November 2019 Update Impression

[Xilk]

I have tested the pets more thoroughly, and I have to admit we got at least a little bit from the 'new' pets.

The evasion for the weevilFamiliar / Angelica is the best of any pet. it is honestly good enough to be useful. It is definitely the best for an evasion tank. so there is some mild improvement here. I still don't know what content to use an evasion tank on though.

Also, SweetCaroline appears to do better damage than Hermes.
So I would say there are mild stat improvements with the new pets.


I am very curious and nervous about the adjustments coming up in January. It could be awesome, or it could be terrible.

I did not expect an adjustment to merits. IIRC only spellcasting jobs have gotten merit adjustments so far by taking spells only learned thru merits out of the merit category and replacing it with something more stat or job ability related.

This does not apply to Beastmaster because we have no spells, of course.

So it beggers the question:
Which Merit categories will change? and How?

Killer Effects?
I hope not.
I would not complain at all if the killer effects potency was increased. It is a completely awesome and situational tool as it is. I do not see a need to change it at all. However if it went to +2 per merit instead of +1 it would be that much sweeter. It would help Beastmaster cap Killer effects more easily and much more efficiently. Increasing it WOULD improve the master's damage dealing and defensive capabilities a little bit.

Reward Recast?
I don't imagine a change to this either.
Again, improving it a little would be welcome, but really not very meaningful. Removing or changing the overall recast cap would be preferable in my opinion.

Call Beast Recast?
I don't imagine this will change either. Thru equipment and merits we can already reduce this to a very functional interval. This is one area where I would not be too upset if they replaced this merit category for something better. However, I bet many other beastmasters would disagree with me on this point. Its nice to have this category, it would be unpleasant to lose it, unless something much better replaced it. but why even remove it? why not just add something else?

Sic Recast?
This is the scariest and most hopeful possibility for change. IF they increased this BUT added an Overall cap to sic/ready recast reduction (the current 10s would be fine, imo), It would be EXACTLY the request and hope of many beastmasters out there. This would remove our dependence on Charmer's Merlin dual wield support jobs and open up the playing field. HOWEVER, if recast were increased instead, it would a HUGE nerf to the job as a whole.

Tame Recast?
Oh please replace this with something better!! Because Charm has been nerfed to oblivion, Tame and Gauge are completely useless job abilities. Tame cannot be used when you have a pet! it was almost completely useless even when charm was highly useful. Replacing this with another category would be plenty welcome, unless they fix charm and tame instead.

Feral Howl?
This ability would welcome a little tweaking. Increasing duration would be welcome, reducing recast would be welcomg, making it aoe even with a shorter duration would be welcome. Any combination would be interesting and useful... as long as its not nerfed worse than it currently is.

Killer Instinct:
I don't expect any change here. This is one of my favorite Abilities on Beastmaster. If we could full time the ability I would be happy. However, I don't think it needs any changes at all.

Beast Affinity?
This one makes me as hopeful and nervous as messing with Sic Recast. This has potential to make or break the job also.

On one hand, this merit category really annoys me. It was the first 'ability' beastmaster has that says "rent goes up to keep the same thing you have." Square Enix designed some really great pets for beastmaster. Not all, but I really love the variety and balance of beastmaster pets.... but then the pets have level caps... AND you cannot use those abilities effectively anymore. If you want to keep them, you have to trade off other merit capabilities for them. So the NEED for this merit category has annoyed me since level 75 was the cap. It has gotten even MORE troublesome as we become more dependent upon called pets instead of charmed pets.

ON THE OTHER HAND, an increase to this category would fill one of the most desired options for Beastmaster. If Amigo Sabotender, Crude Raphie, Fatso Fargann, PrestoJulio, BloodclawShasra, FaithfulFalcor, LuckyLulush, and Crafty Clyvonne could reach level 119, then the loss of unique pets would be quelled. This would be ALOT of fun to use these pets in more varied and higher level content.

Likewise, a Nerf to adding 15 levels to our called pets would be devastating to the Job.

Beast Healer?
This ability is not nearly as useless as tame recast. However it simply has not scaled appropriately with the rest of our pets. I know several completely pet-focused players will continue to use it. I simply don't find it very useful. Even if you use 5/5 merits and the augment on the relic feet, you only get another 10 hp / tic regen. Which is another 600 hp over the course of reward's regen effect. Its not terrible, but its also not very useful at present.

IF beastmaster had a reliable way to build enmity on pet it might fill into a tanking roll. However, I don't need that 10/tic regen at present. I can mitigate damage thru gear and I'm only getting 200 hp maybe bfore I can use reward again. That is not significant enough for the current game. if it were a stronger effect it could be much more valuable.

tldr: I would love to see the improvements in Sic/Ready recast and beast healer, but I'm also nervous of a careless nerf in this regard.

Otherwise Replacing tame recast and improving or replacing beast healer would be welcome.

I wouldn't want any of the other merits changed especially, but a few minor buffs would be welcome.