Elemental Spell Reform

[Enfarious]

Spells maybe simple and only have have a hand full of them, but people still have no idea on how to use them.

First, if you are only spam thunder > thundra, with thundaga when your mana and crit buffs are up; you are not playing your BLM/THM to its fullest. That what I do when I'm low of mana and trying to get some back.

Most people don't even try to use the debuff effects of their spells. Aerora dispels enemy buffs, too many CNJs don't know it can. Blizzara binds enemies and is a fantastic crowd control to use; alternate it with sleep to keep enemies under control longer. Yet, I see BLM/THM die to stuff because they don't think to bind things and walk away... all the time. I see people flare monster then wonder why they can't sleep it. I could go on.

Spell lists maybe limited, but people still have little idea on how to use them. Honestly, I fail to see how having a huge spell list of spells, that I won't use,will improve my spell casting experience. It will be like other MMOs that had giant spell lists, I had the best on my bar, the rest collected dust.

To each their own though.

First your not wrong at all, and in that vein I'd say/did say 2 tiers of each of the 6 elements in the common FF wheel, they can still have or not have enfeebling effects, so you go from 8/9 spells to 12 but have every element. The dmg for each tier being equal so w/o any mods (weakness, resistance, elemental buffs, etc.) fire = water = blizzard = 15 dmg(base as a lvl 1), and they'd scale w/ level to make them never "useless" the second tier could introduce a second enfeebling effect, boosted damage, combo access, etc. to make them also useful.

I think(again I'm not really a mage in this so much yet, but I know a number of them) most thm/blm spam thunder>thundara>thundaga because in the end all we care about in EG seems to be DPS, and that chain is where DPS is @, nothing else really matters, at least that's what I've seen up to this point in my playing.

I think the other "failing?" point of the current spell system lies in making combos necessary, and in some cases they're detrimental. I cast thunder > need to thundara now for it's added effect against a group cause something went sideways(tank died/dc'd) but I have to wait til the combo timer is up to cast it, shit I'm dead already ...
Yes there's other ways to go outside of that, and it's just a loose example to illustrate a point, not an end all be all fact.

Magic Bursting off melee combos like someone else mentioned or later off of battle regimens like skillchain > MB worked, make the buttons light up just like for a combo, that way people don't whine about having to pay too much attention to what others are doing. I loved skillchaining, and on drk being the opener and MBing off chains I started

[Jinrya-Geki]

Is there even a spell reform planned for 2.0

[Enfarious]

god I hope so

[Zyph]

And yet EVERYONE disagreed with me when I was trying to say that WHM should be THMs job and BLM should be CON's job.

"No that would never work, THM is too dark."

[Ryuko]

I like it the way it is. After the spell switch, a lot of people complained that the 'lore' and 'descriptions' didn't really make sense. I've thought about it, and they do.

Stone and Aero are both manipulations of existing things. The Earth exists, and a Conjurer merely thrusts it at an enemy. Air exists, and a Conjurer merely pushes it at a fast velocity into an enemy as wind. Although the 'name' doesn't exactly seem to work, the whole tie-in with nature magic does. As someone else said, CNJ have a very distinct 'druid' feel to them, especially once you complete the CNJ and WHM storylines. This is why I think it makes sense that CNJ would get Stone/Aero out of all the spells, and why they also have access to some great enhancing spells and heals. Stone/Aero are readily available anywhere as the ground and the air are everywhere in the game.

THM, on the other hand, actually manipulate the elements, but not in a chemical way. Both Fire and Blizzard are simply intense thermal changes. One is an incredible increase in heat while the other is an incredible decrease. Thunder also makes sense because it is merely the change of electrons from an area high in electrons to an area with a smaller amount. Although not enfeeblers in the way we have grown used to (such as RDM in XI), the lore and the logic behind it makes sense. The elements THM/BLM yield are elements that only they can control because they require manipulation to do so. Conjurer's reign over Earth and Wind is natural, and also makes sense.

Given my interpretation of the spell distribution between mages, I'm not sure where 'water' should stand. Should it be a conjurer's because it is 'natural'? Or, should it be a THM spell (under the assumption that the THM is literally 'creating' water molecules out of hydrogen and oxygen; perhaps FFXIV will take it a step further and assume that THM are similar to alchemists, and can simply pull an element out of thin air). Although I don't know what will happen with water (and when), I can say that I am in FULL SUPPORT of the way the spells currently are.

That said... the ONE thing that bothers me about the way things are in this game, and why I can understand other people complaining is... the 'elemental wheel of strengths and weaknesses' (call it what you will) is upset by this distribution. In other FF's, a BLM could expose the weakness of any monster once it was discovered. In this game, a monster that is especially weak to Stone or Wind will be more damaged by a CNJ than by a THM. That said... CNJ don't get NEARLY as many buffs and often don't equip to do as much damage as THM/BLM. It hasn't yet been a major problem; Ifrit was weak to water, but water wasn't in the game. Garuda will be weak to blizzard, which THM have. But what about Titan or Ramuh (assuming those are the stone/thunder elemental avatars that are implemented)? Interestingly enough, Stone+Aero leave a large 'gap' in the wheel as the two are right next to each other in it... WIND > EARTH > THUNDER > WATER > FIRE > ICE > (wind)

Edit: Ifrit is weak to wind in this game? o.O;; I wouldn't know. I've never played BLM against him. But that's weeeeiiiirrrddd man (although I guess they had to make him weak to SOMETHING one of us can cast).

[KoujiGeki]

your forgetting that Blizzard sucks.

[KoujiGeki]

Oh and Btw. Would you only give summoner Shiva, Ifrit and Ramuh? no they would get the whole god damn spectrum of elemental avatars. cause thats all they do is summon. Just like Blm all it does is cast offensive magic so give them all of it!

[Klive]

We have two elemental wheels in this game.

Earth beats Lightning beats Water beats Earth

Fire beats Ice beats Wind beats Fire

Two wheels of paper rock scissors. They did tone down how much elemental weakness affect monsters after the reform though. The elemental wheels are useful, but not really needed anymore.

[KoujiGeki]

so in other words when they add Titan Blms are boned.

[Klive]

so in other words when they add Titan Blms are boned.

I'm still looking for water nukes for titan :P