Protect/Shell Duration Increase

[Frein]

No it's not a "horrible" way to look at things.

I mean it's almost the same thing as in other games. The stronger the attack (or job) the slower the class usually is. It's a trade off. They trade off duration for potency and vice versa. Makes perfect sense.

I think they should make the first protect and shell last a bit longer and the second teir protect/shell spells you get should be short like they are now but more potent.

Their logic isn't flawed, and it is supposed to be a nuisance. What will you do? Risk the enmity to cast an AoE buff or sit their and keep healing? The game is finally challenging and here we go with "ZOMG I'M TIRED OF CASTING PROTECT/SHELL"...

No, it actually is a horrible way to look at things. You cannot make short duration the trade-off for potency. People will simply keep re-casting it and remain annoyed because they feel they have to do it. If you really want to limit a strong buff, you put a cooldown on it (think Punishing Barbs) so that it actually cannot be used at all times.

Protect and Shell definitely could use a duration of 30 minutes or even 1 hour. There is nothing skillful about babysitting short buffs that don't drastically alter the outcome of a battle. It's merely incredibly annoying and I find it incredible that you're fine with something being a nuisance by design. We wouldn't want to have fun while playing a game, now would we? That would be just awful!

[Rexus]

Protect and Shell definitely could use a duration of 30 minutes or even 1 hour. There is nothing skillful about babysitting short buffs that don't drastically alter the outcome of a battle. It's merely incredibly annoying and I find it incredible that you're fine with something being a nuisance by design. We wouldn't want to have fun while playing a game, now would we? That would be just awful!

The problem with increasing duration of Pro/Shell is that they become gimmick spells. If you have them last 60 minutes, what is really the point? You could just lower the Att/M.Att of mobs and get the same result.

It 'worked' in FFXI because you needed a WHM to get Pro/Shell 5. Here, anyone can cast Pro/Shell if they really want. There will pretty much never be a situation where you don't have Pro/Shell due to the class system. So then whats the point in having them if they're on 24/7?

Is it also annoying to constantly re-apply poison/bio/dia/etc? Pro/Shell act like any other skill you have to re-apply every 30sec-3minutes. You can't single out these spells when nearly every other skill/ability acts the same way.

They definitely need to increase the potency of Pro/Shell, that's for sure.

[Frein]

The problem with increasing duration of Pro/Shell is that they become gimmick spells. If you have them last 60 minutes, what is really the point? You could just lower the Att/M.Att of mobs and get the same result.

This is a valid point but it is simple to solve by making it CON/WHM only or by making it less potent for off-classes.