Light/Dark Arts

[Saren]

Edit: Went and checked my figures again. Because of being stupid with haste my dark arts up for casting whm spells figures were off too. Somnar deserves the credit for putting the correct figures for recast and cast time effects up :)


From the other thread about scholar purely as a subjob

Maybe this is old news to some, but I just discovered this today. When you set SCH as your support job and use Light Arts or Dark Arts your skills will rise to B rank for your main job's level. Not only that, your skills will be maxed out without you having to level them to get that high.

Finally got sch to 10 this evening so started to have a play around with things. Did most of my testing as sch 10, whm61/sch10 and blm40/sch10. This is what I have pinned down so far. The recast and cast time figures are credit to Somnar because I messed up the testing the first time around.

1. Light/Dark arts have no effect on your stats (a lot of people were talking about int mind boosts in game)

2. The boost from light arts and dark arts seems to be the same main and from sub (fairly sure but only sch10 and you don’t exactly get a broad range of spells to play with)

3. Having the correct arts up for the spell you are casting seems to give you:

10% cost reduction
10% recast time reduction
~5-10%? cast time reduction

4. Having the incorrect arts up for the spell yo uare casting seems to give you:

20% cost increase
20% recast time increase
~20%? cast time increase

5. It's definitely a complete white and black magic divide. So whm enfeebles get their bonus from light arts, blm enhancing spells (ice spikes etc) get their bonus from dark arts.



I did most of my testing as sch10, whm61 and blm 40. SE was nice actually and with arts up the cost is up the cost is updated in your spell list so very sure on those figures one. The cast time was done using reraise 2 but it was just me eyeballing when the spell fired on the cast bar so might not be 100%. The recast was done by having the spell up in my spell list and targetted so I could see the recast change the moment the spell fired.

I think I have a new sub for whm.

[Malacite]

Yeah see this was confusing me with Paralyze, since it's an enfeebling spell, but it's also white magic. However, after trying it with Dark Arts up a few times I found it to be much less effective despite the "boost" to enfeebling magic.

[Akashimo]

That and the spell itself is a Dark element, being Ice based.

[Somnar]

3. Having the correct arts up for the spell you are casting seems to give you:
10% cost reduction
25% recast time reduction
5% cast time reduction
4. Having the incorrect arts up for the spell yo uare casting seems to give you:
20% cost increase
~15% recast time increase
15% cast time increase
I tested these out as well, but got slightly different numbers.

Using magic associated with the Art you have up, I got:
10% MP cost reduction
10% recast time reduction
~5-10% cast time reduction (couldn't get solid numbers on this)

Using opposing magic to the Art you have up:
20% MP penalty
20% recast time penalty
20% cast time penalty (though again, 15% might be right too... timing cast times is tough)

[Icemage]

I haven't tested extensively, but all I can say is I've already dropped my /BLM sub on white mage in favor of my /SCH15. It's really that much more potent. I save far more MP with Light Arts active than I ever saved with Conserve MP (not even counting the use of Penury), and I no longer need /BLM for Sleep since Repose is now available. It also does Good Things to my Stoneskin potency since I don't need to overload on MND now to max out at 350 absorbed...


Icemage

[Saren]

So...I'm an idiot. I was testing the recast times with haste wasn't I? It's a 10% reduction, thankyou again Somnar :)