Quote Originally Posted by Pixela View Post
FFXI has lots of different pieces of gear, they have fast cast stats on gear and they have potency stats on gear (to use an example, there are many others). Due to limitations on the macro system, you can't equip fast cast at the start of a spell and swap to cure potency midcast to get the benefits of both. (the main issue is macro changes are capped to 1 second, which isn't fast enough)

In most cases you have to pick one or the other, you either cast slower and get stronger spells or the opposite. This makes 3rd party tools, almost required. It puts players who don't at a massive disadvantage. This mainly impacts mages but also tank jobs, melee jobs can get away with it and be far less impacted.

Since there is no way to fix the macro system without massive amounts of work the easiest fix is to make more synergy options, allow players to fuse fast cast pieces with potency pieces.

Not only will this allow players to get big boosts to their performance in a vanilla experience, but it also reduces issues with gear bloat.

I'm not talking about all gear being merged, I love being able to swap gear. However in certain cases it just doesn't work right now, fast cast and potency are a prime example.

Alternatively add new pieces of gear for ear / neck that give both fast cast and potency on one item.
Firstly, you claimed that it is 'not possible to equip fastcast at the start of a spell and swap to potency gear to get the benefits of both', this is not accurately true as it only occurs with very high fastcast % combined with spells of a low duration casting time. Therefore it is indeed possible to use fastcast gear followed by potency gear with the benefit of both. You will need to adjust your FC set accordingly with the spell you are casting. So for example, it's pointless to use fastcast to cast a 0.5 second casting time spell like Flash.

While casting Thunder V for example, which takes 7.5 seconds, a 50% FC set will bring that down to around 3.75 seconds, and an 80% FC set will bring it down to 1.5 seconds. Therefore, you may find it suitable to use 60%~70% FC set for Thunder V with the benefit of both FC and Nuking potency.

Apply the same above concept to your spells, and find a perfect balance.

Conclusion:
- FC works with potency gear
- Native client players are NOT at a massive disadvantage