Ifrit Weapon Itemization

[Keftenk]

To those that have them and will have them in the future, the lance, bow, axe, and fist weapons are rather beastly since the proc rate and dmg rate of the proc is so high, buckled with the high raw damage. It would take a bit to out parse these weapons even with materia'd crafted gear.

However, when it comes to the caster items (and sort of the sword) I'm left wondering what the hell is wrong with the itemization team of SE.

First and for most, the caster weapons seem to follow the path of FFXI weapons (for the added effect); ala Claustrum and Mjollnir. I really don't know what SE's obsession is with mages meleeing, but why is this still in place? It's true the fire effect proc's off of Spirit Dart and Phantom Dart, but again what mage is spamming that every 10 seconds? Let alone, on some targets, the add effect actually does more then the regular hit, whats up with that lol?

Secondly, the additional 20 magic potency isn't comparable to the NQ + zero materia weapons out there. If anything, the Ifrit weapons are for overall nuking (nuking of multiple elements), but when you look at your alternatives, it actually isn't even that much better then the NQ + zero materia weapons.

You have the conjurer wands which are +3 to +4 magic potency then +20 to +24 of its elemental potency and then you have the brands which are +12 to +22 magic potency with +6 to +11 additional elemental potency.

So what exactly are the caster weapons for? Looks?

If the melee weapons are rather useful and not just for looks, then why aren't the caster weapons? Shouldn't the added fire effect be changed to something like +10 or +20 additional fire element potency?

It seems that as long as you're sticking to 1 nuke family (Ancient Magic/Shadow Sear > Tier2 Element > Scourge/Banish 2) then the NQ weapons with no materia are clearly a better fit.

I'm a healer, none of this matters to me since nothing from the encounter benefits me and I'm fine with crafted weapons + materia'd being better, but this isn't the case. It just bugs me that SE is still stuck in their XI ways with itemization. Is there one guy or a team that looks at these things? Do they even play D:?

[Rau]

Nukes barely work, even with awesome stats >.>

[Molly_Millions]

Nukes barely work, even with awesome stats >.>

what? 1500 damage from is nothing to scoff at. try some ancient magic first

[Keftenk]

Nukes barely work, even with awesome stats >.>

Our mages can get off 500ish Tornado's often on Ifrit, average is something more like 250-350 though. Can get way, way higher with some actual gear on trash mobs anywhere else.

[Estellios]

I'm glad they actually HAVE magic stats on them... looking at you Claustrum -_-;

I still want that CNJ staff even if it's not the best, it looks awesome and is still very much usable and will be a wonderful backup when I blow up my 724th Jade Crook.

[Keftenk]

I fear for XIV relics if this is a snapshot at what they could be like ;\

[Req]

From a historical perspective though, relics or any sort of weapon on mage have never really been good in a final fantasy MMO. Even in XI for the most part people would use the elemental staves over any sort of relic weapon because they were outright terrible. For the most part mage damage comes from gear other than the weapon. With that being said. Ifrit needs to give me my spear.

[Keftenk]

I suppose that's true, but why not break the mold. Just doesn't make much sense to me why development and resources would go into these items with no use at all except for aesthetics. /shrug I understand if items get replaced with newer content, but this is the new content.

[Req]

Without the THM weapon you can't have a rave. I am pretty sure that is what the devs were going for when they made it. In all honesty though, nuking on a mage is damn near worthless at the moment unless you have like 10 mages nuking at the same time. I would rather they fix that over giving them weapons that will be better than the gear that is out considering even if it is better it will still suck.

[Molly_Millions]

all you guys saying you're doing like 500 damage tops must be doing something wrong. I keep hearing from mages that they are doing more damage, not less. Are you using ancient magic? profundity?

try this:

ancient magic (if CON) -> elemental DoT -> profundity -> elemental spell or Shadow Sear