

nope. Thats good. still don't know why my bug report was locked and marked as information needed.

yeah, the rationale is changing on this. I think the buggy-ness is gone now, but the range is still ridiculous. oh well.

[dasva]

testing if I really am banned.

nope. Thats good. still don't know why my bug report was locked and marked as information needed.

yeah, the rationale is changing on this. I think the buggy-ness is gone now, but the range is still ridiculous. oh well.

Naw still buggy. Just last night I was standing between the mob and my pet and ready still wouldn't go off a decent amount of the time

[kylani]

Naw still buggy. Just last night I was standing between the mob and my pet and ready still wouldn't go off a decent amount of the time

Same was happening to me before I quit. Meleeing WITH my pet on ONE mob, and commands not working. I switched over to BLM for a bit, because it was irritating not being able to rely on my abilities. I've always loved BST though, so even though I had no trouble on BLM, I stopped playing because I loved BST, and playing just made me sad/mad. No other job has to worry about their abilities not firing when they are well within range... It's like random amnesia, without any notification/sign of amnesia.

With the holidays, I'm better off anyway, but still check to see if they fix it. At this point, I don't think SE cares or will fix it, and to be honest, I'm probably better off getting weaned off now. For those who remain, I do hope they fix the inconsistent behavior. It's lousy to have the job this buggy/unreliable.

[HopefulNAPlayer]

Any update on an actual fix for Beastmaster? ...At the very least, there is no reason that Reward should be subject to this range distance. (I mean, Fight command isn't!)

[Gwydion]

Any update on an actual fix for Beastmaster? ...At the very least, there is no reason that Reward should be subject to this range distance. (I mean, Fight command isn't!)

My pet dies needlessly because of the 7 yalm reward distance as well. I think if they won't fix Ready Range, maybe fix Reward? I really hope they make plans to do this :/

[hakrev]

My pet dies needlessly because of the 7 yalm reward distance as well. I think if they won't fix Ready Range, maybe fix Reward? I really hope they make plans to do this :/

I have to agree the 7 yalm range is silly. So, I just use dawn mulsums and stand back most of the time, but should reward take a packseat to a spammable item? Is this what is passed off for as balance these days, cuz it's totally and completely NOT balance. Just this evening I faced a monster with a wicked aura effect and couldn't get a single reward off, so i had to get a ton of mulsums to spam cuz my team kept losing. One has to wonder whether any realistic testing went into this range change. My strong guess is not at all, but who knows, maybe it was their intention to ruin a completely working and functional job, which had been sidelined for most of a decade of gaming. Sounds kind of diabolical! *twists mustache and laughs evilly* Muhahahaha

[Jile]

SE.... Have you been reading? JA's are not working properly. Please fix them.