Black Mage - Aspect Mastery

[JustinHiryu]

I know that I said in my post below that opinions such as this belong somewhere else, but I will indulge you here. Being called out or kicked from a party is of no real threat, no real consequence. Players use that threat to hang above people's head like a shadow, expecting players to be fearful of it. I have been playing this game since 2011 and main black mage, and what I have learned is that threats like being kicked that are said are really of no real issue. Players said that to me about staying in tank stance as Dark Knight because they felt it was a dps loss to do so. Not only has it never stopped me from staying in Grit, but I have never once gotten kicked for it. No lie. And here, Yoshida has stopped issues like this simply by removing all dps stances from the game, period. You only have tank stance, and nothing else. You do the same damage either way, and you take the same damage either way. So, I say to you, Shurma, play however it is you wish to play. I say to you, Kurando, play however it is you wish to play. Kurando, you are an elitist, I get it. You believe that everyone should play like you or like another player(s), I get that. What I do not get, is the fact that you assume that anyone who does not do as you do, does not know how to play the game and/or their job. Shurma may understand just fine. I most certainly do understand Black Mage just fine after playing it for 8 years. It is alright to give advice as long as it is genuine. It is not, nor will I ever find it alright to use advice to belittle someone. And just know this, no matter who you are and what you are doing, there will always be someone better. You might play like crap to another person on the game. Striving to do better should be for one own's benefit, not for that of someone else's.

[Kurando]

I've not once told OP they MUST do this or that, I've recommended they should be doing things as it's only to their benefit, and to consider using the guides. In the end they can do whatever they want.

. Striving to do better should be for one own's benefit, not for that of someone else's.

If you hold back an entire party then it's not "one own's benefits", but you are effecting everyone else in your group. Whether you believe kicks are a threat or not, I encourage you to read the "Tales from the Duty Finder" thread that has over 300+ pages, you'll easily find stories there of players being kicked for disrupting others' parties because they are purposely making runs take longer as they do not fully utilize their job's toolkit.

[Shurma]

I've not once told OP they MUST do this or that, I've recommended they should be doing things as it's only to their benefit, and to consider using the guides. In the end they can do whatever they want.

I completely understand that you suggest I don't think for myself and take other people's experience as my own.

I posted here for a bug report, not a debate of if its wrong or right. My intent is to improve the game and make it friendly for players. If a new player is to pick up this game and comes across the same thing I did, they may be confused. I just want to clear up the ambiguity that Aspect Mastery has at this point.

[Kurando]

This is my last comment on this, not getting in to it any further. Don't think it's a bug.

"The Elemental Gauge indicates whether you are under the effect of Astral Fire (after casting a Fire spell) or Umbral Ice (after casting a Blizzard spell). While under the effect of Astral Fire, all Fire spells will have increased potency, but require more MP to cast. "

It's specifically about spells that have "Fire" in their name (i.e. Fire, II/III/IV), not that all "Fire-damage" spells are effected, hence why Flare is not included as a free MP cost spell. Despair (at lvl 72), another Fire-damage spell that uses all MP like Flare also suffers from the same restriction.

[Shurma]

Despair is restricted because it requires you to have Astral Fire to cast it.

Your Fire logic doesn't work the other way with Ice. Freeze is not a "Ice" named spell, but I can 0 cast it from Astral Fire.

[JustinHiryu]

I've not once told OP they MUST do this or that, I've recommended they should be doing things as it's only to their benefit, and to consider using the guides. In the end they can do whatever they want.



If you hold back an entire party then it's not "one own's benefits", but you are effecting everyone else in your group. Whether you believe kicks are a threat or not, I encourage you to read the "Tales from the Duty Finder" thread that has over 300+ pages, you'll easily find stories there of players being kicked for disrupting others' parties because they are purposely making runs take longer as they do not fully utilize their job's toolkit.

Wanting to cast Flare for free so that I can cast Flare more often is a step toward utilization to Black Mage's toolkit. That is why we have posted this bug report so that it can get fixed. Nice try in you throwing your Tales from the Duty Finder example, however.

The thing is, by suggesting that I read Tales from the Duty Finder, is still giving me examples of how others think that I should play. That is a dog that will not hunt. I will play as I wish to play. I improve because I wish to improve for my own sake, not for the sake of other players. What you think, what you push, what you suggest, does not matter to my own will. This does not mean, however, that I will not take advice. If I deem that said advice will benefit me, it may be used. But, one's own improvement does not mean that they suck at the game. I do not need my hand held. I play completely fine. Shurma plays completely fine. You play completely fine. I will never disrespect how a person plays, but I will raise an alarm when people disrespect how people play when they think that their way is the only way or the best way. You can give advice to players, that is encouraged, but do not use that advice as a free pass to discourage or dispirit players. You can either accept the fact that not everyone plays the same, and deal with it, or not accept it, and either be upset, angry, or whatever you feel when you see someone do something that you do not approve of in their gameplay and make the game suck for yourself. I care not which you choose. I will continue to do as I see fit, when I see fit to. We all here, should play the game as we wish to play. Now, no doubt you will try to have some snide remark or last word to try to simply be mean or whatever. Let me save you the trouble of typing and say that, once again, I will do as I see fit with how I play. Accept it, deal with it, or not.

[JustinHiryu]

This is my last comment on this, not getting in to it any further. Don't think it's a bug.

"The Elemental Gauge indicates whether you are under the effect of Astral Fire (after casting a Fire spell) or Umbral Ice (after casting a Blizzard spell). While under the effect of Astral Fire, all Fire spells will have increased potency, but require more MP to cast. "

It's specifically about spells that have "Fire" in their name (i.e. Fire, II/III/IV), not that all "Fire-damage" spells are effected, hence why Flare is not included as a free MP cost spell. Despair (at lvl 72), another Fire-damage spell that uses all MP like Flare also suffers from the same restriction.

Blizzard and Freeze do not have the word "ice" in their names. They are spells that do ice aspected damage, and can be actually cast for free due to the effect of Aspect Mastery under full stacks of Astral Fire. You are still believing that we do not know the effects of the spells. We do know. Our knowledge of the spells are only in question in your own mind, not in mine's and Shurma's. Aspect Mastery has no specifics on the direct names of spells. It simply states that a spell has to be of the opposite element of the stacks you have. Flare states that is does fire elemental damage of 260 potency. Fire, Fire 2, and Fire 3 also say that they deal fire elemental damage. I can cast those three spells for free due to the effect of Aspect Mastery under full stacks of Umbral Ice. Once again, the problem is that Flare, like Fire 1,2, and 3, state in its tooltip that it does fire elemental damage. Yet, it is not cast for free due to the effect of Aspect Mastery under full stacks of Umbral Ice. There is not anything, anywhere that states that Flare is the exception. That is why me and Shurma are here. That is why we think that it is either bugged, or missing the words to state that it is an exception.

[JustinHiryu]

Despair is restricted because it requires you to have Astral Fire to cast it.

Your Fire logic doesn't work the other way with Ice. Freeze is not a "Ice" named spell, but I can 0 cast it from Astral Fire.

Just like Blizzard 4 and Fire 4. They require a stack of either Astral or Umbral to cast. Despair is like Flare, however, in the fact that it will actually give you full stacks of Astral Fire upon its cast, where as Blizzard 4 and Fire 4 do not. Despair has much potential because of this.