Cloudsplitter

[Keinn]

I have a pretty decent cloudsplitter set if I do say so myself. I'm only missing twilight body(using osode instead) and MAB rings(using STR+7 MND+5). Atmas aside, my BST/NIN cloudsplitter usually hovers around 900 in abyssea @100TP (Give or take a hundred).

-TP bonus atma: can boost damage up from 900 to 1200.
-Ultimate: boosts it a little better from 900 to 1350.
-Lion: boosts it comparably to TP bonus from 900 to 1170 + adds triple attack and a damage taken reduction.

I can get cloudsplitter up to around 1600 going RR + Ultimate + Lion
I 2000-3200 regularly with rampage in abyssea with RR+VV alone. Adding in Sang.Scythe, I've had rampage break 4000 on more than one occasion.

I have, though, considered making the TP bonus+100 axe now that I know it can be used in the off hand. With that axe, using RR/Ultimate/Lion, I assume I can get Cloudsplitter to a consistant 2100 damage at 100 TP. Thats still not gonna beat rampage, but its nice to be able to get it that much closer..

Still, others in my group went H2H, Sword, Katana, Bow, Etc. I envy their 4k CDCs, 5k Blade:Hi's, 7k Victory Smites, and 9k Jishnu's Radiances. Picked axe cause I love BST. It was a trap XD

[Areola]

Still, others in my group went H2H, Sword, Katana, Bow, Etc. I envy their 4k CDCs, 5k Blade:Hi's, 7k Victory Smites, and 9k Jishnu's Radiances. Picked axe cause I love BST. It was a trap XD

I fell for it too T_T. But in the bright side I'm almost done with my bow now.

[Stabbytabby]

It's lovely that it is an awesome weapon skill for brewing, but what about the other 99.9999999% of the time we are playing the game?

This. I shouldn't still be using Rampage 97% of the time. With other ws like CDC, Ukko, etc. I don't see many Emp holders still using a L55 weaponskill and yet here I am with my cool new weapon using the same macro I made in 2005.

Also, since it's a magic ws it's unaffected by the base dmg of the weapon so it'll need a substantial fix to scale properly all the way to 99 as the physical dmg Emps get more base dmg added to them. CSplitter will be even less impressive compared to ws like Sanguine as CSplitter has no dINT/dCHR bit in the formula so you can't even stack a stat to up the dmg.

Another strike against CSplitter as it stands is that while jobs like war and thf will get new traits and gear that boost crits, double and triple attack, etc. the best bst can look forward to minor stat increases as the sole boost to csplitter via the mod. (I assume this is primarily a bst ws as war gets Ukko's and seems unlikely to dual axe much anymore. I have war90 and rarely do.)

How about borrowing from the Mythics and having the aftermath work on my pet as well? Then it's a conditional boost to the ws, if solo, use Rampage, if you have a pet out, Csplitter.

Short version: I shouldn't wistfully be looking at every other Emp ws and regretting my choice, not on an Emp used by 2 different DD jobs. Fixing it and keeping it balanced will not be easy, but, a fix is badly needed. If it makes it easier to balance for SE, that fix should be tilted towards bst as it's the only Emp bst gets.

[Gotterdammerung]

The only problem i have with the whole "let pets have aftermath" idea

Aftermath is kinda sucky. It doesn't proc enough to justify itself. And half the time the duration is wasted changing from mob to mob.

Don't get me wrong, Pets getting aftermath would be cool. But if thats the only change they made to cloudsplitter it would still suck.

It needs a serious damage boost to make it viable. It should easily be twice as strong as other normal Magic WS's

Side Note:
Personally i think aftermath should be based on a swing counter not a duration. I.E. 100% tp = 10 swings with a chance to deal double dmg ect ect. And the counter should overwrite (not stack) Ex. I have 3 swings left but i use WS at 100% and now im back at 10 swing counters (insted of still being at 3 or stacking to 13).

[Stabbytabby]

The only problem i have with the whole "let pets have aftermath" idea

Aftermath is kinda sucky. It doesn't proc enough to justify itself. And half the time the duration is wasted changing from mob to mob.

Don't get me wrong, Pets getting aftermath would be cool. But if thats the only change they made to cloudsplitter it would still suck.

It needs a serious damage boost to make it viable. It should easily be twice as strong as other normal Magic WS's
.

I may have been unclear so let me make it easier to read should a Dev skim this before morning coffee/tea.

CLOUSPLITTER'S DAMAGE IS MUCH TOO WEAK COMPARED TO OTHER EMPYREAL WS.

I think Farsha needs a serious boost to compete with the other Empyreals. An increase in the CS base damage and perhaps some kind of additional effect.

It needs a substantial boost to its damage to even compete with a old ws like Rampage let alone other Empyreal ws. That said, I fear SE is unlikely to raise the damage significantly as I'm sure it was originally made so low for some odd balance issue the same way SE 'balances' many pet job things. (Looking at you, Drum Magazine and the 'no Samba for pets' emergency update.) If I'm wrong and the low damage is an oversight and it's increased to be where I'd normally use it over Rampage that'd be fine.

However, as I suspect the 'elemental ws fix' will be used as the underwhelming silver bullet that 'fixes' my Farsha, copying the aftermath to the pet as an additional effect as well seems reasonable as the Mythic already does this. It also comes with a built in balance factor by not jacking up the already extremely powerful Warrior due to his lack of pets and by the Beastmaster needing a live pet to benefit.

(This post made before my own coffee, so please be kind. ^^)

SIDE REPLY: You raise a good point about the weakness of aftermath, but, I was thinking more of a fix for this weaponskill than an overhaul for all Emps. While your idea has merit it wouldn't change the relative power between the ws, which is what I'm more concerned with. Wildfire, Ukko, etc. hardly need more DD power. This seems more like it needs its own topic so I'll leave it here.

[Septimus]

Not to sound too much like a Negative-Nancy or a Debbie-Downer, but I think the Farasha and Cloudsplitter are so weak compared to other Empyrean Weapons to try to crush the spirit of the few remaining dual-wielding Warriors. Beastmasters are just collateral damage in Square's war against /NIN.

[Keinn]

ROFL Septimus

[Septimus]

ROFL Septimus

Come on, tell me that I am wrong. :P

[Calamity]

Not to sound too much like a Negative-Nancy or a Debbie-Downer, but I think the Farasha and Cloudsplitter are so weak compared to other Empyrean Weapons to try to crush the spirit of the few remaining dual-wielding Warriors. Beastmasters are just collateral damage in Square's war against /NIN.

Well, the one problem I see with this theory is how damn much SE seems to want war to single wield lately. I mean out of nowhere they decided to give war shield defense bonus, shield mastery, and the highest level of fencer out of any job that can use it. I'm not saying that a powerful 1 handed axe WS would have made this scenario any more likely, but it woulda been the next logical step in their chosen direction

[Byrth]

Well, the one problem I see with this theory is how damn much SE seems to want war to single wield lately. I mean out of nowhere they decided to give war shield defense bonus, shield mastery, and the highest level of fencer out of any job that can use it. I'm not saying that a powerful 1 handed axe WS would have made this scenario any more likely, but it woulda been the next logical step in their chosen direction

I agree that this is what it looks like they're trying to do, but it shows a level of game mechanics confusion that's rivaled by only the most impressively ignorant players. What do they think we're going to do, single wield WAR/MNK with Counterstance and a shield?