Skillchains

[Cream_Soda]

One thing to keep in mind is that players won't always get TP at the same rate, so the damage dealt by the MB is/SC is going to have to make up for the TP that is "lost" when someone has to hold it to wait for the other player to get their TP.

[Karbuncle]

One thing to keep in mind is that players won't always get TP at the same rate, so the damage dealt by the MB is/SC is going to have to make up for the TP that is "lost" when someone has to hold it to wait for the other player to get their TP.

Aye, This is why i suggested they increase the "Skillchain window" to about ~15 seconds. Definitely helps alleviate that problem a bit.

Maybe ~20. But the window is too small and as you pointed out, forces people to "Store TP", Generally Skillchain Damage won't make up for the Damage lost storing TP...

[Jalonis]

Solo skillchaining is still the only real TP efficient way to do skillchains.

[Soundwave]

I feel that this should of been happening during the time people were making serious attempts with the one that rhymes with Absolute Virture....

[Alhanelem]

I think the bonus applied for multi-weaponskill chains should be increased (e.g. when 3 or more WS are used in a skillchain.

That said- The resistance change is a subtle one but it makes sense and would certainly be a welcome improvement.

[Yinnyth]

The problem with skillchains goes much deeper than skillchains simply not producing much damage. Hell, skillchains can produce MASSIVE damage currently under the right circumstances, but those circumstances are so few and far between that the overbearing tactic is simply to burn TP everytime you hit 100 no matter what. The problems include:

1). At the higher levels of gameplay, TP gain is enormous. Double march, haste, SAM roll, and various pieces of store TP gear, and if you even attempt to coordinate a SC, everyone's TP will be capped at 300 long before they know the other players are paying attention and ready for the skillchain and magic burst. Proposed fix: Increase the maximum TP, force more powerful weaponskills to require a higher starting TP, and/or vastly increase the effect that higher TP has on weaponskills.

2). Skillchains are only as powerful as the weaponskill which closes the skillchain, which means it's really only worth doing a skillchain if you can close the skillchain with a powerful weaponskill. Powerful weaponskills are few and far between- there are always dominant WSs for each weapon which blow the other WSs out of the water in terms of damage. This puts ridiculous restrictions on your ability to create useful skillchains (except for extremely higher levels of gameplay where everyone in your party has an empyrean weapon which, for the most part, all have strong WSs that are really easy to SC with). When deciding on skillchains, the conversation usually turns to "Ok, this is our most powerful weaponskill, so we'll close with it, and you have to use a weak, gimpy weaponskill to open the skillchain." Eventually people just figured out they could all do more damage by using their most powerful weaponskills and ignoring skillchains. Proposed solution: Revisit all the underused weaponskills and make them more closely match the damage potential of that one weaponskill everyone with that weapon just tends to spam. Furthermore, add more higher level doppelganger weaponskills which are stronger than their lower level versions but keep the same skillchain properties. Wasp sting >> viper bite >> miasmic stab, for example.

3). Magic bursts are nearly worthless. First of all, unless the creature outright dies from the magic burst, you're building enormous hate on your most delicate party members. Second, the damage gained from setting up a magic burst is negligible, especially considering the amount of refresh that mages are capable of achieving now. It's simply better for everyone to spam all willy nilly. Proposed fix: Remove the "damage growth" from magic bursting on longer skillchains and set a fixed bonus to magic burst damage of 150%. Furthermore, reduce the enmity generated via magic burst damage.

4). Skillchains can be, and too frequently are resisted. That's ridiculous and there's really nothing the player can do to decrease the chances of their skillchain getting pwnt by random chance. Proposed fix: It's my opinion that skillchains-- and elemental weaponskills for that matter-- should have a magic accuracy based on the players skill with the weapon, and the attribute modifiers of the weaponskill. This means you could improve the magic accuracy of a skillchain ending in dancing edge by equipping more CHR equipment, and you could increase the magic accuracy of red lotus blade by increasing your sword skill or equipping more STR or INT gear.

5). Recent NMs are capable of absorbing damage at various periods of time, Glavoid being one of the worst skillchain killers. Not only does he simply absorb skillchain damage while he's casting, but he casts frequently and randomly, he increases the damage of anything he absorbs beyond its normal damage potential, he gains a stoneskin effect proportional to any healing he receives, and his Disgorge damage is supposedly increased by any absorbed damage. For these reasons, skillchains are a big taboo on Glavoid and many other NMs under most circumstances. Proposed fix: Make skillchain damage impossible to absorb except for special cases such as perhaps Shinryu.

Other thoughts:

-Add more tactical benefits to skillchains and magic bursts, such as adding newer, more powerful spells/JAs which can inflict devastatingly strong status effects but but have a 0% chance of working unless bursted on the appropriate skillchain (doom, terror, plague, mute, amnesia, stop, charm, curse, demi, stun II).

-Increase the potency of debuffs which land as a magic burst. For example, double the attribute penalty of elemental debuffs (burn, shock, etc) and absorb spells when they land as a magic burst.

-COSMIC ELUCIDATION

[KigenAngelios]

Seems like modeling skill-chains more like FFXIV is the way to go because like many have said it should not be all about the magic burst window. Why not have a tr ansfixion skillchain have added effects beyond damage, like transfix can give mobs a lower acc for 15-30secs (mimicing flash without using flash). If you can make skillchains more tacticly based like in 14 they may be used more in HNM situations.

Also can we get cosmic eludication now? =p

Also all jobs (or at the very least DNC) should have abilities to use 100% TP and conserve the rest on a WS like that one samurai ability.

[LeaderofAtlantis]

Here's my idea for making Skillchains more useful (and perhaps giving a reason for certain jobs that might not normally SC to get involved) - stat bonuses for SCs to those who are part of the SC. Now I know that sounds like it could get overpowered, but let me explain. Let's say you have a SAM and a THF working together since this is a combination I've used time and again in my very long FFXI life.

1) SAM uses Tachi: Enpi > THF uses Gust Slash (just an example, don't go ripping into the weak SC). This causes a Detonation skill chain to occur and, for say, 30 seconds, the SAM and THF gain a bonus to AGI. If the THF closes with Dancing Edge instead, this causes Distortion and both would receive a bonus to MND and INT. Doing Tachi: Kasha > Shark Bite would cause a Light SC and both would gain bonuses to STR, DEX, AGI, and CHR.

2) The bonus would scale upward with job levels, day of the week, weather, and TP. For job levels, the bonus would be stat +1 at Lv. 1-10, +2 at Lv.11-20, and so on. For Day of the week, if the day of the week aligns with your SC, the duration of the effect increases by 50% (so 45 seconds). For weather, it increases by 50% (combined with day it would mean the duration would be 60 seconds). For TP, for every 1% over 100% TP, the duration increases by 1%. So effectively, if you did a SC at 300% TP, the duration of the effect would be 1 minute and 30 seconds.

Now I know you're looking at that and thinking "couldn't that be abused big time?" You're right, it could be (especially by SAM mains and /SAMs) if there wasn't this catch - doing a new SC with an old effect still in place, will not overwrite the old effect, nor will the effects be accumulative. In other words, the best you could ever hope for the duration of an effect, assuming the right day, double weather, and 300% TP, would be 2 minutes and 15 seconds (all % increases based off the original 30 seconds).

3) SC off of a SC will cause the stat bonus to go up by +1 for a secondary Lv1 SC (Transfixion, Detonation, etc.), +2 for Lv2 (Distoration, Fragmentation, etc.) and +3 for a Lv3 SC (Light or Darkness). This effect IS cumulative, but once the duration of the initial effect is over, it all goes away.

I hope I've clarified this enough, but that's my idea for making SCs more appealing. Any questions on clarification, feel free to ask.

[Glamdring]

Don't go overboard tho', have the most recent skillchain Aftermath be the only one in effect. If you could just have 2 samurai Self SC light, then dark in the 1st 5 seconds of a fight the NM would have lowerred resistance to every element, and any semblance of balance goes right out the window.

[LeaderofAtlantis]

Don't go overboard tho', have the most recent skillchain Aftermath be the only one in effect. If you could just have 2 samurai Self SC light, then dark in the 1st 5 seconds of a fight the NM would have lowerred resistance to every element, and any semblance of balance goes right out the window.

The lowered resistance only lasts as long as the Magic Burst timer is in effect. I assume so that a Magic Burst can't be resisted at all.