Quote Originally Posted by OMEGA_HACK View Post
Huh? So you are saying we shouldn't have separate tiered magic at the end of your post? Because I use the lower tier magics all the time when its MP efficient to do so. Also to say that Fire = Fira = Firaga (or any similar setup) is silly, they are all fire spells yes but they are all different in power and if you are in fact a MP conscious mage then you would use all your tiers and consider them all unique in the fact that they cost less and deal varying amounts of damage.
I am forced to comment on that point. The ONLY difference between Fire/Fira/Firaga in the majority of games (or so memory serves me, I might be wrong) is merely the amount of Damage and MP involved in each. They are quite literally the same spell, just stronger and stronger. They do not give you any variety at all, at best MP fine-tuning when, and IF, there are even enemies where a Fire spell will actually deal sufficient damage to be worth the amount of hits you take between it and the next.
You cannot call "Same thing but bigger" variety, you certainly can call "Different effects" or "Similar but different" variety, however. Like comparing XII's Fire and Firaja, THOSE are different, because Fire deals damage and Firaja is Damage+Status. Whereas Fire and Firaga have Damage and Damage which is essentially the same. And given they want all abilities to scale (makes it simpler not only on a coding scale but ALSO on a player level, because if you have to choose between "Fire Damage" and "Ice Damage" and "Fire Damage+Blind" (random examples, unrelated to any actual XIV ability) it's far less... Mathematically-challaging than seeing which ratio of Damage:MP:Time is most effective for every spell cast.