A ray of hope?

[eticket109]

Question 14:
Will Beastmasters ever be able to charm any Al'Taieu monsters in order to be useful in this region?


Question 15:
Will jug pets ever have the timer for their use eliminated or increased?

A14, A15:
Monsters in Al'Taieu are designed and arranged not to be charmed, so you won’t be able to charm them even from now on. However, we are planning to allow Beastmasters to be more active even in the situation where they can’t charm any monsters, by enhancing their Call Beast ability. So please wait and see

It looks like changes are on the way. It'll be interesting to see what they do.

[Omni]

i hope its something good but the nay-sayer in me things its going to be something on par with: reward now gives regen! -_-

if they lowered the timer that would be nice... or perhaps made more jugs uncapped.... possibly all of them uncapped but then adjusted their relative strengths.

[eticket109]

Yeah 'enhancing the Call Beast ability' is a rather vague indicator. lol

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

I personally feel that while not everything should be charm-able, there should be something in every zone that is. Malboros are clearly Plantoids, as are Gobbuue and cannot be charmed. We can charm Krakens, which are very powerfule, why would those plantoid be any different? How can we have birds in sky, but not bats in the shrine areas.

Site Riverne #02B is totally undoable, while Site #01A is.

In the areas where grands pop, most mobs are charmable, but not so at the Aspid camp, the raptors aren't far off, but you'd have to drop down to get them, its pretty clear why that doesn't work.

Sea should have something charmable in it, too.

As for Call Beast, unless its going to uncap most or all of the jugs or let us gain job traits from pets, I don't really see how you can buff it. A lowered timer wouldn't be needed if our jug pets lasted longer.

Alternative recipies for jugs are also seriously needed. There's a reason we're using CourierCarrie so much, its the most affordable uncapped HQ pet. Ones like SaberSivardre have really low HP and get beaten senseless, its not much better than using NQ. Sure, his paralyze is powerful, but I don't think that's a good reason to give him such low HP.

Even DRG's wyvern and PUP's automation could stand to be a little more sturdy, they go down too easily.

[Murphie]

Well, a DRG's wyvern is completely free and renewable resource (on a 20 minute timer), so I don't really have a problem with their sturdyness. If there were a cost to calling it, perhaps. And I certainly used to feel that way back when it was a 2-hour Ability. But now? Not so much.

[Sevv]

it may be free but we also have no control over it lol

[Kholdstare]

Personally, here's what I'd like to see:

1) Call Beast's recast significantly reduced.

2) All jugs are uncapped, and the HQs merely have better stats.

3) Any method of "enhancing Call Beast" would simply increase stats more (all around, not just crap like HP)

4) Easier methods of obtaining certain jug pet ingredients (I.e. make more mobs drop the items for blood broth(and more often), and all manner of antica should drop Antican Acid, etc.)

5) Either remove or vastly increase the depop times for familiars. It's a real pain to see an HQ pet last only 15 minutes or whatever it is.

[RandomKG3]

Speaking as a smn with no bst experience, I feel like bsts really got the short end of the stick, so to speak. When I heard how long a pet lasts on FFXI, I nearly fell out of my seat. That's such a horrifically short amount of time, it's almost criminal. There are many other MMO's with bst-like classes who get permanent pets, and ours in this game only last a piddly half hour? As a smn, I have pets also (in terms of pure game mechanics), which are balance by their high mp cost. Bsts, however, have less powerful pets they have to buy using gil, with no permanent pet they can call in areas where they can't charm anything. I realize I have no bst experience, but I think they should give you guys the option of one permanent pet you can call at any time, which can grow with you like a normal pet, and you can nurture like we do currently with chocobo raising. That would add a whole new, much needed boost to the job, I think. Just my two cents.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Yeah it strikes me as odd that in the AF story, the BST featured had a long-time pet companion and, in death, the were separated. The storyline basically was about reuniting them and the joy the Beastmaster had being with his companion.

And Zoraal Ja has a colibri as his constant companion, though he only shows when you try to kill it.

PUPs get to have frame upgrades at varying levels and the option to change the mode of pet. I think it would be appropriate for BSTs to have pets they can choose to accompany them as allies. It would be appropriate for that pet to have a "mode." like a automation frame would. Wyverns have an offensive, defensive or balanced mode, too. Avatars have Offense and defense abilities, as do automations.

I think we still should retain the Charm ability so we can play by the laws of beasts as we always have, but have the option to call a strong companion, one we can quest and be the type of our choosing. I always think a taru BST with a tiger has a very striking image to it.

I think being able to have a constant jelly or cactuar familiar would be overpowered and we'd want to have pet jugs that still have a place in the game, but we shouldn't be forced to rely on jugs and zone mobs alone with things the way things are now in the game with the MPK patch never going out of effect.

I'm a big fan of pet jobs, its why BST, DRG and PUP appeal to me so greatly. There's a theme of bonding with these pets and BST never really gets to enjoy that as much as DRG, SMN and PUP do, our pets are merely disposable allies

[Karinya]

Personally, here's what I'd like to see:
1) Call Beast's recast significantly reduced.

I think this may not be necessary along with other reforms. Given SE's style of changing only 1-2 things at a time I would strongly prefer for this not to be the first one. Do it later if it still needs to be done at all.

2) All jugs are uncapped, and the HQs merely have better stats.

I think this may be excessive, especially when combined with other changes. I wouldn't be averse to seeing all HQs uncapped though, and certainly most if not all level caps should be loosened to make a greater variety of pets available at a greater variety of levels.

3) Any method of "enhancing Call Beast" would simply increase stats more (all around, not just crap like HP)

Agreed. With enough enhance Call Beast (including Beast Affinity) you should get a pet that is the stat equivalent of a wild EM monster.

4) Easier methods of obtaining certain jug pet ingredients (I.e. make more mobs drop the items for blood broth(and more often), and all manner of antica should drop Antican Acid, etc.)

Strongly agree, I think this is one of the most important things to change. Also, consider raising HQ rates or reducing the skill cap on the recipes (which would raise HQ rates indirectly). Having more jugs that aren't gimped by level cap at your level is great, but only if you can find and afford them.

5) Either remove or vastly increase the depop times for familiars. It's a real pain to see an HQ pet last only 15 minutes or whatever it is.

Strongly agree with this one too. 30 min for NQ, 60 min for HQ seems like a good starting point - maybe more for ones with really expensive ingredients. This would also indirectly help with the availability/cost issue as one stack could go a lot further.

[RandomKG3]

Yeah, I absolutely love smn, and pup I found to be surprisingly fun, but I could never get into bst because there's no perma-pet. You have to do the nomad thing and wander around charming pets, which has no real long term appeal to me, no vested interest in advancing for the sake of your pet. Use, discard, use discard. I think including a solid advancement/growth/raising system for bst pets would really revitalize the job and bring something fresh to it, especially with all the other jobs getting nice perks lately.

[Veve]

DRGs, PUPs, BSTs, and (1-70) SMNs got the short stick.

See the pattern? Anyways, BSTs should be able to have permanent pets. They should have a happiness factor and must be fed food depending on their type. Oh, BSTs should be able to use ranged attacks also.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

DRGs, PUPs, BSTs, and (1-70) SMNs got the short stick.

See the pattern? Anyways, BSTs should be able to have permanent pets. They should have a happiness factor and must be fed food depending on their type. Oh, BSTs should be able to use ranged attacks also.

File Under: Jobs that get screwed by melee-only parsers. I'd like to have a quested pet I can always call upon every 20 minutes, but not perma as jugs still need to play a role in the job. I think if we could get a quested pet, it would have to be restricted to one of a few choices in pet so jugs still have a point to them.

[DakAttack]

Why don't you quest for an artifact jug at 40? Something that'll scale with your level, unlimited uses, and one several possible choices.